This is little currently known about this society. The evidence that we have comes from a programme for the group’s ‘Thirty-first Dramatic Entertainment’, which was scheduled to be held on 30 April 1880. The front cover states that the association was formed in 1872, and a list of its office bearers is given.

The programme consists of a comic drama, ‘Good for Nothing’, a ‘domestic drama’ called ‘Harvest Storm’, and a ‘Screaming Farce’ named ‘To Paris and Back for £5’. There is no further information provided about the association itself.

Date of Existence

1872-?

Source of Information

[Programme for ‘Thirty-first Dramatic Entertainment’], 30 April 1880

Repository

Mitchell Library Special Collections

Reference Number

Glasgow Scrapbooks, No. 29 (p. 82)

Additional Notes

–

Prior to its official formation, the members of this Burns club met for an annual dinner in 1859 to celebrate the 100th birthday of Burns. In the following year, the Waverley Burns Club was founded at a meeting held at the Waverley Hotel, located at 18 George Square in the city centre.

The club gathered monthly at the Waverley Hotel for dinner, with the meeting following thereafter. At the meetings, various items were read, including original poetry, and songs were sung. The original poetry and songs are occasionally included in the records following the minutes. Following the dinners, there was customarily ‘Harmony, Joke[s] and Eloquence’. In 1863, the club voted to celebrate Shakespeare’s tri-century birthday with a club dinner. On 23 April 1864, the Waverley Burns Club, along with some of the members of the Pen & Pencil Club, celebrated with a dinner at the Bedford Hotel. Between 1862 and 1865, there were 44 members on the roll.  In the minute entry of 24 February 1863, there is a mention of a club library that was beginning to be formed.

In March 1872, the group changed its name to the Western Burns Club. There were approximately 70 members. It appears that over the years, the minute books become increasingly focused on the social events and outings, and include less on the readings that were done at the meetings. The last entry in Minute Book 4 is dated 21 October 1882.

Minute Books 1 and 2 are from the Waverley Burns Club, and most of Minute Book 3 and all of Minute Book 4 are from the Western Burns Club.

Date of Existence

25 January 1860-26 March 1872; (Western Burns Club) March 1872-1882?

Source of Information

1. Sederunt book, Waverly Burns Club (3 notebooks), 1860-72 (MLSC, Robert Burns Collection, Mitchell (AL) 391557-59);

2. [Printed papers] Waverley/Western Burns Club, 1867 (Pamphlets and papers bound together) (MLSC, Robert Burns Collection, Mitchell (AL) 13 WES 644307);

3. [Minute book] Waverly/Western Burns Club, 1872-1882 (from Mitchell online catalogue: ‘Handwritten records of meetings, with printed cuttings, menu cards, correspondence, obituary notices, etc., inserted Minute books nos. 3 and 4, the first two being minutes of the Waverley Burns Club. Book 3 records the change of name to the Western Burns Club in March 1872’) (MLSC, Robert Burns Collection, Mitchell (AL)391559-60);

4. ‘A natal lay: written for the anniversary of Burns birth-day, 25th January, 1875’ (MLSC, Mitchell (AL) 12A WIN52901);

5. Robert Burns, [The Western Burns Club] (reports of Burns suppers, and excursions) (MLSC, Mitchell (AL) 13 WES 907654);

6. (Mentioned in minutes of Glasgow and District Burns Club: Minute entry, 30 March 1908, Glasgow and District Burns Club, Minutes, 8 November 1907-5 September 1912, p. 18 (MLSC, 891709)

Repository

Mitchell Library Special Collections (MLSC)

Reference Number

(See Source of Information)

Additional Notes

See also Glasgow and District Burns Club.

A good summary of the history of the Wellington Church can be found on the Discover Glasgow website:

‘The Wellington United Presbyterian Church congregation gained its name from their original church that was located on Wellington Street in the city centre. That church, completed in 1827 and designed by John Baird, served the congregation for fifty years.

By this time their membership numbers had expanded beyond the church’s capacity, and so a competition was held for the design of a new one, with Thomas Lennox Watson beating out John Burnet. A suitable site was found on University Place, opposite the University of Glasgow’s main building which had moved west the decade before […]

While Baird’s original church was demolished in 1909, the current Wellington Church is still very active […].’

(‘Wellington Church’, Discover Glasgow <http://www.discoverglasgow.org/religious-wellington/4573943352> [accessed 01/04/18]).

