In the mid-nineteenth century, Dundee was gradually establishing itself as Scotland’s third-largest city, with a rapidly expanding economy. What most attracted observers’ attention, however, was the religious revival that began in the Fall of 1839 under the leadership of two relatively young and inexperienced ministers, Robert Murray McCheyne (1813–1843) and William Chalmers Burns (1815–1868). In McCheyne’s Dundee, historian Bruce McLennan ably traces the story of revival in this industrial Scottish seaport. After looking at the social and economic conditions of the city, as well as the significant religious issues of the day, he then considers McCheyne and Burns—their backgrounds, their brief ministries in Dundee, and their impact as God’s instruments of great spiritual blessing to the people of that city. McLennan concludes with an analysis of the reactions to the revival—both approbation and opposition— and the awakening’s long-term effects, which could still be seen a generation later. Table of Contents: 1. Dundee in the 1830s and 1840s 2. Two Background Religious Issues of the Times 3. Breaking Up the Fallow Ground: McCheyne’s Early Years in Dundee, Preparing for Revival 4. “That Memorable Field”: Burns’s Seven Months in Dundee 5. McCheyne’s Last Years in Dundee: Continuing Evidence of Revival 6. McCheyne and the Lambs 7. Responses to the Revival: Opposition and Approbation 8. Aftermath

This book is focused on the social and occupational origins of the founders of modem British industry: what kind of families did they come from? What was their occupation before they set up as industrialists? In discussing these and other issues, this study makes an important contribution to the problem of social mobility during the Industrial Revolution.

Presenting a new approach towards the social history of working classes in the imperial context, this book looks at the formation of working classes in Scotland and Bengal. It analyses the trajectory of labour market formation, labour supervision, cultures of labour and class formation between two regional economies – one in an imperial country and the other in a colonial one. The book examines the everyday lives of the jute workers of the imperial nexus, and the impact of the ‘Dundee School’ of Scottish mechanics, engineers and managers who ran the Calcutta jute industry. It goes on to challenge existing theories of imperialism, class formation and class struggle – particularly those that underline the exceptional nature of the Indian experience of industrialization - and demonstrates how and why Empire was able to provide an opportunity to test and perfect ways of controlling the lower classes of Dundee. These historical debates have a continued relevance as we observe the impact of globalization and rapid industrialization in the so-called developing world and the accompanying changes in many areas of the developed world marked by de-industrialization. The book is of use to scholars of imperial history, labour history, British history and South Asian history.