Category: G

Govanhill Literary Association

Overview Govanhill is an area in the south side of Glasgow, and north of Queen’s Park. (For more information about this area, see the entry for ‘Govanhill‘ on Wikipedia.) It is currently unknown if this association was attached to one Read More …

Gas Workmen’s Institution

Overview The information on this society comes from two issues of The Glasgow Mechanics’ Magazine. The May 7th issue for 1825 provides a good overview of this group: ‘The Gas Workmen’s Institution. – Out of these public associations has arisen Read More …

Glasgow Addisonian Literary Society

Overview Alexander Smith (1829-1867) was a well-known working-class Scottish poet, and was one of the founding members and Secretary of this society. (For more information on Smith, see, for example, ‘Alexander Smith (1829 – 1867)‘ on the Scottish Poetry Library Read More …

Glasgow Arbroath Association

Overview Arbroath is a town in Angus, and is northeast of Dundee. (For more information on the town, see ‘Arbroath‘ on Undiscovered Scotland website.) This society is a type of nineteenth-century county association. In the stricter sense, county associations were groups Read More …

Glasgow Athenaeum French Literary Club

Overview Modeled on the Manchester Athenaeum, the Glasgow Athenaeum was founded in 1847 as a literary an scientific institution. (For more information about this organisation, see ‘Athenaeum opening‘ on The Glasgow Story website, and ‘Administrative / Biographical History‘  for the ‘Records of Read More …

Glasgow Ballad Club

Overview The founder and first President of this club was William Freeland, who served from 1876 to 1903. There were 11 original members. The Glasgow Post Office directory for 1902-1903 gives a good overview of this club and its activities: Read More …

Glasgow Border Counties’ Literary Society

Overview This society is a type of nineteenth-century county association. In the stricter sense, county associations were groups whose members (or whose parents) were former residents of counties across Scotland who had moved to Glasgow. This type of group incorporated elements Read More …

Glasgow Bute Literary Institute

Overview Bute, or the Isle of Bute, is an island in the Firth of Clyde. Bute is also a county that comprises this island and number of surrounding islands. This society is a type of nineteenth-century county association. In the stricter Read More …

Glasgow Carlton Burns Club

Overview Carlton is a district in the east end of Glasgow. (For more information about this area, see Gordon Adams’s article, ‘Carlton’ on the East Glasgow History website.) This club met on the first Tuesday of the month between October and April. Read More …

Glasgow Carrick Burns Club

Overview Carrick is a district that is now part of South Ayrshire. Members of this Burns club were presumably from this area but had since settled in Glasgow. In the 1890s, the club had 40 members on the roll, and Read More …

Glasgow Clerical Literary Society

Overview This society is particularly interesting as some of its members were ministers of churches that later ‘came out’ in 1843; that is, their congregations broke away from the established church in what is known as the Disruption of 1843, Read More …

Glasgow Coleridge Club

Overview There is very little information currently known about this society. The only details we have come from the minutes of the Glasgow Addisonian Literary Society, a group discussed in Simon Berry’s Applauding Thunder (2013). According to Berry, in 1848, Read More …

Glasgow Cowal Society, Literary Department

Overview The name for this society refers to Cowal, a peninsula in Argyll and Bute in the Scottish Highlands, thus its members were almost certainly from the Highlands. This group is a type of nineteenth-century county association. In the stricter sense, Read More …

Glasgow Daisy Burns Club

Overview There is not much currently known about this Burns club. The details we have come from the 1912 Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory. The group met at the Christian Institute on Bothwell Street (to the west of the city Read More …

Glasgow Dickens Society

Overview The Glasgow Post Office directory for 1908-1909 provides an overview of this society: ‘The objects and aims of the Society are: — (1) To knit together in a common bond of friendship lovers of that great master of humour Read More …

Glasgow Free Church Literary Union

Overview The Union was formed in 1850, seven years after the Disruption, when the Presbyterian church split in two. Its institution occurred during a period of active church building—and apparently society founding—by the newly-established Free Church. In 1853, this group Read More …

Glasgow Free Tron Literary Society

Overview Members of this society were most likely part of the congregation of the Free Tron Church in the city centre. (For more information on this church, see ‘Glasgow — Tron‘ on the Ecclegen website.) There is little currently known about this society. Read More …

Glasgow Haggis Club

Overview This Burns club was of a (purposefully) moderate size, limiting its membership to 40 in 1894, and expanding this only slightly to 50 in 1897. According to the 1904 Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory, it was a ‘social’ Read More …

Glasgow Hutchesontown Burns Club

Overview This Burns club was based in Hutchesontown, located to the south of the River Clyde and southeast of the city centre. Members met at 572 Rutherglen Road (premises of R. Young, spirit merchant) on the first Friday of the Read More …

Glasgow Jolly Beggars Burns Club

Overview There is very little currently known about this club. Outwith a mention of this group in the Memorial Catalogue of the Burns Exhibition, the only other information we have to date is from the 1892 Annual Burns Chronicle and Read More …

Glasgow Montefiore Literary and Musical Society

Overview The only information we currently have on this society comes from the 1885-1886 Glasgow Post Office directory, which lists the group’s object, admissions policy, subscription rate, and office bearers: ‘The object of this society is to give a course Read More …

