Timeline Scotland
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The Picts drank a heather ale and fought the
Romans in Scotland.
(Hem., 8/96, p.113)
Dunnottar Castle. Located just off the mainland of Scotland,
Dunnottar Castle played Elsinore in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Much of
the original castle still stands, though some of the roofs were
replaced for the filming of Hamlet.
(HNQ, 10/19/01)
St. Andrew’s Day (Nov. 30): People of Scotland celebrate the
achievements of their country and their forefathers.
(SFC, 11/29/02, p.A29)
355Mil BC-344Mil BC In 2002 it
was reported that a 1971 fossil from Scotland, initially believed to
be an extinct fish, was actually a tetrapod, one of the earliest
creatures to have walked on land. It was identified as a member of
the Whatcheeriidae family and named Pederpes finneyae.
(SFC, 7/4/02, p.A3)
350Mil BC Time of the Caledonian orogeny in
Scotland.
(DD-EVTT, p.135)
50Mil BC A sheet of ice 2 miles thick covered
Scotland.
(Econ, 9/9/06, p.11)
3200BC-2200BC The Orkney Island village of Skara
Brae was inhabited during this period. A huge storm in 1850 revealed
its ruins. Inhabitants were settled farmers who ate sheep, cattle,
grain and fish.
(www.orkneyjar.com/history/skarabrae/)(SFEC,
3/23/97, p.T3)
3000-2000BC The Clava cairns, a mile from
Culloden, are 3 sizable stone burial chambers encircled by stone
monoliths.
(SFEC,12/797, p.T4)
2500BC-2000BC Scotland’s Ring of Brogar in
Orkney’s West Mainland dates to about this time. In 2005 36 of the
original 60 stones remained standing. The original stones stood in a
perfect circle 340 feet in diameter.
(SFEC, 3/23/97, p.T3)(SSFC, 11/13/05,
p.F10)
122AD Jun, Emp. Hadrian visited
Britain as part of a tour of the northern frontiers. He ordered a
wall built to protect the Romans from the Picts of Scotland.
(AM, 7/01, p.17)
c140AD Emperor Antoninus Pius ordered Hadrian’s
Wall to be abandoned and a more northerly defense to be established
80 miles up. Remnants could later be seen of the Antonine Wall
around Falkirk, Scotland. Roman troops advanced northwards into the
Scottish lowlands, driving the barbarians back before them and
establishing a new frontier called the Antonine Wall, named for the
new Emperor, Antoninus Pius. The Antonine Wall was later abandoned,
reoccupied, and abandoned a second and final time under the Emperor
Marcus Aurelius.
(NG, 12/97, forum)(HNQ, 9/9/00)(AM, 11/00, p.13)
c160AD The Romans abandoned their garrison at
Cramond, Scotland, and retreated to Hadrian’s Wall.
(AM, Jul/Aug ‘97 p.14)
c197AD The sculpture of a lioness devouring a man
made about this time was found in 1997 in the mud of the Almond
River near Edinburgh, Scotland.
(SFC, 1/22/97, p.A9)(AM, Jul/Aug ‘97 p.14)
297 The Roman poet Eumenius
first mentioned the Picts. The 2 most important Pictish groups were
the Verturiones and the Caledones.
(AM, 7/01, p.46)(AM, 11/04, p.41)
c400AD People from the chiefdom Dal Riata in
northern Ireland crossed the Irish Sea and settled along the
Scottish coast of County Argyll.
(AM, 7/01, p.46)
410 Rome abandoned its British
provinces.
(AM, 11/04, p.41)
c500-600 In England the 6th century Gildas was the
only historian whose work survived. He made no mention of King
Arthur. He described the Picts as “Loathsome hordes, dark swarms of
worms that emerge from the narrow crevices of their holes when the
sun is high, preferring to cover their villainous faces with hair
rather than their private parts and surrounding areas with clothes.
(WSJ, 3/27/98, p.W10)(AM, 11/04, p.41)
c500-600 The Picts of Scotland developed a script
about this time made up of 30 symbols. In 2005 it still defied
interpretation.
(AM, 11/04, p.43)
542 The St. Columbas monastery
was founded on Iona. [see 563]
(SSFC, 8/12/01, p.T8)
563 The Irish Catholic monk
Columba (Colum Cille) arrived on the Scottish island of Iona. [see
542]
(SFC, 2/10/99, p.A10)(AM, 7/01, p.51)
700-800 Vikings began arriving to the Orkney
Islands.
(SFEC, 3/23/97, p.T3)
729 Apr 24, Egbertus (89),
English bishop, St. Egbert, died in Iona.
(MC, 4/24/02)
794 Jan 8, Vikings attacked
Lindsfarne Island.
(MC, 1/8/02)
802 Vikings stage their 1st
raid of Iona.
(AM, 7/01, p.50)
804 Vikings returned to Iona
and killed 68 of the monastic community.
(AM, 7/01, p.50)
839 The Stone of Scone was
first believed to be used in the coronation of a Scottish king at
the village of Scone in southeast Scotland.
(SFC, 11/16/96, p.A11)
844 The Scotti and Picts united
under Cinaed (Kenneth) mac Ailpin. The Pict language disappeared
following the union.
(AM, 7/01, p.46)
878 Monks packed up their
shrine of Collum Cille at Iona and moved to Kells, Ireland.
(AM, 7/01, p.50)
1040 Aug 15, In Scotland
Donnchad led an army into Moray, where he was killed by Mac Bethad
at Pitgaveny near Elgin.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macbeth_of_Scotland)
1040-1057 Macbeth ruled over Scotland. He
succeeded King Duncan.
(WSJ, 5/23/96, p.B-1)
1057 Aug 15, Macbeth, the King
of Scotland, was mortally wounded at the Battle of Lumphanan, by
Malcolm Canmore, the eldest son of King Duncan I, who was killed by
Macbeth 17 years earlier.
(AP,
8/15/07)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macbeth_of_Scotland)
1124 Apr 27, Alexander I, king
of Scotland (1107-24), died.
(MC, 4/27/02)
1128 The Royal High School in
Scotland was founded by a group of Edinburgh Friars.
(SFC, 4/22/98, p.A10)
1138 Aug 22, English defeated
Scots at Cowton Moor. Banners of various saints were carried into
battle which led to its being called Battle of the Standard.
(MC, 8/22/02)
1140 Somerled first appeared in
historical chronicles as the regulus, or King, of Kintyre (Cinn
Tìre) when he marries Raghnailt the daughter of Olaf (or
Amhlaibh), King of Mann and the Scottish Isles.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerled)
1153 May 23, David I (~68),
king of Scotland (1124-53), died.
(MC, 5/23/02)
1153 May 24, Malcolm IV became
king of Scotland.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1164 Somerled, military and
political leader of the Scottish Isles, assembled an army to repel
the Stuarts. He advanced to the centre of the their territory at
Renfrew, where a great battle was fought. Much confusion surrounds
the manner of the battle, and indeed whether a battle occurred at
all, but what is certain is that Somerled was assassinated, after
which his army retreated from the area. DNA evidence later suggested
that Somerled was of Viking descent.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerled)(AM, 7/05,
p.14)
1165 Dec 9, Malcom IV (24),
king of Scotland (1153-65), died.
(MC, 12/9/01)
1200-1300 Urquhart Castle was originally built to
guard the strategically important route along the western shores of
Loch Ness. It is now used by tourists hoping to spy the Loch Ness
Monster. The most conspicuous of the ruins visible today actually
rest upon the even older remains of an iron-age stone and timber
fort. The castle has historically been the setting for conflict
since at least the 13th century and Edward I's invasion of Scotland.
