The online catalogue of the University of Glasgow Archives Services, Archives Hub, offers a summary of this society and its activities:

‘Administrative / Biographical History
Glasgow University Dialectic Society was instituted in 1861 at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, as a society for the discussion of literary, philosophical and political subjects. The Society, in some form, has been in existence for some years earlier. The Society has been prominent in University life and in 1885 , along with the Glasgow University Medico-Chirurgical Society , helped to establish the Glasgow University Union (GUU).

Originally a male only club, membership is now mixed and open to matriculated members of the University and ex-members upon payment of a subscription. The Society’s main aim is to foster and promote debate.’

(‘Records of the Glasgow University Dialectic Society, student society, University of Glasgow, Scotland’, ‘Administrative/Biographical History’, Archives Hub)

Date of Existence

(few years prior to) 1861-present

Source of Information

1. Records of the Glasgow University Dialectic Society (includes: Constitution and bye-laws; membership card; syllabus) (UGAS, GB 248 DC 38);

2. Records of the Glasgow University Dialectic Society (includes: Board minutes; Society meeting minutes; Membership roll books) (UGSC, GB 247 MS Gen 1307-1310);

3. (Newspaper clipping, annotated:) ‘Citizen, 4 Mch. 1912’ (MLSC, Young’s Scrapbooks, Vol. 33, p. 55);

4. ‘University Notes’, Evening Citizen, 4 March 1912, p. 10

5. University of Glasgow Dialectic Society Homepage

Repository

Mitchell Library Special Collections (MLSC)

University of Glasgow Archives Services (UGAS)

University of Glasgow Special Collections (UGSC)

Reference Number

(See Source of Information)

Additional Notes

Copies of the Evening Citizen are available at the Mitchell Library and the National Library of Scotland. Digitised issues are available through the British Newspaper Archive: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk.

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 would drop in the next year to 113, before rising again to 155 in 1902.

The late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century issues of the Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory only offer lists of the office bearers, and the number of members on the roll for the years given above. A more detailed history is available on the club’s website:

‘History
The Partick Burns Club was instituted in 1885 and has met to honour Robert Burns every January since then, with the exception of some years during the First and Second World Wars. The Club was founded by the merchants, trades people and members of the Burgh council and the Presidents up to 1912 (when Partick was incorporated into greater Glasgow) were almost uniquely the Provosts of the Burgh.

The Club survived incorporation into Glasgow and between the wars continued its Annual membership. Thanks to the chain of office the names of the Presidents are recorded, however little else of this part of the Club’s history is known. After the Second World War, the suppers continued, however again, with the exception of the names of Presidents, little else is known […]

Originally and up to the Great War the Supper venues were local hotels and the Partick Burgh Hall itself.’

(‘About Us’, The Partick Burns Club <http://thepartickburnsclub.org/about-us/> [accessed 21/03/18])

Date of Existence

1885-present. Federated 1895

Source of Information

1. (Member’s card for John White Jr Esq; small printed advertisement for Partick Burns Club Annual Dinner, 25 January 1887) (MLSC, Glasgow Scrapbooks, No. 21, p. 136);

2. (Newspaper clipping:) ‘Partick Burns Club’, The Press, 31 January 1891 (on annual dinner of the club, 26 January 1891) (MLSC, Glasgow Scrapbooks, No. 21, pp. 178-79);

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. 136;

4. ‘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. 155;

5. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1902’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XI (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1902), p. 140;

6. The Partick Burns Club Homepage <http://thepartickburnsclub.org/about-us/> [accessed 21/03/18];

7. ‘Partick Burns Club’, ‘Burns Clubs’, Wikipedia <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burns_Clubs> [accessed 21/09/15]

Repository

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

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)

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.

The Provand’s Lordship Literary Club was set up for the preservation of one of the very few medieval buildings left in Glasgow. The group was founded in 1906 and met in this house, and through subscriptions and various fundraising activities, raised money for the building’s preservation. (For more information on this building, see ‘Provand’s Lordship‘ on The Glasgow Story website, and ‘Glasgow Photo Library. Provand’s Lordship‘ on the Rampant Scotland website

In the winter, they held meetings that included hearing talks about various historic Glasgow events and personas. Several volumes of Young’s Scrapbooks contain articles on this club and its activities (see ‘Additional Notes’ below).

