Overview 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 Read More …
Document Type: Directory
Auld Clinkum Burns Club
Overview There is very little currently known about this club. According to the Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory, members met on the first Saturday of each month at an establishment on St. Vincent Street (to the west of the Read More …
Bank Burns Club
Overview This Burns club met weekly on Saturday evenings at Mrs. M’Arthur’s in 1883, later the Club Rooms at M’Culloch’s in 1892, both of which are listed as 109 Argyle Street, before moving in 1896 (at least) to Whyte and Read More …
Barns O’ Clyde Burns Club, Clydebank
Overview Clydebank is located to the west of Glasgow and is situated on the north of the River Clyde. The Visit Scotland website offers a brief history of the area: ‘Clydebank is the historic heartland of the Scottish shipbuilding industry […] During Read More …
Bridgeton Association for Religious and Intellectual Improvement
Overview Bridgeton is an area to the east of Glasgow’s city centre. (For more information about this area, see Gordon Adams’s chapter, [Bridgeton & Dalmarnock], ‘Historical Background‘, on the East Glasgow History website.) According to the evidence given in 1836 Read More …
Bridgeton Burns Club
Overview Bridgeton is an area to the east of Glasgow’s city centre. (For more information about this area, see Gordon Adams’s chapter, [Bridgeton & Dalmarnock], ‘Historical Background‘, on the East Glasgow History website.) The Bridgeton Burns Club’s website gives the group’s earliest Read More …
Brougham Literary Club (possibly same as Brougham Literary Institute)
Overview It is possible that this society was named for Henry Brougham (1778-1868), a highly influential advocate of social reform who helped to found the Edinburgh Review, and whose utilitarian philosophy was behind his Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. The Read More …
Caledonia Burns Club (not same as Caledonian Burns Club)
Overview The ‘Club Notes’ in the Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory for 1901 includes this club’s Constitution, which gives its objects: ‘The objects of the Club shall be to foster an intimate acquaintance with the works of Burns, and Read More …
Caledonian Burns Club (aka Glasgow Caledonian Burns Club) (not same as Caledonia Burns Club, Glasgow)
Overview There is little currently known about this club. According to the Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory, in 1898, the group met every other Thursday. From 1899 until 1912 (at least), this was changed to every other Tuesday from Read More …
Clarinda Burns Club (currently unclear if this is Glasgow Clarinda Club)
Overview This club was named after ‘Clarinda’, the name adopted by Agnes McLehose (or MacLehose, M’Lehose, Meklehose), whose affair with Robert Burns (‘Sylvander’) is the subject of ‘Ae fond kiss’ (1791). The Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory for the Read More …
Co-operative Burns Club
Overview This Burns club met on the first Saturday of each month between October and May at 8pm. Its meetings were held at various local restaurants (e.g. in Room No. 10 at M’Culloch’s Restaurant, Croy place, 9 Maxwell Street, at Read More …
Dennistoun Burns Club (not the same as Dennistoun Jolly Beggars Burns Club)
Overview 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 Read More …
Dennistoun Jolly Beggars Burns Club
Overview 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 Read More …
Eclectic Literary Society (not same as St. John’s Parish Church Eclectic Literary Association)
Overview There is not a great deal currently known about this society. The Glasgow Post Office directory offers a list of office bearers in 1854 (these are also given in the newspaper articles listed below), while the articles in the Read More …
Eglinton Young Men’s Literary Association
Overview This group belonged to the Eglinton Congregational Church, which was located on 341 Eglinton Street, south of the River Clyde, in the Laurieston area. (For more information on this area, see ‘Gorbals, Glasgow. Laurieston Guide‘ on the ScotCities website). Designed by John Read More …
Fingalian Club
Overview Along with a list of its office bearers, the Glasgow Post Office directory for 1856 to 1857 gives a brief summary of this club: ‘Its objects are to excite in its members (who must be Highlanders) a taste for Read More …
Free Anderston Church Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Society (also includes the Free Anderston Church Literary Society)
Overview This society was based at Anderston Church on University Avenue in Glasgow’s West End. Members of this society were most likely part of the congregation. (For more information on this church, see ‘Glasgow — Anderston‘ on the Ecclegen website.) Meetings were held Read More …
Free East Campbell Literary Society
Overview Members of this society were most likely part of the congregation of the East Campbell Street Free Church (East Campbell Street is just off of Gallowgate, to the east of Saltmarket in the city centre). (For more information on Read More …
Free Gorbals Literary Society
