1707 Act of Union between Scotland and England
1747 French government gives Glasgow merchants monopoly over supply of tobacco to France. Provides much wealth to Scotland for banking system and business investment
1756 Joseph Black discovers carbon dioxide, a major breakthrough in commercial chemistry, and subsequently alkalis used in the bleaching industries. This was the Chemical Revolution that sparked off the Industrial Revolution.
1780s Beginning of 1st phase of Industrial Revolution when machinery began to replace manual power on a large scale. Old industries became more efficient.
1786 David Dale founds New Lanark Mills, the beginning of the factory system of organised labour and machinery
1800 Caledonian Pottery founded in Garngadhill
1800s James Watt’s Separate Condensor revolutionises efficiency and power of steam engines freeing factories and mills from water power and transforms mining industry
1807-11 Glasgow-Paisley-Ardrossan canal built
1810 Paisley Canal disaster, 85 drowned
1812 Henry Bell’s Comet, world’s first successful passenger steamship sailing between Glasgow and Greenock triggers off Clyde shipbuilding industry
1821 Falfield Mills built by George Foster
1820-40s Rosehill tenements, Pollokshaws Road built
1828 J B Neilson patents hot blast furnace
1832 Cholera epidemic kills 3000 people in overcrowded Glasgow. Further epidemics in 1848 and 1853
1835 Caledonian Foundry established in Kingston
1837 Queen Victoria comes to the throne aged 18. British Empire covers one quarter of the world with Glasgow as the Second City of the Empire
1837 Govan Iron Works, Glasgow’s first foundry, established by William Dixon. The workers housing, known as the Lower English buildings also dates from around this period
1840s End of 1st phase of Industrial Revolution when manual work in many industries had been replaced by machinery
1842 Railway between Glasgow and Edinburgh opened
1844 John Hendry manager of Falfield Mills and living in the manager's house on the site
1850s Beginning of 2nd phase of Industrial Revolution marked by steam powered ships and railways and later in 19th Century by the internal combustion engine and electrical power. This was an era of cutting edge technology
1850 Between 1850 and 1875, Glasgow’s sewerage system was replaced after several cholera epidemics
1856-60 Queen’s Park Terrace, Eglinton Street, built by Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson
1857 Kingston Street Engine Works opens
1860s City Improvement Acts. Slums cleared in cities across Scotland
1861 Kingston Lime Works founded
1867 Caledonian Foundry ceases ironworking and moves to making machine tools
1872-4 Caledonian Pottery moves to new site in Rutherglen
1873 Elgin Street United Presbyterian Church opens
1873 Maitland Free Church, Devon Street opens. Later renamed Abbotsford Parish Church in 1876
1879 Fire at former Caledonian Foundry
1881 Paisley Canal closes
1880s Dixon’s original foundry demolished
1884 Kingston Biscuit factory opens
1888 Scotland Street Engineering Works established on site of former Caledonian Foundry by W & A McOnie
1890 Forth Railway Bridge opens
1890s Gas fired kilns introduced at Caledonian Pottery
1898 Caledonian pottery bought by W P Hartley, Liverpool jam-makers
1903-6 Scotland Street School built by Charles Rennie Mackintosh
1929 Caledonian Pottery closes
1930 Caledonian Steel Works built on site of Pottery
1930 Scotland Street Engineering Works liquidated
1930s Kingston Biscuit Factory closes
1958 Dixon’s Blazes closes
1960 Kingston Biscuit Factory demolished
1966 Dixon’s Blazes finally demolished