Glasgow Mossgiel Burns Club

Overview Mossgiel Farm in Ayrshire was the home of Robert Burns. (For more information about the farm, see ‘Mossgiel‘ on The Burns Encyclopedia website.) This Burns club had a modestly-sized membership of 50 in the late nineteenth century. Meetings were held Read More …

Glasgow Northern Burns Club

Overview There is very little currently known about this society. Outwith a mention of the group in the Memorial Catalogue of the Burns Exhibition, the only other details we have are provided by the Annual Burns Chronicle, which are sparse Read More …

Glasgow Orcadian Literary and Scientific Society

Overview The members of this group and/or their parents were originally from Orkney and had since settled in Glasgow. This society is a type of nineteenth-century county association. In the stricter sense, county associations were groups whose members (or whose parents) Read More …

Glasgow Primrose Burns Club

Overview In 1910 (the earliest year for which we have any details on this club), members met in the Arcade Café (possibly Sloan’s Arcade Café, 109 Argyle Street), before meeting in the Alexandra Hotel (148 Bath Street, in the city Read More …

Glasgow Queen’s Park (Burns Club)

Overview There is very little currently known about this club. There is only a brief mention of this group in the minutes of the Glasgow and District Burns Club. We learn a bit more from the ‘Club Notes’ of the Read More …

Glasgow Shakspere Club

Overview This club was formed in Glasgow as it was thought there was a need for the city to have its own society similar to the ones then running in Edinburgh and beyond. The object of the club was to Read More …

Glasgow Society of Science, Letters, and Art

Overview There is little currently known about this society. The only information we have comes from the Glasgow Post Office Directory for 1885 to 1886, which offers the following details on what appears to be a high-status club with a Read More …

Glasgow Southern Burns Club

Overview There is little currently known about this Burns club. The only details provided by the 1901 Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory are its then current office bearers and their addresses, while the 1904 directory is even less helpful, only Read More …

Glasgow St. David’s Burns Club

Overview There is little currently known about this club. From the 1892 and 1895 editions of the Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory, we know that members met in the Club Rooms located at 163 Ingram Street. This is the address Read More …

Glasgow Sunday Society

Overview Details on this group come from the Glasgow Post Office directory for 1884-1885, that gives the following summary, which includes a rather lengthy list of its 26 vice-presidents: ‘Objects of the society — (1) To obtain the opening of Read More …

Glasgow Sutherlandshire Association

Overview Sutherland is a county in the Highlands of Scotland. This society is a type of nineteenth-century county association. In the stricter sense, county associations were groups whose members (or whose parents) were former residents of counties across Scotland who Read More …

Glasgow Training College Literary Committee

Overview There is little currently known about this literary committee. To date, the evidence for it consists of four photographs. A brief description is available on the University of Strathclyde Archives Online Catalogue: ‘Name of creator Glasgow Training College Literary Committee (Established Read More …

Glasgow United Young Men’s Christian Association

Overview The Glasgow Young Men’s Society for Religious Improvement was founded in 1824. In 1877, it amalgamated with the Glasgow Young Men’s Christian Association (aka the G.Y.M.C.A., instituted in 1841, but this date is debatable) to become the Glasgow United Read More …

Glasgow University Dialectic Society

Overview The online catalogue of the University of Glasgow Archives Services, Archives Hub, offers a summary of this society and its activities: ‘Administrative / Biographical History Glasgow University Dialectic Society was instituted in 1861 at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, Read More …

Glasgow Western Literary Union

Overview There is little currently known about this union, which appears to have been a debating society. The only information we have comes from the minute book of the Kelvinside Literary Association, which discusses a Union circular that was received Read More …

Glasgow Young Men’s Christian Association

Overview The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) was formed in London in 1841. (For a history of this association, see ‘History and Heritage’, on the YMCA website.) There is a discrepancy in the records as to the start date of the Glasgow Read More …

Glasgow Young Men’s Society for Religious Improvement

Overview This society was instituted in 1824. In 1877, it amalgamated with the Glasgow Young Men’s Christian Association (aka G.Y.M.C.A., instituted in 1841, although this date is debatable) to become the Glasgow United Young Men’s Christian Association in 1877. In Read More …

Glasgow-Ardgowan Burns Club

Overview Ardgowan is located near Inverkip, Inverclyde, on the west coast of Scotland. It is possible that the members of this club were originally from this area before moving to Glasgow. There is little currently known about this Burns club. Read More …

Glencairn Burns Club, Glasgow

Overview Glencairn is a parish in Dumfries and Galloway. It is possible that the members of this club were originally from this area before moving to Glasgow. In the late nineteenth century, this Burns club met on the first Thursday Read More …

Gorbals Burns Club

Overview This club took its name from the Gorbals, an area in the south side of Glasgow where, presumably, the members were based. (For more information about the area, see ‘Gorbals , Glasgow. Origins & History‘ on the ScotCities website.) The group met at Read More …

Govan Burns Club

Overview This club was based in Govan, an area south of the River Clyde and southwest of the city centre. (For more information about this area, see Gerald Blaikie’s article, ‘Govan, Glasgow. Architecture & History‘ on the ScotCities website.) It is currently unclear if Read More …

Govan Fairfield Burns Club

Overview This club was based in Govan, an area south of the River Clyde and southwest of the city centre. (For more information about this area, see Gerald Blaikie’s article, ‘Govan, Glasgow. Architecture & History‘ on the ScotCities website.) It is currently unclear if Read More …