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 debatable whether or not this society should be included in this project. As the St. Mary’s Branch of the Young Men’s Friendly Society had a debating society (see ‘Additional Notes’ below), it is possible that the Scotch Girls Friendly Society might also have had a similar society. The Girls’ Friendly Society is described as one of the ‘various clubs and societies set up [by middle-class philanthropists] to ‘save’ and to civilise their social inferiors’ (Jane McDermid, The Schooling of Girls in Britain and Ireland, 1800-1900 (New York and London: Routledge, 2012), p. 94).
The National Archives provides a list of the records of The Girls’ Friendly Society that are housed in London University (London School of Economics, The Women’s Library), along with related materials held in other archives across the country. Included in the list of the materials at the LSE are ‘journals, magazines and books’ (‘Records of The Girls’ Friendly Society’, The National Archives <http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/9e3bee7a-6881-43ef-91e9-1ff7116b4f4a>).
In future, an examination of the records of the Dumfries branch of the Scottish Girls Friendly Society may help to shed light on the Glasgow branch (see Scottish Girls Friendly Society: Dumfries branch, Dumfriesshire, 1886-1917: minutes and correspondence. Dumfries and Galloway Archives, Ref.: GGD 134).
Date of Existence
1894?-?
Source of Information
‘Scotch Girls Friendly Society’, ‘General Directory’, Post Office Glasgow Directory for 1894-1895… (Glasgow: William Mackenzie, 1894), p. 556
Repository
Mitchell Library
National Library of Scotland
Reference Number
–
Additional Notes
See also Young Men’s Friendly Society, St. Mary’s Branch, Glasgow, Debating Society.
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