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 these companies, see ‘Caledonian Railway No 21‘ and ‘Chemical Workers‘ on The Glasgow Story website).
According to various issues of the Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this Burns club wished to keep its numbers small, with a maximum number of members set at 30. Between 1895 and 1904, it had variously between 24 and 30 members.
In 1895 (at least), the group met on the last Friday of the month between October and March, with the exception of January, when it met to celebrate Burns night. The schedule was changed in 1904 (at least), with meetings only being held between October and December. Presumably, the Burns night dinner was still held in January.
The club was meeting at the St. Rollox Tavern at 184 Castle Street in 1895. Nine years later, members were still meeting at the same address, but it was now called Rae’s Restaurant.
Date of Existence
1 November 1889-1909; 1914-? Federated 19 November 1891
Source of Information
1. Memorial Catalogue of the Burns Exhibition. Held in the Galleries of the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, 175 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, From 15th July till 31st October, 1896 (Glasgow: William Hodge & Company and T. & R. Annan & Sons, 1898), page xvi (MLSC, Mitchell (AL) 14A MEM 472108);
2. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies, for 1892’, in BC, ed. by John Muir, No. I (Kilmarnock, D. Brown & Co., 25 January 1892), p. 131;
3. ‘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;
4. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1895’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. IV (Kilmarnock: D. Brown & Co., January 1895), p. 177;
5. ‘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;
6. ‘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;
7. ‘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. 156;
8. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1901’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. X (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1901), p. 139;
9. ‘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. 139
Repository
Mitchell Library Special Collections (MLSC) (Memorial Catalogue, and Annual Burns Chronicle)
National Library of Scotland (NLS) (Annual Burns Chronicle)
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
Where there are breaks in the dates of a club’s existence, it was the case that the directories listed them as ‘dormant’ during the intervening years.
‘BC‘ refers to the Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory, which was published yearly since 1892. Copies are available at the Mitchell Library Special Collections and the National Library of Scotland. Many of these 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.