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. Nowadays it is home to a thriving bar and restaurant scene (at least it was pre-COVID…) Who were the Tobacco … information on the people involved, goods, prices, etc. It was a status symbol. The University of Glasgow announced in 2018, that it would begin a programme of ‘reparative justice’. Many resisted and rebelled against oppressive conditions in Scotland and flight was one means to do this. The original home of Glasgow University was on High Street. Capital derived from exploitative and usurious activities in America, the West and East Indies all played a role. By The Newsroom Monday, 20th February 2017, 7:15 pm It was originally built in 1752 for George Buchanan but demolished in 1842. In the sacristry of Glasgow Cathedral is a large stained glass window dedicated to tobacco lord Alexander Speirs of Elderslie’. What is now The Corinthian was the site of Virginia Mansion. His money came from the tobacco and sugar trade. 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. 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’. There are also three famous court cases: Jamie Montgomery (1756), David Spens (1769-1770) and Joseph Knight (1774-1778) which provide further details. In effect, the merchants cut out the Africa leg of the triangular trade and went directly to the plantations. He is from the family which had been deeply involved in the tobacco and sugar trades since the 1730s. Arriving at the Trongate (passing the site Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip. Glasgow’s opposition to slavery is represented by the memorial to the Rev. Your email address will not be published. Glasgow Corporation acquired the building in 1949 and moved Stirling’s Library from Miller Street to here. And make no mistake, the ‘Tobacco Lords’ were fearsome capitalist competitors who monopolised the trade in slave-grown tobacco from Virginia, which was shipped to Europe (especially France) via Glasgow. Glassford Street The Merchant’s House shows the power of Glasgow’s merchants. Named after the country of Jamaica. This along with the French monarchy granting a monopoly for the importation of tobacco into French territories in 1747 gave Glasgow a huge advantage. The Merchant City in Glasgow dates back to the 1750s and is one of the oldest areas of Glasgow. Nowadays it is home to a thriving  bar and restaurant scene ( at least it was pre-COVID…). Start your exploration in Royal Exchange Square, one of the city's most gracious urban spaces filled with great restaurants, cafes and upmarket retailers which surround the splendid neo-classical building that now houses the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA). An entire district near Glasgow’s city centre was re-named the Merchant City in the 1980s for marketing purposes. As you can imagine, this created a lot of money. 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. The Tobacco Merchant’s House is the oldest surviving house in the Merchant The city’s first paved street was located outside the Tontine Rooms and this was where the ‘Tobacco Lords’ convened. The newly rich traders were called The Tobacco Lords. Glasgow had two advantages. Under grand tombs and memorials, you will find the finest of Glasgow society. It was discovered that the university had benefited from the equivalent of between £16.7 million and £198 million from the profits of slavery (via gifts and bequests) in the 18th and 19th centuries. Should nothing be done? The Oswald family (see Oswald Street) were involved in the foundation of the church. There are stunning views of the city from the Necropolis on this cemetery modelled on Pere-Lachaise in Paris. Glasgow, a port city in western Scotland, was once a major center of trade with the West Indies. Completed in 1778 and built in the Palladian style of architecture, it was described at the time as one of the most fantastic houses in the west of Scotland. From George Square we travel south-west into the ‘Merchant City’. Further south, we arrive at St Andrews by the Green completed in 1751-2. He was the nephew of Buchanan of Drumpellier, who founded the first Scottish slave plantations in Virginia. After his return to the United States, he became the first African American to run a pharmacy. With Black Lives Matters protests in the news, the debate has risen again on whether or not Glasgow’s streets should be renamed. City. This Act stopped the transatlantic slave trade in the British Empire, but slavery was still legal. A route called the Triangular Trade Route was established. Although the fate of the young black child in the Glassford painting is unknown, we have records for some others, many of whom ran away from their masters. 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. What are the street names that link Glasgow to the slave trade era? Start a discussion and not try to eradicate part of the history of the city. And I instantly agreed. The burial plot of Andrew Buchanan, after whom Buchanan Street is named and the Oswald family have a burial plot within the Cathedral. 42 Miller Street was the home of Robert Findlay of Easterhill. His legs are a good deal bended…’. Two Tobacco Lords are buried here: John Glassford and Andrew Buchanan. This was not a unique case and there are other records providing more detail. Jamaica Street Tobacco was one of the items traded, alongside sugar, rum and tea. These were shipped back to Britain where the process started again. From the bottom of Miller street, we arrive onto the main thoroughfare, Argyle Street, and travel into the heart of mercantile Glasgow. Or should they be re-named completely? Tobacco Merchants House illustrates the living conditions of a ‘Tobacco Laird’, a colonial merchant lower down the economic rung from the elite ‘Tobacco Lords’. Speirs Wharf We have outlined a trail around the city centre of Glasgow explaining the street names and pointing out some buildings of interest. Personally, I would like to see the streets with plaques explaining their naming. Read more. 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. 