March 1848: “… Glasgow, the second commercial city in the empire …”

In a letter to the Lord Provost and Magistrates of Glasgow, which was published in numerous

newspapers and journals in 1848, is a reference to “Glasgow, the second commercial city in the

empire”.

 

The letter, which was sent by my great-great grandfather, John Fairfull Smith, W. S., who was

Secretary to the Glasgow and South-Western Railway, and lived at 140 Bath Street, has the heading,

“EMPLOYMENT FOR THE WORKING CLASSES”.

 

The letter can be read on page six of The Glasgow Chronicle, on Wednesday the 22nd of March,

1848.

 

 

 

The British Newspaper Archive.

 

 

 

George Fairfull-Smith, June 2025.