Ye Govan Cronies Burns Club (aka Govan Ye Cronies 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.)

In 1913, there were 50 members, which was the maximum limit set by this club, and the Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory for this year reports that there were even several men on the waiting list. The following year, the limit was raised to 60 as the club was apparently a popular one.

The group met at 7.30pm in the Red Lamp on Maxwell Street (presumably this was a pub or restaurant) on the second Friday between September and March as well as in June.

According to the 1913 ‘Club Directory’, the group’s regulations set out:

‘That the members of the Club shall consist of men who honour and revere the memory of Burns; that the membership shall not exceed fifty in number, and each candidate for membership must be a Freemason; and to promote social and friendly intercouse amongst its members.’

(‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1913’, in Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XXII (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1913), p. 208)

Date of Existence

1895-? Federated 18 May 1911

Source of Information

1. (Mentioned in minutes of the Glasgow and District Burns Club: Minute entry, 27 March 1913, Glasgow and District Burns Club, Minutes, 12 September 1912-30 April 1919, p. 15 (MLSC, 891709));

2. ‘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. 185;

3. ‘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. 208;

4. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1914’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XXIII (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1914), p. 227

Repository

Mitchell Library Special Collections (MLSC) (Minutes, and Annual Burns Chronicle)

National Library of Scotland (NLS) (Annual  Burns Chronicle)

Reference Number

(See Source of Information, and below for Annual Burns Chronicle)

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

See also Glasgow and District Burns Club.

BC‘ refers to the Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory, which was published yearly since 1892. Copies are available at the Mitchell Library Special Collections and the National Library of Scotland. Many of these 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.