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. However, we know little of his life. In this way, Glasgow merchants came to monopolise the trade in tobacco and sugar, although the latter to a much lesser extent. Named after John Gordon of Aikenhead, who was a partner in tobacco and sugar trading firm Stirling, Gordon and Co. Ingram Street 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. Today, it is modern housing overlooking Virginia Court. James McCune Smith was the first African American to hold a medical degree and graduated at the top in his class from the University of Glasgow. Glasgow in September appointed a specialist curator to deal with slavery and imperialism in the city’s existing collections. 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. 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. Outside of the City Chambers, you will find a statue to James Oswald. It wasn’t until 1833 that slavery was declared illegal in the British Empire. 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. 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. 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). Merchant City Festival 2017 was held on 22–30 July 2017. This short trip ends at The People’s Palace in Glasgow Green. The city of Glasgow wasn’t an innocent bystander in the slave trade. Running from September 30 until November 28, the display highlighted Glasgow’s involvement in the slave trade in the 17th and 18th centuries. 3. Before then it was seen as fashionable for wealthy families to have their own “black boy or girl” to attend to their needs. The building was restored as offices by Glasgow Building Preservation Trust in 1995. The Merchant City is a label for the part of Glasgow where the merchants formerly lived and also had their warehouses. In 1996 the building was converted to house the Gallery of Modern Art. Robertson Street 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. 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. 1. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! The contact to get the man back was Andrew Ramsay, a noted merchant and future Lord Provost of Glasgow. Elderslie Street Ralph Wardlaw who became one of the leading slavery emancipationists in Britain after 1833. Named after Andrew Cochrane of Brighouse who was a wealthy tobacco merchant and also Lord Provost. There are 19 recorded slave voyages which left from the ports of Greenock and Port Glasgow over a sixty-year period from 1706 and 1766 said to carry around 2 to 3,000 people directly into slavery. Austin-Smith-Lord will lead the team, in partnership with Rotterdam based urbanists Studio for New Realities, WAVEparticle and will also draw upon the expertise of Urban Movement and Civic Engineers. 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. Built between 1882 and 1888, the City Chambers is civic demonstration of Glasgow’s claim to be the ‘Second City of Empire’. The city’s imperial connections have been historically celebrated in George Square, home to many statues of imperialists as well as the City Chambers. It is here you will see most of the names associated with the slave trade. Glasgow University Rector sold man for £100 and spent the money on wine, Scot Free: Dr. James McCune-Smith and the long arm of racism, pt.III, Scot Free: Dr. James McCune-Smith and the long arm of racism, pt.II, Scot Free: Dr. James McCune-Smith and the long arm of racism, pt.I. This grew into events as part of Glasgow’s Doors Open Days and a leaflet entitled “It wisnae us!” was released. The Glasgow streets named after merchants who had links to slavery should be changed, a senior council figure has claimed. This article has traced locations where the ‘Tobacco Lords’ and ‘Sugar Aristocracy’ worked, lived, worshipped, convened. If you look on the pavement in Ingram Street you will see the initials RF & AF, this is the resting place of Robert and Andrew Foulis, Glasgow booksellers who opened 10 years before the more well known John Smith bookseller. Charles was the brother of Glasgow merchant George Robb who married into the ... which had 45 slaves, and two claims for the Glasgow estate, for 27 and 57 slaves respectively. The burial plot of Andrew Buchanan, after whom Buchanan Street is named and the Oswald family have a burial plot within the Cathedral. Above the triangular façade celebrating imperial exploitation, three statues that symbolise truth, justice and liberty hint at the hypocrisy of the imperial mentalité. It wasn’t until 1807 that the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act was passed in Britain. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links. 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. Tobago Street Section 3. Gordon Street The core of the mansion became the Royal Exchange in 1827-29. Did you know that the street was named after Andrew Buchanan. What is now the Gallery of Modern Art that was originally the Cunninghame Mansion which was a mansion for a single man, William Cunninghame of Lainshaw. 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? 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 . Who were the merchants who gave the name to the Merchant City? 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. He proposed the idea for The Necropolis in 1828, and The Merchants House took control of the project. 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! 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 City Halls hosted many rallies and anti-slavery meetings over the years. 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. Cochrane Street It is said that for 50 years from 1740 to 1790, Glasgow became the hub for the world’s tobacco – at times trading more than all the English ports put together. It was redeveloped in 1999 as The Corinthian, a bar, nightclub, casino and dining rooms. Head further into Merchant City along Ingram Street, the exclusive fashion boulevard featuring Armani, Ralph Lauren, Mulberry, and Cruiseto drop just a few famous names! Slavery is Scotland's secret shame - that’s why acclaimed Glasgow author Louise Welsh wants us to confront our past at her new Commonwealth Games venue, the Empire Café. Plot of Andrew Buchanan, after whom Buchanan Street is Named and the Caribbean that slavery was declared illegal Britain. 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