Records of the Burgh of Govan

The collection includes: Feuars’ minutes, 1853 - 1877 (H-GOV1/1); Burgh minutes, including committee minutes and reports by officials, 1864 - 1912 (H-GOV1/2-24); abstracts of account and other financial records, 1875 - 1912 (H-GOV2); legislative papers, 1846 - 1912 (H-GOV3); administrative papers including licensing and court papers, 1870 - 1912 (H-GOV4); correspondence, 1878 - 1891 (H-GOV5); Dean of Guild Court registers, 1874 - 1912, plans, c1870 - 1912, and petitions, 1906, 1909 - 1910 (H-GOV6/1-3 - not fully catalogued here); registers of electors, 1895 - 1912 (H-GOV7); records of the Burgh's Jubilee celebrations, 1897 - 1898 (H-GOV8); papers relating to memorials to the Elder family, 1884 - 1912 (H-GOV9); relief of the unemployed, 1908 - 1909 (H-GOV10); press-cuttings books, 1884 - 1912 (H-GOV11).

During the 1830s, Govan was a small, picturesque village of thatched cottages whose inhabitants relied mainly on weaving and agriculture for their livelihoods. After 1840, however, the construction of great shipyards, engineering works and ancillary industries transformed the community.

In 1864, with a population that had already grown from around 2,000 to 9,000, Govan became a Police Burgh. Its population had increased to more than 90,000 in 1912 by which time it had annexed neighbouring Linthouse (1901) and become Scotland's fifth-largest burgh.

Govanites had a strong sense of civic pride and enjoyed amenities gifted by local industrialists such as the Elder Park, Elder Park Library and Pearce Institute. The Town Council provided a wide range of services and opened magnificent new municipal buildings in 1901. Nevertheless, the municipal authorities were ill equipped to cope with the phenomenal rates of increase in its population and overcrowded and insanitary housing conditions plagued many areas of the burgh. Govan's independence ended in 1912 when Glasgow annexed the burgh.

[Source: The Glasgow Story http://www.theglasgowstory.com/story/?id=TGSDG02]

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