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 at 8pm on the first Tuesday (and later on the third Tuesday) of the month from November until April. Its object was:
‘ […] the annual celebration of the Birthday of Robert Burns, occasional re-unions for the cultivation of social and intellectual intercourse amongst the members and friends, the encouragement of Scottish literature, and to have a summer trip to some of the places dear to the lovers of the Poet.’
(‘Club Notes’, in Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XIX (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1910), p. 177)
The group met at Mrs James Anderson’s (wine and spirit merchant, 3 Cathcart Street) in the Gorbals, an area in the south side of Glasgow. (For more information about the Gorbals, see ‘Gorbals , Glasgow. Origins & History‘ on the Scotcities website.) Interestingly, in 1911, it was recorded in the Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory that the club met at 45 South Portland Street, which is listed in the Glasgow Post Office directory for the same year as being the address of one J. A. Diamond, teacher of dancing.
Date of Existence
1893-? Federated 1893
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;
2. ‘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. 197;
3. ‘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: Burns Federation, January 1895), p. 178;
4. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1909’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XVIII (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1909), p. 167;
5. ‘Club Notes’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XIX (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1910), p. 177;
6. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1911’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XX (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1911), p. 163;
7. ‘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. 164
Repository
Mitchell Library Special Collections (MLSC) (Memorial Catalogue, and Annual Burns Chronicle)
National Library of Scotland (NLS) (Annual Burns Chronicle)
Reference Number
Mitchell (AL) 14A MEM 472108 (MLSC) (Memorial Catalogue)
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 the 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 the Robert Burns World Federation website: 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 is different 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.