The first Glasgow directory was published in 1783 by John Tait. This image is taken from a facsimile reprint published in 1871 by Robert Forrester. Page 68 includes surnames from Warrand to Wislon [sic].
The ironmonger John Wilson was known in the Beefsteak Club - the drinking and social club of which he was a president - as "Tinkler" Wilson. At a meeting of the club, when the horrors of the French Revolution were the matter of daily conversation, Wilson observed a member knocking back a glass of whisky and following it immediately with a bumper of brandy. The witty president exclaimed, "Good God, sir! what are you about? You have disgraced yourself and the club, by putting a fiddling Frenchman above a sturdy Highlander!" But the offender swiftly drank down another glass of Scotch and replied, "Brand me not with being a democrat, sir; for now I've got the Frenchman between two fires!"
Reference: Mitchell Library, GC 914.14351
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries Information and Learning
Keywords:
Beefsteak Club, brandy, directories, drinking, family history, French Revolution, genealogy, ironmongers, John Tait's directory, presidents, Scotch whisky
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