Overview This group was located in the Gorbals, in the south side of Glasgow. Members might have belonged to the East Gorbals Free Church (previously and subsequently known as Gorbals Parish Church or the Parish Church of Gorbals), on Calton Read More …
Free Renfield Literary Society (currently unknown if this is same society as Young Men’s Association (Renfield Street United Presbyterian Church))
Overview Members of this society were most likely part of the congregation of the Renfield Free Church, located on the corner of Renfield Street and Gordon Street in the city centre. (For more information on this church, see ‘Glasgow — Read More …
Free St. David’s Literary Society
Overview Members of this society were most likely part of the congregation of St. David’s Free Church, located on Frederick Street in the city centre. (For more information on this church, see ‘Frederick Street UP Church‘ on The Glasgow Story website; Read More …
Free St. George’s Literary Association
Overview Members of this society were most likely part of the congregation of Free St. George’s Church, located on Bath Street in the city centre. (For more information on this church, see ‘Glasgow — St. George’s‘ on the Ecclegen website.) There is Read More …
Free St. John’s Literary Society (currently unknown if this is same as Free St. John’s Young Men’s Association)
Overview Members of this society were most likely part of the congregation of St. John’s Free Church, located on George Street in the city centre. (For more information on this church, see ‘St John’s Free Church‘ on The Glasgow Story website; Read More …
Free St. Luke’s Literary Society
Overview Members of this society were most likely part of the congregation of St. Luke’s Free Church, which at this time was installed in a new church built for them on Great Hamilton Street (now London Road, SE) in Glasgow’s Read More …
Free St. Mark’s Literary Society
Overview Members of this society were most likely part of the congregation of St. Mark’s Free Church, located at 161 Main Street, Anderston, an area to the west of Glasgow’s city centre. (For more information on this church, see ‘Glasgow Read More …
Free St. Matthew’s Literary Society (currently unknown if this is the same as or part of the Free St. Matthew’s Y.M.C. Union)
Overview Members of this society were most likely part of the congregation of St. Matthew’s Free Church, located at the west end of Bath Street, to the west of the city centre. (For more information on this church, see ‘St Read More …
Free St. Peter’s Young Men’s Association (later became Free St. Peter’s Literary Society)
Overview Members of this society were part of the congregation of St. Peter’s Free Church, located at 53 Mains Street (now Blythswood Street), off Argyle Street in the city centre. (For more information on this church, see John Goodwin’s History of Read More …
Gaelic Society of Glasgow (not same as Gaelic Club)
Overview The Glasgow Post Office directory for 1906-1907 provides a list of this society’s objects, its membership requirements, along with its subscription fees: ‘[…] The objects of the Society are: — The cultivation of the Gaelic Language; the cultivation and Read More …
Glasgow and District Burns Club (aka Glasgow and District Burns Club Association, aka Glasgow and District Association of Burns Clubs and Kindred Societies) (currently unclear if this is same as Glasgow And West of Scotland Burns Club Association)
Overview This club was made up of several local and regional Burns clubs: in 1908, one year after its founding, there were 23 clubs, and the group grew to include 40 clubs by 1914. It met at various venues across Read More …
Glasgow and West of Scotland Catholic Literary Association
Overview There is little information currently known about this club. The details that we have come from the Glasgow Post Office directory, which lists the society’s patron, Office Bearers, object and subscription fee: ‘[…] Patron, His Grace Archbishop Eyre, LL.D. Read More …
Glasgow Arbroath Association
Overview Arbroath is a town in Angus, and is northeast of Dundee. (For more information on the town, see ‘Arbroath‘ on Undiscovered Scotland website.) This society is a type of nineteenth-century county association. In the stricter sense, county associations were groups Read More …
Glasgow Athenaeum French Literary Club
Overview Modeled on the Manchester Athenaeum, the Glasgow Athenaeum was founded in 1847 as a literary an scientific institution. (For more information about this organisation, see ‘Athenaeum opening‘ on The Glasgow Story website, and ‘Administrative / Biographical History‘ for the ‘Records of Read More …
Glasgow Ballad Club
Overview The founder and first President of this club was William Freeland, who served from 1876 to 1903. There were 11 original members. The Glasgow Post Office directory for 1902-1903 gives a good overview of this club and its activities: Read More …
Glasgow Carlton Burns Club
Overview 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. Read More …
Glasgow Carrick Burns Club
Overview 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 Read More …
Glasgow Central Burns Club (aka Glasgow Central Burns Club and Literary Society, Ltd.)
