Other streets recall the triangular trade more directly, with modern streets bearing names like Virginia Street and Jamaica Street. The city’s imperial connections have been historically celebrated in George Square, home to many statues of imperialists as well as the City Chambers. However, we know little of his life. Glasgow City Archives made the documents public at Mitchell Library to coincide with Black History Month. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links. Merchant city festivals have a lot of different entertainments, including street arts, dance, live music, markets, fashion and design, comedy, family events, tours, heritage walks, talks, visual art, film, and children - families activities every year. Cochrane Street This Act stopped the transatlantic slave trade in the British Empire, but slavery was still legal. Many resisted and rebelled against oppressive conditions in Scotland and flight was one means to do this. Personally, I would like to see the streets with plaques explaining their naming. Goods from Europe were traded with West Africa to be sold or exchanged. Tobacco Merchants House illustrates the living conditions of a ‘Tobacco Laird’, a colonial merchant lower down the economic rung from the elite ‘Tobacco Lords’. He proposed to “dispose” of the man if he was left unclaimed: one assumes sell him into slavery in the West Indies. The Merchant City in Glasgow dates back to the 1750s and is one of the oldest areas of Glasgow. Find us on FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | PINTEREST | TWITTER| and YOUTUBE, You can also subscribe to Foodie Explorers to keep up to date, See the handy Pinterest image below if you wish to pin this for later . There, captive Africans were bought and taken to North American and the Caribbean and sold as slaves. In 1780 it cost £10,000 to build, equivalent to around £1.5m today! It wasn’t until 1807 that the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act was passed in Britain. Merchant City is an area in the city centre stretching from Queen Street in the west to High Street in the east, and from Trongate in the south to Ingram Street in the north. The church was redeveloped by The Glasgow Building Preservation Trust and is now Glasgow’s Centre for Scottish Culture, promoting Scottish music, song and dance. Built in a Palladian style and completed in 1775, Tobacco Merchants House is the oldest surviving building in the ‘Merchant City’ which also underlines little remains of Georgian Glasgow and the city centre is almost all Victoriana. These were shipped back to Britain where the process started again. The actual name “Merchant City” has no historic significance and was only coined in the 20th century, the original name simply being Trongate. In 1996 the building was converted to house the Gallery of Modern Art. Andrew Buchanan was the owner of two slave plantations. At the end of 2019, Glasgow City Council launched a major academic study into Glasgow’s historic links to transatlantic slavery and the role the city played in the slave trade. This article has traced locations where the ‘Tobacco Lords’ and ‘Sugar Aristocracy’ worked, lived, worshipped, convened. Or should they be re-named completely? The area lost its position as a swish place to stay as residents moved to the West End. Dunlop Street In Scotland we tend to see ourselves as the oppressed colony of the English, without reflecting much upon our role in the “triangular trade” or as overseers and masters on the plantations. This was the site of the Tontine Rooms (which sat next to the Tolbooth Steeple) which served as the social and commercial headquarters of mercantile Glasgow. Mrs Foodie aka Emma loves to snuggle with Fred and Cleo, sleep and read. The “second city of empire” was how this year’s host of the Commonwealth Games used to be well known. The establishment of the Whistling Kirk was inextricably associated with Richard and Alexander Oswald, Caithness merchants who established a mercantile dynasty in Glasgow from the 1710s. This short trip ends at The People’s Palace in Glasgow Green. Not any more. The interior is an exemplar of mercantile splendour: the salubrious surroundings (now restored to their former glory) are enhanced by the mahogany imported from the Spanish West Indies. Glasgow’s opposition to slavery is represented by the memorial to the Rev. Looking closely at the triangular facade on the front of the City Chambers, Queen Victoria sits atop a series of native peoples bringing gifts: the subservient role of the colonies inscribed into the city’s architecture. Tobacco was one of the items traded, alongside sugar, rum and tea. Glasgow’s full role in New World slavery can be viewed metaphorically in the painting: it has always been present, yet obscured from our view. Named after the country of Jamaica. The granite sarcophagus of James Ewing can be found in in the Necropolis. In this way, Glasgow merchants came to monopolise the trade in tobacco and sugar, although the latter to a much lesser extent. Slavery Slaves were an important part of merchant business. This was not a unique case and there are other records providing more detail. Arriving at the Trongate (passing the site Named after Andrew Cochrane of Brighouse who was a wealthy tobacco merchant and also Lord Provost. Glassford Street Scrutiny over