James McBey

This memorial plaque to the great painter and etcher James McBey is to be found in our village church.

McBey was born in Newburgh on Ythan in 1883. Abandoned by his father, he was raised by his mother and her family in abject poverty. At the age of fifteen he gained employment with a bank in Aberdeen and from then on supported himself, his mother, and grandmother until his mother's suicide in 1906. With no remaining family ties, James McBey embarked upon a career as a professional artist, a career which was to propel him to great financial success and international fame.