James Leitch Lang was a solicitor and a town councillor.
Lang was a controversial character whose services were in great demand among the Glasgow criminal fraternity. In 1866 he campaigned in the Town Council elections against Provost John Blackie Jnr, and won a sensational if narrow victory. Lang suggested that the Philanthropic Company (ostensibly formed to acquire city centre slum land for clearance and redevelopment) was nothing more than a front for property speculation by Blackie, James Watson and their friends.
Lang’s political allies included Charles Cameron and other temperance radicals in the Liberal Party.
Reference: Mitchell Library, 920.04BAI
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries Information and Learning
Keywords:
City Improvement Trust, councillors, Liberal Party, Philanthropic Company, solicitors, temperance radicals