Its defenses were improved over the centuries until the late 17th
century, when advances in artillery signaled an end to such
fortifications.
(HNQ, 7/7/01)
1263 Oct 2, At Largs, King
Alexander III of Scotland repelled an amphibious invasion by King
Haakon IV of Norway.
(HN, 10/2/98)
1274 Jul 11, Robert the Bruce,
King of Scotland (1306-1329), was born in Turnberry, Scotland.
(HN, 7/11/01)(MC, 7/11/02)
1288 Feb 29, Scotland made it
legal for women to propose to men. The Scottish Parliament passed a
Leap Year Act whereby women could propose to men. The tradition had
begun in 5th century Ireland.
(SFEC, 6/8/97, Z1 p.6)(SFC, 2/29/00, p.A1)
1291 May 10, Scottish nobles
grudgingly recognized the authority of English king Edward I.
(MC, 5/10/02)
1296 Apr 27, England’s King
Edward I defeated the Scots at the Battle of Dunbar. He deposed King
John and exiled him to France.
(HN, 4/27/99)
1296 England's King Edward I
invaded Scotland but his army was defeated by Scotsman William
Wallace. After a series of battles England regains some control over
Scotland.
(Reuters, 2/16/12)
1296 King Edward I of England
stole the 458-pound Stone at Scone from Scotland. It was returned to
Scotland in 1996.
(SFC, 11/16/96, p.A11)
1297 Sep 11, Scots under
William Wallace "Braveheart" defeated the English army at Stirling
Bridge, Scotland. The 1995 epic film Braveheart dramatized the life
of 13th-century Scot William Wallace. While many Scots and others
praised the film for reviving the legend of the Scottish hero, just
as many people criticized the film for its numerous historical
inaccuracies. For instance, the Battle of Stirling Bridge is an
excellent example of Wallace's military genius and what led him to
being knighted in the film and real life. However, in the film, the
battle takes place on an open field. (Reportedly, when a local asked
actor/director Mel Gibson why the battle was being filmed with such
an obvious discrepancy, Gibson explained that the bridge got in the
way. The local responded, "Aye. That's what the English found!") In
addition, one of the film's most intriguing twists is pure Hollywood
invention. A calendar puts the lie to the tale of Wallace's affair
with Princess Isabella, wife of Prince Edward II, and his fathering
of her child. Isabella and Edward II married in 1307, two years
after Wallace's execution. Her son, Edward III, was born in the
years that followed.
(WSJ, 9/9/97, p.A1)(HN, 9/11/98)(HNQ, 3/19/01)
1298 Jul 22, King Edward I
combined bowmen and cavalry to defeat William Wallace's Scots at
Falkirk.
(HN, 7/22/98)
c1300s The Dunrobin Castle in the northern
Highlands dates top the early 1300s.
(SFEM, 1/31/99, p.6)
1305 Aug 23, Scottish patriot
William Wallace was hanged, drawn, beheaded, and quartered in
London.
(HN, 8/23/98)(SFEC, 4/11/99, Z1 p.8)
1306 Mar 25, Robert the Bruce
(1274-1329) was crowned king of Scotland as the successor to King
John.
(HN, 7/11/01)(ON, 2/08, p.6)
1306 English forces defeated
Scottish forces under Robert Bruce at Methven near Perth. Bruce
escaped to Rathlin Island.
(ON, 2/08, p.6)
1307 May 10, Forces under
Robert Bruce of Scotland defeated the English at Loudoun Hill. Over
the next few years Bruce gained control over much of the Scottish
countryside.
(ON, 2/08, p.6)
1308 Nov 8, John Duns Scotus
(42), Scottish-born theologian and philosopher, died in Germany.
Scotus and his adherents came under attack by critics in the 16th
century, giving rise to the term "dunce."
(AP,
11/8/08)(www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintj55.htm)
1310 English forces under
Edward II crossed into Scotland to regain control of the territory.
(ON, 2/08, p.6)
1312 Scots under Robert Bruce
attacked Perth, held by the English, and gained control of the city
and castle.
(ON, 2/08, p.6)
1314 Jun 24, King Robert I
(Robert the Bruce) of Scotland with 6,000 men and 500 horses routed
English King Edward II with his army of 20,000 at Bannockburn. Bruce
secured Scotland’s independence from England and ruled until his
death in 1329. A film "The Bruce" was made in 1995 on a $500,000
budget.
(AP,
6/24/97)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bannockburn)(ON,
2/08, p.7)
1316 Mar 2, Robert II the
Steward, King of Scotland (1371-90), was born.
(SC, 3/2/02)
1324 Mar 5, David II Bruce,
king of Scotland (1331-71), was born.
(MC, 3/5/02)
1329 Jun 7, Robert Bruce
(b.1274), King of Scotland (1306-1329), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_I_of_Scotland)
1332 Aug 12, Battle of Dupplin
Moor; Scottish dynastic battle.
(SC, 8/12/02)
1346 Oct 17, English forces
defeated the Scots under David II during the Battle of Neville's
Cross, Scotland.
(HN, 10/17/98)
1371 Feb 22, David II Bruce
(46), king of Scotland (1331-1371), died.
(MC, 2/22/02)
1385 Aug 31, English King
Richard the Second invaded Scotland with a force estimated at
80-thousand men.
(MC, 8/31/01)
c1392 Sir Jean Froissart
authored "The Chronicles of England, France and Scotland."
(ON, 4/00, p.6)
1402 In Scotland the Duke of
Rothesay, son of King Robert III and heir apparent, died under
mysterious circumstances while in the custody of Robert Stewart, the
1st Duke of Albany. Stewart had built Duane Castle at the end of the
14th century.
(SSFC, 11/23/03, p.C6)
1406 Apr 4, Robert III, King of
Scotland (1390-1406), died.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1420 Scotland's Duke of Albany
died. The governorship of Scotland and Doune Castle passed to his
son, Murdoch.
(SSFC, 11/23/03, p.C6)
1424 James I returned from
exile and was crowned King of Scotland. He tried but failed to ban
golf. He wanted his troops to practice more archery.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R34)(SSFC, 11/23/03, p.C6)
1446 In Scotland Sir William
St. Clair, a grand master in the Knights Templar, founded the
Rosslyn Chapel. It was built in the shape of a cross in the Pentland
Hills outside Edinburgh. It became famous as part of the Dan Brown’s
2003 thriller “The Da Vinci Code.”
(SFC, 5/25/06, p.E2)
1449 The giant Scottish bombard
known as Mons Meg was built. It was retired from active service in
1680, after splitting her barrel while firing a ceremonial shot. She
can still be seen in Edinburgh castle.
(HNQ, 6/20/02)
1457 King James II of Scotland
(James of the Fiery Face) banned "Futeball" on the grounds that it
threatened national defense by drawing young men away from archery
practice. He banned "Golfe" for the same reason. "Nocht usit and
utterlie cryit doun."
(SFC, 8/10/96, p.E4)(Hem., 1/97, p.47)
1473 James IV, King of Scotland
(1488-1513), was born.
(Internet)
1473 The game of golf was
played in Scotland at the Old course at St. Andrews.
(SFC, 6/25/95, p.T-7)
1482 The border town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed ended up in English hands after changing hands 13
times in wars between England and the Scots.
(WSJ, 7/8/08, p.A14)
1488 Jun 11, James III, king of
Scotland, died in the battle of Sauchieburn, Scotland.
(SC, 6/11/02)(PC, 1992, p.157)
1494 The earliest report of
Scots making whiskey was made. [see 1495]
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R49)
1495 Jun 1, The first written
record of Scotch Whiskey appeared in the Exchequer Rolls of
Scotland. Friar John Cor was the distiller. The later J&B brand
stood for Justerini and Brooks. [see 1494]
(DT internet 6/1/97)(SFEC,12/28/97, Z1 p.2)
1495 Nov 27, Scottish king
James IV received Perkin Warbeck (21), a pretender to the English
throne. James gave Warbeck, a Walloon, Lady Catherine Gordon in
marriage.
