Hamish MacPherson

Latest articles from Hamish MacPherson

Glasgow at the centre as Scots took to the rails

IN the 1840s, Glasgow and much of Scotland was caught up in the great railway mania, and as we have seen, the big leap forward was the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway authorised by Parliament on July 4, 1838, which brought Glasgow’s first major terminus, Queen Street station which opened in 1842.

TIMES PAST Times Past: Glasgow’s response to cholera was catastrophic

In this continuing series on the history of Glasgow we have reached the start of the Victorian era, a time when Glasgow boomed but was also subjected to considerable upsets both political and religious in nature. I will chart both the boom times, starting with the railways, and the upsets over the next few weeks, but no one can write the history of Glasgow in the 19th century without mentioning the devastation caused to the citizens by disease and ill-health.