A brief history of the church’s Literary Association comes from Alexander Fleming’s, Historical Sketch of Wellington United Presbyterian Congregation, Glasgow (1792-1892) (1893). According to this account, in 1839, a group of young men from the congregation formed The Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Association, which was to be short-lived. The group was revived in 1851, and, at the time of publication, was still running as the Literary Association.

The 1892 Constitution for this society sets out the group’s object as its members’ moral and intellectual improvement. While the earlier group was exclusively for young men, in the late nineteenth century, the association accepted both young men and women as members. The annual subscription charge was quite low, being only 1s, as compared to the average for other literary societies during this period (2s 6d). The meetings were held at 8pm in the Library Room of Wellington Church, which was just around the corner on Ann Street (now known as Southpark Avenue), Hillhead. In March 1892, there was a total of 58 members, which grew to 132 in 1896.

This association was very active in its participation with the literary culture of the period by hosting joint meetings and itself taking part in other literary societies’ meetings across the city (see ‘Additional Notes’ below). In 1900, the group became the Wellington United Free Church Literary Association.

Date of Existence

1851-?

Source of Information

1. Mitchell, James, Lecture on the principles of the Secession Church: delivered to the Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Association, in connection with Wellington Street Congregation, Glasgow, on 12th May, 1863 (UGSC, Sp Coll T.C.L. 4126);

2. Jubilee of the United Presbyterian Church, Wellington Street, Glasgow. Report of Services (Glasgow: Aird & Coghill, 1878); see ‘Report of Congregational Meeting, on 21st November, 1877 in Wellington Street Church, in Connection with the Jubilee Celebration’ (GCA, CH3/1238/1-2);

3. Wellington United Presbyterian Church, Literary Association [Fifth] Minute Book, 1892-1896 (GCA, CH3/1238/1-2);

4. Fleming, Alexander, Historical Sketch of Wellington United Presbyterian Congregation, Glasgow (1792-1892), with an Account of the Proceedings in Connection with the Celebration of the Centenary of the Congregation and of the Rev. Dr. Black’s Semi-jubilee as its Minister (Glasgow: Maclure, Macdonald & Co., 1893) (MLSC, Mitchell (GC) 285.241443 WEL 475664);

5. Report of Wellington United Free Church, Glasgow, for the Year Ended 30th September, 1901 (GCA, CH3/1238/1);

6. Report and year book, Wellington United Free Church (Glasgow: [The Church]); Notes from the Mitchell Library online catalogue: GC: 1905/06-1919/20, 1921/22-1926/27; 285.241443 (MLSC, Mitchell (GC), 285.241443 WEL 575166)

Repository

Glasgow City Archives (GCA)

Mitchell Library Special Collections (MLSC)

University of Glasgow Special Collections (UGSC)

Reference Number

(See Source of Information)

Additional Notes

See also Langside (Literary) Society, St. Columba Literary Association, St. Stephen’s Literary Association, College U.F. Church Literary Society, Berkeley Street U.P. Church Literary Association, Free St. Matthew’s Y.M.C. Union, St. Columba’s Literary Association, Sandyford Church Literary Association [aka Sandyford Established Association], and Free College Church Association, with whom this society had a least one joint meeting.

The Wellpark Free Church was located in Dennistoun, an area in the east end of the city. (For more information about this church, see ‘Glasgow — Wellpark‘ on the Ecclegen website, and Gordon Adams’s article, ‘Wellpark Church of Scotland‘ on the East Glasgow History website. For more information about this area, see Ian R. Mitchell’s article, ‘Dennistoun: No Mean Streets‘ on the Glasgow West End website.)

The information on this society comes from five printed brochures and three ‘literary’ magazines (see ‘Additional Notes’ below) that were produced by and for the society members. From their Constitution, we know that the object of the group was its members’ religious, moral and intellectual improvement. This was to be achieved by reading essays and holding debates at its meetings.

The group met on Friday evenings at 8.15pm at the church Session House (located around the corner from the church on Ark Lane) between October and March. Although there are no extant membership rolls, from the list of the society magazines’ ‘Readers’, we know that this group had about 30 members in the 1880s.

A full case study of this society and its magazine was published by Lauren Weiss in 2016 (see Lauren Weiss, ‘The Manuscript Magazines of the Wellpark Free Church Young Men’s Literary Society’, in Media and Print Culture Consumption in Nineteenth-Century Britain: The Victorian Reading Experience, ed. by Paul Raphael Rooney and Anna Gasperini (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), pp. 53-73).

