1830 - 1945
The Second Population Explosion
Foundries, mills, mines and shipyards changed the skyline and filled the dear green place with the smog and smoke of industry. A new work-force was needed, and willing workers flooded in from the Lowlands, Highlands and Islands of Scotland and Ireland.
In 1848 it is estimated that over a thousand Irish a week arrived in the city, escaping a potato famine in Ireland.
In 1861 the population of Glasgow was 395,503, many of them living in the Merchant City in over-crowded accommodation called ‘single ends’ which were bursting at the seams with humanity. 
High St Close 19th Century © 2008 Glasgow City Council (Archives and Special Collections
A ‘single end’ comprised one room which contained a kitchen area, living area and sleeping area in which an entire family (and sometimes three or more families) would live. An example of a ‘single end’ can be seen in the People’s Palace on Glasgow Green, Glasgow’s museum of social history.
Suddenly the Merchant City was being described as an area where ‘sin and misery are seen in loathsome union.’But it wasn’t just improved living conditions that the population required. This new population wanted entertainment and Glasgow provided it in abundance. Music halls, singing saloons, theatres and concert halls were booming business. Glasgow became known as not just the Second City of the Empire for trade and industry, but also for entertainment.
Britannia Music Hall programme © Britannia Music Hall Trust
Two venues that survive from this era in the Merchant City today include the City Halls on Candleriggs where Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde and Paganini were amongst the famous names to appear. The other is the Britannia Panopticon Music Hall which is the oldest surviving in Britain today and is famous for the debut of a sixteen year old Stan Laurel.
Britannia Music Hall early 20th Century © Britannia Music Hall Trust
In 1870 the Housing Improvement Trust (which had been founded to improve living conditions) had erected the first of the new tenements in Drygate to replace the existing overcrowded and insanitary housing. At the same time the first “Model Lodging House” was opened. The model lodging houses were regarded as “a boon” to the “poorer” classes. Of course, the poor that resided in these were the poor with enough money to afford the nightly bed rent; the really, really poor were catered for in the poor houses and asylums where several people would share a bed.
High ST City Improvement Trust tenements
A house of refuge was also located in the east end on the North side of Duke Street at the “Whitehill”. This place accommodated “Juvenile thieves and outcasts” with the intention of educating them and teaching them a trade.
Improvements were also made to the public spaces of the city, one of the most spectacular being that of the remodelling of George Square, which prior to the 1880s, had been residential. 1888 saw the opening of the new City Chambers, designed by Paisley-born architect, William Young. This was Glasgow showing off its new industrial wealth as the “Workshop of the World”. To describe the City Chambers as ‘Grand’ would be an understatement; you can visit it for free Monday to Friday (except public holidays).
City Chambers and George Square © 2008 Glasgow City Council (Development + Regeneration Services)
All these improvements barely impacted on the conditions in the Merchant City. The Glasgow Herald in 1897 wrote of ‘The Atmosphere of Glasgow’
“If cleanliness be next to Godliness, then the popular impression that heaven is immediately imposed upon the atmosphere of Glasgow must we fear, be an erroneous one; for there is probably no other town in the kingdom which the air is of so offensive and deleterious a character...”
But it wasn’t just the polluted air that caused the population to rebel, in 1911 working conditions and pay was so bad that the workforce threatened to strike. Manufacturing contracts were lost to America instead and by the 1930s unemployment was widespread in a city now bursting at the seams with over a million people.
When the war came in 1939, the men of Glasgow willingly signed up. The Merchant City was now filled with sale rooms, pawn shops and markets offering goods at a discounted rate. The old warehouses and offices left behind by the merchants, (now vacant spaces) were utilised during the war effort, some had their iron fixtures (e.g. railings) removed to be melted down for munitions, others even housed chickens and mushroom farms to keep the people of the Merchant City in fresh food during the war effort.
Winston Churchill
All thoughts of improving the conditions of the buildings in the Merchant City evaporated during the Clydebank blitz. Daniel Defoe’s Glasgow was left to decay.
Download Historic Trail mp3s (41mb)
For use on mp3 players / iPods. Copyright Visit Scotland
Download Obscure History PDF
Download Merchant City Visitor Guide PDF
Download Merchant City Trail PDF
The City Chambers is the main municipal building of Glasgow.
Remember, the majority of visitor attractions and many public buildings in Glasgow are open to the general public and are free of charge!
Remember, the majority of visitor attractions and many public buildings in Glasgow are open to the general public and are free of charge!
City Chambers and George Square © 2008 Glasgow City Council (Development + Regeneration Services)
“If cleanliness be next to Godliness, then the popular impression that heaven is immediately imposed upon the atmosphere of Glasgow must we fear, be an erroneous one; for there is probably no other town in the kingdom which the air is of so offensive and deleterious a character...”
But it wasn’t just the polluted air that caused the population to rebel, in 1911 working conditions and pay was so bad that the workforce threatened to strike. Manufacturing contracts were lost to America instead and by the 1930s unemployment was widespread in a city now bursting at the seams with over a million people.
When the war came in 1939, the men of Glasgow willingly signed up. The Merchant City was now filled with sale rooms, pawn shops and markets offering goods at a discounted rate. The old warehouses and offices left behind by the merchants, (now vacant spaces) were utilised during the war effort, some had their iron fixtures (e.g. railings) removed to be melted down for munitions, others even housed chickens and mushroom farms to keep the people of the Merchant City in fresh food during the war effort.
During WWII Winston Churchill (Prime Minister of Britain) and Harry Hopkins (Special Advisor to the American President F.D. Roosevelt) met in a hotel on George Square to discuss the USA becoming involved in the war. That hotel is now the Millennium Hotel and the rooms in which they stayed bear their names.
Winston Churchill
All thoughts of improving the conditions of the buildings in the Merchant City evaporated during the Clydebank blitz. Daniel Defoe’s Glasgow was left to decay.
Links and downloads
Download Historic Trail mp3s (41mb)For use on mp3 players / iPods. Copyright Visit Scotland
Download Obscure History PDF
Download Merchant City Visitor Guide PDF
Download Merchant City Trail PDF
