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; see also ‘Glasgow — St. John’s‘ on the Ecclegen website.)

There is little currently known about this society. The information we have comes from the Glasgow Post Office Directory for 1853-1854, which lists the society’s representatives in the Glasgow Free Church Literary Union (see below), a programme for their annual soiree, and a short listing in the ‘General Directory’ of the 1867-1868 Post Office directory.

This group was one of 12 societies that made up the Glasgow Free Church Literary Union in 1853 (at least) (see ‘Additional Notes’ below).

Date of Existence

1853?-1867?

Source of Information

1. ‘Glasgow Free Church Literary Union’, ‘Local Institutions–Religious’, Glasgow Post-Office Annual Directory for 1853-1854… (Glasgow: William Mackenzie, 1853), p. 79;

2. ‘Soiree’, Free St. John’s Young Men’s Association, programme, 21 April 1859 [annotated];

3. ‘Free St. John’s Young Men’s Association’, ‘General Directory’, Post Office Glasgow Directory for 1867, 1868… (Glasgow: William Mackenzie, 1867), p. 151

Repository

Mitchell Library (Glasgow Post Office directories)

Mitchell Library Special Collections (MLSC) (programme)

National Library of Scotland (NLS) (Glasgow Post Office directories)

Reference Number

Glasgow Scrapbooks, No. 5, p. 122 (MLSC) (programme)

Additional Notes

This society was part of the Glasgow Free Church Literary Union, which is listed separately.

The Glasgow Post Office directories are available at the Mitchell Library and the National Library of Scotland. Digitised copies are available through the NLS website: https://www.nls.uk/family-history/directories/post-office/index.cfm?place=Glasgow

The Glasgow Foundry Boys Religious Society was instituted in 1865, two years before the founding of the Wellington Palace Branch. According to the ‘Plan of Tea Tables and Names of Branches’ in the 1900 ‘Souvenir Programme’ for the annual social dinner, there were (at least) 25 branches of the Glasgow Foundry Boys’ Religious Society in the city  at that time. They were as follows:

Anderston Hall; St James’ Hall; City Hall; Rutherglen; Renwick Hall; Gordon Hall; Clyde Street Port Dundas; Victoria Hall; Christian Institute; Spoutmouth; St Andrew’s; Crossmyloof; Blackfriars; Possilpark; Church Branch; Portman Street; National Halls; St George’s; Finnieston Street; Osborne Halls; Cathcart; Lorne Hall; Shettleston; Church Place; and Doncaster Street.

It is currently unknown if there were also 25 literary societies attached to those groups.

The Glasgow Post Office directories for the early years of the twentieth century show that the Glasgow Foundry Boys Religious Society was a huge organisation whose quickly growing membership only began to decline at the start First World War. In 1902, it had on its rolls ‘16,861 lads and girls, and 1848 voluntary workers’ (‘Glasgow Foundry Boys’ Religious Society’, ‘Religious and Moral Institutions’, Post Office Glasgow Directory for 1902-1903… (Glasgow: Aird & Coghill, 1902), p. 151). The number of young men and women members rose to almost 18,000 in 1906, but by 1914, it had ‘14,652 lads and girls, and 1561 voluntary workers […] [with] 83 branches in the city and suburbs’ (‘Glasgow Foundry Boys Religious Society’, ‘Institutions’, Post Office Glasgow Directory for 1914-1915… (Glasgow: Aird & Coghill, 1914), p. 1793).

Wellington Palace was a public hall located at 11 Commercial Road, just south of the River Clyde (it would later be used as a music hall, and even later as a cinema; see ‘Wellington Palace‘ on the Scottish Cinemas and Theatres Project website). The information on the Wellington Palace Branch comes primarily from the society magazine, The Foundry Boy (see ‘Additional Notes’ below), which was written and produced by the members.

Date of Existence

1867-1914?

