The Glassblower

In 1878 Maryhill had two large-scale glass works, both in Murano Street, named after the Murano Glass Works in Venice. The worker is shown with a wide variety of blown glass products. The Caledonia Glass Bottle Works under its owners, Gibson and Scott, were operating since 1874, and it seems likely that this is the location of the panel. The Glasgow Glass Works was also established on the canal banks in 1874, but this produced rolled plate glass and is therefore unlikely to be the location. Both these works had closed by 1973.

Almost alone of the workers featured on the 20 panels, this worker is beardless. It is probable that this was because he was still just a boy, as in 1878 people started work in factories as early as 11 or 12 years old.