page_title: West Linton
section_title: Notable residents
hierarchical_section_title: West Linton / Notable residents
caption_attribution_description: English: Gifford's Stone, West Linton, Scottish Borders, Scotland. Nederlands: Gifford's Stone, West Linton, Scottish Borders, Schotland.
context_page_description: West Linton is a village and civil parish in southern Scotland, on the A702. It was formerly in the county of Peeblesshire, but since local government re-organisation in the mid-1990s it is now part of Scottish Borders. Many of its residents are commuters, owing to the village's proximity to Edinburgh, which is 16 miles to the north east. West Linton has a long history, and holds an annual traditional festival called The Whipman Play.
context_section_description: Although West Linton has never played a significant part in the history of the country, several eminent men have taken up residence in the area. Early in the nineteenth century, John Hay Forbes (1776–1854) was raised to the bench with the title of Lord Medwyn, the name of the estate he had earlier purchased. This association with the Court of Session was maintained in the twentieth century by the Hon. Lord Guthrie (born 1938), one of the youngest judges to be appointed to the College of Justice. Fergusson Place perpetuates the memory of Sir William Fergusson of Spitalhaugh (1808–1877), surgeon to Queen Victoria.
  The sculptor William Mossman was born here, as was the mathematician, John Brown Clark.
  Robert Sanderson (born 1836), the "Laureate of Lynedale", wrote poems and sketches celebrating the Lyne valley, and his handsome tomb erected by his friends may be seen in the graveyard. George Meikle Kemp (1795–1844), the architect of the Scott Monument in Edinburgh, lived for a time near Dolphinton and came to school in the village.
  The composer Ronald Stevenson (1928–2015) resided in the village.
  Athlete Chris O'Hare is from the village, recently running the 1500m in the 2016 Rio Olympics in Rio, Brazil.
  George Johnston, owner of the first motorcar in Scotland and founder of the Arrol-Johnston automotive works was born in West Linton.
caption: Gifford's Stone, carved around 1660 by local mason James Gifford, on a house on the Main Street
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