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 and pathos, Charles Dickens, and to encourage a more general study of his works; (2) To spread the love of humanity and to help in every possible direction the cause of the poor and the oppressed which is the key note of all his works. Life Membership subscription, Ā£1 1s.; annual subscription, 2s. 6d. […].’
(‘The Glasgow Dickens Society’, ‘Educational Institutions’,Ā Post Office Glasgow Directory for 1908-1909…Ā (Glasgow: Aird & Coghill, 1908), p. 1778)
Among the charitable works of this society was the raising of money for the annual dinner, or ‘The Annual Treat’, in order to give children of the poor a Christmas meal.
According to an article in the Glasgow Herald in 1909,Ā the Honorary President reported there were 100 members when the society was founded, and the number had since grown to 450.
Date of Existence
1906 (newspaper article give 7 February 1907) -1950?
Source of Information
1. ‘The Glasgow Dickens Society’, ‘Educational Institutions’, Post Office Glasgow Directory for 1908-1909… (Glasgow: William Mackenzie, 1908), p. 1778;
3.Ā ‘Dickens Anniversary. Glasgow Celebration’, Glasgow Herald, 11 February 1909, p. 12;
3. (Printed advertising circular, with subscription request form:) ‘The Annual Treat of the Glasgow Dickens Society to A Thousand Poor Children of Glasgow’, 21 December 1921 (MLSC, Glasgow Scrapbooks, No. 23, p. 230);
4. ‘Jane Mitchell’, in Breakthrough: Autobiographical Accounts of the Education of Some Socially Disadvantaged Children, ed. by Ronald Goldman, Vol. 212 (London and New York: Routledge, 1968), pp. 124-41 (pp. 135-6)
Repository
Mitchell Library (Glasgow Post Office directory)
Mitchell Library Special Collections (MLSC) (Glasgow Scrapbooks)
National Library of Scotland (Glasgow Post Office directory)
Reference Number
(See Source of Information)
Additional Notes
The Glasgow Post Office directories are available at the Mitchell Library and the National Library of Scotland. Digitised copies are available through the NLS website:Ā https://www.nls.uk/family-history/directories/post-office/index.cfm?place=Glasgow
TheĀ Glasgow HeraldĀ is available at the Mitchell Library and the National Library of Scotland in both hard copy and microfilm (check libraries for availability in both formats). Digitised issues are also available through theĀ British Newspaper Archive:Ā https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/