Overview
This club was based inĀ Govan, an area south of the River Clyde and southwest of the city centre. (For more information about this area, seeĀ Gerald Blaikie’s article, ‘Govan, Glasgow. Architecture & History‘ on theĀ ScotCitiesĀ website.)
It is currently unclear if this is the same group as the Govan Burns Club. It is possible that the Govan Fairfield Burns Club and the Govan Burns Club were one and the same.
There were between 40 and 60 members of this group at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. Members met on the first Wednesday of the month between September and March. The venue for their meetings changed over the years: in 1895, they met at the Waverley Hotel, Langlands (located in the south side of the city); in 1904, at 4 Holm Street, Govan; in 1912, at 941 Govan Road; before moving back to 4 Holm Street in 1913.
Date of Existence
25 January 1886-? Federated 23 September 1892
Source of Information
1. Memorial Catalogue of the Burns Exhibition. Held in the Galleries of the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, 175 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, From 15th July till 31st October, 1896 (Glasgow: William Hodge & Company and T. & R. Annan & Sons, 1898), p. xvi (MLSC, Mitchell (AL), 14A MEM 472108);
2. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies for 1893’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. II (Kilmarnock: D. Brown & Co., Glasgow and Edinburgh: J. Menzies & Co., January 1893), p. 191;
3. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1894’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. III (Kilmarnock: D. Brown & Co., February 1894), p. 196;
4. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1895’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. IV (Kilmarnock: D. Brown & Co., January 1895), p. 177;
5. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1896’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. V (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1896), p. 134;
6. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1898’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. VII (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1898), p. 140;
7. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1899’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. VIII (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1899), p. 157;
8. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1901’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. X (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1901), p. 139;
9. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1902’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XI (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1902), p. 138;
10. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1904’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XIII (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1904), p. 140;
11. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1906’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XV (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1906), p. 149;
12. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1912,’ in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XXI (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1912), p. 163;
13. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1913’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XXII (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1913), p. 186
Repository
Mitchell Library Special Collections (MLSC) (Memorial Catalogue, and Annual Burns Chronicle)
National Library of Scotland (NLS) (Annual Burns Chronicle)
Reference Number
BNS19BUR (MLSC) (Annual Burns Chronicle)
General Reading Room (stored offsite), Y.233, available no. 1-34 25th Jan. 1892-Jan. 1925 (NLS) (Annual Burns Chronicle)
Additional Notes
‘BC‘ refers to theĀ Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory, which was published yearly since 1892. Hard copies are available at the Mitchell Library Special Collections and the National Library of Scotland. Many of them have been digitised and are available through theĀ Robert Burns World FederationĀ website:Ā http://www.rbwf.org.uk/digitised-chronicles/.
This list of Burns chronicles as sources of information gives the first year the club was included in the chronicle, and thereafter only for the years where the information isĀ differentĀ from the previous year’s listing. In keeping with the scope of this study (1800-1914), only the chronicles published between 1892 and 1914 are included.