Membership
Three Generations. One Society.
If your parent and grandparent were Burgesses of Glasgow, the door of one of the city's oldest societies is open to you — and to your husband or wife.
Do I Qualify?
Burgess of Glasgow
Burgess of Glasgow
Eligible to Join
Membership is open to Burgesses and Guild Brethren or Sisters of Glasgow of the third generation in direct line — and to their husbands and wives. Not yet a Burgess yourself? Burgess-ship today is obtained through membership of one of the Fourteen Incorporated Crafts of the Trades House of Glasgow — we will gladly point you to the right door. Unsure of your family's record? The Burgess Rolls reach back to 1573, and the Clerk will help you search.
What Membership Means
Why Families Join — and Stay for Generations
A Place in the City's Story
Your name, entered in rolls kept since 1756, beside ancestors and descendants alike — and a Diploma to mark it, often given by grandparents as a christening or coming-of-age gift.
Fellowship & Occasion
The annual dinner, the annual lecture, the Sir Robert Smith Award, and the shared civic life of the Trades House of Glasgow and its Fourteen Crafts.
Benevolence
A society that has looked after its own since 1756 — with charitable grants to members and their families in old age or need, given quietly and without claim.
A Gift Across Generations
The Diploma as a Birthday Present
Many grandparents enrol their grandchildren in the Society, presenting the Diploma at a christening, an eighteenth or a twenty-first — a gift that costs less than a watch and lasts a great deal longer.
There is a single entry payment and no annual subscription: membership, once given, is for life.
Ready to Take Your Place?
Start with the application guide, or write to the Clerk with any question — including help tracing your family's Burgess line.
How to Apply Ask the Clerk