Glasgow Razor Gangs - History

History

The tradition of gang formation in the city stretched back at least to the 1880s, and gang rivalries appear to have derived a momentum of their own during the late nineteenth century, irrespective of short-term economic trends, both in Glasgow and in other British municipalities.

Religious sectarianism had been rife in Scotland for decades; however, the centre of it all was in Glasgow. Originally, Glasgow had been mainly Protestant, but in the 19th and 20th centuries large numbers of Roman Catholic Irish immigrants came to the west coast of Scotland, drawn by the industries and higher quality of life in the country.

Protestants became irritated at increasing unemployment levels and blamed the Catholics. Between November 1930 and May 1935, Glasgow's unemployment rate was between 25 and 33 percent. To claim that mass unemployment was the sole cause of gang conflicts in interwar Glasgow would be misleading. Nonetheless, the advent of mass unemployment does appear to have led to two significant new patterns in gang formation. First, as unemployment peaked locally in the early 1930s and long-term unemployment posed increasing concern, it became more common for men in their twenties and even thirties to remain active members of street gangs, some of which appear to have provided an important focus for men without work.

In the 1920s, Glasgow became known for its gang violence particularly in the Gorbals area, leading to the portrayal of Glasgow as one of Britain's most violent cities. Relations between the gangs and the police were violent on both sides, as police officers and local youths contested ownership of the streets. Throughout the 1930s the Glasgow police maintained a network of paid informers, including bar staff employed in public houses in the poorer districts of the South Side and the East End, in order to gather information concerning the planned activities of local street gangs. Confrontations between gangs and police officers frequently followed police attempts to take gang members into custody. For example, in July 1939, a major disturbance erupted in the Gorbals as the Beehive Boys and the South Side Stickers reportedly joined forces to confront police officers who were taking two prisoners to the police station. 'Hundreds' of local people gathered at the main street corners, and police reinforcements were stoned as they arrived in Thistle Street in squad cars and vans. As the disturbance spread, shop windows were smashed and police officers were forced to stand guard to prevent looting.