The Albany Burns Club was founded by a few members of the soon-to-be-defunct Albany Bowling Club in order ‘[t]o keep up the old and valued friendships that were made on its turn’ (‘Club Notes’, ‘ALBANY BURNS CLUB’, in Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. X (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1901), pp. 107-8). They formed their club ‘for the purpose of affording its members an opportunity of studying the works of our National Bard as well as meeting together throughout the winter months in a social capacity’ (Ibid).

The club met monthly between October and March at the Trades’ House Restaurant on Glassford Street (Merchant City, in the heart of the city centre) with membership being restricted to 150 members.

Date of Existence

1899?-? (the 1901 Annual Burns Chronicle gives 1900 as the founding year, while the 1904 Chronicle gives 1899); Federated 1900

Source of Information

1. Roseberry [sic] Donation, Catalogue of the Burns Exhibition. Galleries of the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, 175 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow (Glasgow: William Hodge & Co., 1896), [title page] (Mitchell Library Special Collections, 907880);

2. ‘Burns Anniversary. Celebrations in Falkirk and District. Falkirk Burns Club’, Falkirk Herald, 27 January 1909, p. 6;

3. ‘Burns’ Anniversary. Celebrations in Falkirk and District. Falkirk Burns Club’, Falkirk Herald, 28 January 1914, p. 3;

4. ‘Burns’ Anniversary. Celebrations in Falkirk and District. Falkirk Burns Club’, Falkirk Herald, 31 January 1914, p. 3;

5. ‘Club Notes’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. X (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1901), pp. 107-8;

6. ‘Club Notes’, in BC, ed.  by D. M’Naught, No. XI (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1902), p. 122; 146;

7. ‘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. 147;

8. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1905’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XIV (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1905), p. 157;

9. ‘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. 172.

Repository

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

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

Reference Number

907880 (MLSC) (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

This Burns club sent visitors to and held joint meetings with the following: Rosebery Burns Club, Glasgow Carlton Burns Club, Bridgeton Burns Club, and Sandyford Burns Clubs.

‘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.

Dennistoun is an area located to the east of Glasgow’s City Centre. (For more information about this area, see Ian R. Mitchell’s article, ‘Dennistoun: No Mean Streets‘ on the Glasgow West End website).

There is not much currently known about this Burns club.  It was a small group, having only 25 members at the end of the nineteenth century. Its meetings were held at Loudoun Arms Hotel, Duke Street, Dennistoun. (For more information on the history of this hotel, see John Gorevan’s article, ‘The Loudoun Arms Hotel‘ on the Old Glasgow Pubs website.)

Date of Existence

1886-1909; 1914-? Federated 1889

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 1892’, in BC, ed. by John Muir, No. I (Kilmarnock: D. Brown & Co., 25 January 1892), p. 130;

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: Burns Federation, February 1894), p. 195;

4. ‘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. 139

Repository

Mitchell Library Special Collections (MLSC)

National Library of Scotland (NLS)

Reference Number

Mitchell (AL), 14A MEM 472108 (MLSC) (Memorial Catalogue)

General Reading Room (stored offsite) X.195.a (NLS) (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

Where there are breaks in the dates of a club’s existence, it was the case that the directories listed them as ‘dormant’ during the intervening years.

‘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.

Carlton is a district in the east end of Glasgow. (For more information about this area, see Gordon Adams’s article, ‘Carlton’ on the East Glasgow History website.)

This club met on the first Tuesday of the month between October and April. Meetings were held at M’Culloch’s Restaurant (109 Argyle Street), and later at Sloan’s Arcade Café (108 Argyll Street). There were 60 members in 1896, and their club grew over the years, rising to 103 members by 1914. The 1904 Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory lists its objects under the ‘Special features of the Club’:

‘[…] the perpetuation of the memory of Burns, and the intellectual and social intercourse of its members by such means as may from time to time be agreed upon.’

