Three books to help educate you on Glasgow's history

If you’re struggling with boredom through lockdown and are looking for some interesting reads on one of Scotland’s most exciting and popular cities, then look no further! I’ve created a list of some fascinating books that’ll educate you on Glasgow’s important history.

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Struggle and Suffrage in Glasgow by Judith Vallely (2019)

In 1870, the average life expectancy of a woman in Glasgow was as low as 32.6 years. In this book, Judith Vallely examines the standard of living amongst women in Glasgow prior to gaining the right to vote. The educational and employment barriers endured by women are detailed in their own chapters which describe the commonly overcrowded city tenements and squalid working conditions. In these early chapters and throughout the book as Vallely goes on to examine the suffrage movement, notable women are credited for their contribution to the cause, from the first women to challenge inequality in education, to those adopting the militant campaigning methods of the suffragettes, and the collaborative commitment of women to the war effort. Vallely tells of the significance of some buildings which still stand in Glasgow today and a picture section which features anti-suffrage postcards from a collection at Glasgow Women’s Library is incorporated into the book.

The Real Taggarts: Glasgow’s Post-War Crimebusters by Andrew G. Ralston (2017)

Taggart actor Alex Norton, who portrayed Detective Chief Inspector Burke in the iconic series for eight years, introduces this detailed account by Andrew G. Ralston of city life and the work of real-life police officers and detectives in post-war Glasgow. As well as exploring a fresh prominence of gang culture and an increase in robberies and housebreakings after the war, this book details how the detectives credited for catching some of the city’s murderers worked to solve their cases. Included is the work of Superintendent Alex Brown who was dubbed “The man who caught Manuel” and committed Chief Superintendent Tom Goodall. An insightful picture section within the book displays photographs of the men who were in charge of the police force which consisted of just 44 women in the mid-fifties, as well as excerpts from Detective Tom Goodall’s personal notebook and a selection of newspaper front pages.

Finding Peggy by Meg Henderson (1994)

At the forefront of this intensely personal account is the post-war housing crisis in Glasgow. Journalist Meg Henderson recounts her experiences of growing up in working class areas of Glasgow throughout the 50s and 60s during clearances which led to thousands of families leaving long-resided homes for generalised council estates. Born into a mixed-religion family, Henderson provides exhaustive detail on the communities plagued with religious sectarianism in which she lived after their tenement block collapsed, including the notorious Blackhill district, later followed by the newly constructed Drumchapel, while telling the story of her close, life-shaping relationships and the traumatic death of her Aunt Peggy which she later investigates as an adult, revealing a contempt for the working class.