Stirling Smith Museum and Art Gallery - Two World Wars

Two World Wars

The work of the Smith came to an abrupt halt in 1914 with the outbreak of war and the requisitioning of the building for military purposes. This happened twice in the twentieth century. From 1914 to 1921 and 1939 to 1948 the Smith was rendered inoperable as a gallery and museum, being used for the billeting of troops and other military purposes. Stirling was a garrison town from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries, and the billeting of troops in times of crisis was one of the domestic hazards of life in the burgh for most people. The Smith suffered badly from the experience of the two wars. The damage list of 1919 makes for particularly dismal reading – damaged front steps, broken and bent railings; choked valley gutters leading to dampness, water ingress and damage to the collections stacked high in the side rooms; broken windows, plaster, flooring, lamps, ventilation grating; eleven sheets of roof glass broken; flooring stained with oil and urine; doors and door furniture removed; damage to the boiler. An entrance with rough wooden steps for the curator and his family had been created on the east side of the building. Worse still, the public were banned from coming near the building: “Loitering of any kind on any portion of the Institute grounds to be rigorously prevented by the Military Authorities. No person other than troops to be permitted with the grounds…”

To have this rough treatment for lengthy periods twice within twenty-five years was an experience from which the Smith scarcely recovered. The paintings had to be crammed into the museum spaces to leave the two large galleries free for troop accommodation. There were no washing facilities, even for the eating utensils of the troops. Food was served through hatches burst in the west wall, from a field kitchen erected in the grounds. The wrought iron railings were removed from the front of the building to aid the war effort in the 1940s.

The Smith’s third curator, Joseph McNaughton served from 1921 to the derequisitioning of the Smith in 1947. With the aid of his nephew Duncan, he managed to publish a catalogue of the collections in 1934.