This association met on Friday evenings at 7.30 in the Greek Class Room of the Free Church Presbytery House, which was located on Holmhead Street. Its object (i.e. the purpose for meeting) was its members’ intellectual as well as religious and moral improvement. Members were students of the United Free Church College, or were approved to become members by a general vote. (For more information about the Free Church College, see ‘Glasgow College of the United Free Church of Scotland‘, on the GASHE (Gateway to Archives of Scottish Higher Education) website.) The subscription fee was rather low, being only 1s per year.

According to the membership rolls, in 1869, the year of the association’s founding, there were 64 Ordinary Members, and in the following session (November 1869-April 1870), there were 57 members. This dropped to 37 in the subsequent year, when the association was dissolved.

In the first session from January until March 1869, the essays and debates were restricted to religious issues and debates on doctrine, but the subsequent years saw a more eclectic mix of subjects — including authors, their works and literature more generally — which was the norm for literary societies throughout the nineteenth century.

Date of Existence

15 January 1869-21 November 1871

Source of Information

Minute-book of Free Church Students’ Literary Association. Glasgow, 1869-1871 (Treasurer’s documents, letters, syllabuses in pocket) (12 items total)

Repository

University of Glasgow Special Collections

Reference Number

MS Gen 898

Additional Notes

Full description of 12 items is available on the University of Glasgow Special Collections Manuscripts Catalogue.

In the early nineteenth century, the East Campbell Street Old Light congregationalists moved around to different premises before a church was built for them in 1823 on the corner of Renfield Street and Gordon Street. In 1858, a new church was erected at 311 Bath Street (on the corner of Elmbank Street), to the west of the city centre and near Charing Cross. (For a more complete history of this church, see ‘Glasgow — Renfield‘ on the the Ecclegen website. For a brief history of Professor Marcus Dods, one of the ministers of the church during the time when the young men’s society was running, see ‘Marcus Dods‘ on The Glasgow Story website).

At the first meeting, the full name of this group was given as the ‘Renfield Free Church Young men’s society for mutual improvement’. There are 30 members listed on the roll at the start. As per the rules, the young men were either part of the church congregation or of the same denomination. Although most of the them lived in and around the city centre, two members lived in the south side of the city, in the Gorbals and Tradeston areas just south of the River Clyde.

The rules of the group were modeled on those of ‘Dr Buchanan’s congregation’, which possibly refers to Robert Buchanan, D.D., who was minister of the Tron Church in Glasgow between 1843 and 1857. (For more information about the Tron Church, see ‘Glasgow — Tron‘ on the the Ecclegen website.)

The society met every other week on a Tuesday in the church session house at 8pm for the purpose of its members’ intellectual, moral and religious improvement. The annual subscription fee was 2s, which was a bit cheaper than the average in the second half of the century (2s 6d). As per the norm for this type of group, meetings were opened and closed with prayer. At the meetings, papers were read and debates were held. Once a quarter, a devotional meeting was to be held.

The society was dissolved at the end of the meeting held on 18 January 1870. In the last session, there were 10 members on the roll.

In a ‘Report of Committee appointed at meeting of Renfield Association, April 28th 1868’, the members discussed the formation of an Association Magazine to be issued monthly in manuscript (see ‘Additional Notes’ below). There were six magazines produced. Upon the dissolution of the society, the issues were allocated to six society members.

Date of Existence

26 February 1851-18 January 1870

Source of Information

Glasgow, Renfield Free Church, U.F., Young Men’s Society minutes, 1851-69

(Note: in the back of this minute book are various loose correspondence, annual and financial reports in manuscript, in addition to a printed ‘Programme’ (i.e. syllabus) for the 1869-1870 session,

Repository

Glasgow City Archives

Reference Number

CH3/1166/13

Additional Notes

See also entry for [Manuscript magazine of the Renfield Free Church Young Men’s Society] on our sister website, Literary Bonds.

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.