Overview This club’s object was ‘[t]o promote the study of Burns’s works and other literary and social subjects’. (‘No. 145. -GLASGOW Central Burns Club and Literary Society, Ltd.’, ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Read More …
Glasgow Cowal Society, Literary Department
Overview The name for this society refers to Cowal, a peninsula in Argyll and Bute in the Scottish Highlands, thus its members were almost certainly from the Highlands. This group is a type of nineteenth-century county association. In the stricter sense, Read More …
Glasgow Daisy Burns Club
Overview There is not much currently known about this Burns club. The details we have come from the 1912 Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory. The group met at the Christian Institute on Bothwell Street (to the west of the city Read More …
Glasgow Dickens Society
Overview The Glasgow Post Office directory for 1908-1909 provides an overview of this society: ‘The objects and aims of the Society are: — (1) To knit together in a common bond of friendship lovers of that great master of humour Read More …
Glasgow Dundee Association for Literary and Social Purposes
Overview 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 Read More …
Glasgow Free Church Literary Union
Overview The Union was formed in 1850, seven years after the Disruption, when the Presbyterian church split in two. Its institution occurred during a period of active church building—and apparently society founding—by the newly-established Free Church. In 1853, this group Read More …
Glasgow Free Tron Literary Society
Overview Members of this society were most likely part of the congregation of the Free Tron Church in the city centre. (For more information on this church, see ‘Glasgow — Tron‘ on the Ecclegen website.) There is little currently known about this society. Read More …
Glasgow Haggis Club
Overview 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’ Read More …
Glasgow Hutchesontown Burns Club
Overview This Burns club was based in Hutchesontown, located to the south of the River Clyde and southeast of the city centre. Members met at 572 Rutherglen Road (premises of R. Young, spirit merchant) on the first Friday of the Read More …
Glasgow Jewish Literary and Social Society (currently unknown if this is same as Glasgow Jewish Young Men’s Institute)
Overview The information that we currently have for the Glasgow Jewish Literary and Social Society comes from a 1904 catalogue of the society’s library. Use of the library was restricted to society members, but was free of charge. The library Read More …
Glasgow Jolly Beggars Burns Club
Overview 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 Read More …
Glasgow Montefiore Literary and Musical Society
Overview The only information we currently have on this society comes from the 1885-1886 Glasgow Post Office directory, which lists the group’s object, admissions policy, subscription rate, and office bearers: ‘The object of this society is to give a course Read More …
Glasgow Mossgiel Burns Club
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 Read More …
Glasgow Northern Burns Club
Overview 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 Read More …
Glasgow Primrose Burns Club
Overview In 1910 (the earliest year for which we have any details on this club), members met in the Arcade Café (possibly Sloan’s Arcade Café, 109 Argyle Street), before meeting in the Alexandra Hotel (148 Bath Street, in the city Read More …
Glasgow Society of Science, Letters, and Art
Overview There is little currently known about this society. The only information we have comes from the Glasgow Post Office Directory for 1885 to 1886, which offers the following details on what appears to be a high-status club with a Read More …
Glasgow Southern Burns Club
Overview There is little currently known about this Burns club. The only details provided by the 1901 Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory are its then current office bearers and their addresses, while the 1904 directory is even less helpful, only Read More …
Glasgow St. David’s Burns Club
Overview 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 Read More …
Glasgow Sunday Society
Overview Details on this group come from the Glasgow Post Office directory for 1884-1885, that gives the following summary, which includes a rather lengthy list of its 26 vice-presidents: ‘Objects of the society — (1) To obtain the opening of Read More …
Glasgow-Ardgowan Burns Club
Overview Ardgowan is located near Inverkip, Inverclyde, on the west coast of Scotland. It is possible that the members of this club were originally from this area before moving to Glasgow. There is little currently known about this Burns club. Read More …
