Glassblower. Stephen Adam. 1877-80. The Maryhill Burgh Halls, Glasgow. Click on image to enlarge it.
Maryhill had two large scale glass works, both in Murano Street, which was named after the Murano Glass works in Venice. The Glassworker is shown with a wide variety of blown glass products. The Caledonia Glass Bottle Works under its owners, Gibson & Scott had been operating since 1874, and it seems likely that this is the location of the panel. The Glasgow Glass Works was also established on the canal banks in 1874, but produced rolledplate glass and is therefore unlikely to be the location. Both these works had closed by 1973. Interestingly this is one of the few (male) workers shown without a beard and the reason would appear to be that he is a mere boy. Child labour-especially in its part time work/part time schooling form was still common in the 1870s. — Ian R. Mitchell
Photograph courtesy of the Maryhill Burgh Halls Trust and Glasgow Life/Glasgow Museums. You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.
Bibliography
Gossman, Lionel. “Stephen Adam’s Celebration of Industrial Labor.” Victorian Web.
Last modified 29 May 2016