Source of Information

1. ‘Glasgow Foundry Boy’s Religious Society’, Glasgow Herald, 21 July 1866, p. 6;

2. ‘Glasgow Foundry Boys’ Religious Society — Hallow E’en Gathering’, Glasgow Herald, 3 November 1866, p. 2;

3. Glasgow Foundry Boys’ Religious Society, Scripture text book, 1870-1876 (Glasgow: [The Society], [1876?]) (MLSC, Mitchell (GC), 206 437839);

4. Annual Report, Glasgow Foundry Boys’ Religious Society (Glasgow: [The Society], 1880) (MLSC, Mitchell (GC), 206 46801);

5. Glasgow Foundry Boys’ Religious Society, The Foundry Boy, the Monthly Magazine of the Wellington Palace Branch (January-December 1886) (Glasgow: [The Society], 1886) (MLSC, Mitchell (GC) 206 98783);

6. ‘Souvenir Programme’ for Glasgow Foundry Boys Religious Society Annual Conversazione of Workers and Friends. In the City Hall, Enter By Albion Street, On Thursday Evening, 15th Nov., 1900′ (MLSC, Glasgow Scrapbooks, No. 23, p. 212);

7. (Newspaper clipping on annual social meeting of the office-bearers and monitors) (MLSC, Young’s Scrapbooks, No. 9, p. 150-51);

8. (Numerous articles in Glasgow Herald on this and its parent society, see the British Newspaper Archive)

Repository

Mitchell Library (Glasgow Herald)

Mitchell Library Special Collections (MLSC)

National Library of Scotland (Glasgow Herald)

Reference Number

(See Source of Information)

Additional Notes

The Glasgow Herald is available at the Mitchell Library and the National Library of Scotland in both hard copy and microfilm (check libraries for availability in both formats). Digitised issues are also available through the British Newspaper Archive: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/

See also entry for The Foundry Boy on our sister website, Literary Bonds.

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.

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 by co-ordinating reading circles, dramatic readings, and costume recitals. It published an official gazette 1915–39’ (Susan Brock, ‘British Empire Shakespeare Society’, The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare, 2nd edn (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015)).

The 1911-1912 Glasgow Post Office directory gives the objects of and subscription fees for the Glasgow society:

‘ (1) To promote greater familiarity with Shakespeare’s works among all classes throughout the British Empire by organizing Dramatic Readings and acting scenes from Shakespeare’s Plays, and by lectures on his life and work. (2) To help the rising generation not only to study Shakespeare’s plays but to love them. Life Membership, £5. Yearly Subscription, 5s.’

(‘The British Empire Shakespeare Society’, ‘Artistic, Literary, and Scientific Institutions’, Post Office Glasgow Directory for 1911-1912… (Glasgow: Aird & Coghill, 1911), p. 1821)

The society’s listing in the Post Office directory for 1914-1915 shows that the annual subscription had gone up to 6s. The rather high annual subscription (as compared to 2s 6d, the average for other literary societies during this period) would suggest that this society was most likely composed of mostly middle-class members.

Date of Existence

1906?-1933?

Source of Information

1. ‘Programme of the British Empire Shakespeare Society, Glasgow Branch, featuring [John/Joseph] MacDonagh as Publius and Trebonius in the ‘Julius Caesar’ recital of scenes, 1906 Oct. 19.’ (NLI, Thomas MacDonagh Family Papers, 1848-1966, MS 44, 343/1/2);

2. ‘The British Empire Shakespeare Society’, ‘Artistic, Literary, and Scientific Institutions’, Post Office Glasgow Directory for 1911-1912… (Glasgow: Aird & Coghill, 1911), p. 1821;

3. ‘The British Empire Shakespeare Society. Glasgow Branch’, ‘Artistic, Literary, and Scientific Institutions’, Post Office Glasgow Directory for 1914-1915… (Glasgow: Aird & Coghill, 1914), p. 1837;

4. British Empire Shakespeare Society. Glasgow Branch (Dramatic Circle) 1929-1933. Minute Book (UGSC, Ref. code: GB 247 STA Mn 91; Call no: STA Mn 91)

Repository

University of Glasgow Special Collections (UGSC)

National Library of Ireland (NLI)

Reference Number

(See Source of Information, and below for Glasgow Post Office directories)

Additional Notes

The Glasgow Post Office directories are available at the Mitchell Library and the National Library of Scotland. Digitised copies are available through the NLS website: https://www.nls.uk/family-history/directories/post-office/index.cfm?place=Glasgow

This is little currently known about this society. The evidence that we have comes from a programme for the group’s ‘Thirty-first Dramatic Entertainment’, which was scheduled to be held on 30 April 1880. The front cover states that the association was formed in 1872, and a list of its office bearers is given.

