Albany Burns Club (aka Glasgow Albany Burns Club)

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 …

Albion Mutual Improvement Union

Overview The evidence for this society comes from the syllabus for the Spring 1862 session and from the three extant issues of a magazine produced in manuscript by its members (see ‘Additional Notes’ below). The ‘Order of Readers’ at the Read More …

Anderston Social Club (not the same as the Anderston Club)

Overview Anderston is an area just over a mile to the west of Glasgow’s city centre. (For more information about this area, see Michael Moss’s article, ‘Industrial Revolution: 1770s to 1830s. Neighbourhoods. Anderston‘ on The Glasgow Story website). According to John M’Dowall, Read More …

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 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 …

City of Glasgow Literary Society

Overview 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 More …

Clydebank Burns Club

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 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 …

College United Free Church Literary Society

Overview There is little currently known about this society. The only information we have to date comes from a 1903 printed brochure for the Wellington United Free Church, Glasgow (see ‘Additional Notes’ below), which lists a a joint debate with 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 …

Dowanhill Society of Belles Lettres

Overview Dowanhill is an area in the West End of Glasgow. (For a brief summary of its history, see ‘History of Byres Road. The birth of the West End‘ on the Visit West End website). This literary society was composed 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 College Church Association

Overview 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 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 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. 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 …

Gas Workmen’s Institution

Overview The information on this society comes from two issues of The Glasgow Mechanics’ Magazine. The May 7th issue for 1825 provides a good overview of this group: ‘The Gas Workmen’s Institution. – Out of these public associations has arisen Read More …

Glasgow Addisonian Literary Society

Overview Alexander Smith (1829-1867) was a well-known working-class Scottish poet, and was one of the founding members and Secretary of this society. (For more information on Smith, see, for example, ‘Alexander Smith (1829 – 1867)‘ on the Scottish Poetry Library 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 Bankers’ Debating and Literary Society

Overview The evidence for this society comes from the ‘Preface’ to William Graham’s Deirdre: A Scoto-Irish Romance of the First Century A.D. (1908), which states: ‘The larger portion of the following compilation was read to the Glasgow Bankers’ Debating and Literary Read More …

Glasgow Border Counties’ Literary Society

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 Bute Literary Institute

Overview Bute, or the Isle of Bute, is an island in the Firth of Clyde. Bute is also a county that comprises this island and number of surrounding islands. This society is a type of nineteenth-century county association. In the stricter 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 Clerical Literary Society

Overview This society is particularly interesting as some of its members were ministers of churches that later ‘came out’ in 1843; that is, their congregations broke away from the established church in what is known as the Disruption of 1843, Read More …

Glasgow Coleridge Club

Overview There is very little information currently known about this society. The only details we have come from the minutes of the Glasgow Addisonian Literary Society, a group discussed in Simon Berry’s Applauding Thunder (2013). According to Berry, in 1848, 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 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 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 Orcadian Literary and Scientific Society

Overview The members of this group and/or their parents were originally from Orkney and had since settled in Glasgow. This society is a type of nineteenth-century county association. In the stricter sense, county associations were groups whose members (or whose parents) 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 Queen’s Park (Burns Club)

Overview There is very little currently known about this club. There is only a brief mention of this group in the minutes of the Glasgow and District Burns Club. We learn a bit more from the ‘Club Notes’ of the Read More …

Glasgow Shakspere Club

Overview This club was formed in Glasgow as it was thought there was a need for the city to have its own society similar to the ones then running in Edinburgh and beyond. The object of the club was to 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 Sutherlandshire Association

Overview Sutherland is a county in the Highlands of Scotland. 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 Read More …

Glasgow Training College Literary Committee

Overview There is little currently known about this literary committee. To date, the evidence for it consists of four photographs. A brief description is available on the University of Strathclyde Archives Online Catalogue: ‘Name of creator Glasgow Training College Literary Committee (Established Read More …

Glasgow United Young Men’s Christian Association

Overview The Glasgow Young Men’s Society for Religious Improvement was founded in 1824. In 1877, it amalgamated with the Glasgow Young Men’s Christian Association (aka the G.Y.M.C.A., instituted in 1841, but this date is debatable) to become the Glasgow United Read More …

Glasgow University Dialectic Society

Overview 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, Read More …

Glasgow Western Literary Union

Overview There is little currently known about this union, which appears to have been a debating society. The only information we have comes from the minute book of the Kelvinside Literary Association, which discusses a Union circular that was received Read More …