(MC, 11/27/01)(PCh, 1992, p.160)
1497 Henry VII defeated the
Cornishmen at Blackheath. An insurrection in Cornwall had developed
over taxes to support English defenses against Scottish invasion
forces.
(PCh, 1992, p.161)
1497 The Declaration of
Education Act required children to go to school.
(SFEC, 12/27/98, Z1 p.8)
1498 The Shore Porters’ Society
was founded as a semi-public body controlled by the town of
Aberdeen, Scotland.
(Econ, 12/18/04, p.104)
c1500-1600 Rob Roy was forced to become a highland
fugitive.
(SFC, 8/19/96, p.D7)
1512 Apr 10, James V, king of
Scotland (1513-42), was born.
(PCh, 1992, p.167)(MC, 4/10/02)
1513 Sep 9, James IV (40), King
of Scotland (1488-1513), was defeated and killed by English at the
Battle of Flodden Field. The Scottish navy was sold to France.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.10)(HN, 9/9/98)(MC, 9/9/01)
1522 England declared war on
France and Scotland. Holy Roman Emp. Charles V visited Henry VIII
and signed the Treaty of Windsor. Both monarchs agreed to invade
France.
(TL-MB, p.12)
1524 Jul 26, James I became
king of Scotland at age 12.
(MC, 7/26/02)
1542 Nov 24, The English
defeated the Scots under King James at the Battle of Solway Moss, in
England.
(HN, 11/24/98)(MC, 11/24/01)
1542 Dec 7, Mary Stuart, Queen
of Scotland (1560-1587), was born. [see Dec 8]
(MC, 12/7/01)
1542 Dec 8, Mary, Queen of
Scotland (1542-67), was born. She became the Queen of England when
she was a week old, but was forced to abdicate her throne to her son
because she became a Catholic. She was executed for plotting against
Elizabeth I. [see Dec 7]
(HN, 12/8/00)
1542 Dec 14, James V (b.1512),
king of Scotland (1513-42), died.
(MC, 12/14/01)
1543 Jul 1, England and
Scotland signed the peace of Greenwich.
(HN, 7/1/98)
1543 Sep 3, Cardinal Beaton
replaced Earl Arran as regent for Mary of Scotland.
(MC, 9/3/01)
1543 Sep 9, Mary, Queen of
Scots, was crowned Queen of England.
(HN, 9/9/01)
1544 May 17, Scot earl Matthew
van Lennox signed a secret treaty with Henry VIII.
(MC, 5/17/02)
1547 Sep 10, The Duke of
Somerset led the English to a resounding victory over the Scots at
Pinkie Cleugh. This was the last battle to be fought between English
and Scottish royal armies and the last in which the longbow was used
tactically en masse.
(HN, 9/10/98)(WSJ, 11/4/04, p.D10)
1548 Aug 15, Mary Queen of the
Scots (6), who was engaged to the Dauphin, landed in France.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)(MC, 8/15/02)
1550 Mar 24, France and England
signed the Peace of Boulogne. It ended the war of England with
Scotland and France. France bought back Boulogne for 400,000 crowns.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.18)(MC, 3/24/02)
1557 Dec 3, The 1st Covenant of
Scottish protestants formed.
(MC, 12/3/01)
1558 Apr 24, Mary, Queen of
Scotland, married the French dauphin, Francis.
(HN, 4/24/98)
1558 John Knox authored "The
First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women."
He was referring to the governments of Mary Tudor in England and
Mary, Queen of the Scots.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.19)(Econ, 8/6/11, p.14)
1559 May 10, Scottish
Protestants under John Knox rose against Queen Mary. Knox preached
an inflammatory sermon at Perth and incited the Protestants lords to
rise. They captured Edinburgh and sacked religious houses in other
cities.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.19)(MC, 5/10/02)
1559 Jul 10, Henry II of France
died following a wound to the head by a tournament lance on June 30.
This allegedly fulfilled a prophecy by Nostradamus. Gabriel de
Lorges de Montgomery, captain of the Scottish Guards, accidentally
killed Henry II as they jousted in front of the Hotel Royal des
Tournelles. The widowed queen, Catherine de Medicis (d.1589), had
the royal residence demolished.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.19)(SFEM, 3/15/98, p.16)
1561 Aug 19, Mary Queen of
Scots arrived in Leith, Scotland, to assume the throne after
spending 13 years in France.
(MC, 8/19/02)
1565 Jul 29, Mary Queen of
Scots married her cousin, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.21)(MC, 7/29/02)
1567 Jul 24, Mary, Queen of
Scots, was imprisoned and forced to abdicate her throne to her
1-year-old son James VI.
(HN, 7/24/98)
1560 The Church of Scotland was
founded. The Presbyterian branch of Protestant Christianity was
started in Scotland and the British Isles by John Knox.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.20)(SFC, 7/21/97, p.A11)
1563-1727 In Prestonpans, Scotland, 81 people were
convicted and executed for being witches. In 2004 they were
officially pardoned.
(WSJ, 9/15/06,
p.A10)(http://forejustice.org/wc/sp/scottish_pardons.html)
1566 Jun 19, King James I
(d.1625 at 59), son of Mary Queen of Scots, was born. James, aka
King James VI of Scotland ruled Scotland from 1567-25 and England
from 1603-25.
(WUD, 1994, p.763)(WSJ, 4/16/97, p.A13)(DT
internet 6/19/97)(HN, 6/19/99)
1567 Feb 9, Henry Stuart, earl
of Darnley, Lord Darnley, the second husband of Mary, Queen of
Scots, was murdered in his sick-bed in a house in Edinburgh when the
house blew up. In 2003 Alison Weir authored "Mary, Queen of the
Scots, and the Murder of Lord Darnley."
(HN, 2/9/99)(MC, 2/9/02)(WSJ, 5/1/03, D10)
1567 May 15, Mary, Queen of
Scots married James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell.
(MC, 5/15/02)
1567 Jun 11, At Borthwick
Castle a thousand Scottish nobles cornered Mary, Queen of Scots, who
fled the castle by jumping out the window, disguised as a pageboy.
The nobles cornered the newly-wed Mary and her third husband, the
dubious James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell. They demanded Bothwell's
head and Mary's renunciation of the Earl and his influence.
Bothwell, a suspect in the murder of Queen Mary's second husband,
Lord Darnley, just a few months before, fled the castle's sheltering
110-foot towers and the asylum offered by the 6th Lord Borthwick,
leaving his wife and queen behind.
(HNQ, 4/13/01)
1567 Jun 16, Mary, Queen of
Scots, was imprisoned in Lochleven Castle in Scotland.
(AP, 6/16/98)
1567 Jul 24, Mary, Queen of
Scots, was imprisoned and forced to abdicate her throne to her
1-year-old son James VI.
(HN, 7/24/98)
1567 Mary, Queen of Scots,
played one of the 1st recorded games of golf at Seton Castle. In
2005 the 14-bedroom castle was put on the market asking $27 million.
(SFC, 8/31/05, p.C2)
1568 May 13, Mary Queen of
Scots was defeated by English at battle of Langside.
(MC, 5/13/02)
1568 May 16, Mary Queen of
Scotland fled to England.
(MC, 5/16/02)
1568 May 19, Defeated by the
Protestants, Mary, Queen of Scots, fled to England where Queen
Elizabeth imprisoned her.
(HN, 5/19/99)
1572 Nov 24, John Knox (67),
Scottish preacher, died.