Date of Existence

1883?-1888?

Source of Information

1. (Announcement of current parliamentary election);

2. (Itinerary for ‘musical entertainment and reading’);

3. (Programme of 1883 opening social meeting);

4. (Schedule ‘conversazione’ for the 1883);

5. ‘Syllabus’ for the 1883-84 session (includes constitution and bye-laws) (Note: Nos. 1-5 are all pasted into back of society’s 1883-84 magazine (pp. 148-51));

6. Wellpark F.C. Literary Society M. S. Magazine, 1883-84 (MLSC, Mitchell (AL) 428697);

7. Manuscript magazine of Wellpark Free Church Young Men’s Literary Society, 1887-88 (MLSC, Mitchell (AL) 428698);

8. Wellpark F. C. Literary Society Magazine, 1888 (MLSC, Mitchell (AL) 428699);

9. (Newspaper clipping on The Ballad Club in The Scots Pictorial, 15 January 1902; Alexander Lamont was a member of the Wellpark society, The Ballad Club and the Sir Walter Scott Club) (MLSC, Young’s Scrapbooks Vol. 6, pp. 39-40)

Repository

Mitchell Library Special Collections (MLSC)

Reference Number

(See Source of Information)

Additional Notes

Alexander Lamont (head-master of one of the local schools in the 1880s at least, and published author) was a member of this club, as well as the Sir Walter Scott Club, and the Glasgow Ballad Club.

See also Barony Free Church Literary Society, with whom this society had a joint debate.

See also entry for Wellpark F. C. Literary Society M.S. Magazine on our sister website, Literary Bonds.

There is little currently known about this club. The information we have comes from an 1846 newspaper article in the Glasgow Courier, which was reprinted in the London Morning Post. According to the article, in 1841, William Wordsworth accepted the honorary  post of patron of the Western Literary Club. The article quotes a letter from him. The poet thanks the club secretary for sending a newspaper article on the club, in which is mentioned the club’s intention to form a library, to which he expressed the wish to donate an autographed copy of his poems. There are no other details on the group in this article.

Date of Existence

1834? (possibly 1841)-?

Source of Information

‘Mr. Wordsworth’s Connections with the Literary Institutions of Glasgow’, Morning Post, 21 November 1846, p. 6 (reference to meeting of 1841)

(Note: this issue of the Morning Post has been digitised and is available on the British Newspaper Archive website. For information about viewing copies of the Glasgow Courier, see ‘Additional Notes’ below).

Repository

National Library of Scotland

Reference Number

–

Additional Notes

Copies of the Glasgow Courier are available at the Mitchell Library and the National Library of Scotland. For digitised copies of both the Morning Post, see the British Newspaper Archive: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/

This article notes that the piece is from the Glasgow Courier for Thursday, 19 November 1846.

The information that we have on this society comes solely from a newspaper article attributed to Thomas Lugton and written over fifty years after the group’s last recorded activity. The article states that this association was founded in 1843 as ‘a debating society, open to lads between 15 and 18…some records of which still exist. Papers read at the meetings were afterwards written by their authors in the society’s year-book’.

([Thomas Lugton], ‘An Old Glasgow MS. Magazine. Lucubrations of the “Western Scientific Association”’, The Evening Times, 3 May 1907, p. 4)

(For more information about Thomas Lugton, see ‘Additional Information’ at the bottom of the entry for (Title currently unknown), Western Scientific Association (Glasgow), on our sister website, Literary Bonds.)

To date, the records of this society to which Lugton refers have not been located.

It is arguable whether or not this group should be included in this project. While it was predominantly a debating society, it is included in this survey of literary societies as the composition of original essays and poems were included amongst the group’s activities. These were collected and written into their society’s ‘yearbook’, which does not appear to have survived (see ‘Additional Notes’ below).

Date of Existence

1843-?

Source of Information

(Newspaper clipping, annotated:) ‘Times. 3 May 1907. Thomas Lugton’ ([Thomas Lugton], ‘An Old Glasgow MS. Magazine. Lucubrations of the “Western Scientific Association”’, The Evening Times, 3 May 1907, p. 4)

Repository

Mitchell Library Special Collections

Reference Number

Young’s Scrapbooks, Vol. 16 (p. 77)

Additional Notes

See also entry for the Western Scientific Association’s magazine (title currently unknown) on our sister website, Literary Bonds.