Glasgow Green - Events

Events

From 25 December 1745 to 3 January 1746, Bonnie Prince Charlie's army camped in the privately owned Flesher's Haugh (which would become a part of Glasgow Green in 1792), while Charlie demanded that the city equip his army with fresh clothing and footwear.

In 1765, James Watt, while wandering aimlessly across the Green, conceived the idea of the separate condenser for the steam engine. This invention is credited by some with starting the Industrial Revolution.

To alleviate economic depression in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars the Town Council of Glasgow employed 324 jobless as workers to remodel Glasgow Green. The Radical movement for parliamentary reform grew, and in 1816 some 40,000 people attended a meeting on the Green to support demands for more representative government and an end to the Corn Laws which kept food prices high. In the spring of 1820 the Green was one of the meeting places for conspirators in what became the "Radical War", with strikers carrying out military drill on the Green before their brief rebellion was crushed. Later James Wilson was convicted of treason for allegedly being a leader of the insurrection, and hanged and beheaded on Glasgow Green in front of a crowd of some 20,000 people.

When the Reform Act of 1832 passed in Parliament, increasing the electorate from 4,329 (1820) to 65,000 (1832), a large demonstration of over 70,000 people was held on the Green with a procession lead around the park by a Bridgeton band. The Chartism movement that grew in response to the Reform Act, later resulted in what is known as the Chartist Riot of 1848. William Ewart Gladstone's Reform Act of 1867, which increased the electorate to 230,606 (1868), brought further meetings to the Green.

The park was used as a meeting place by the women's suffragette movement from the early 1870s to the late 1910s. In April 1872, the women's suffragette society, that had formed only two years before, held a large open air meeting in the park.

One of Scotland's oldest sporting clubs Clydesdale Amateur Rowing Club, (Inst 1857) moved from the south side of the river to Glasgow Green in 1901. In 1872 a group of members from this club formed a team to play football against Callander F.C. on Flesher's Haugh, this team became Rangers F.C..

During World War I, the anti-war movement held mass demonstrations on the Green. In September 1914, John Maclean held his first anti-war rally under Nelson's monument. The Military Service Act of 1916, led to a rally on the Green, which resulted in 12 months imprisonment for the three lead speakers under the DORA Act. On 29 June 1916, David Lloyd George was invited to receive the freedom of the city, which led to mass protests on the Green. In May 1917, workers marched through Glasgow to the Green in support of Russia's February Revolution. Another result of World War I, was increased migration to the city of munitions workers. The resulting rent increases led to protests on the Green in 1920.

Over the years there have been many live music events on Glasgow green. Michael Jackson performed there, in 1992 on his Dangerous World Tour his only live show in Scotland. The Stone Roses played their last Scottish show on the green in 1990. The green was also host to Download Festival Scotland in 2004 a live music festival featuring Metallica, Linkin Park, Korn and Slipknot.

It is also the current home of the world pipe band championships.