Diary of Thomas Cairns Livingstone, 1919

This material is held atGlasgow City Archives

  • Reference
    • GB 243 TD1969/7
  • Dates of Creation
    • 1 Jan - 31 Dec 1919
  • Language of Material
    • English
  • Physical Description
    • 1 volume
      Manuscript

Scope and Content

Handwritten daily entries accompanied by line drawings and colour illustrations drawn by the author.

Subjects include: Victory Week in Glasgow begins with a display of the tanks "Haig" and "Beatty" (13 Jan); hot air balloon launched from George Square (17 Jan); threat of a great nationwide strike (23 Jan); beginning of the 40 hour strike (27 Jan); estimated 40,000 on strike in Glasgow (28 Jan); strike has caused the electric power to be cut off from public works at Port Dundas Station (30 Jan); Riot Act read in George Square, strikers clash with police and the army brought in (31 Jan); thousands of troops now stationed in Glasgow and billeted in stations, at bridges and in public buildings including the Post Office and Municipal Buildings (1 Feb); armed sentries at the gas work and tramway works at Coplawhill (2 Feb); end of Clydeside Strike (11 Feb); visit to the Art Galleries (1 Mar); Clydebuilt airship flying over Govanhill (14 Mar); trial of the strike leaders, Shinwell, Gallagher, Kirkwood and Hopkins in Edinburgh (7 Apr); females no longer driving Glasgow tram cars (14 Apr); return of the 52nd (Lowland) Scottish Division to Glasgow (7 May); Sir Douglas Haig in Glasgow being presented with the freedom of the city (8 May); holiday to Ardrossan (14 - 29 Jun); peace celebrations in Glasgow (2 and 4 Aug); Victoria School's peace celebrations (5 Sep); death of his brother Sam (27 Sep); railway strike (28 Sep); speech on temperance by Mr W. E. Johnson ("Pussyfoot") in Glasgow (13 Oct); attendance at the Housing Exhibition (29 Oct); two minute silence to commemorate the armistice (11 Nov); execution of a murderer in Glasgow yesterday (12 Nov); attendance at the Kelvin Hall exhibition (22 Nov); attended the Exhibition of Science and Industry (3 Dec) and buying his son Meccano for Christmas (24 Dec).

Debits and visits for 1919 recorded at the end of the volume.

Access Information

No access restrictions apply.

Conditions Governing Use

Application for reproduction should be made to the Archivist

Bibliography

This diary is one of those which have been annotated and published as "Tommy's Peace: A Family Diary, 1919 - 1933", Thomas Livingstone and ed. by Ronnie Scott (Mainstream Publishing: London, 2010)