(MC, 11/24/01)
1583 Nov, Francis Throckmorton,
who was born in 1554, was arrested. He made a full confession of the
Throckmorton Plot for the overthrow of Queen Elizabeth I and the
restoration of papal authority in England after being tortured on
the rack. He was tried and then executed on July 20, 1584.
Throckmorton was the central figure in the conspiracy involving
France and Spain, which called for a French invasion of England and
the release from prison of Mary, Queen of Scots.
(HNQ, 10/8/98)
1585 Dec 13, William Drummond
(d.1649), Scottish poet and laird of Hawthornden, was born. His
chief collection, "Poems," appeared in 1616. "He, who will not
reason, is a bigot; he, who cannot, is a fool; and he, who dares
not, is a slave."
(HN, 12/13/99)(AP, 6/22/00)
1586 Oct 14, Mary, Queen of
Scots, went on trial in England, accused of committing treason
against Queen Elizabeth the First. Mary was beheaded in February
1587.
(AP, 10/14/06)
1587 Feb 1, Elizabeth I, Queen
of England, signed the Warrant of Execution for Mary Queen of Scots.
(HN, 2/1/99)
1587 Feb 8, Mary Stuart, Queen
of Scots (1560-67), was beheaded at age 44 in Fotheringhay Castle
for her alleged part in the conspiracy to usurp Elizabeth I. In 2004
Jane Dunn authored "Elizabeth and Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens." In
2006 studies identified an oil painting of Mary as the only one made
of Mary as queen.
(HN, 2/8/99)(PCh, 1992, p.203)(USAT, 2/5/04,
p.5D)(SFC, 8/18/06, p.E2)
1588 Aug 18, A storm struck the
remaining 60 ships of the Spanish Armada under the Duke of Medina
Sidonia after which only 11 were left. Many of the ships went to
Ireland where most of the Spaniards were killed by the English. 600
Spaniards wrecked in Scotland were later returned to Spain.
(ON, 3/02, p.6)
1600 Dec 12, John Craig,
Scottish church reformer and James VI's court vicar, died.
(MC, 12/12/01)
1603 Mar 24, Tudor Queen
Elizabeth I (69), the "Virgin Queen," died. She had reigned from
1558-1603. Scottish King James VI, son of Mary, became King James I
of England in the union of the crowns. Each country retained its own
parliament until 1707. In 2006 Leanda de Lisle authored “After
Elizabeth.”
(WSJ, 4/16/97, p.A13)(WSJ, 2/4/06, p.P9)(Reuters,
2/16/12)
1603-1625 King James I (1566-1625) ruled
over England and Scotland.
(WUD, 1994, p.763)(WSJ, 4/16/97, p.A13)
1606 Apr 12, England's King
James I decreed the design of the original Union Flag (also referred
to as the Union Jack), which combined the flags of England and
Scotland.
(HN, 4/12/98)(AP, 4/12/06)
1616 The collection, "Poems,"
by William Drummond (b.1585), laird of Hawthornden, appeared.
(HN, 12/13/99)
1617 Apr 4, John Napier,
Scottish mathematician, inventor (logarithms), died.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1617 James VI of Scotland, aka
James I of England, made a homecoming to Edinburgh Castle.
(SFEC, 11/8/98, p.T3)
1625 Mar 27, James I (VI),
Stuart king of Scotland (1567), England (1603-25), died. He was
described as the “wisest fool in Christendom.”
(www.jesus-is-lord.com/kingbio.htm)(Econ,
12/18/04, p.130)
1625 Mar 27, Charles I (d.1649)
became the English king. He was King of England, Ireland and
Scotland until he was beheaded.
(AP, 3/27/97)(WSJ, 6/13/96, p.A12)
1633 Oct 14, James II Stuart,
king of England and Scotland (James VII) (1685-88), was born.
(MC, 10/14/01)
1638 Feb 28, Scottish
Presbyterians signed the National Covenant at Greyfriars, Edinburgh.
(MC, 2/28/02)
1641 Oct 21, A Catholic
uprising took place in Ulster. Thousands of English and Scots were
killed. [see Oct 23]
(MC, 10/21/01)
1641 Oct 23, Catholics in
Ireland, under Phelim O'Neil, rose against the Protestants and
cruelly massacred men, women and children to the number of 40,000
(some say 100,000). [see Oct 21]
(HN, 10/23/98)
1646 May 5, King Charles I
surrendered at Scotland.
(MC, 5/5/02)
1647 Jan 23, Scottish
Presbyterians sold captured Charles I to English Parliament.
(MC, 1/23/02)
1650 Apr 27, Scottish general
Montrose was defeated.
(MC, 4/27/02)
1650 May 21, James, Marquis of
Montrose, Scottish general, was hanged.
(MC, 5/21/02)
1650 Jun 28, Lord Cromwell set
off for Scotland at the head of an army of 16,354 men.
(HNQ, 8/8/00)
1650 Sep 3, The English under
Cromwell defeated a superior Scottish army under David Leslie at the
Battle of Dunbar.
(HN, 9/3/98)
1650 Charles II (20) arrived in
Scotland.
(ON, 12/00, p.1)
1651 Jan 1, Charles II (Stuart)
was crowned king of Scotland at Scone.
(PC, 1992, p.243)
1651 Sep, Charles II led the
Scots Covenanters to a disastrous defeat at the battle of Worcester.
(WSJ, 2/28/00, p.A36)(ON, 12/00, p.1)
1653 Dec 16, Oliver Cromwell
took on dictatorial powers with the title of lord protector" of
England, Scotland and Ireland. He served as dictator of England to
1658.
(CFA, '96, p.44)(AHD, p.315)(AP, 12/16/97)(HN,
12/16/98)
1654 Apr 12, England, Ireland
and Scotland united.
(MC, 4/12/02)
1661 May 27, Archibald Campbell
(~53), Scottish politician, was beheaded.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1667 Apr 29, John Arbuthnot
(d.1735), Scottish mathematician, was born. With Alexander Pope,
Jonathan Swift, John Gay and Thomas Parnell he founded the
Scriblerus Club in 1714, whose purpose was to satirize bad poetry
and pedantry. The club was short-lived.
(http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Arbuthnot.html)
(MC, 4/29/02)
1671 John Law (d.1729), later
financier and gambler, was born. His story was told in 2000 by
Cynthia Crossen in "The Rich and How They got That Way."
(WSJ, 7/19/00, p.B1,4)
1679 Jun 1, Battle at Bothwell
Bridge on Clyde: Duke of Monmouth beat the Scottish. (MC, 6/1/02)
1685 Feb 2, Charles II (54),
King of England, Scotland, Ireland (1660-85), died. He made a
deathbed conversion to the Roman Catholic faith. He had earlier
ordered Christopher Wren to build an observatory and maritime
college at Greenwich. In 2000 Stephen Coote authored the biography:
"Royal Survivor."
(WSJ, 2/28/00,
p.A36)(www.britannia.com/history/monarchs/mon49.html)
1685 Jun 30, Archibald Campbell
(~55), Scottish politician, was beheaded.
(MC, 6/30/02)
1689 Apr 21, William III and
Mary II were crowned joint king and queen of England, Scotland and
Ireland.
(HN, 4/21/98)
1689 Jul 27, Government forces
defeated the Scottish Jacobites at the Battle of Killiecrankie.
(HN, 7/27/98)
1692 Feb 13, In the Glen Coe
highlands of Scotland, 38 members of the MacDonald clan, the
smallest of the Clan Donald sects, were murdered by soldiers of the
neighboring Campbell clan for not pledging allegiance to William of
Orange. Ironically the pledge had been made but not communicated to
the clans. The event is remembered as the Massacre of Glencoe.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_of_Glencoe)
1696 The Company of Scotland
began raising money for a colony at Darien on the Isthmus of Panama.
