A SCOTS sculptor whose works included a statue of John Lennon and a tribute to a mining disaster left more than £9 million in her will.
Mo Farquharson enjoyed an international reputation and exhibited across the UK.
She was best known for creating centrepieces in towns with one of her most famous works being a bronze statue in Hamilton, Lanarkshire.
The 1995 piece, The Miners, was created in memory of 73 colliers who died in the Udston Colliery explosion of 1887.
She was also commissioned to create a four-foot figure of John Lennon which was nominated for prestigious awards.
Miss Farquharson died aged 64 in 2018 and her published will has now revealed she had amassed a £9,409,027 fortune by the time of her death.
The bulk of her wealth was made up of a string of properties and she left legacies for family members as well as some pieces of her work.
But she also left instructions all of her moulds for sculptures which were held in foundries in Nairn, Kent and London, should be destroyed.
She also said remaining pieces should be sold or destroyed.
Miss Farquharson, who never married and had no children, told her ‘artistic executors’ that no new sculptures should be created after her passing.
The majority of her estate has been placed in a trust for the benefit of her surviving relatives.
Miss Farquharson was raised in Aberdeenshire and developed a lifelong love of the countryside.
She was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease aged 15 and battled the illness throughout her life.
She was introduced to sculpting in the 1970s and held her first solo exhibition in 1980 in London.
She built a reputation making bronze sculptures of people, animals and birds but also received commissions for larger pieces including an altar piece for a private chapel in Germany.
After the unveiling of the Lennon figure, Miss Farquharson sat next to the Beatles’ widow, Yoko Ono, at dinner and she held Farquharson’s hand throughout the meal.
Miss Farquharson’s work was often seen at the Milton Gallery in Crathes in her native Aberdeenshire.
Her sculptures could also be seen at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh.
She enjoyed traveling and playing bridge.
After her death a family member said: “Mo always radiated the power of positivity, always shone and brightened up people’s lives wherever she went.”
The Udston Colliery disaster was Scotland’s second worst mining tragedy
Seventy-three men died in an explosion that erupted in the mine in 1887.
The worst ever mining disaster in Scotland took place in 1877 when 207 miners were killed in a massive explosion at Blantyre Colliery.
Firedamp was also partly blamed for the Udston disaster, which happened just a mile or so from Blantyre.
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