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Nobel Prize winner honoured at Galloway birthplace

Getty Images James MirrleesGetty Images
Sir James Mirrlees was born and grew up in Galloway
  • The Nobel Prize-winning economist Sir James Mirrlees has been recognised in the small Galloway village of Minnigaff where he was born
  • A lecture in his honour was also delivered at Wigtown Book Festival
  • The Galloway Preservation Society said it was important to recognise "exceptional people" from the area
  • Sir James, who died in 2018, won the Nobel Prize for Economics

A Nobel Prize-winning economist has been honoured in the small Galloway village of his birth.

Sir James Mirrlees was born at Mill Cottage in Minnigaff in 1936.

A ceremony was held at the site on Saturday and a plaque unveiled, while an annual lecture series in his honour was also inaugurated at Wigtown Book Festival.

Sir James, who died in 2018, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1996.

The Galloway Preservation Society (GPS) plaque was unveiled by his brother, Alistair, who had flown in from Canada for the occasion.

Colin Hattersley CeremonyColin Hattersley
A small ceremony saw the plaque unveiled at the place of Sir James' birth

David Hannay, who chairs the GPS, said: "We feel it is important that exceptional people from Galloway should be commemorated in the place where they were born.

"And James Mirrlees was a quite remarkable man, so it is a great pleasure to welcome so many of his family and friends here."

Alistair Mirrlees said their Galloway childhood - living in Newton Stewart and Port William - had been a happy one for his brother.

"I remember at school he was always absolutely passionate about maths," he added.

The inaugural lecture in Sir James' name was delivered by his friend, the Astronomer Royal, Lord Martin Rees who said it had been a "privilege" to be asked to do so.