Speaker Fraser Booth - Glasgow's Tobacco Lords

Tue, Aug 18th 2015 at 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm


At the meeting held in the Scores Hotel on Tuesday 18th the regular members were joined by Presidents and Vice Presidents of Area 6 Dundee and North Fife.  After dinner when they departed for their scheduled meeting, the regulars were treated to a talk by Fraser Booth on the influence of the Tobacco Barons on 17th and 18th Century Glasgow.  Street names and many of Glasow’s fine buildings bear testament to their wealth and business acumen.  The decline in the industry came about shortly after the American War of Independence and perhaps this is no coincidence.  We all know of a certain incident involving tea but many a colonist had become indebted to a Glasgow merchant - Washington and Jefferson included.  A neat way of cancelling debts!  Today, places such as St Andrew’s in the Square, a fine church inspired by St Martin–in–the-Fields in London, built using tobacco money and once the exclusive preserve of the Barons, can be enjoyed by all the people of Glasgow.

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