The programme consists of a comic drama, ‘Good for Nothing’, a ‘domestic drama’ called ‘Harvest Storm’, and a ‘Screaming Farce’ named ‘To Paris and Back for £5’. There is no further information provided about the association itself.

Date of Existence

1872-?

Source of Information

[Programme for ‘Thirty-first Dramatic Entertainment’], 30 April 1880

Repository

Mitchell Library Special Collections

Reference Number

Glasgow Scrapbooks, No. 29 (p. 82)

Additional Notes

–

The Wellpark Free Church was located in Dennistoun, an area in the east end of the city. (For more information about this church, see ‘Glasgow — Wellpark‘ on the Ecclegen website, and Gordon Adams’s article, ‘Wellpark Church of Scotland‘ on the East Glasgow History website. For more information about this area, see Ian R. Mitchell’s article, ‘Dennistoun: No Mean Streets‘ on the Glasgow West End website.)

The information on this society comes from five printed brochures and three ‘literary’ magazines (see ‘Additional Notes’ below) that were produced by and for the society members. From their Constitution, we know that the object of the group was its members’ religious, moral and intellectual improvement. This was to be achieved by reading essays and holding debates at its meetings.

The group met on Friday evenings at 8.15pm at the church Session House (located around the corner from the church on Ark Lane) between October and March. Although there are no extant membership rolls, from the list of the society magazines’ ‘Readers’, we know that this group had about 30 members in the 1880s.

A full case study of this society and its magazine was published by Lauren Weiss in 2016 (see Lauren Weiss, ‘The Manuscript Magazines of the Wellpark Free Church Young Men’s Literary Society’, in Media and Print Culture Consumption in Nineteenth-Century Britain: The Victorian Reading Experience, ed. by Paul Raphael Rooney and Anna Gasperini (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), pp. 53-73).

Date of Existence

1883?-1888?

Source of Information

1. (Announcement of current parliamentary election);

2. (Itinerary for ‘musical entertainment and reading’);

3. (Programme of 1883 opening social meeting);

4. (Schedule ‘conversazione’ for the 1883);

5. ‘Syllabus’ for the 1883-84 session (includes constitution and bye-laws) (Note: Nos. 1-5 are all pasted into back of society’s 1883-84 magazine (pp. 148-51));

6. Wellpark F.C. Literary Society M. S. Magazine, 1883-84 (MLSC, Mitchell (AL) 428697);

7. Manuscript magazine of Wellpark Free Church Young Men’s Literary Society, 1887-88 (MLSC, Mitchell (AL) 428698);

8. Wellpark F. C. Literary Society Magazine, 1888 (MLSC, Mitchell (AL) 428699);

9. (Newspaper clipping on The Ballad Club in The Scots Pictorial, 15 January 1902; Alexander Lamont was a member of the Wellpark society, The Ballad Club and the Sir Walter Scott Club) (MLSC, Young’s Scrapbooks Vol. 6, pp. 39-40)

Repository

Mitchell Library Special Collections (MLSC)

Reference Number

(See Source of Information)

Additional Notes

Alexander Lamont (head-master of one of the local schools in the 1880s at least, and published author) was a member of this club, as well as the Sir Walter Scott Club, and the Glasgow Ballad Club.

See also Barony Free Church Literary Society, with whom this society had a joint debate.

See also entry for Wellpark F. C. Literary Society M.S. Magazine on our sister website, Literary Bonds.