The venture collapsed after 4 years and only 3 of 13 ships returned
home.
(Econ, 8/28/10, p.74)
1698 Jul 14, The first Company
of Scotland expedition of five ships (Saint Andrew, Caledonia,
Unicorn, Dolphin, and Endeavour) set sail from the east coast port
of Leith to avoid observation by English warships, with around
1,200 people on board. After calling at Madeira and the West Indies,
the fleet made landfall off the coast of Darien on 2 November. The
settlers christened their new home "New Caledonia."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darien_scheme)
1699 Apr 17, Robert Blair,
Scottish poet (Grave), was born.
(MC, 4/17/02)
1700 Sep 11, James Thomson,
Scottish poet and songwriter, was born. He wrote the song "Rule
Britannia."
(HN, 9/11/00)(MC, 9/11/01)
1700 Apr, A siege by Spanish
forces shut down a Company of Scotland colony called "New Caledonia"
on the Isthmus of Panama. As the Darien company was backed by nearly
half the money circulating in Scotland, its failure left the
country, which had suffered a run of bad harvests, completely ruined
and was an important factor in weakening resistance to the Act of
Union (finally consummated in 1707) among the political elite.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darien_scheme)
c1700-1800 William Cullen, an 18th century
Scottish physician, thought emotional and mental problems were at
the root of almost all human sickness. He coined the words
"neurosis" and "paranoia."
(SFEC, 7/11/99, Z1 p.8)
1700-1800 In 2003 James Buchan authored "Crowded
With Genius," a history of 18th century Edinburgh, and how the
Scottish city rose to produce leading lights of classically liberal
philosophy and economics.
(WSJ, 12/2/03, p.D10)
1702 Mar 19, On the death of
William III of Orange, Anne Stuart, sister of Mary, succeeded to the
throne of England, Scotland and Ireland.
(HN, 3/19/99)
1706 The Treaty of Union
between Scotland and England was set up. Daniel Defoe worked as a
British agent in Scotland and sent back reports on agitation against
the yielding of autonomy.
(WSJ, 8/25/98, p.A12)
1707 Jan 16, Scotland ratified
the Treaty of Union by a majority of 110 votes to 69. The Acts
created a new state, the Kingdom of Great Britain, by merging the
Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland together.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acts_of_Union_1707)
1707 Apr 29, English-Scottish
parliament accepted Act of Union and formed Great Britain. [see May
1]
(MC, 4/29/02)
1707 May 1, Effective on this
day Scotland and England, which already included Wales, were united
by an act of Parliament to form Great Britain.
(WSJ, 4/16/97, p.A13)(AP, 5/1/07)
1707 Oct 23, The first
Parliament of Great Britain, created by the Acts of Union between
England and Scotland, held its first meeting.
(AP, 10/23/07)
1707 England granted Scotland
400,000 pounds to clear debts from the Darien disaster.
(Reuters, 2/16/12)
1709 Feb 2, British sailor
Alexander Selkirk was rescued after being marooned on a desert
island for 5 years. His story inspired "Robinson Crusoe." [see Feb
12]
(MC, 2/2/02)
1709 Feb 12, Alexander Selkirk,
the Scottish seaman whose adventures inspired the creation of Daniel
Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, was taken off Juan Fernandez Island after
more than four years of living there alone. [see Feb 2]
(HN, 2/12/99)
1711 Apr 26, David Hume
(d.1776), Scottish historian and philosopher, was born. His work
included the “Treatise of Human Nature” and the 6-volume “History of
England.” Use of the new calendar puts his birthday on May 7.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hume)
1711 May 7, David Hume
(d.1776), Scottish historian and philosopher, was born. His work
included the “Treatise of Human Nature” and the 6-volume “History of
England.” The old style calendar puts his birthday on April
26.
(http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/hume/index.html)
1715 Sep 6, A pro-James III
uprising took place in Scotland.
(MC, 9/6/01)
1715 May 4, A French
manufacturer debuted the first folding umbrella.
(HN, 5/4/98)
1715 Nov 12, Forces of King
George I fought a rebel army at Preston, Lancashire. The rebels were
defeated as government reinforcements arrived the next day. 1468
rebels, including over 1000 Scots, were taken prisoner. William
Maxwell (36), Fifth Earl of Nithsdale, was soon condemned to death
and taken to the Tower of London.
(ON, 8/20/11,
p.9)(www.information-britain.co.uk/famdates.php?id=323)
1715 Nov 13, English and
Scottish rebels supporting James Francis Edward Stuart surrendered
following the battle at Preston, Lancashire.
(www.information-britain.co.uk/famdates.php?id=323)
1715 Nov 13, The English fought
the Scots at the Battle of Sheriffmuir in Scotland. The battle was
inconclusive with both sides claiming victory. However in strategic
terms Argyll had halted the Jacobite advance.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Sheriffmuir)
1716 Feb 23, Lady Nithsdale
(25) planned and executed the escape of her husband, William Maxwell
(36), Fifth Earl of Nithsdale, as he awaited execution in the Tower
of London. They both escaped to France and settled in Rome as
members of James Francis Stuart’s court-in-exile.
(ON, 8/20/11, p.10)(http://tinyurl.com/7hdz7oe)
1718 May 23, William Hunter
(d.1783), obstetrician, surgeon, anatomy teacher, was born near
Glasgow, Scotland. In 1768 he opened a medical school. The Glasgow
Hunterian Museum opened in 1807.
(MC,
5/23/02)(http://www.hunterian.gla.ac.uk/index.html)
1719 Jun 11, Scottish rebels,
aided by Spanish troops, who are defeated at Glenshiels surrendered.
(AP, 6/11/03)
1721 Mar 19, Tobias George
Smollett, Scottish satirical author and physician (Roderick Random,
Humphrey Clinker), was born (baptized).
(HN, 3/19/01)(MC, 3/19/02)
1723 Jun 5, Economist Adam
Smith (d.1790) was baptized in Kirkcaldy, Scotland. He was the
author of "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of
Nations." Smith studied at the Univ. of Glasgow, and then went to
Balliol College, Oxford. He then returned to the Univ. of Glasgow as
a Prof. of logic and then of moral philosophy. He promoted Laissez
faire economics and wrote "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of
the Wealth of Nations." His most famous statement is: "It is not
from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that
we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.
We address ourselves, not to their humanity, but to their
self-love." He also wrote the Theory of Moral Sentiments in 1759. In
1995 Ian Simpson Ross wrote a biography of Smith titled: The Life of
Adam Smith. Smith also wrote "The Theory of Moral Sentiments." In
1999 Charles L. Griswold wrote "Adam Smith and the Virtues of
Enlightenment.
(WSJ, 11/30/95, p.A-20) (AP, 6/5/97) (WSJ,
1/11/99, p.R20) (WSJ, 2/09/99, p.A20)(MC, 6/5/02)
1723 Jun 20, Adam Ferguson,
Scottish man of letters, philosopher, historian, and patriot, was
born. He wrote "Principals of Moral and Political Science."
(HN, 6/20/99)
1726 Jun 3, James Hutton,
Scottish geologist, was born. He founded the science of geology and
wrote "A Theory of the Earth."
(HN, 6/3/99)
1727 The Royal Bank of Scotland
(RBS) was founded.
(Econ, 1/31/09, p.74)
1728 Apr 16, Joseph Black,
Scottish chemist and physicist, was born.