Glasgow Young Men’s Society for Religious Improvement

Overview This society was instituted in 1824. In 1877, it amalgamated with the Glasgow Young Men’s Christian Association (aka G.Y.M.C.A., instituted in 1841, although this date is debatable) to become the Glasgow United Young Men’s Christian Association in 1877. In Read More …

Glasgow Young Men’s Christian Association

Overview The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) was formed in London in 1841. (For a history of this association, see ‘History and Heritage’, on the YMCA website.) There is a discrepancy in the records as to the start date of the Glasgow 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 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 …

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 …

Govanhill Literary Association

Overview Govanhill is an area in the south side of Glasgow, and north of Queen’s Park. (For more information about this area, see the entry for ‘Govanhill‘ on Wikipedia.) It is currently unknown if this association was attached to one Read More …

Holyrood Literary Society

Overview This group is an interesting example of a literary society whose history was not straight-forward, being the result of alliances made and broken — societies being formed, amalgamated with other societies, dissolved and/or re-formed as new clubs — over Read More …

Hope Street Free Gaelic Church Literary Society

Overview This society was made up of young men from the congregation of the Hope Street Free Gaelic Church. (For more information on this church, see ‘Glasgow — Hope Street‘ on the Ecclegen website, and ‘Glasgow, 58 Waterloo Street, Gaelic Free Church‘ on Read More …

Hunterian Club

Overview According to its listing in Charles Sanford Terry’s A catalogue of the publications of Scottish historical and kindred clubs and societies, the Hunterian Club was founded ‘for the reproduction of the works of Scottish writers of Elizabethan times‘. (Terry, Charles Sanford, A Read More …

John Street U. P. Church Literary Institute

Overview John Street is located in the heart of Glasgow’s city centre. Members of this society were most likely part of the congregation of the John Street U. P. Church. (For more information about this church, see ‘John Street UP 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 …

Kelvinside Parish Church Literary Society

Overview Kelvinside is an area in the West End of Glasgow. The information on this group comes from a magazine founded by and for its own members. This was a Church of Scotland society comprised of both young men and 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 …

Langside (Literary) Society

Overview Langside is an area in the south side of Glasgow. (For more information on this area, see the entry for ‘Langside‘ on TheGlasgowStory website, and  ‘Langside & Battlefield. Illustrated Guide‘ on the ScotCities website). There is little currently known about this society. Read More …

Langside Hill United Free Church Literary Institute

Overview Langside is an area in the south side of Glasgow. (For more information about this area, see Gerald Blaikie’s article, ‘Langside & Battlefield. Illustrated Guide‘ on the ScotCities website.) Members of this society were most likely part of the congregation of Read More …

Lansdowne Literary Association

Overview Lansdowne is an area in the West End of Glasgow. There is little currently known about this society. The only information we have comes from the minute book of the Kelvinside Literary Association. In the minute entry for 19 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 …

Literary Debating Society

Overview The information that we have on this society comes from the magazine that was produced by the group members (see ‘Additional Notes’ below). In the three issues that were produced, there is no mention of how often the group Read More …

Literary Society of St. Ninian’s Parish Church

Overview Members of this society were most likely part of the congregation of St. Ninian’s Parish Church, located at 429 Crown Street, in the Gorbals area of Glasgow. (For more information on this area, see the entry for ‘Gorbals, Glasgow. Origins 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 …

Monday Shakspere Club

Overview According to the 1881 printed list of rules for this group, the group’s object was the study of Shakespeare’s works. The meetings were to alternate between the reading of a play and criticism (i.e. discussion). The meetings in which Read More …

Mosspark Burns Club

Overview Mosspark is an area of Glasgow located south of Bellahouston Park, in the south side of Glasgow. (For more information on this area, see Irene Maver’s article, ‘No Mean City: 1914 to 1950s. Neighbourhoods: Mosspark‘ on The Glasgow Story website). There is Read More …

New Literary and Philosophical Society

Overview The formation of this new group is discussed in an article published in 1824 that also included a summary of a number of different Glasgow literary societies. The foundations of New Literary and Philosophical Society were laid out at Read More …

Newton Place Literary Society, Partick

Overview This literary society was based at the Newton Place United Presbyterian Church on Dumbarton Road, Partick, in the West End of Glasgow. (For more information on this church, see ‘Newton Place United Presbyterian Church‘ on The Glasgow Story website.) The Read More …

