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 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 ClubGlasgow 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.