(HN, 4/16/01)
1729 Mar 21, John Law, Scottish
gambler and financier (57 or 58), died in Venice. An inventory of
his wealth included 488 paintings with works by Titian, Raphael,
Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. His story was told in 2000 by
Cynthia Crossen in "The Rich and How They got That Way."
(WSJ, 7/19/00, p.B4)(MC, 3/21/02)
1732 In Scotland the Beggar’s
Benison Club was founded by members of the upper middle-class. It
was devoted to "the convivial celebration of male sexuality."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beggar%27s_Benison)(Econ, 2/11/12,
p.82)
1736 Jan 19, James Watt,
Scottish inventor of the steam engine who gave his name to a unit of
power, was born. [see 1705]
(AP, 1/19/98)(HN, 1/19/99)
1740 Oct 29, James Boswell,
Samuel Johnson's biographer, was born in Scotland.
(MC, 10/29/01)
1740-1790 The period that approximates the years
of the Scottish Enlightenment. Centered in the intellectual
environment of Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland, men such as Adam
Smith and David Hume produced work that greatly influenced James
Madison and Alexander Hamilton. This environment is well described
in The Life of Adam Smith by Ian Simpson Ross in 1995.
(WSJ, 11/30/95, p.A-20)
1744 Mar 13, David Allan,
Scottish painter, was born.
(MC, 3/13/02)
1745 Feb 18, Bonnie Prince
Charlie's troops occupied Inverness, Scotland.
(MC, 2/18/02)
1745 Feb 20, Bonnie Prince
Charlie's troops occupied Fort August, Scotland.
(MC, 2/20/02)
1745 Jul 23, Charles Stuart
(1720-1788), the Younger, and 7 companions landed at Eriskay Island,
in the Hebrides.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Edward_Stuart)
1745 Aug 16, Skirmish at
Laggan: Glengarry beat the Royal Scots.
(MC, 8/16/02)
1745 Aug 20, Bonnie Prince
Charlie reached Blair Castle, Scotland.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1745 Sep 21, A Scottish
Jacobite army commanded by Lord George Murray routed the Royalist
army of General Sir John Cope at Prestonpans. At the Battle at
Preston Pans Bonnie Prince Charles beat the English army.
(HN, 9/21/98)(MC, 9/21/01)
1745 Sep 22, Bonnie Prince
Charlie's army returned to Edinburgh.
(MC, 9/22/01)
1745 Sep 28, Bonnie Prince
Charlie became "king" of Scotland.
(MC, 9/28/01)
1745 Nov 11, Bonnie Prince
Charlie's army entered England.
(MC, 11/11/01)
1745 Dec 6, Bonnie Prince
Charlie's army retreated to Scotland.
(MC, 12/6/01)
1745 Dec 17, Bonnie Prince
Charlie's army retreated to Scotland. [see Dec 6]
(MC, 12/17/01)
1745 Dec 31, Bonnie Prince
Charlie's army met with de Esk.
(MC, 12/31/01)
1745 During the Jacobite
uprising some prisoners captured by the Jacobites were kept at Doune
Castle, Scotland. These included John Witherspoon, who later moved
to the American colonies, became president of Princeton, a delegate
to the Continental Congress and a signer of the American Declaration
of Independence.
(SSFC, 11/23/03, p.C6)
1746 Jan 8, Bonnie Prince
Charlie's troops occupied Stirling.
(MC, 1/8/02)
1746 Jan 17, Charles Edward
Stuart, the young pretender, defeated the government forces at the
battle of Falkirk in Scotland.
(HN, 1/17/99)
1746 Feb 20, Bonnie Prince
Charlie occupied the Castle of Inverness. [see Mar 3]
(MC, 2/20/02)
1746 Mar 3, Bonnie Prince
Charlie occupied the Castle of Inverness. [see Feb 20]
(SC, 3/3/02)
1746 Mar 5, Jacobin troops left
Aberdeen, Scotland.
(MC, 3/5/02)
1746 Mar 8, Cumberland's troops
occupied Aberdeen, Scotland.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1746 Apr 16, Bonnie Prince
Charles was defeated at the battle of Culloden, the last pitched
battle fought in Britain. King George II won the battle of Culloden.
Bonnie Prince Charlie used English rifleman and virtually
annihilated the sword-wielding, rebellious, Highlander clans of
Scotland at Culloden. It was the last major land battle fought on
British soil. The Battle of Culloden was a crushing defeat for
Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Highlander clans that backed him.
(PCh, 1992, p.297)(SFC, 6/25/95, p.T-7)(SFC,
12/4/96, p.B1)(SFEC,12/797, p.T4)(HN, 4/16/99)
1746 Sep 20, Bonnie Prince
Charlie fled to France from Scotland. [see Oct 1]
(MC, 9/20/01)
1746 Oct 1, Bonnie Prince
Charlie fled to France. [see Sep 20]
(MC, 10/1/01)
1746 Britain’s King George II
banned the kilt in Scotland following the Jacobite rebellion.
(Econ, 7/31/10, p.67)
1746 William, the Duke of
Cumberland, led an English military force into Scotland to defeat
the rebels there.
(SFC, 10/14/00, p.B3)
1747 Jul 6, John Paul Jones,
naval hero of the American Revolution, was born near Kirkcudbright,
Scotland. As a US naval commander he invaded England during the
American War of Independence.
(HN, 7/6/98)(MC, 7/6/02)
1747 The British government
swiftly acted to break Scots' resistance. The wearing of tartan,
teaching Gaelic and even playing the bagpipes were outlawed by the
Act of Proscription.
(Reuters, 2/16/12)
1747 A Scottish chemist found
out that beets contained sugar.
(SFC, 4/22/00, p.E3)
1748 Mar 10, John Playfair,
clergyman, geologist, mathematician, was born in Scotland.
(MC, 3/10/02)
c1750-1880s The period of the Clearances. The
peasants were swept aside to allow clan chiefs to raise sheep on
clan lands until protests on the isle of Skye led to legal reform
for the Highlands.
(SFEC, 6/29/97, p.T9)
1759 Jan 25, Robert Burns
(d.1796), poet and song writer, who wrote "Auld Lang Syne" and
"Comin’ Thru the Rye," was born in Alloway, Scotland. He took
traditional Scottish songs and fiddle tunes, and improved upon
existing words, or added verses where they had been lost. "Should
auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind, should auld
acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne. For old lang syne, my
dear, for old lang syne, we'll take a cup of kindness yet, for old
lang syne."
(EMN, 1/96, p.4,6)(HN, 1/25/99)(SFC, 12/30/99,
p.A13)(MC, 1/25/02)
1759 Economist Adam Smith
(1723-1790), Glasgow professor on moral philosophy and pioneering
economist, authored "The Theory of Moral Sentiments."
(WSJ, 11/13/02,
p.D10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Theory_of_Moral_Sentiments)
1761 James Macpherson
(1736-1796), Scottish poet, announced the discovery of an epic on
the subject of Fingal (related to the Irish mythological character
Fionn mac Cumhaill/Finn McCool) written by Ossian (based on Fionn's
son Oisín). He then published poems by Ossian, the blind 3rd
century poet, which became very popular and later exposed as a
fraud.
(WSJ, 7/26/08,
p.W8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Macpherson)
1764 In Scotland the St.
Andrew’s golf course remodeled and cut its hole number from 22 to
18. The 40 yard fairways were also enlarged.
(SFEC, 8/10/97, Z1 p.4)
1765 Scotsman James Watt
further refined Thomas Newcomen’s piston system steam engine
innovation by adding a separate condenser. Watt took out a patent on
his improved engine in 1769.
(HNQ, 1/18/01)
1768 William Smellie, a young
Edinburgh botanist, was given the task of editing the first edition
of the Encyclopedia Britannica.