(‘No. 67. — GLASGOW Carlton Burns Club’, ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1904’, in Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XIII (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1904), p. 141)

Interestingly, this club — in conjunction with the Rosebery Burns Club — issued a volume of the works of Robert Burns in braille (‘Club Notes’, ‘Carlton Burns Club’, in Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XXIV (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, 1915), p. 175)

Date of Existence

February 1894-? Federated 1894

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, 1895’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. IV (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1895), p. 179;

3. ‘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. 135;

4. ‘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. 142;

5. ‘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. 159;

6. ‘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. 141;

7. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1905’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XIV (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1905), pp. 151-2;

8. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1909’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. VIII (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1909), p. 167

Repository

Mitchell Library Special Collections (MLSC)

National Library of Scotland (NLS)

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

See Rosebery Burns Club.

‘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.

Carrick is a district that is now part of South Ayrshire. Members of this Burns club were presumably from this area but had since settled in Glasgow. In the 1890s, the club had 40 members on the roll, and met weekly on Saturday nights at 62 Glassford Street in the city centre (listed as the business address of William Morrison, wine and spirit merchant, in the Glasgow Post Office directory). Later, members would meet monthly on the last Tuesday of each month. By 1905, the number of members had dropped to 30.

The object of the club was the ‘Study of Burns and Kindred Literature’ (‘No. 34.  — GLASGOW Carrick Burn Club’, ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1905’, in Annual  Burns Chronicle and Club Directory, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XIV (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1905), p. 148).

Date of Existence

25 January 1859-2005? Federated 1887

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. xv (MLSC, Mitchell (AL) 14A MEM 472108);

2. ‘Burns Club celebrates its 113th year’, Carrick Gazette, 7 October 2005 <http://www.carricktoday.co.uk/news/local-headlines/burns-club-celebrates-its-113th-year-1-332641> [accessed 23/09/15];

3. ‘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. 190;

4. ‘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. 194;

5. ‘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. 175;

6. ‘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. 132;

7. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1903’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XII (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1903), p. 145;

8. ‘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. 138;

9. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1905’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XIV (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1905), p. 148

Repository

Mitchell Library Special Collections (MLSC)

National Library of Scotland (NLS)

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

‘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.

This Burns club was of a (purposefully) moderate size, limiting its membership to 40 in 1894, and expanding this only slightly to 50 in 1897. According to the 1904 Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory, it was a ‘social’ club that met on the ‘last Friday of February, March, April, September, October, November, and December, at 8 o’clock’.

The group changed the venue for their meetings several times in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: in 1895, they met at the Cobden Hotel (87 Argyle Street), two years later at Mr [Malcolm] M’Culloch’s (wine and spirit merchant, 13 Maxwell Street), in 1904 at M’Culloch’s Argyle Street premises, in 1908 at the National Burns Club (93 Douglas Street), and finally, in 1914, at Ferguson and Forrester’s (purveyors and wine merchants, 36 Buchanan Street). All of these were centrally located in the city.

Date of Existence

1872-present. Federated 1886

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. xv;

2. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies, for 1892’, in BC, ed. by John Muir, No. I (Kilmarnock: D. Brown & Co., 25 January 1892), p. 130;

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. 194;

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: Burns Federation, January 1895), p. 175;

5. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1897’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. VI (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation; January 1897), p. 151;

6. ‘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. 138;

7. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1908’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XVII (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1908), p. 131;

8. ‘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), pp. 202-3;

9. Glasgow Haggis Club <https://www.facebook.com/glasgowhaggisclub> [accessed 23/09/15];

10. ‘Glasgow Haggis Club’, Glasgow and District Burns Association <http://www.robertburns.plus.com/Association.htm#Haggis> [accessed 23/09/15];

11. ‘Donations’, Jean Armour Burns Trust <http://www.jeanarmourburnstrust.co.uk/Donations.html> [accessed 23/09/15]

Repository

Mitchell Library Special Collections (MLSC)

National Library of Scotland (NLS)

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.

There is very little currently known about this club. Outwith a mention of this group in the Memorial Catalogue of the Burns Exhibition, the only other information we have to date is from the 1892 Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory, which lists the club’s meeting place as 80 Gloucester Street (listed in the Glasgow Post Office directory for the same year as the premises of William Millar, wine merchant), along the names and addresses of the President and Secretary.

Date of Existence

1887-1909; 1914-? Federated 1888

Source of Information

1. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Clubs, for 1892’, in BC, ed. by John Muir, No. I (Kilmarnock: D. Brown & Co., 25 January 1892), p. 130;

2. 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

Repository

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

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

Where there are breaks in the dates of a club’s existence, it was the case that the directories listed them as ‘dormant’ during the intervening years.

