Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 3

GLASGOW
GLASGOW
' Tulchan ' Archbishop Boyd for his selection, and the
same is the case in 1575. In 1578 and 1579 the Earl of
Lennox was made provost by the same selection, but in
1580 the bailies had hardly been appointed when an
act of the Privy Council was issued, intimating that, as
these officials had resigned at the king's request, three
others had been appoiuted. By act of parliament in
1587 the lands of the barony were annexed to the Crown,
and in the same year they were granted to the commen-
dator of Blantyre, to whom also the right of selection
passed, for we find him nominating the provost and
bailies in 1589. In 1600, however, by royal charter
the right of selection was given to the Duke of Lennox,
and between 1601 and 1605 the council had the right
granted it of electing its own magistrates, but this only
brought dissension, and in 1606 the king had to name
the bailies himself, while in the followiug year the right
of nomination was handed by the council back to the
archbishop. In 1611 a new charter of confirmation was
granted by the king, disponing the burgh of Glasgow
to the magistrates, councO, and community, but re-
serving to the archbishop his right to elect magistrates
and exercise jurisdiction within the regality, and in
1633 and again in 1636 other acts were obtained rati-
fying all privileges, but still reserving to the archbishop
the rights before mentioned. In 1639 the archbishop
had to flee, and in 1639 and 1640 the council elected
their ovnx magistrates, but in 1641 the king interfered
and made the selection himself, and though the council
protested and sent commissioners to Edinburgh on the
subject, no redress was obtained, and so matters re-
mained till 1690 when a royal charter of AVilliam and
Mary confirmed all former charters, and granted to the
cit}' tlie ' full power, right, and libertie to choise and
elect their Proveist, Balllies, and haill other Magistrats
in the ordinar manner and at the ordinar tyme, as
freelie as any other royall burgh in the said kingdome. '
The provost has borne the courtesy title of 'my lord,'
and ' the honourable,' since 1688, and the first recorded
allowance made to him ' to keep up a post suitable to
his station,' was in 1720 when the sum of £40 was
allowed yearly, and this payment lasted till 1833.
In 1627 the provost, as is duly recorded, had a
' hatt and string ' purchased for him, so he probablj'
wore a hat of office, and in 1720 an act of council was
passed providing that his official dress was to be a court
suit of velvet, After 1767 the provost and bailies w'ore
cocked hats and gold chains of office, the latter being
still in use, but the former disappeared in 1833. In
1875 official robes were adopted for the provost, bailies,
and town-clerk. In early times the number of the
council seems to have varied, and, in place of the oppo-
site method now in use, the council was elected by the
magistrates. In 1586 we find there was a provost,
3 bailies, and 21 councillors, but additions and re-
movals were made at any time in the most hap-
hazard manner. Prior to 1801, the executive of the
council consisted of the lord provost, 3 bailies, the
dean of guild, the deacon-convener, and the treasurer.
In that year two other bailies were added — one from
the merchants' rank and the other from the trades'
rank. Until the passing of the Municipal Reform Bill,
the council was composed exclusively of members from
the Merchants' and Trades' Houses, self elected here as
elsewhere ; but when that measure became law, the
roj-alty was divided into five wards, which returned
thirty members by election, and to these two ex officio
members were added, viz., the dean of guUd, elected
by the Merchants' House, and the deacon-convener,
elected by the Trades' House.
Prior to 1846 the three districts of Gorhals, Calton,
and Anderston,* had burgh jurisdictions of their o^vn,
but an Act of Parliament, passed in that year, provided
♦ Gorbals was originally subject to the archbishop, but became
in 1647 subject to the to\vii council of Glasgow ; and its magistrates
were, down till 1S32, appointed by the council, but from 1S32 to
1846 were elected by the inhabitants subject to the subsequent
approval of the Council. The original burgh comprised only 13
acres. Calton was constituted a burgh of barony by Crmvu
Charter in 1S17, and had a town council, consisting of a provost.
