CLACKMANNANSHIRE boasts four war memorials designed by Muckhart-born sculptor George Henry Paulin.

The Muckhart war memorial was first unveiled in 1920 by Captain A P Haig. Standing at 14 feet, it comprised of a plain whinstone monolith on a double whinstone base quarried from the nearby Devonshaw quarry

It displays an embossed laurel wreath supported by flags and bronze panels list the names of those who gave their lives during both World Wars.

The Dollar Academy War Memorial was unveiled in 1921. Entitled Youth, it was mounted on woodburn stone and one of the names it bears is Paulin's brother Charles who was killed during the Great War.

After World War II, Paulin also designed the Dollar War Memorial sited in the Memorial Gardens.

Unveiled in 1947, it is made from natural stone unearthed during open cast mining operations and has a distinctive large bronze sword of sacrifice on its south-east face.

The Coalsnaughton war memorial, unveiled 1920, was also designed by him.

Born on 14th August 1888, Paulin attended Dollar Academy between 1900 and 1905 where his sculpting skills flourished.

He attended Edinburgh College of Art a year early following his fathers death and was awarded a Diploma in Sculpture in 1912. He then travelled to Paris and Rome and set up a studio in Florence.

At the outbreak of war he enlisted into the Lothian and Borders Horse but was invalided out when he was trampled by a horse and lost a kidney.

He later enlisted as an officer in the Royal Flying Corp, which later became the RAF.

After the war, he established a studio in Glasgow. One of his most prestigious private commissions was the headstone for Andrew Carnegie, the Scottish-born US industrialist and philanthropist.

In 1920 he was elected as member to the Royal Scottish Academy and in 1927 was elected member to the Royal Society of British Sculptors. He became a Fellow of the Society of British Sculptors in 1938.

In 1945 he was commissioned by the US Navy to create a memorial for Dumfries-born father of the Navy John Paul Jones.

During the 1950s he received several Royal commissions including miniature busts of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip for which they personally sat, and a life-size bust of the Queen commissioned for the Royal Scottish Academy in 1956.

Paulin retired in 1957 and died in 1962, aged 74.

A sculptor of international standing, his works included the 51st Highland Division and the 8th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders memorials, both in Flanders at Beaumont Hamel.