The Glasgow Highlanders

By Mary Edward

IN THE 18th century a large part of Scotland was isolated by the geography of the Highland Line, which dissected the country from the lowlands to the northern coast. Most who lived beyond that somewhat arbitrary line were Gaelic speakers, surviving in a harsh and unforgiving terrain mainly by subsistence farming and fishing. It was a precarious existence, readily descending into famine when harvests failed or disease struck.

However, in the early 1700s, ‘a few Highland gentlemen’ settled in Glasgow, and a coaching inn, the Black Bull, was opened on Argyle Street to cater to the new arrivals. Enterprising and humane they must have been, since as early as 1727 they had set up an organisation known as The Glasgow Highland Society. Later, a church with proceedings in Gaelic was opened in Queen Street.