Sunday, August 19, 2007

Gangs Of Glasgow

Bridgeton purple and crown flute band taken in belfast 1935 . Billy Fullerton is in the front row with his arms folded. When he died in 1962 thousands attended his funeral and grown men wept.

The Penny Mobs was a name used by the press to describe the early street gangs in Glasgow during the early 1870's, they gave rise to prominent gangs of the early 20th century such as The Tongs,The Tois, The Govans, the Powery Gang, the Soo-Siders, the Billy Boys, the Norman Conks, the Rednecks, the Baltic Fleet, the Black Diamond Gang, the Black Hands, the Nudes, the Ruchill Boys and The Monks.


This was my Penny Mob "The Killamory Brabblers" we were tough and wore big hats cos we were mental.

In Northern Ireland there is this song from a couple of generations back called "We are the Billy boys" its always been assumed in Northern Ireland that its about King William of Orange but no, it was from a Protestant Glasgow street gang led by a man called Billy Fullerton.

It has been adapted all over the UK especially during football matches to slag off the other side. Rangers football club in Scotland has taken measures to stop the singing of said song and others on their grounds by so-called 90 minute bigots, these people do not hold sectarian beliefs but nonetheless sing songs at football matches which are sectarian and simply join in with the rest of the crowd.

Hullo, Hullo
We are the Billy Boys
Hullo, Hullo
You'll know us by our noise
We're up to our knees in Fenian blood
Surrender or you'll die
For we are
The (insert yer home place here) Boys


I lived in Glasgow years back when it was known as the " Second City of the Empire" and everything was covered in a thick layer of soot. You can compare some of the people back then and now to the sectarian mongs of Northern Ireland, anti-Catholic or anti-Protestant.

Billy Fullerton was seen by some as a Robin Hood type of character who only wanted to defend his fellow Protestants from the violent attacks from Catholics, he set up his own version of a Welfare state helping families of those in prison and paying the fines of gang members. The police had another version of events and said there was no point in fining gang members as they would just extort money from shopkeepers, publicans and passers-by from the communities they claimed to be protecting .

Billy Fullerton or cunt breath as I would call him, ears like Spock.

The truth was most of the Billy Boys just hated Catholics and wanted to fight, beating up Taigs and Rangers football club were the two main joys for many at that time and it wasn't just poor working class folk, members also came from comfortable middle class families too, exchanging comfort for excitement.

The Billy Boys had 800 members at its height during the 1920s and 1930s, then Fullerton went on to join Oswald Mosely’s British Fascists and started a Glasgow branch of the Ku Klux Klan.

Not having had a large black population I just think its interesting the evolution of hate from one group to the next. Sectarianism,racism or Ghey bashing all stems from Xenophobia and resides deep in the tribal DNA of our past. For the good of the tribe you kill the weak or the different , distrust those who are not us, intellect and reasoning is the only thing that over rides prehistoric programming.

The gangs are still around, now populated by Neds, Chavs, Chags, Kevs, Scallies,Spides or White Trash whatever you want to call them.
Now they pick fights in Interweb chatrooms with challenges like this from some Ned's bedroom in the North of Glasgow: "Johnny... Mad Skwad Number Fucker One… Kick tae kill… Stab for fun!." In the South of the city it is answered: Pogo, of the Craigton Goucho, replies: "Ya wee shite, u-r getin bladed… cum when yir ready!"

A very eloquent lot that have their own vernacular that produces some of the finest poetry in the world, "Ode to me Ma" Slashin jaws, kickin baws, puntin jellies, and stabbin bellies. Quite Beautiful in a way.

Other expressions used by the gangs include:


"plunge" --- stab

"puntin’" --- sell drugs

"sumbuzz" --- excitement

"buckets" --- pipe for smoking cannabis

"heavystunna" --- good looking girl

"ho" --- tart, as the expression applied to women

"M8" --- mate "mukka" --- friend

"shoutoot" --- message to friends and allies

"burdz" --- girlfriends

"skeem" --- a gang turf

"jiggy" --- the dancing

"swatch" --- take a look

"rapid cunt" --- gang members who run from fights.

In 1931 Captain (later Sir) Percy Sillitoe was appointed Chief Constable of Glasgow, he hired the biggest meanest police officers he could to combat the Glasgow gangs, he was very successful and became known as the "Elliot Ness of Scotland." World War II also helped to shatter the gangs too with men being called up to fight for their country.