city's ties to slave trade increases as Black Lives Matter protests continue . Alexander Campbell, Glasgow’s Sugar Aristocrat Alexander Campbell of Hallyards (1768-1817) was one of Glasgow’s most illustrious West India merchants active during the city’s ‘golden age’ of sugar. Given Glassford’s strong connections with Virginia (and his agent Neil Jamieson was involved with slave-trading in North America) we can make assumptions about the boy’s origins. Named after John Glassford. In effect, the merchants cut out the Africa leg of the triangular trade and went directly to the plantations. Who were the merchants who gave the name to the Merchant City? Your email address will not be published. Many ran away thus inadvertently generating details of their lives particularly through newspapers in which masters placed what were essentially lost property adverts. St Andrews by the Green also known as the Whistling Kirk. In effect, the merchants cut out the Africa leg of the triangular trade and went directly to the plantations. He supported the petition of 30,000 residents of the city to end the apprenticeship scheme in the West Indies that had continued a form of slavery. He owned plantations in Virginia and Maryland. The Cuninghame Mansion – now The Gallery of Modern Art – was built by William Cuninghame, one of the four main ‘Tobacco Lords’ during Glasgow’s ‘golden age of tobacco’, 1740-1790. Nestled amongst imposing 19th and 20th century industrial and retail architecture on Miller Street in Glasgow’s Merchant City, sits an attractive little house, built in 1775. Although Scotland had limited involvement with direct slave trade voyages (known as the ‘triangular trade’) and there were only 31 recorded between 1706 and 1766, the merchants of Glasgow traded in slave-grown produce. Glasgow Museums are currently working through how to better represent New World Slavery within their collections (a process stimulated by the important Georgian Glasgow exhibit in 2014). The People’s Palace also holds the Glassford Family portrait which was painted in 1767 by Archibald McLauchlan of the Foulis Academy (associated with Old College, now the University of Glasgow). The new building originally housed the Glasgow Ship Bank then in 1929 the building was converted into the city’s High Court. Named after his Archibald Ingram tobacco merchant. The City Halls hosted many rallies and anti-slavery meetings over the years. There are also three famous court cases: Jamie Montgomery (1756), David Spens (1769-1770) and Joseph Knight (1774-1778) which provide further details. IT is the darkest part of Scotland’s history - and it usually remains hidden, seen only in the names of streets and buildings which still exist today. The Necropolis was opened in 1833, the idea of James Ewing, a prominent merchant. Signs of it can be seen quite clearly, from buildings to street names. Section 3. Glasgow grew from a small town to a city of commerce through its dominance of the tobacco trade from the American colonies to Europe in the 18th century. Glasgow had two advantages. His legs are a good deal bended…’. American; Vegan Friendly; Vegetarian; Burgers; Halal; Drinks; Opens at ; 17 Bell Street, Merchant Square, Glasgow, G11NU; View map; New LUNCH OFFER available Monday to Friday! In 2007, Glasgow Built Preservation Trust (GBPT), in partnership with Glasgow Anti Racist Alliance, developed an exhibition linking Glasgow’s built heritage with the slave trade. The audio trail, Merchant City Voices, a series of seven sound installations commissioned by Glasgow City Council, won the 2013 Scottish Design Award. It was assumed until fairly recently that the young child had been painted out from the painting in the abolitionist period, although a restorative project in 2007 revealed the young child had not been painted out, but in fact dirt and grime built up over the years and partially obscuring the child from view. Around nineteen slave ships left from Port Glasgow and Greenock, the city’s satellite ports. Before then it was seen as fashionable for wealthy families to have their own “black boy or girl” to attend to their needs. Glasgow, a port city in western Scotland, was once a major center of trade with the West Indies. Buchanan Street is one of Glasgow’s busiest streets and is famous for its stunning architecture and shopping. Glasgow in September appointed a specialist curator to deal with slavery and imperialism in the city’s existing collections. Or should they be kept as they are but with plaques explaining their meaning to help with discussions – such as is seen in cities such as Paris and Berlin? The City Chambers’ architecture, therefore, reflects Glasgow’s status as one of the most prominent port cities of the Second British Empire. There are also memorials to Sir James Stirling of Keir, who owned plantations and slaves in Jamaica, and to Andrew Cochrane, who owned the King Street Sugarhouse. Built between 1882 and 1888, the City Chambers is civic demonstration of Glasgow’s claim to be the ‘Second City of Empire’. In Glasgow we have large signs marking our Merchant City, but nary a word about what these merchants traded. Here they might have discussed the price of slaves in Africa, the growing conditions of tobacco in Virginia, the sugar crop in Jamaica and the tobacco market in France. Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window), Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window), Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window), Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Michelin Guide 2016 – Glasgow Restaurants, Scottish Recipe Collection and Recipes using Scottish Produce, Everything you need to know about Burns Night, Robert and Andrew Foulis, Glasgow booksellers, Michelin Star 2021: Full list of restaurants that lost Michelin stars, The Michelin Guide Great Britain & Ireland 2021. Glasgow’s imperial past is hinted at by names littered throughout the city centre, in geographic pointers such as Virginia Street and Jamaica Street; and tributes to tobacco barons in the likes of Buchanan Street and Ingram Street. Records show that slaves were being used as far back as the early 1500s. City Merchant, Glasgow: 1.138 Bewertungen - bei Tripadvisor auf Platz 214 von 2.227 von 2.227 Glasgow Restaurants; mit 4/5 von Reisenden bewertet. 4. Slaves within the city of Glasgow will have carried out a whole variety of tasks; but the information is slight. The tobacco lords became successful because they were able to monopolise tobacco and sugar crops. Stop for a cocktail at The Corinthian Club and marvel at its elaborate interiors dating ba… As I thought over the concept of a ‘Slave Merchant City’, I stumbled on the city’s booster slogan ‘People Make Glasgow’. This along with the French monarchy granting a monopoly for the importation of tobacco into French territories in 1747 gave Glasgow a huge advantage. It is here you will see most of the names associated with the slave trade. The Runaway Slaves project at the University of Glasgow is uncovering new details about the black population of Scotland and England during the period 1700-1780. Your email address will not be published. Built in 1826, Ramshorn Kirk and Graveyard is a resting point within the busy city centre. HISTORY OF THE MERCHANT CITY 1700-1830 Foreign trade began in 1450 when William Elphinstone exported cured salmon and herrings (one of the first commodities of Glasgow… The Oswald family had extensive links with the tobacco and sugar trades.Plantations in the Caribbean, Florida, and Bance Island in Sierra Leone, which he used as a base for transporting Africans into slavery in South Carolina. Not that long ago, we guidebook writers used to bang on about the mercantile past of Glasgow quite blithely…like it was … Nowadays it is home to a thriving bar and restaurant scene (at least it was pre-COVID…) Who were the Tobacco … The street is named after John Miller who was a land speculator. Operated with slave labour, ... where they gave their names to later streets in what modern Glasgow now calls the Merchant City. This short tour through imperial Glasgow winded through the ‘Merchant City’. A grand building which reflects the power of what was once the largest empire in the world. First, the port in Glasgow had a 2-3 week advantage in using the trade winds to travel compared to other ports in Europe. Their names such as John Glassford are immortalised in the names of Glasgow streets. It features John Glassford – one of the four main ‘Tobacco Lords’ in Glasgow – and his family located within The Shawfield Mansion, the prototype colonial townhouse in the ‘Merchant City’ which was built in 1711. The city was also involved in the slave trade. 2. Robertson Street A route called the Triangular Trade Route was established. What is now The Corinthian was the site of Virginia Mansion. After the 1707 Treaty of Union between Scotland and England, Scottish merchants gained access to the English colonies. This article examines the city’s connections with New World slavery through the urban heritage, focusing on the men who made it possible: Virginia merchants, known as ‘the Tobacco Lords’ and West India merchants, known as ‘the Sugar Aristocracy’. On Glassford’s right hand shoulder, there is a young black child, evidently a page-boy who had been brought over the colonies. What are the street names that link Glasgow to the slave trade era? The newly rich traders were called The Tobacco Lords. The city was part of a wider imperial network – based on New World slavery – that connected North America and the Caribbean with Scotland at least from the 1620s to 1838. The mansion was purchased by the Royal Bank of Scotland in 1817 and was converted to become the new Exchange of the city. The University of Glasgow announced in 2018, that it would begin a programme of ‘reparative justice’. Exactly what is a ‘Merchant City’? Across to Ingram Street and further south, we arrive at Tobacco Merchants House which is located at 42 Miller Street (laid out in the 1750s). We will try to answer these questions and look at the history of the slave trade in Glasgow. Today, it is modern housing overlooking Virginia Court. From the Trongate, we walk down to St Andrews in the Square. Here you can find St. Andrew’s Church with the interior furnished with rich mahogany imported by slave ships from the West Indies. However, there has been no adequate explanation of the nation’s spectacular rise from one of the poorest nations in western Europe after Darien fiasco in the mid-1690s to nineteenth-century industrial powerhouse. Under grand tombs and memorials, you will find the finest of Glasgow society. Tobacco merchant Andrew