that these should be abolished, and that these places
should in future return their proportion of members to
the city council. Since that time the council has con-
sisted of 50 members, of wdiom 48 are elected in the
proportion of 3 by each of 16 wards into which the
municipal burgh is now divided, and the remaining 2
are the dean of guild and the deacon-convener elected
as before. The ward councillors retain office for 3 years,
one-third of them retiring annually by rotation, and the
dean of guild and deacon-convener are elected annually,
but are generally elected for a second year. The coun-
cil chooses out of its own members an executive, consist-
ing of a lord provost, 10 bailies, a treasurer, a master of
works, a river bailie, and a depute-river bailie. They
also appoint the city clerk, city chamberlain, burgh
fiscal, burgh registrars, and other officials, with salaries
ranging from £200 to £1200 a year. The standing com-
mittees are those on finance, accounts, etc. ; on the
bazaar and city hall, clocks, bells, etc. ; and on churches
and churchyards ; while the committees for special pur-
poses are now (1882) on parliamentary bills, on tram-
ways, on libraries, on new municipal buildings, on addi-
tional extramural buryiug-ground, and on gas supply ;
and there are sub-committees on gas-works, on gas
finance, and on contracts and duties of officials. The
council also act as trustees under the Parks and Galleries
Trust Act of 1859, the business being managed by a
committee, with sub-committees on the Queen's Park,
Kelvingrove Park, Alexandra Park, Glasgow Green,
Corporation Galleries and City Industrial Museum,
Music in the parks, and Finance ; as Commissioners for
JIarkets and Slaughter-Houses, the affairs being managed
by a committee, with a sub-committee on Finance ; as
Ti'ustees under the Glasgow Improvement Act of 1866,
the business being managed by a committee, with sub-
committees on Lodging-Houses and Finance. They are
also Commissioners under the Glasgow Corporation
Waterworks Act of 1855, the business being managed
by a committee, with sub-committees on Finance,
Jleters and Water-fittings, claims of compensation for
lands and damages, and appeals. The council also act
as Commissioners of Police under the Glasgow Police
Act and Provisional Order obtained in 1877, the busi-
ness being managed by a magistrates' committee ; a
committee on Finance ; a committee on Statute Labour ;
a committee on Watchmg and Lighting ; a committee
on Health, with sub-committees on Cleansing, Hospitals,
and Sewage ; a committee for disposing of objections to
assessments ; a committee on Gunpowder Magazine ; a
committee on Street Improvements ; and a committee
on Public Baths and AVash-houses. They are also
Bridge Trustees, and return members to the Clyde
Navigation Trust, the Court-House Commissioners,
and managers for various institutions that have been
already noticed. In the year 1700 the corporation
income was in round numbers £1764, while the ex-
penditure was £2024, but generally, even in the most
corrupt days of the council, the affairs were well managed
and cared for. The income is derived mainly from feu-
duties and ground-annuals, bazaar dues and rents, seat
rents of the parish churches, assessments, and miscel-
laneous properties. The income of the Common Good
alone, in 1861, was £18,480, 7s. 8d. , the ordinary ex-
penditure, £15,457, 17s. OJd., the extraordinary ex-
penditure, £3046, 7s. 2d.,"' and the debts, £64,098,
19s. 7d. The income in 1871 was £15,916, Is. 6d., the
ordinary expenditure, £14,808, Is. 3d., the extraordi-
nary expenditure, £2465, Is. 9d., the debts, £183,921,
9s. 9d., the assets, £426,116, 14s. 5d. The income in
1881 w^as £25,562, 12s. 2d., and the expenditure
£18,871, 7s. ; the debts were £896,032, 19s. Id., and
the assets £1,298,249, 13s. 9d., showing a surplus
of free assets of £402,216, 14s. 8d., exclusive of
3 bailies, a treasurer, and 11 councillors elected by burgesses,
the qualification for which was a paj-ment of £2, 2s. Ander-
ston was constituted a burgh of barony by Crown Charter in
1824, and had a town council of the same constitution as that
of Calton, elected, however, by proprietors or life-renters of
heritable subjects, and by tenants paying £20 or upwards of
annual rent.
163