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 centre) on the second Wednesday of each month at 8pm. This club was clearly a pro-temperance group, as it makes clear in the listed objects of the club in the directory:

‘The cairrying furrit o’ the memory o’ oor ain Poet Rabbie Burns, and the better learning o’ its members, by sic weys as may frae ae time tae anither be faun’ suitable; in lectures, essays, short papers, and harmony nichts; and run on temperance principles.

(‘No. 206-GLASGOW Daisy Burns Club’, ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1912’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XXI (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1912), p. 186)

Date of Existence

13 September 1911-? Federated 14 October 1911

Source of Information

‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1912’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XXI (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1912), p. 186

Repository

Mitchell Library Special Collections (MLSC)

National Library of Scotland (NLS)

Reference Number

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

‘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.

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 bar, see the entry for ‘The Ramshorn Bar‘ on the Old Glasgow Pubs website). In June of that year, members voted to move their meetings to the Argyll Cafe Coffee House, described in the minutes as ‘the premises in the Argyll Arcade under the Superintendance [sic] of the Temperance Society […] and if convenient, in the same place in time to come on the Evenings for conversation’ (Minute entry, 9 June 1831, Palaver Society Minute Book, 1831-34). This suggests that the group was pro-Temperance.

According to the society’s ‘Rules’, the group’s object was to promote learning amongst its members and to improve their skills in extempore speaking. It is unknown how much the group charged for its entrance fee, as this space in the minutes has been left blank.

Members met weekly on Thursday evenings for debates and for conversation on alternate weeks. At the meetings, there was an eclectic mix of topics covered in the fields of literature, history, science, but religion, particularly ‘Controversial Theology’, was explicitly forbidden.

This society was stricter than other groups in the sense that it imposed fines for a number of different ‘offenses’: a member could receive a hefty fine for: lateness (6d); absence (1s, unless unavoidable); failing to deliver an essay of the required length (2s); and ‘intemperate language’, swearing or ‘abusive ungentlemanlike remarks or behaviours’ (6d, later repealed). There are 46 names listed between 20 October 1831 and 30 April 1835.

Date of Existence

28 May 1831-1834?

Source of Information

Palaver Society Minute Book, 1831-34

Repository

Mitchell Library Special Collections

Reference Number

891491

Additional Notes

–

The congregation of this church was known as the Southern Reformed Presbyterian Congregation and their church was located on Salisbury Street, located in the south side of the city in the Laurieston area. (For more information on this area, see ‘Gorbals, Glasgow. Laurieston Guide‘ on the ScotCities website). The City Union Railway bought the building in 1868 and a new church was built on nearby Cumberland Street. Eight years later they joined the Free Church. (For more information on the history of this congregation, see ‘Glasgow — Renwick‘ on the Ecclegen website.)

The 1885-1888 minute book records the first meeting and the admission of this group of young men as a branch of the Glasgow United Young Men’s Christian Association (G.U.Y.M.C.A.). A Literary Association was already running in the First Southern Section of the  G.U.Y.M.C.A. (‘Boundaries – On the North, the River Clyde. On the West, Eglinton Street’) since 1877 at least. This larger group met in the Class Room on 67 Cumberland Street (the G.U.Y.M.C.A. had sectional rooms at this address), just down the street from Renwick Free Church (27 Cumberland Street).

The group met weekly on Sunday evenings from September until the end of June to hear essays read, which were discussed afterwards. The meetings were closed with prayer and a collection was taken. In the late nineteenth century, there were about 50 members, which fell to 11 members in 1914. At a meeting held in September 1914, it was agreed to suspend the society for a year due to the fall in attendance. It does not appear that it was ever revived.

Interestingly, this society had a Strangers’ Committee as well as a Canvassing Scheme from at least 1887 that were started to induce the young men in the congregation to come to the meetings. Their efforts were reported to be very successful.

The association also had its own library. In the December 1887, it was reported that there were at least 150 volumes in the collection.

About the same time that the Renwick Free Church Branch was in operation, a Youths Reading and Recreation Club club was also running under the auspices of the Glasgow Foundry Boys Religious Society, South Cumberland Street Branch, which also met at the Renwick Free Church.

The decision to form the Renwick Free Church Literary Association (9 November 1889 – 1913?) was raised at a meeting of the Renwick Y.M.C.A. held on 20 October 1889 (‘Proceedings relative to formation of Renwick Free Church Literary Association, Saturday Evening 26th Octr. 1889’, Renwick Free Church Literary Association, Literary Association minutes, 1889-1892, p. 1).

Date of Existence

4 October 1885-7 September 1914

Source of Information

1. Renwick Church of Scotland, Glasgow United Young Men’s Christian Associations, Renwick Branch, minutes, 1885-88, 1888-90, 1890-93, 1895-97, 1897-1914 (GCA, TD396/35/1-5);

2. Robertson, John Macmillan, The rise and progress of the Southern Reformed Presbyterian Congregation: now called the Renwick Free Church; two lectures (Glasgow: James C. Erskine, 1887) (MLSC, Mitchell (GC) 285.241443 REN 159322)

Repository

Glasgow City Archives (GCA)

Mitchell Library Special Collections (MLSC)

Reference Number

(See Source of Information)

Additional Notes

See also Glasgow United Young Men’s Christian Association and the Glasgow Foundry Boys’ Religious Society, Wellington Palace Branch.

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 group, so it is currently not possible to determine the fortunes of the club prior to this date.

The yearly session ran from October to April. The time of the meetings changed back and forth from 7.30pm to 8pm. The club met on the first Wednesday of the month in 1907, and in the following year and thereafter until 1914 (at least), on the first Thursday of the month. Between 1907 and 1912, meetings were held at the City Commercial Restaurant, which was located at 60 Union Street (next to Glasgow Central Station). In 1913, the group moved to An Old Oak Tea Room at 142a St. Vincent Street, to the west of the city centre.

The club’s objects also changed over the years. In 1907, members met for ‘literary and social’ purposes, to which was added ‘musical’ in the following year. In the subsequent years, ‘a better knowledge of Scottish literature’, and a promotion of ‘Burnsiana’ was also included. Interestingly, it was only in 1912 that temperance was listed as one of the features that characterised this club.

Date of Existence

25 January 1904-? Federated 27 February 1906

Source of Information

1. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1907’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XVI (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1907), pp. 173-74;

2. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1908’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XVII (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1908), p. 126;

3. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1909’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XVIII (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1909), p. 176;

4. ‘Club Notes’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XIX (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1910), p. 187;

5. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1911’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XX (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1911), pp. 173-74;

6. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1912’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XXI (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1912), p. 177;

7. ‘Directory of Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies on the Roll of the Burns Federation, 1913’, in BC, ed. by D. M’Naught, No. XXII (Kilmarnock: Burns Federation, January 1913), pp. 199-200

Repository

Mitchell Library (MLSC)

National Library of Scotland (NLS)

Reference Number

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

‘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.