History of Glasgow
Glasgow in 1727 was described by Daniel Defoe as “one of the cleanest, most beautiful and best- built cities in Great Britain”. The city's population at that time stood at somewhere around 12,500; by the end of the 18th century it had risen to over 62,000, and by the middle of the 19th century – the time when the property business which we know today as Ross and Liddell was first established - it had reached in excess of 395,000 and was still rising fast.
The reasons for this tremendous influx of people into Glasgow lay, of course, in the growth of industry and commerce in the city. The beginning of the industrial revolution at the end of the 18th century had changed the economic pattern, drawing craftsfolk away from the countryside where they had traditionally used their skills to support an independent, self-sufficient lifestyle, and concentrating the workforce in towns and cities all over Great Britain. Many workers settled in the new Glasgow suburbs of Tradeston, Hutcheson to Laurieston around this time.
The opening of the Forth and Clyde Canal to Port Dundas in 1790 also brought in trade, and communities grew up the Calton and Anderston where new cotton mills provided mass employment. Increasingly, the cottage industries found that they could not compete with the mill and factories in the towns, and country folk had little choice but to leave the impoverished country areas where they had grown up and go in search of employment A significant number of Irish immigrants were also coming to Scotland, believing that the new industries there would bring them prosperity. So Glasgow was crowded with thousands of people who had come looking for work; the new immigrant communities established themselves in the city centre, as is usually the case, taking over the old properties in the High Street, Gallowgate, Saltmarket and Bridegate.
This movement led to a buoyant property market, and Mr. Alexander Barron, who had set up shop as a house factor in premises at 24 Rutherglen Road in 1854, would have had no shortage of clients amongst the shifting population of Glasgow in the mid-19th century. As the new working-class moved in, the former occupants of these areas moved out, leaving the now overcrowded city centre in favour of superior housing in the suburbs. Overcrowding remained a problem, however, and it was clear that more housing was needed to accommodate the city's workforce.
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