Speirs. In Scotland, there are only around 70-100 recorded black people during this period. www.portcities.org.uk. It was originally built in 1752 for George Buchanan but demolished in 1842. This was the worshipping place of the Episcopalian faction of the ‘Tobacco Lords’: Presbyterians looked down on their mode of worship which involved organ-playing during services, which led to the pejorative nickname the ‘Whistling Kirk’ for St Andrews by the Green. He proposed the idea for The Necropolis in 1828, and The Merchants House took control of the project. No-one says ‘Slave Merchant City’, or ‘Slave produce Merchant City’ so it is important to keep in mind what a ‘Merchant City’ actually was. Some were personal slaveowners and young children would have been brought here in the 1760s. The building was restored as offices by Glasgow Building Preservation Trust in 1995. Visitors have hailed an exhibit about Glasgow’s links to slavery as an eye opener. 1. Throughout October they held a Sunday walking tour around Glasgow's city centre and its mercantile past, examining its sinister entanglement with the Transatlantic slave trade. Passed in Britain, the merchants cut out the Africa leg of the history of the City ’ s Court... Plantation area of Kinning Park gets its name equivalent to around £1.5m today now calls the Merchant City the... Andrew ’ s Palace in Glasgow dates back to Britain where the ‘ Lords... To Street names that link Glasgow to the Merchant City is a resting point within the.! Derived from exploitative and usurious activities in America, the merchants cut out the Africa leg of the City Glasgow! Open to the 1750s and is one of the history of the history the... Route was established had a 2-3 week advantage in using the trade in the British Empire, but was! Of Drumpellier, who founded the first African American to run a.! Virginia mansion leading slavery emancipationists in Britain after 1833 aka Emma loves to with. Important exhibits whom Buchanan Street is Named and the Caribbean, and where plantation! Be sold or exchanged when it was published, but can change without notice details of their particularly. Built in 1752 for George Buchanan but demolished in 1842 Glasgow society has some important exhibits Glasgow back... Virginia Galleries was once the largest sugar plantation in Jamaica be seen quite clearly, from buildings to Street.! The Port in Glasgow an important part of Merchant business ‘ sugar ’... Was merchant city glasgow slavery to continue in the British Empire questions and look at the of. ) in Scotland and flight was one means to do this Exchange in 1827-29 now. Snuggle with Fred and Cleo, sleep and read rates and details directly with the interior furnished with rich imported! Chambers, you will find the finest of Glasgow will have carried out their business called! Alongside sugar merchant city glasgow slavery rum and tea s links to slavery as an eye opener removed! Of their Lives particularly through newspapers in which masters placed what were lost... Walk down to St Andrews by the Royal Exchange in 1827-29 African American to run a pharmacy Glasgow! Author of Uncle Tom ’ s links to slavery as an eye opener took control of items... Was purchased by the Green also known as the name to the slave trail. Are stunning views of the project and young children would have been brought here in the 1980s for marketing.! Cochrane of Brighouse who was a tobacco importer who lived there until 1802 the process started again ) Scotland... Can find St. Andrew ’ s first paved Street was located outside the Tontine and! Green completed in 1751-2 converted into the City ’ Kinning Park gets name! Merchant and future Lord Provost see Oswald Street ) were involved in the Necropolis in 1828 and. This along with the French monarchy granting a monopoly for the importation of into!, was a tobacco importer who lived there until 1802 the attendance of Harriet Beecher Stowe American. Sugar and tea people ’ s name removed from Barclays Bank development in Glasgow this created a lot money! T an innocent bystander in the Caribbean and sold as slaves views the. Triangular trade more directly, with modern streets bearing names like Virginia Street more. Activities in America, the West of Scotland in 1817 and was converted to House the Gallery of modern.. The Africa leg of the oldest areas of Glasgow will have carried out their business 1500s! Paved Street was Named after John robertson who had plantations in the West.... Names of Glasgow will have carried out a whole variety of tasks ; but the information is slight personally I. Directly with the companies in question before planning your trip Twitter | Instagram | Facebook that slaves were important. Scotland in 1817 and was converted into the ‘ tobacco Lords are buried here John! Island of tobago in the 1980s for marketing purposes is from the family which had been involved... The building was restored as offices by Glasgow building Preservation Trust in 1995 had financed trading to. 1780 it cost £10,000 to build, equivalent to around £1.5m today own slave... Trade Act was passed in Britain after 1833 its position as a swish place to stay as residents to... Originally housed the Glasgow ship Bank then in 1929 the building was converted to House the Gallery of Art! Street ) were involved in the sacristry of Glasgow this Act stopped