Call to right a historic wrong against Scotland's first working-class martyrs
Published: 4 September 2026
A petition to grant the Freedom of Glasgow to the Weavers has been officially launched by The Tenementals, a band which is helping to tell the radical history of Scotland’s largest city in song.
A petition has been launched to right a centuries-old injustice ahead of the 240th anniversary of the massacre of 18th century Scottish workers protesting wage cuts.
On 3 September 1787, striking weavers marched through Glasgow to protest a 25% cut in their wages. The British Army’s 39th Regiment of Foot fired on the demonstration, killing six individuals.
Through this act, the six Calton Weavers became Scotland’s first working-class martyrs and pioneers of the labour movement.
But the Glasgow authorities at the time responded to the killings by awarding the Freedom of the City to the military officers who ordered the soldiers to shoot.
For the last four years, Calton Weavers Commemoration Committee has been working to raise awareness of this history and to raise funds for a new memorial.
Today a petition to grant the Freedom of Glasgow to the Weavers has been officially launched by The Tenementals, a band which is helping to tell the radical history of Scotland’s largest city in song.
On September 3, the anniversary of the massacre, The Tenementals released a new song – The Broken Stones of the Calton Weavers – which refers to the chronic state of disrepair of the weavers’ memorial stones in Calton Burial Ground. The song invites audiences to reflect on ‘who is remembered and who is forgotten’.
Professor David Archibald of the University of Glasgow and lead singer of The Tenementals has called on city authorities to help address this historic injustice in time to mark the 240th anniversary of the massacre in 2027.
Professor Archibald said: “The Calton Weavers suffered a terrible injustice in life, and in death. The weavers were demonstrating against the negative impact of new technology and six of them paid with their lives. The event is widely regarded as the start of the labour movement in Scotland.
“Yet, when we wrote the song, one of the modern memorial stones was split in two, one half clinging to the wall in Calton Burial Ground, the other half lying on the earth below. It was sad to see. At the same time, the army officers who ordered the massacre still have official Freedom of the City of Glasgow status. It’s time to change that. We hope that the petition and the song complement each other – they both have the same aim - raising awareness of the weavers' story and amending a historical injustice.”
The petition, which has been launched this week, calls on Glasgow City Council to:
- Formally and publicly disassociate the modern City of Glasgow from the historic civic honours bestowed upon the military officers who ordered the 1787 massacre.
- Revoke all civic honours granted to these officers.
- Bestow the Freedom of the City (or the highest possible level of posthumous civic recognition) upon The Calton Weavers to officially amend the historical record.
It is hoped that by gathering 1787 signatures it will ensure councillors look at how they can best commemorate the Weavers in 2027.
This petition is soundtracked by Glasgow's radical past. You can watch the video for 'The Broken Stones of The Calton Weavers'.
The Tenementals first attracted wide public attention in 2024 with the release of their debut album Glasgow A History (Vol. I of VI) which invited listeners to imagine the city’s past as a living soundtrack and received extensive critical acclaim, at home and internationally.
The first album reimagined moments from Glasgow’s radical history through original songs and set out the band’s long-term vision of producing a multi volume musical history of the city that infuses academic research with the energy and reach of a live rock band.
This approach forms part of wider research led project by Professor Archibald and The Tenementals which explores how history can be created and communicated beyond conventional academic formats. Often described by the band as “wild research”, the project asks what history might look, sound and feel like if made by a rock band and uses music performance and popular culture as legitimate forms of historical enquiry.
Petition
The petition can be access here - Grant the Freedom of the City of Glasgow to The Calton Weavers - Glasgow, United Kingdom · Change.org
First published: 4 September 2026