Glencairn Burns Club, Glasgow
Overview Glencairn is a parish in Dumfries and Galloway. It is possible that the members of this club were originally from this area before moving to Glasgow. In the late nineteenth century, this Burns club met on the first Thursday Read More …
Gorbals Burns Club
Overview This club took its name from the Gorbals, an area in the south side of Glasgow where, presumably, the members were based. (For more information about the area, see ‘Gorbals , Glasgow. Origins & History‘ on the ScotCities website.) The group met at Read More …
Govan Fairfield 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.) It is currently unclear if Read More …
Irving Club (aka Irving Literary and Dramatic Club)
Overview The listing for this club in the 1886 t0 1887 Glasgow Post Office directory gives a good summary of the group and its activities: ‘[…] This Club, which is under the direct patronage of Mr. Henry Irving, devotes its Read More …
Juridical [Society]
Overview The listing for this society in the 1854-1855 Glasgow Post Office directory gives a brief summary of this group and its activities: ‘[…] The Society meets in the Sheriff Court Hall, County Buildings, every Wednesday evening during the session, Read More …
Kingston Burns Club
Overview Kingston is an area just to the south of the River Clyde and site of the Kingston Dock. (For more information on this area, see the entry for ‘Kingston Dock‘ on The Glasgow Story website). The Kingston Burns Club Read More …
Kinning Park Burns Club
Overview Kinning Park is an area in the south side of Glasgow. (For more information on this area, see W. Hamish Fraser’s article, ‘Neighbourhoods. Kinning Park‘ on The Glasgow Story website). In 1908, the Kinning Park Burns Club met at 8pm on the Read More …
Literary and Commercial Society of Glasgow
Overview The Glasgow Literary Society was founded in 1752 and changed its name at the beginning of the nineteenth century to the Literary and Commercial Society of Glasgow. They changed premises as well, moving from the University of Glasgow (at Read More …
Macaulay Literary Club
Overview It is currently unknown if this club was named for Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859), possibly as a tribute to him and his influential writing on British history, his death occurring only five years prior to the club’s formation. To Read More …
Mauchline Society (aka Glasgow-Mauchline Society)
Overview Mauchline is a town in East Ayrshire. Robert Burns lived there for a time on Mossgiel Farm. This group is a type of nineteenth-century county association. In the stricter sense, county associations were groups whose members (or whose parents) were Read More …
National Burns Club, Ltd., Glasgow
Overview This group had its own Club Rooms, which were located at 93 Douglas Street (just off St. Vincent Street, and to the west of the city centre). Later, it had its own library. The ‘Club Notes’ of the 1905 Read More …
Partick Burns Club
Overview Partick is an area in the West End of Glasgow. (For more information on this area, see the entry for ‘Partick, Glasgow. Origins & History‘ on the ScotCities website). This was a fairly large Burns club, having 213 members in 1896. Membership Read More …
Partick Western Burns Club (not same as Partick Burns Club, nor the Western Burns Club)
Overview Partick is an area in the West End of Glasgow. (For more information on this area, see the entry for ‘Partick, Glasgow. Origins & History‘ on the ScotCities website). The evidence for this group comes from issues of the Annual Burns Chronicle Read More …
Pollokshaws Burns Club
Overview Pollokshaws is an area in the south side of Glasgow. (For more information on this area, see Irene Maver’s article, ‘No Mean City: 1914 to 1950s. Neighbourhoods: Pollokshaws‘ on The Glasgow Story website). This Burns club had 70 members in 1896, which dropped Read More …
Possilpark Burns Club
Overview Possilpark is a district in the north of the city. (For more information on this area, see Michael Maver’s article, ‘No Mean City: 1914 to 1950s. Neighbourhoods: Possilpark‘ on The Glasgow Story website). There is little currently known about this club. The Read More …
Rosebery Burns Club (not same as Kilbirnie Rosebery Burns Club)
Overview This was a fairly large Burns club, with 94 members on the roll in 1893, and it nearly doubled its size in 1902, with 180 members reported. The group met from September until April on Tuesdays at 8pm (later Read More …
The Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow (not the same as Philosophical Society, 1795-1796?)
