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 city centre, no number given).

Date of Existence

1900-? Federated 13 October 1913

Source of Information

1. (Mentioned in annual report in Glasgow and District Burns Club minute book: ‘Annual Report for Session 1913-1914’, Minutes, Glasgow and District Burns Club, 12 September 1912-30 April 1919, p. 60 (MLSC, 891709));

2. ‘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), p. 231

Repository

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

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

Reference Number

891709 (MLSC) (minutes)

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 also Glasgow and District 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.

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 the 19th century, Clydebank grew from a small village to one of the world’s major ship building centres. The town was originally known as Barns o’ Clyde, but changed its name in 1882 after the Thomson brothers relocated their shipyard to the village and began building tenement housing for the workers.’

According to the Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory, from 1910 until 1913 (at least), this Burns club met once a month between September and April at Mr Hutcheon’s Restaurant on Glasgow Road, Clydebank. It is currently unknown how many members it had.

Date of Existence

1896-? Federated 2 March 1910

Source of Information

1. (Mentioned in minutes of the Glasgow and District Burns Club: Minute entry, 11 December 1907, Glasgow and District Burns Club, Minutes, 8 November 1907-5 September 1912, p. 9 (MLSC, 891709));

2. ‘Club Notes’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XX (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1911), p. 127;

3. ‘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. 179;

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 stated object as being the:

‘…endeavour, through DONATION, SUBSCRIPTION and other MEANS to establish a fund for the encouragement of the KNOWLEDGE and CULTIVATION of SCOTTISH LITERATURE amongst the children of members, with a view ultimately to found scholarships… and… bursaries at the University, for meritorious Pupils selected from the Bridgeton Elementary Schools, who shall excel in a competitive examination on a portion of Scottish literature previously indicated by the Club.’

(‘History’, Bridgeton Burns Club <http://www.bridgetonburnsclub.org.uk/history.html> [accessed 27/02/18])

Today, the Schools Competition continues to be one of the club’s foremost activities.

In the late nineteenth century, the group met in the Club Rooms at 2 James Street, and later in the Mechanics’ Hall on Canning Street (now part of London Road), Calton. (For more information about this area, see Gordon Adams’s article, ‘Carlton’ on the East Glasgow History website.) Its membership grew from ‘about 250’ in 1894, to 380 in 1914.

Date of Existence

1870-present. Federated 1891

Source of Information

1. Bridgeton Burns Club Minutes, January 1871-23 January 1893 (MLSC, 891421);

2. Bridgeton Burns Club Minutes, 1893-1906 (MLSC, 891707);

3. Annual general meeting [of the Bridgeton Burns Club], Tuesday, 23 March 1993, Marriott Hotel, Argyle Street, Glasgow [agenda and minutes] (3 leaves) (MLSC, Mitchell (AL) BNSf24 BRI 907733);

4. Bridgeton Burns Club Homepage <http://www.bridgetonburnsclub.org.uk/> [accessed 10/05/15];

5. Glasgow and District Burns Club Homepage <http://www.robertburns.plus.com/Association.htm#Glasgow> [accessed 23/09/15];

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

7. Minute entry for 27 March 1913, Glasgow and District Burns Club, Minutes, 12 September 1912-30 April 1919 (MLSC, 891709, p. 15);

8. ‘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. 195;

9. ‘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. 133;

10. ‘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. 152;

11. ‘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;

12. ‘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. 157;

13. (Note: there are numerous articles in the Glasgow Herald on this club; see the British Newspaper Archive <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/>)

Repository

Mitchell Library Special Collections (MLSC)

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

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

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 September to April, when the club would meet at George M. Nichol’s (wine merchant), located at 25 Caledonia Road, South Side.

Date of Existence

1896-? Federated 1896, but 1914 Annual Burns Chronicle gives 1897 as date of federation.

Source of Information

1. (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) ;

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. 144;

3. ‘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. 161;

4. ‘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. 143;

5. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1906’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XV (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1906), p. 153;

6. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1907’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XVI (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1907), 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. 167

Repository

Mitchell Library Special Collections (MLSC)

National Library of Scotland (NLS)

Reference Number

891709 (MLSC) (Minutes)

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 also Glasgow and District 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.

This association initially met on Saturday mornings from 9.30-10.30 (later changed to 12.30-1.30pm, and then to 10-11am) in the Hall of Blythswood Church, located at 258 Bath Street (near Charing Cross). The yearly session ran from November or December until April. Membership was open to students who belonged to the Church of Scotland, some of whom were studying at the University of Glasgow for the ministry of the Church of Scotland. The group’s objects were to encourage conviviality and literary culture. As was the norm for many of these societies, meetings were opened and closed with prayer.

There are no (extant?) roll books for this association, but the number of members who attended each meeting was recorded in the minutes. From these, in the 1877-1878 session, it appears that there were at least 50 members of this group (the number of attendees at the opening meeting), but normally only between 10 and 20 people attended. In the following year, there seems to have been a drop in numbers, with only 15 members attending the opening meeting, and between 7 and 10 members at the meetings thereafter. The minutes end part-way through the session, on 8 February 1879.

The minute book is then taken over by the Glasgow University Theological Society in 1881. There was some continuity between the two societies in that there were several office bearers and committee members of The Church of Scotland Students’ Literary Association who later served the same or similar roles in the Theological Society. The new society was more focused on religious issues and doctrine than the previous group, which regularly included essays on authors (e.g. Tennyson, Byron, Milton, Wordsworth, Scott, and Schiller in the 1877-1878 session alone), and on literature and language more generally.

