Thomas Stuart Burnett ARSA (4 July 1853 – 8 March 1888) was a Scottish sculptor in the 19th century.
His two principal claims to fame is as one of the chosen sculptors of the figures depicting characters from the novels of Sir Walter Scott on the Scott Monument on Princes Street in Edinburgh and for the famous sculpture of Robinson Crusoe at Alexander Selkirk’s birthplace of Lower Largo in Fife.
He was born in Edinburgh, the son of James Burnett, a lithographic printer and Japanner living at 34 Toddrick's Wynd on the Royal Mile.[1]
He studied under William Brodie and at the School Board of the Trustees on Picardy Place (run by the trustees of the Royal Scottish Academy). There he won their gold medal for the year in 1875. In 1876 he entered the RSA Life School, focussing upon the human form and won the Stuart Prize in 1880.
In 1881 he is recorded as living with William Geddes at Gowan Brae Cottage, Perth Street, Perth.[2]
He was elected an Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1883.
He died in Edinburgh in 1888 (several newspapers gave the cause of death as 'congestion of the lungs') and is buried in the north section of the original Dean Cemetery, towards the western end, with his wife Margaret Irving. The red sandstone celtic cross is eroding but has a fine profile head of Burnett, sculpted by John Stevenson Rhind.