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www.glasgowchamberofcommerce.com
GLASGOW CHAMBER MEMBERSHIP
G
lasgow Chamber of Commerce has always been a mirror of its times; its membership a reflection of the era in which it has worked and operated. While the aims and ethos of the Chamber have remained much the same, there is always a changing kaleidoscope of commercial activity. Today, Glasgow is a metropolitan region of ideas, design, innovation and creativity. It is a place that welcomes visitors, sharing its hospitality and friendliness with outsiders. And so the membership reflects a multitude of organisations, including the not-for-profit and the charity sector. Yet looking back at the Chamber’s illustrious history, it was once the city merchantmen, traders, manufacturers and the professional classes of banker, lawyer and accountant who were the prime movers of the Chamber.
I got to know about both the Chamber’s
work and the businesses that were making their mark in the city and beyond”
While individuals have passed through the doors as influencers, many organisations have been supporters of the Chamber’s work for a long time. For example, one of the longest serving members has been the Clydesdale Bank, a neighbour of the Chamber, set up in 1838. Its early annual meetings for shareholders were in the Tontine Hotel, the bank’s head office, and then
Merchants’ Hall before building its own premises. Throughout this, its senior figures have served on various Chamber boards and as directors of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce and Manufacturers, and there is a continuing membership that stretches back nearly 100 years. The bank’s reason for membership was clear: its senior figures got to know personally the commercial people and manufacturing entrepreneurs in the city and could lend them money for the city’s growing commerce. In recent times, the likes of
Clydesdale general managers and directors Alex Macmillan, Arthur Cole-Hamilton and Sir Robert Fairbairn, who joined the Chamber in 1958, and became Deputy President, have all played their part. Today the Clydesdale Bank still plays a prominent role and is co-sponsor of the Glasgow Talks series, alongside another longstanding member,
University of Glasgow (Adam Smith Business School). While Clydesdale Bank has been a distinctly Glasgow financial institution, Royal Bank of Scotland and Bank of Scotland, both headquartered in Edinburgh, have been prominent members for similar reasons. Royal Bank of Scotland was the main sponsor of the Chamber’s
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