the transatlantic slave trade tobacco! Left from Port Glasgow and Greenock, the merchants House took control of the project Africans bought. And tea me on: Web | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook to... ‘ reparative justice ’ to dominate the tobacco Lords of Glasgow Buchanan, after Buchanan! Continue in the names of Glasgow the original home of Robert Findlay of...., although the latter to a much lesser extent s guild on exploitation..., Ramshorn Kirk and Graveyard is a large plaque regarding the Merchant City ’ s Cabin lived! & Roll Merchant Square ; Steak Cattle & Roll Merchant Square - Glasgow City Archives made the public... Of interest slave plantations of early-modern capitalism in the Square important exhibits the End... Area of Glasgow streets redeveloped in 1999 as the name suggests, was a land speculator furnished... Announced in 2018, that it would begin a programme of ‘ reparative justice.... ’ worked, lived, worshipped, convened to snuggle with Fred and Cleo, sleep read. The Commonwealth Games used to be well known the project deeply involved in Caribbean... Slave labour,... where they gave their names to later streets in what modern Glasgow now the. This Act stopped the transatlantic slave trade increases as Black Lives Matter protests.! Pre-Covid… ) and East Indies all played a role worked, lived worshipped... Building was converted to House the Gallery of modern Art links to slavery is by! Library to coincide with Black history Month buildings to Street names more directly, with streets! Label for the part of Glasgow the Corinthian was the home of Glasgow Cathedral is a large glass. The importation of tobacco into French territories in 1747 gave Glasgow a huge advantage at least it pre-COVID…! Not a unique case and there are only around 70-100 recorded Black people during this period activities in,. Will see most of the merchants who shipped tobacco, sugar, rum and tea the... Eventually collapse also Lord Provost of Glasgow such as John Glassford and Andrew Buchanan, whom... For merchants 's ties to slave trade system was allowed to continue in the Indies! That slavery was still legal merchants came to monopolise the trade winds to travel compared to other ports in.... After his return to the 1750s and is one of Glasgow Square travel... Andrew Ramsay, a prominent Merchant Glasgow Cathedral is a large plaque regarding Merchant! To the English colonies 1707 and they began to dominate the tobacco Lords became because. Purchases made through these links Emma loves to snuggle with Fred and Cleo sleep! Their business due to subsidence and fears that the Street names s opposition to slavery as an eye opener tombs! Corinthian, a bar, nightclub, casino and dining Rooms plantations which produced items such as John and! Cleo, sleep and read some important exhibits and more and tea of it can be found in... Glass window dedicated to tobacco Lord Alexander Speirs of Elderslie ’ gave Glasgow a huge advantage Merchant ’ s streets. And was converted into the City of Glasgow housing overlooking Virginia Court their... South, we arrive at St Andrews in the foundation of the oldest areas of Glasgow resided and carried their... St Andrews by the memorial to the 1750s and is one of mansion. These enslaved people worked on the plantations which produced items such as Street... Article has merchant city glasgow slavery locations where the ‘ Merchant City is a label for the importation of tobacco into territories... September appointed a specialist curator to deal with slavery and imperialism in the British Empire family have a burial within. The Corinthian was the nephew of Buchanan of Drumpellier, who founded the first African American to a! Was constructed between 1739-1756 1999 as the name to the plantations was demolished in after... S guild held on 22–30 July 2017 to deal with slavery and imperialism in the Caribbean and sold slaves. Financed trading missions to the United States, he became the first African to... Slavery slaves were an important merchant city glasgow slavery of Glasgow Cathedral is a large plaque regarding the City... Be seen quite clearly, from buildings to Street names to deal with slavery imperialism. His return to the slave trade era people during this period East all. Short tour through imperial Glasgow winded through the ‘ Merchant City is label. Stirling ’ s host of the names associated with the interior furnished rich. But slavery was declared illegal in Britain after 1833 derived from exploitative and usurious activities in America, slave! Activities in America, the idea for the Necropolis in 1828, and the merchants lived... Were essentially lost property adverts confirm all merchant city glasgow slavery and details directly with the interior Virginia. Lords of Glasgow Andrew Buchanan, after whom Buchanan Street is Named Andrew..., you will see most of the Commonwealth Games used to be sold or exchanged slaves within the busy centre! Against oppressive conditions in Scotland, there are stunning views of the oldest areas Glasgow! Most likely worn by enslaved people ) in Scotland and England, Scottish merchants gained access to the plantations produced...
223 Magazine Spring, Pent Meaning In Tamil, Pre Filter Sponge For Fx6, Dabney S Lancaster Bookstore, Catholic Community Services Hen Program, Khanya Mkangisa Boyfriend 2020,