Home Programme History Contacts Links
|
Home Programme History Contacts Links
|
|
18th February 2014 - The Glasgow Tobacco Barons Bob Dalziel Note that this was a change to the programme due to the indisposition of the booked speaker President Michael
Heale felt privileged to welcome our speaker Bob Dalziel who gave a sparkling
and in-depth talk on ‘The Glasgow Tobacco Barons’. Beginning with a history of
the City from earliest times, through the period of Roman occupation, the first
bridging of the Clyde in 1245, the creation of the Barony in 1647 to the advent
of steam power which helped create over three hundred manufacturers in time gave
some indication of what was to follow. By 1778 four thousand handlooms were
operating within the confines of the city and its environs. Accordingly the
population of four thousand souls in 1700 rose rapidly to house and sustain
39000, many of them Irish immigrants, by the end of the 18th
century. With the advent of tobacco to those shores towards the end of the
previous century the tobacco trade had gradually built up with the formation of
estates in Jamaica and the West Indies. Virginia was also a prime source of
tobacco prior to the War of Independence. Glasgow based business men were not
slow to invest heavily into this trade where profits were large and labour by
slaves was practically free. Making the Clyde navigable into the heart of the
city gave the merchants the edge on transportation from the West Indies and
America to other ports around the United Kingdom. It is on record that forty
five million pounds of tobacco reached the Broomielaw for processing at one
point. Vast fortunes were made between 1760 and 1775, shared by a handful of
investors who had built splendid mansions out-with the city boundaries. They
were not to survive the advent of the 20th
century city planners but many of the fine public buildings paid for by the
tobacco trade survive. The end to slavery in 1778 spelled the end of this
lucrative business and the City turned to other trades to survive. The rest, as
they say, is history. A lively Q&A session followed and Bob is to be
congratulated on entertaining our members to such a memorable and educational
discourse. The speaker at
our next meeting on Tuesday 4th
March will be Mr John Peter who will present Images from the West Highlands and
Islands of Scotland. |