(NH, 5/96, p.3)(WSJ, 4/22/99, A1)
1771 Aug 15, Sir Walter Scott
(d.1832), Scottish novelist who wrote "Ivanhoe" and "Rob Roy," was
born.
(WUD, 1994, p.1281)(HN, 8/15/98)
1773 Apr 6, James Mill
(d.1836), English philosopher, historian (Hist of British India) and
economist, was born in Scotland.
(V.D.-H.K.p.253)(WUD, 1994 p.909)(MC, 4/6/02)
1773 Jul 20, Scottish settlers
arrived at Pictou, Nova Scotia (Canada).
(MC, 7/20/02)
1774 A Scottish printer finally
overturned a copyright monopoly that had allowed English booksellers
to lock up the works of Shakespeare and other authors for nearly 2
centuries.
(WSJ, 3/26/04, p.W6)
1776 Dec 29, Charles Macintosh,
patented waterproof fabric, was born in Scotland.
(MC, 12/29/01)
1776 David Hume, Scottish
philosopher, died. He was the first prominent European atheist. Hume
said "the overriding force in all our actions is… the desire for
self-gratification. In order to survive, society has to devise
strategies to channel our passions in constructive directions." "The
most unhappy of all men is he who believes himself to be so."
(WSJ, 5/10/96, p.A-8)(SFC, 3/20/99, p.B4)(WSJ,
12/14/01, p.W14)
1777 Jul 27, Thomas Campbell,
Scottish writer (The Pleasures of Hope), was born.
(HN, 7/27/01)
1780 Mar 17, Thomas Chalmers,
1st moderator (Free Church of Scotland 1843-47), was born.
(MC, 3/17/02)
1781 Dec 11, David Brewster,
physicist and inventor (kaleidoscope), was born in Scotland.
(MC, 12/11/01)
1782-1854 Susan Edmonstone Ferrier, Scottish
novelist: "There are plenty of fools in the world; but if they had
not been sent for some wise purpose, they wouldn't have been here;
and since they are here they have as good a right to have elbow-room
in the world as the wisest."
(AP, 10/3/97)
1783-1881 In the Highland Clearances about 150,000
people were forced off their land to make way for large-scale sheep
farming, an act many blame on Britain's ruling establishment.
(Reuters, 2/16/12)
1786 Scotsman Gregor MacGregor
(d.1845), later known as His Serene Highness Gregor I, Prince of
Poyais, was born in Scotland. [see 1811]
(SSFC, 1/18/04, p.M2)(WSJ, 1/30/04, p.W9)
1786 Robert Burns published his
first book of poetry in Kilmarnock.
(SFC, 9/30/98, Z1 p.3)
1786 The National Lighthouse
Board was created to minimize the dangers of the seacoast to ships.
In 1999 Bella Bathurst authored "The Lighthouse Stevensons," an
account of the family that built 97 lighthouses between 1790 and
1940.
(SFEC, 10/3/99, BR p.3)
1788 May 18, Hugh Clapperton,
African explorer, was born in Annan, Scotland.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1789-1793 Alexander Mackenzie, Scottish-born fur
trader, became the 1st European to cross the North American
continent.
(SFC, 1/31/04, p.D12)
1790 Jul 17, Economist Adam
Smith (b.1723), Scottish moral philosopher and a pioneer of
political economy, died. In 2001 Emma Rothschild authored "Economic
Sentiments: Adam Smith, Condorcet, and the Enlightenment." In 2002
Peter J. Dougherty authored "Who’s Afraid of Adam Smith." In 2010
Nicholas Phillipson authored “Adam Smith: An Enlightened Life.”
(WSJ, 6/21/01, p.A16)(WSJ, 11/13/02,
p.D10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Smith)(Econ, 8/7/10, p.84)
1792 In Scotland gas lighting
was developed.
(SFC, 7/14/99, p.4)
1795-1881 Thomas Carlyle, English (Scot) essayist,
critic and historian, friend of Ralph Waldo Emerson. "A man doesn’t
know what he knows, until he knows what he doesn’t know." "No great
man lives in vain. The history of the world is but the biography of
great men."
(V.D.-H.K.p.400)(SFEC, 6/28/98, Z1 p.8)(AP,
7/2/98)
1796 Feb 17, James Macpherson
(b.1736), Scottish poet, died. In 1761 he had announced the
discovery of an epic on the subject of Fingal written by Ossian
(based on Fionn's son Oisín). He then published poems by
Ossian, the alleged blind 3rd century poet, which became very
popular and later exposed as a fraud.
(WSJ, 7/26/08,
p.W8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Macpherson)
1796 Jul 21, Robert Burns
(b.1759), Scottish poet and a lyricist (Auld Lang Syne), died. In
2009 Robert Crawford authored “The Bard: Robert Burns.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Burns)(SSFC,
1/25/09, Books p.3)
1799 Some 70 ships were lost in
the Firth of Tay.
(SFEC, 10/3/99, BR p.3)
1801 French artist Girodet
depicted Ossian, the mythical 3rd century blind Scottish poet,
before the story was exposed as a fraud.
(WSJ, 7/26/08, p.W8)
1805 Walter Scott (1771-1832)
of Edinburgh, Scotland, published his first long poem: “The Lay of
the Last Minstrel.”
(Econ, 7/31/10,
p.67)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Scott)
1807 Aug 18, Robert Stevenson
(1772-1850) began work on the 117-foot Bell Rock lighthouse at the
mouth of Scotland’s Firth of Forth based on a proposal he submitted
in 1800. The lighthouse began operating on Feb 1, 1811.
(ON, 5/06, p.6)
1808 A 56-foot oarfish washed
ashore in Scotland. This was the first documented sighting of the
rare fish.
(SFC, 12/4/10, p.A7)
1809 Sibbet House of Georgian
design in Edinburgh, Scotland was constructed.
(SFC, 7/7/96, T8)
1811 Feb 1, Scotland’s Bell
Rock lighthouse, at the mouth of Scotland’s Firth of Forth, began
operations. Robert Stevenson (1772-1850) had begun work on the
lighthouse in 1807.
(ON, 5/06, p.8)
1811 Scotsman Gregor MacGregor
(1786-1845), later known as His Serene Highness Gregor I, Prince of
Poyais, received a commission from Simon Bolivar in Venezuela to
serve in the Army of Liberation. After he returned to London in
1820, he began selling land in the fictional kingdom of Poyais. He
served 8 months in jail after English and French expeditions
revealed the hoax. In 1839 he returned to Venezuela. In 2004 David
Sinclair authored "The Land That Never Was: Sir Gregor MacGregor and
the Most Audacious Land Fraud in History."
(SSFC, 1/18/04, p.M2)(WSJ, 1/30/04, p.W9)
1812 Dec 23, Samuel Smiles
(d.1904), doctor and writer, was born in Scotland. He later
authored “Self-Help” 1859), a classic work on self-improvement.
(Econ, 4/24/04, p.86)
1813 Mar 19, David Livingston,
explorer found by Stanley in Africa, was born in Scotland.
(HN, 3/19/98)
1813 The Clark family of
Paisley, Scotland, began manufacturing cotton thread. By the 1840s
members of the family moved to the US and in 1866 developed a
twisted cotton thread for sewing machines, which they named O.N.T.
(Our New Thread).
(SFC, 10/5/05, p.G3)
1814 Jul 7, Sir Walter Scott's
(1771-1832) novel "Waverly" was published anonymously so as not to
damage his reputation as a poet.
(HN, 7/7/01)(WUD, 1994 p.1281)
1815 Jan 11, Sir John A.
Macdonald, the first prime minister of Canada, was born in Glasgow,
Scotland.
