James McGhee

James McGhee (1861–1921) was a prominent Glaswegian Irish nationalist, and Provincial Secretary of the Ancient Order of Hibernians (A.O.H.) for Scotland. A "popular figure in Irish and Catholic circles in the Eastern suburbs of Glasgow", McGhee was also an office-holding member of the Home Rule Association, the Land League, the United Irish League and the Irish National Foresters. Early life and career James McGhee was born in Tollcross in 1861 to Irish immigrant parents; James McGhee, a coal pit labourer "hailing from Fermanagh", and Jane Lafferty, "from Donegal." A 1903 edition of the Glasgow Observer reported that McGhee "served his apprenticeship with the old Home Rule Association, which existed in Shettleston, in the days of his youth." As a young man, James McGhee initially found work in local coal pits, and later pursued a career as a spirit salesman. It was, however, through his involvement in the Irish Catholic fraternities of Glasgow that McGhee achieved his status as a public figure.