Overview This group began as the Glasgow Philosophical Society and later became the Philosophical Society of Glasgow. A Royal Charter was granted in 1901. The Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow’s website offers an excellent summary of the long history of this Read More …
Royalty Burns Club
Overview According to the club’s website, this Burns club was formed by a few Glasgow Publicans in 1882. Various issues of the Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory published at the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries provide more details. Read More …
Ruskin Society of Glasgow; Society of the Rose
Overview The Glasgow Post Office directory published in 1881 provides the earliest information we have to date on this group and lists the office bearers and committee members. In addition, it gives the aims of the society, which were: ‘(1) Read More …
Sandyford Burns Club
Overview Sandyford is an area located just to the west of Charing Cross. The Glasgow and District Burns Association website gives a brief history of the founding of this club: ‘The clubs’ [sic] motto is taken from the poem “Contented Wi Read More …
Scotch Girls Friendly Society
Overview There is little information currently known about this group. The only information that the 1894 Glasgow Post Office directory provides is an address, which is given as 59 Elmbank Street, located to the east of Charing Cross. It is Read More …
Scottish Burns Club
Overview According to the 1915 Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory, this Burns club had 101 members and nine life members on its roll in 1914. This is the only evidence we have in regards to the size of the Read More …
Scottish Society of Literature and Art
Overview The Glasgow Post Office directory for 1887-1888 provides a good summary of this society and its activities. Along with the society’s object — ‘[t]he cultivation of literature, music, elocution, and art generally, by the holding of meetings for the Read More …
Shettleston Burns Club
Overview Shettleston is an area in Glasgow’s east end. (For more information on this area, see Gordon Adams’s article on the ‘History of Shettleston‘ on the ‘East Glasgow History‘ website). According to the 1902 Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory, this Burns club Read More …
Sir Walter Scott Club
Overview The Glasgow Post Office directory for 1896-1897 lists the prestigious office bearers and prominent members of the community who belonged to this club. In addition, it gives the group’s object, which was ‘[…] to promote the study of Sir Walter Read More …
Springburn Burns Club
Overview Springburn is a district in the north of the city. (For more information on this area, see Gilbert T. Bell’s, ‘Second City of The Empire: 1830s to 1914. Neighbourhoods: Springburn‘ on The Glasgow Story website.) There is very little currently Read More …
St. Rollox Burns Club
Overview St. Rollox was located in the north of the city in the Springburn area. The area was home of the St Rollox Railway Works, and St Rollox Chemical Works, which was reportedly the largest in Europe. (For more information on Read More …
St. Rollox Jolly Beggars
Overview St. Rollox was located in the north of the city in the Springburn area. The area was home of the St Rollox Railway Works, and St Rollox Chemical Works, which was reportedly the largest in Europe. (For more information on Read More …
Tam O’ Shanter Club (aka the Tam O’ Shanter Burns Club)
Overview According to the 1882 Glasgow Post Office directory, the object (i.e. purpose for meeting) of this Burns club was ‘the annual celebration of the birth-day of Robert Burns; occasional reunions for the cultivation of social and intellectual intercourse amongst Read More …
The British Empire Shakespeare Society
Overview This society was the Glasgow branch of the larger British Empire Shakespeare Society that was founded by Greta Morritt (actress) in 1901. According to The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare, she founded the society ‘to promote Shakespeare’s works throughout the Empire Read More …
The Poetry Society (aka Poetry Recital Society)
Overview There is very little currently known about this society. The only information we have to date comes from the Glasgow Post Office directory. From this, we know that it was the Glasgow branch of The Poetry Society that was Read More …
The Scottish Poets’ Club
Overview There is very little currently known about this club. The only information we have to date comes from the Glasgow Post Office directory, which briefly states the group’s object and lists the then current office bearers: ‘THE SCOTTISH POETS’ Read More …
Thistle Burns Club
Overview This is little currently known about this Burns club. What we do know is that it was a relatively small group by design: according to the Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory, in 1894, the club had 30 members, Read More …
Tollcross Burns Club
Overview Tollcross is an area in Glasgow’s east end, approximately three miles from the city centre. (For more information about this area, see Gordon Adams’s A History of Tollcross & Dalbeth, a digitised copy of which is available on the Read More …
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 Read More …
Young Women’s Christian Association (aka Glasgow Young Women’s Christian Association)
Overview The earliest evidence we have to date for the Glasgow branch of the Young Women’s Christian Association comes from the 1870s, about twenty years after the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) was formed in London, and about thirty years after Read More …