On 22 October 1835 Robert Gilchrist was present as a singer at a famous occasion in Newcastle’s history – the opening of the Grainger Market. This was considered to be the finest market in England.
The event was held to celebrate the opening of this new commercial centre as Newcastle underwent development during the 1830s through the efforts of builder Richard Grainger. A public dinner was held in which nearly 2,000 were present, including 300 ladies in a temporary gallery erected for their accommodation and that of the band. The Newcastle Journal noted that Robert Gilchrist “sung with great applause”. His song, unnamed at the time, but which would appear in Joseph Robson’s Songs of the Bards of the Tyne as ‘Song of Improvements’ was posthumously published in a shorter form entitled ‘Anti-antiquarianism’, which dealt with the redevelopment of Newcastle’s upper town.
