The listing for this club in the 1886 t0 1887 Glasgow Post Office directory gives a good summary of the group and its activities:

‘[…] This Club, which is under the direct patronage of Mr. Henry Irving, devotes its attention to the study of dramatic literature and orchestral music. Meetings are held in the Rooms, 109 Hope St. every Thursday evening at 8.30, when amateurs and others interested in matters dramatic are invited to attend. Play nights are held on the first Thursday, and literary nights on the third Thursday of each month. Applications for membership and other communications to be addressed to the secretary’.

(‘Irving Club’, ‘Literary and Scientific Institutions’, Post Office Glasgow Directory for 1886-1887... (Glasgow: William Mackenzie, 1886), p. 116)

Date of Existence

12 June 1879-?

Source of Information

1. ‘Irving Club’, ‘Literary and Scientific Institutions’, Post Office Glasgow Directory for 1886-1887... (Glasgow: William Mackenzie, 1886), p. 116;

2. ‘Irving Literary and Dramatic Club’, ‘Literary and Scientific Institutions’, Post Office Glasgow Directory for 1893-1894… (Glasgow: William Mackenzie, 1893), p. 126

Repository

Mitchell Library

National Library of Scotland (NLS)

Reference Number

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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 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

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