Date of Existence

1906-?

Source of Information

1. (Prospectus for ‘Proposed Provand’s Lordship Literary Club) (MLSC, Young’s Scrapbooks, Vol. 14, p. 26a);

2. ‘Provand’s Lordship Literary Club. Syllabus’ (1906-07) (MLSC, Young’s Scrapbooks, Vol. 19, p. 66a);

3. (Newspaper clipping:) ‘Provand’s Lordship’, (annotated:) ‘Herald. 25 July 1906.’ (MLSC, Young’s Scrapbooks, Vol. 14, p. 26a);

4. (Newspaper clipping, annotated:) ‘Provand’s Lordship Literary Club. […] Herald. 28 July. 1906’ (MLSC, Young’s Scrapbooks, Vol. 14, p. 28);

5. (Newspaper clipping:) (Provand’s Lordship, with illustration, annotated:) ‘News. 14 Aug. 1906’ (MLSC, Young’s Scrapbooks, Vol. 14, pp. 32-3);

6. (Newspaper clipping, annotated:) ‘Provand’s Lordship. […] Citizen. 7 Dec. 1906’ (MLSC, Young’s Scrapbooks, No. 14, p. 84);

7. (Newspaper clipping:) ‘Provand’s Lordship Club’, (annotated:) ‘Herald. 22 Dec. 1906’ (MLSC, Young’s Scrapbooks, Vol. 14, p. 91);

8. (Newspaper clipping:) ‘”Provand’s Lordship”. A quaint Dinner Party’, (annotated:) ‘Citizen. 22 Dec. 1906’ (MLSC, Young’s Scrapbooks, No. 14, p. 92);

9. (Newspaper clipping:) ‘An Old Glasgow Dinner’, (annotated:) ‘Times. 10 Dec. 1906’ (MLSC, Young’s Scrapbooks, Vol. 14, p. 56);

10. (Newspaper clipping:) ‘”Provand’s Lordship”‘, (annotated:) ‘The Bailie. 9 Jan. 1907. W. Young.’ (MLSC, Young’s Scrapbooks, Vol. 15, p. 3);

11. (Newspaper clipping:) ‘Glasgow’s Oldest House’, (annotated:) ‘T.P.’s Weekly. November 8, 1907’ (MLSC, Glasgow Scrapbooks, Vol. 5, p. 14);

12. (Newspaper clipping:) ‘Glasgow Provand’s Lordship Club’, (annotated:) ‘Herald. 27 May 1908’ (MLSC, Young’s Scrapbooks, Vol. 19, p. 6);

13. (Newspaper clipping:) ‘Provand’s Lordship Club’, (annotated:) ‘Herald. 27 May 1909’ (MLSC, Young’s Scrapbooks, Vol. 23, p. 80);

14. (Brochure for application for membership, including newspaper clipping, annotated:) ‘Herald. 4 Dec. 1909.’ (MLSC, Young’s Scrapbooks, Vol. 26, pp. 96A-96B);

15. (Newspaper clipping:) ‘Provand’s Lordship Club. The Glasgow Poets’, (annotated:) ‘Herald. 4 Dec. 1909’ (MLSC, Young’s Scrapbooks, Vol. 33, p. 14);

16. (Printed illustration of building, with William Young’s handwritten notes) (MLSC, Young’s Scrapbooks, No. 14, p. 99);

17. ‘Provand’s Lordship Literary Club’ (Certificate of Membership) (MLSC, Young’s Scrapbooks, Vol. 19, p. 31)

Repository

Mitchell Library Special Collections (MLSC)

Reference Number

(See Source of Information)

Additional Notes

This list is not all-inclusive; numerous other newspaper clippings in William Young’s Scrapbooks, housed in Mitchell Library Special Collections.