1820

It’s two hundred years since the last armed insurrection on mainland Britain, the setting for Bubbles in the Cauldron, which is just released by Amazon under the name of Graham Dalton. The uprising was the dying spasm of the industrial unrest caused by the introduction of machines in factories, which in turn was the result of the improvement in communication created by the canals. The canals made it possible for the people of Glasgow and Manchester to buy items made elsewhere, cheaper than could be produced in the cottages locally, that increased the demand for goods produced in the most efficient situation and encouraged the opening of factories. The people moved to the cities and formed groups to protest, even take up arms, against working conditions. All very well, but what if you are deaf, or a Highlander, and everyone suspects you of being on the ‘other’ side? Strange times make strange friends and there was no ‘stranger’ time than 1820 in Scotland and especially Glasgow and the Clyde.