Project ID: 813

Description• To find out more about the Radical Rising of 1820 in Scotland – for our own interest and the interest of Local History Group members. • To contribute to raising the general awareness about the rising, and its bi-centenary in 2020. • To publicise the bi-centenary in the hope that other organisations will also act to commemorate the rising, particularly in Paisley, Glasgow, Greenock, Strathaven and Ayr. • To document and pass on our findings – for example on a website, via pdfs on our Local History Group page, via a U3A workshop to mark the bi-centenary. • To use this research project as a means of facilitating inter-group co-operation and shared learning within different groups in the Glasgow West End U3A, and facilitating co-operation and shared learning across different U3A groups in Scotland (Glasgow, Bearsden & Milngavie, Paisley, Falkirk, Ayr, Lanark, East Renfrewshire and Lenzie), perhaps as a step to creating the first U3A networks in Scotland. • To use this research project as a means of facilitating links between the U3A in Scotland and other bodies such as Universities, Local History Societies and Family History Societies. • To use this research project as a means of establishing and developing the U3A Research Ambassador role in Scotland.
TopicsHistory
TypeU3A-led research (SLP)
U3AGlasgow West End U3A
Year started2018
Source of referencePrimary sources relating to the rising and its outcomes; secondary sources on the rising; books, plays, poetry and paintings commemorating the rising.
OutputLiterature Review; Bibliography; Website; Seminar; Presentations; Reports
Notes
The events of the 1820 Radical rising in Scotland have largely been forgotten or ignored - it was short-lived, there are limited records, and it has been overshadowed by the better-known events in England.  
The bicentenary in 2020 provides an excellent opportunity for a re-appraisal of the rising and its place in history, particularly from perspectives which continue to be under-represented or ignored two centuries later – women, the poor, the working class. 
Between August 2018 and April 2020 we hope that a number of individual U3A members and U3A groups will carry out research into any aspect of their choice of the 1820 Radical Rising, and document and share their findings.
While the main focus of the project will be the rising in Scotland, we recognize that simultaneous events were taking place elsewhere in the UK and we will actively welcome participation from U3As or Local History groups in both Scotland and England.
This will be very much a U3A collaborative research project, but we will also contact other potentially interested parties such as Museums, Universities and libraries, and we also hope to involve other groups within Glasgow West End U3A.