‘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.

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.

There is very little currently known about this society. Outwith a mention of the group in the Memorial Catalogue of the Burns Exhibition, the only other details we have are provided by the Annual Burns Chronicle, which are sparse indeed. The 1892 chronicle lists the club’s year of federation along with the name of the secretary and his address (Alexander Duncanson, 24 Grafton Street, Glasgow). The 1898 edition only adds to this the number of club members  in that year (80).

Date of Existence

1891?-1909; 1914-? Federated 1891

Source of Information

1. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies, for 1892’, in BC, ed. by John Muir, No. I (Kilmarnock: D. Brown & Co., 25 January 1892), p. 131;

2. ‘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. 139;

3. 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

Repository

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

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

Where there are breaks in the dates of a club’s existence, it was the case that the directories listed them as ‘dormant’ during the intervening years.

‘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.

There is little currently known about this club. From the 1892 and 1895 editions of the Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory, we know that members met in the Club Rooms located at 163 Ingram Street. This is the address given by the Glasgow Post Office directory for William Barr, wine and spirit merchant. We do not know how many members there were, how frequently they met, nor what the object for meeting was (which was usually stated by most clubs and societies in their rules and constitutions).

Date of Existence

1887-1909; 1914-? Federated 1889

Source of Information

1. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies, for 1892′, in BC, ed. by John Muir, No. I (Kilmarnock: D. Brown & Co., 25 January 1892), p. 131;

2. ‘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. 176;

3. 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

Repository

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

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)

Mitchell (AL) 14A MEM 472108 (MLS) (Memorial Catalogue)

Additional Notes

Where there are breaks in the dates of a club’s existence, it was the case that the directories listed them as ‘dormant’ during the intervening years.

‘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.

Sutherland is a county in the Highlands of Scotland. This society is a type of nineteenth-century county association. In the stricter sense, county associations were groups whose members (or whose parents) were former residents of counties across Scotland who had moved to Glasgow. This type of group incorporated elements of a benevolent society in that they could offer a combination of accommodation, advice, referrals, and general assistance to newcomers in the city when they arrived, while also offering aid to widows, unemployed members, or members undergoing financial hardship. In addition, they might offer to provide for the education of their members’ children, or money to support their higher education.

In Charles Sandford Terry’s A catalogue of the publications of Scottish historical and kindred clubs and societies, there is a list of publications produced by the Sutherland Association in Edinburgh, which was founded in 1866. The entry mentions the Glasgow association, which preceded it by nine years. The catalogue gives the Glasgow group’s object as ‘the study and preservation of the literature, history, and traditions of the county’.

This association also produced a manuscript magazine in 1899 (at least) that contains original papers written by society members. The group voted to have this put into print (see ‘Additional Notes’ below).

Date of Existence

1857-?

Source of Information

1. Glasgow Sutherlandshire Association, ‘Papers contributed to [the] Manuscript magazine: 12 January 1899’ (Glasgow: Archibald Sinclair, “Celtic Press”, 1899) (UGL, Library Research Annexe, Store 25964);

2. Terry, Charles Sanford, ‘Publication of the Sutherland Association, Edinburgh’, A catalogue of the publications of Scottish historical and kindred clubs and societies, and of the volumes relative to Scottish history issued by His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1780-1908, with a subject index (Glasgow: James MacLehose and Sons, 1909), p. 193 (UGL, 5 copies, includes: History Bibliog DV300 1909-T 1780-1908; see also UGSC, Sp Coll MacLehose 472);

3. Glasgow Sutherlandshire Association, Sixty-Fifth Annual Reunion. Complimentary Dinner to Rev. Adam Gunn, M.A., D.D., Durness. Reprinted from the “John O’Groat Journal” of Friday, February 18, 1921 (Glasgow: 1921) (reprinted by Wentworth Press, 2016; see also digitised copy on us.archive.org)

Repository

University of Glasgow Library (UGL)

University of Glasgow Special Collections (UGSC)

Reference Number

(See Source of Information)

Additional Notes

See also entry for Papers Contributed to Manuscript Magazine on our sister website, Literary Bonds.