Original Union Club

Overview There is very little information currently known about this club. The information that we have comes from a newspaper clipping from the ‘Times’, possibly the Glasgow Evening Times. This newspaper article was placed in a scrapbook complied by William Young Read More …

Overnewton Literary Club

Overview Overnewton was part of the Yorkhill area in the West End of Glasgow, located roughly across the road from the grounds of the Kelvingrove Museum. It is currently unknown if this group was associated with the Overnewton Public School Read More …

Palaver Society

Overview The first meeting of this society was held at the Ramshorn Inn (which might be the same as the Ramshorn Bar, 437 Arglye Street, in the city centre) at the end of May 1831. (For more information on this 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 …

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 …

Pollokshields Free Church Literary Institute

Overview Pollokshields is an area in the south side of Glasgow. (For more information on this area, see see Gerald Blaikie’s article, ‘Pollokshields, Glasgow. Origins & History‘, on the ScotCities website). Members of this society were most likely part of the congregation of the Pollokshields Free Read More …

Pollokshields Literary and Art Circle

Overview Pollokshields is an area in the south side of Glasgow. (For more information on this area, see the entry for ‘Pollokshields, Glasgow. Origins & History‘ on the ScotCities website). The information that we currently have on this society comes solely from the Read More …

Pollokshields Parish Church Literary Society

Overview Pollokshields is an area in the south side of Glasgow. (For more information on this area, see Gerald Blaikie’s article, ‘Pollokshields, Glasgow. Origins & History‘ on the ScotCities website). Members of this society were most likely part of the congregation of the Pollokshields 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 …

Provand’s Lordship Literary Club

Overview 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, Read More …

Queen Margaret College Reading Union

Overview This group of young women were — or were previously– students of Queen Margaret College, membership being open to current and former students. (For more information on this college, see’ Queen Margaret College‘ on The University of Glasgow Story website, and ‘North Read More …

Queen’s Park Free Church Literary Society

Overview Queen’s Park refers to the eponymous park as well as the surrounding area in the south side of Glasgow. (For more information about this park and the surrounding area, see ‘Queen’s Park‘ on The Glasgow Story website, and ‘Queen’s Park: A short Read More …

Round Table Club

Overview There is little currently known about this club. The evidence is limited to the record of a joint meeting that appears in another literary society’s minute book (the New Holyrood Club) (see ‘Additional Notes’ below). According to the minute 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 …

Select Literary Society

Overview There is very little currently known about this society. The only evidence we have to date comes from a contemporary magazine article that provides only one line on the group: ‘The communication of the Select Literary Society, is not 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 …

Speculative Society

Overview An article on Glasgow’s societies appeared in the February 1824 issue of The Western Luminary, a literary magazine published in the city. It briefly reports on the first meeting of this society: ‘The Speculative Society of Glasgow, has, for 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. Andrew Society

Overview In a scrapbook housed in the Mitchell Library, there can be found a type-written document about the St. Andrew Society. The (unknown) author records a brief history of the group, and gives its object (i.e. the purpose for meeting) 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 Debating Society

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 …

St. Stephen’s Literary Association

Overview Members of this association were most likely part of the congregation of St. Stephen’s Church. At the time that this group was running, they would have been based at the church built in 1850 for the congregation on New 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 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 …

The Thirteen Club (aka The Glasgow Thirteen)

Overview From the start, this club was intended to have a small, exclusive membership limited to 13 members. Discussions were to be on literature and art. The first meeting was held on Friday, 15 January 1891 at Moir’s Restaurant on Read More …

The Thom Society

Overview The evidence for this society comes George Hull’s The Poets and Poetry of Blackburn (1793-1902) (1902). This Glaswegian literary group was devoted to the study of the poetry and songs of Robert W. Thom (30 December 1816-?). Thom was author 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 …

Victoria Free Church Literary Institute

Overview This church was located on the corner of Victoria Road and Pollokshaws Road in the south side of Glasgow in the Gorbals area. (For more information about this area, see ‘Gorbals, Glasgow. Origins & History‘ on the ScotCities website). Read More …

Waverley Literary & Drama Association

Overview 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 Read More …

Wellpark Free Church Literary Society

Overview 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 Read More …

Western Scientific Association

Overview The information that we have on this society comes solely from a newspaper article attributed to Thomas Lugton and written over fifty years after the group’s last recorded activity. The article states that this association was founded in 1843 Read More …