Glasgow (9 page)

WILLIE WINKIE, c. 1832
William Miller

Born in Briggait in 1810, William Miller spent his early years in Parkhead, then a rural village east of the city. He had hoped to become a surgeon but a severe illness when he was 16 put paid to that ambition. He was then apprenticed to a wood-turner, a skill at which he excelled. He began early to contribute poetry to periodicals but it was the appearance of ‘Willie Winkie', ‘John Frost' and ‘The Sleepy Bairn' in the third and fourth series of
Whistle Binkie
that made his name. His poems were not published in book form till 1863, under the title of
Scottish Nursery Songs and Poems.
Latterly, Miller wrote little. He died in Glasgow in 1872, where he is buried and where, in his memory, there is a monument to him in the Necropolis. ‘Willie Winkie' has been described as ‘the greatest nursery song in the world'
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COCK-FIGHTING, 1835
The New Statistical Account of Scotland

In the pursuit of diversion human beings are often cruel, especially to animals which cannot retaliate. Cockfighting, as this entry in the
New Statistical Account of Scotland
shows, was for a while one of the most popular pastimes, though it was frowned on by the Kirk. Like other pastimes – golf, pitch and toss, prize-fighting, horse-racing – it was connected to gambling. It was made illegal in Scotland from 1850, although it continued underground long after that
.

In former times cock-fighting was so prevalent in this part of the country, that on certain holidays, school-boys provided cocks, and the fight was superintended by the master. But as civilisation advanced, this practice gradually disappeared, and at length the amusement in the estimation of many came under the denomination of cruelty to animals. During the latter part of the last and the beginning of the present century, cock-fighting in this city was conducted in a clandestine manner. In 1807, our cock-fighting amateurs, finding a vacant temporary building in Queen Street, made preparations for fighting a main, but when the sport had just commenced, a portion of the city and county magistrates made their appearance and dismissed the meeting. Since that period mains have occasionally been fought here without interference of the authorities. Of late, however, the desire for this amusement has so much increased, that in this year a spacious building has been erected for a cock-pit in Hope Street, on the joint stock principle. This building, which is seated for about 280 persons, has suitable accommodation for the judges, handlers, and feeders, and is inferior in nothing to the Westminster pit, but in its dimensions. The company who frequent the Glasgow cock-pit do not belong to the ‘exclusives'; for here we have all grades, from the senator to the journeyman butcher.

A RECKONING, 1835
The New Statistical Account of Scotland

This extract from
The New Statistical Account of Scotland
gives a cold-blooded summation of criminal activity and the penalties the perpetrators paid for their recividism
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The average number of delinquents committed yearly during five years, ending on the 31st December 1834, was 667. From 1765 to 1830, 89 persons were executed in Glasgow, of which number 5 were females. During the first 12 years there were only 6 persons executed, whilst in the last 12 there were 37. During 66 years previously to 1831, there were 26 in which there were no executions, 15 in which there was 1 each year; ten, 2; seven, 3; four, 4; one, 5; and two in which there were 6. From the 29th of September 1830, to the 20th of January 1834, 12 persons have been executed in Glasgow, viz. 11 males, and 1 female; of whom 6 were for murder, 1 for rape, 1 for hamesucken, 1 for robbery, and 3 for house-breaking and theft. From the 4th of May 1818, to the 8th of October 1834, 6 persons received sentence of death, but had their punishment commuted to transportation for life, viz. 4 males and 2 females; of 1 for murder, 1 for hamesucken and rape, 1 for robbery, and 1 for housebreaking and theft; the two females were for issuing forged bank notes.

LESS WET THAN EDINBURGH, 1840
James Cleland

It has long been the view of smug east coasters that rain in Scotland falls mainly in the west, Glasgow being no exception. Perhaps that's why it is such a green place. But it seems that this is one of those myths urgently in need of debunking, for actually more rain falls in Edinburgh. Possibly. Incidentally, Dr Thomas Thomson (1773–1852), ever the contrarian, opposed the ideas of James Hutton (1726–97), the founding father of geology. Thomson also gave silicon its name. Born in Crieff, he was inspired to study medicine by Joseph Black (1728–99), the first scientist to discover that there are gases other than air. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and is buried at the Glasgow Necropolis
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Dr. Thomson, Professor of Chemistry in this University, gives as a reason for the greater quantity of rain falling at Edinburgh than at
Glasgow: ‘that the latter place is about twenty miles inland from the west coast, and is therefore beyond the immediate influence of the Atlantic, which renders some parts of the north-west of England so rainy, while its distance from the east coast, and the high land between it and Edinburgh screen it from those violent rains, when the east wind blows, which are so common in Edinburgh. The distance from the hills from Glasgow is farther from Edinburgh, and it is in some degree screened by high grounds both on the east and west.'

QUANTITY OF RAIN: A Rain Gauge, constructed by the celebrated Crichton of Glasgow, is placed on the top of the Macfarlane Observatory in the College Garden. The Observatory is situated at some distance from houses or trees. The gauge stands about 80 feet above the Clyde at high water mark at Hutcheson's Bridge. The situation, therefore, with the exception of its height above the river, is favourable. The late Rev. Dr. Couper, Professor of Astronomy in this University, took the charge of the gauge, and prepared an annual table from the date of his induction in 1803 to 1836, with the exception of the two last years, which were drawn up since his decease by one of his sons. Dr. Couper found that the yearly average of rain which fell during 30 years was 22.175 inches. The smallest quantity which fell in any year was 14.468 in 1803, and the largest 27.801 in 1811.

GLASGOW OBSERVATORY, 1841
Thomas de Quincey

The author of
Confessions of an English Opium-Eater,
de Quincey (1785–1850) lived most of his later life in Edinburgh trying to evade his many creditors. He visited Glasgow on several occasions and stayed for a spell with J.P. Nichols, Professor of Astronomy at Glasgow University. The two met in Edinburgh where de Quincey, as ever on his uppers, introduced himself and asked, ‘Dr. Nichol, can you lend me two-pence?' Nichol took this in good part and invited de Quincey to his home in Glasgow. Befitting his position, Nichol lived in the Glasgow Observatory on Garnet Hill. Apparently, de Quincey was not enamoured of Glasgow but was enchanted by his temporary abode
.

What makes the Glasgow Observatory so peculiarly interesting is its position, connected with and overlooking so vast a city . . . How tarnished with eternal canopies of smoke, and of sorrow, how dark with agitations of many orders, is the mighty town below! How serene,
how quiet, how lifted above the confusion, and the roar, and the strifes of earth, is the solemn observatory that crowns the heights overhead! And duly, at night, just when the toil of overwrought Glasgow is mercifully relaxing, then comes the summons to the labouring astronomer!

WRETCHED, DISSOLUTE, LOATHSOME AND PESTILENTIAL, 1842
Captain Miller, Superintendent of Police

As Glasgow's population multiplied – it increased tenfold in a century, from 30,000 in the mid-eighteenth century to around 400,000 by the 1850s – so too did its social problems, as is demonstrated in this report to both Houses of Parliament on sanitary conditions
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