Date of Existence

1877?-1883?

Source of Information

1. Minute Book, Church of Scotland Students’ Literary Association, 1877-83;

2. Minutes of Church of Scotland Students’ Literary Association, 10th November 1877 to 8th February 1879;

The object of this society was its members’ intellectual improvement through the reading and discussion of essays written by society members, but this was to exclude the subject of religious doctrine.

A couple of examples of the essays read in their meetings include: ”Friends in Council’ or Reading and Criticism’, ‘Literary Societies’, and ‘a series of extracts from Leigh Hunt’s ‘Jar of Honey from Mount Hybla’ (Minute entry, 23 November 1853, Minute Book, City of Glasgow Literary Society, 1853-63).

Some of the authors that were discussed included Leigh Hunt, Victor Hugo, Thomas Hood, Nicolas Gogol (a member read an original translation of ‘Tarass Boulba’ from the French), and Cervantes.

This group was fairly small in size: the number of members in the early years fluctuated between 12 and 22. They met every other Wednesday from October until April. The subscription charge was two shillings and six pence for the session, which was the average fee for societies during the second half of the century. The society met at various venues across the city, including: the Tontine Hotel (for more information on this hotel see, ‘Tontine Hotel‘ on The Glasgow Story website); Angus’ [sic] Coffee House (Argyle Street); and the Bedford Hotel (54 St George’s Place, off the west side of Buchanan Street in the city centre).

Date of Existence

14 November 1850-1863?

Source of Information

Minute Book, City of Glasgow Literary Society, 1853-63

Repository

Mitchell Library Special Collections

Reference Number

436004

Additional Notes

From the Glasgow Libraries Online Catalogue: ‘Note: Handwritten minutes of meetings, and rules of the Society adopted in 1853, with signatures of members at that time’ [accessed 22 January 2018].

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 years 1908-1911 include this club’s syllabi. The group met once a month from October until March. In addition to the lectures, there were various social activities. To give a few examples, beyond the celebration of Burns night in January every year, there was a ‘Ladies’ Night – Tea, &c., Harmony’, a ‘Church Parade’, and a Ladies’ Night that included ‘Progressive Whist, Music, Dancing’.

Date of Existence

1899-1937?

Source of Information

1. (Mentioned in Minutes of Glasgow and District Burns Club: minute entry, 11 December 1907, Minutes, Glasgow and District Burns Club, 8 November 1907-5 September 1912, p. 9 (MLSC, 891709));

2. ‘McLehose (or MacLehose, M’Lehose, Meklehose), Agnes (‘Clarinda’)’, The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women, ed. by Elizabeth Ewan, Sue Innes, and Sian Reynolds (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2006), p. 237;

3. Vance, Michael E., ‘Burns in the Park: A Tale of Three Monuments’, in Robert Burns and Transatlantic Culture, ed. by Sharon Alker, Leith Davis and Holly Faith Nelson (Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate Publishing, 2012), pp. 209-232 (p. 225);

4. ‘Club Notes’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XX (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1911), p. 132;

5. ‘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), p. 223

Repository

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

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

Reference Number

891709 (MLSC) (Minutes)

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 also Glasgow and District 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.

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 109 Argyle Street, and later at Sloan’s Arcade Cafe, Argyle Street). At the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries, it had about 80 members.

The club was keen to emphasise the literary element of its meetings. For example, in addition to its musical evenings, the club advertised in the ‘Special Features’ of the Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory that ‘[a]t each meeting a paper on Burns or other literary subject is given by competent lecturers’.

(‘No. 83–GLASGOW Co-operative Burns Club’, ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1907’, in Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XVI (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1907), p. 163)

Date of Existence

1896-? Federated 1896

Source of Information

1. (Mentioned in minutes of Glasgow and District Burns Club: Minute entry, 8 November 1907, Minutes, Glasgow and District Burns Club, 8 November 1907-5 September 1912, p. 1 (MLSC, 891709));

2. ‘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. 156;

3. ‘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), pp. 160-61;

4. ‘Club Notes’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. X (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1901), pp. 106-07;

5. ‘Club Notes’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XI (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1902), p. 121;

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. 143;

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), p. 153;

8. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1906’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XV (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1906), p. 152;

9. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1907’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XVI (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1907), p. 163;

10. ‘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. 137;

11. ‘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. 169

Repository

Mitchell Library Special Collections (MLSC) (Minutes, 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

See also Glasgow and District 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.

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.

To date, there is little known about this society. The information that we have comes from the minute book of the Wellington United Presbyterian Church Literary Association: the Free College Church Association was scheduled to take part in a Parliamentary Debate with Wellington United Presbyterian Church Literary Association on 18 February 1896.

Date of Existence

1895?-?

Source of Information

(Mentioned in minute book of the Wellington United Presbyterian Church Literary Association: Syllabus, 1895-96 [next to minute entry, 1 November 1895], Wellington United Presbyterian Church Literary Association, Minute Book, 1892-1896)

Repository

Glasgow City Archives

Reference Number

(See Wellington United Presbyterian Church Literary Association, Minute Book, CH3/1238/2)

Additional Notes

See also Wellington United Presbyterian Church Literary Association, with whom they had a Parliamentary Debate.