(AP, 1/11/98)
1817 John Bradbury, Scottish
naturalist, authored "Travels in the Interior of America in the
Years 1809, 1810 and 1811."
(ON, 10/99, p.6)
1819 Aug 25, Allan Pinkerton
(d.1884) was born in Glasgow, Scotland. He fled Scotland in 1842 to
avoid capture for his involvement with the revolutionary group
called the Chartists. In 1850 he founded the Pinkerton detective
agency in Chicago and later worked as Abe Lincoln's bodyguard.
(www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters2/pinkerton/)(ON,
2/12, p.9)
1821 William Playfair, Scottish
engineer, political economist and scoundrel, published a visual
chart that displayed the “weekly wages of a good mechanic” along
with the price of a “quarter of wheat” with the reigns of monarchs
displayed along the top.
(Econ, 12/22/07, p.74)
1822 In Scotland the 31-mile
Union Canal was built to connect the Forth and Clyde Canal with
Edinburgh. The 2 canals linked at Falkirk and required 11 locks to
bridge a 115-foot difference.
(WSJ, 1/7/06, p.P14)
1823 Oct 12, Charles Macintosh
of Scotland began selling raincoats (Macs).
(MC, 10/12/01)
1819 Aug 25, Scotsman James
Watt (b.1736), Scottish inventor, died. His 1775 improved steam
engine advanced coal mining and made the Industrial Revolution
possible.
(ON, 6/10,
p.5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Watt)
1826 The first exhibition of
Clydesdale horses for show occurred at the Glasgow Exhibition. The
horses had been bred for hauling coal.
(SFEC, 1/30/00, Z1 p.2)
1826 Major Gordon Laing,
Scottish explorer, became the 1st European to enter Timbuktu, Mali,
where some 12,000 people lived. He was killed by a Tuareg nomad
spear when he tried to leave. In 2005 Frank T. Kryza authored “The
Race for Timbuktu: In Search of Africa’s City of Gold.”
(SSFC, 4/11/04, p.D6)(SSFC, 1/1/06, p.M2)(Econ,
1/7/06, p.75)
1827 Apr 13, Hugh Clapperton,
Scottish traveler and explorer of West and Central Africa, died in
Sokoto, Nigeria, of dysentery.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Clapperton)
1828 Nov 1, Balfour Steward,
Scottish physicist and meteorologist, was born.
(HN, 11/1/00)
1829 Jan 28, In Scotland
William Burke was hanged for murder following a scandal in which he
was found to have provided extra-fresh corpses for anatomy schools
in Edinburgh. His partner William Hare had turned king’s witness.
The scandal led to the 1832 Anatomy Act.
(Econ, 11/15/08,
p.99)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Burke)
1830 Apr 5, Alexander Muir,
poet (Maple Leaf Forever), was born in Lesmahagow, Scotland.
(MC, 4/5/02)
1830-1867 Alexander Smith, Scottish poet and
essayist: "Christmas is the day that holds all time together."
(AP, 12/24/97)
1831 Mar 31, Archibald Scott,
Scottish chemist, was born.
(MC, 3/31/02)
1831 Patrick Matthew, a
Scottish landowner, provided a description of natural selection in
an appendix to a book about growing the best trees to make warships.
(Econ, 2/7/09, p.73)
1832 Feb 6, There was an
appearance of cholera at Edinburgh, Scotland.
(MC, 2/6/02)
1832 Sep 21, Sir Walter Scott
(b.1771), Scottish poet and novelist, died at Abbotsford near
Melrose in the Scottish Borders. His novels included "Ivanhoe" and
"Rob Roy." Scott was later credited with inventing the genre of
historical fiction. In 2010 Stuart Kelley authored “Scott-land: The
Man Who Invented a Nation.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Scott)(SSFC,
3/11/07, p.G3)(Econ, 7/31/10, p.67)
1834 Nov 14, William Thomson
entered Glasgow Univ. at 10 yrs 4 months.
(MC, 11/14/01)
1835 Nov 25, Andrew Carnegie
(d.1919), American industrialist, was born to a poor weaver in
Dunfermline, Scotland. He emigrated to the US in 1848 and worked as
a superintendent for the Pennsylvania Railroad. In invested in iron
manufacturing, railroad cars and oil and moved into the steel
business by 1873 where he improved quality and lowered costs. He
sold his interests at age 65 and retired to Scotland. He donated $5
million to a pension fund for his workers and gave away an estimated
$350 million over the next 2 decades for public libraries, church
organs and other causes: There is no idol more debasing than the
worship of money."
(WSJ, 1/11/98, p.R18)(AP, 11/25/99)
1835 James Hogg (b.1770),
Scottish writer, died. His novels included “The Private Memoirs and
Confessions of a Justified Sinner” (1824).
(www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/arts/writingscotland/writers/james_hogg/)
1837 Feb 7, Sir James Augustus
Henry Murray, Scottish lexicographer and editor, was born. He
created the Oxford Dictionary.
HN, 2/7/01)(MC, 2/7/02)
1837 Fife Pottery in Kirkcaldy
was purchased by Mary and Robert Heron. They developed a new style
of decoration for pottery and called the pieces Wemyss Ware. the
pottery was decorated on the clay before it was glazed. the factory
closed in 1920 and rights were purchased by a pottery in Devon.
(SFC, 9/2/98, Z1 p.6)
1837 Artist Alfred Jacob Miller
(1810-1874) accompanied British Capt. William Drummond Stewart on a
hunting expedition to the Rocky Mountains. In October 1840 Miller
traveled with his paintings to Stewart's Murthly Castle in Scotland,
where a collection of his commissioned work was ultimately hung.
Miller later settled in Baltimore, Md., painting portraits.
(ON, 4/2011,
p.8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Jacob_Miller)
1838 Apr 21, John Muir
(d.1914), naturalist, was born in Dunbar, Scotland.
(SFEC, 1/2/00, DB p.23)(SFC, 2/2/00, p.A21)
1839 Apr 11, John Galt (59),
Scottish writer (Last of the Lairds), died.
(MC, 4/11/02)
1843 May 18, United Free Church
of Scotland formed.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1843 Sep, James Wilson
(1805-1860), a Scottish hat maker, founded “The Economist” in
London, England, a magazine devoted to free trade and laissez-faire
principles from its very beginning.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist)(WSJ,
6/6/95, p.A-14)(Econ, 6/28/03, p.13)
1843 Alexander Bain, Scottish
inventor, received a British patent for “improvements in producing
and regulating electric currents and improvements in timepieces and
in electric printing and signal telegraphs.” His fax machine evolved
from the telegraph technology.
(http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blfax.htm)
1847 Mar 3, The inventor of
the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell (teacher of the deaf, inventor:
telephone; founder of Bell Telephone Company), was born in
Edinburgh, Scotland. For two generations the family of Alexander
Graham Bell was recognized as leading authorities on elocution and
speech correction. Graham's father, Alexander Melville Bell's
Standard Elocutionist went through nearly 200 editions in English.
(SFEM, 1/11/98, p.12)(AP, 3/3/98)(HC, Internet,
3/3/98)(HNQ, 12/20/98)
1849 Feb, Thomas Carlyle
(1795-1881), Scottish essayist, anonymously authored the article:
"Occasional Discourse on the Negro Question," in which he 1st used
the phrase "the dismal science" to describe political economics: It
is “not a gay science… no, a dreary, desolate, and indeed quite
abject and distressing one; what we might call, by way of eminence,
the dismal science." Carlyle himself argued in this essay for the
reintroduction of slavery into the West Indies. In 2001 David M.
Levy authored "How the Dismal Science Got Its Name."
(WSJ, 12/10/01,
p.A15)(http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/texts/carlyle/carlodnq.htm)
1850 May 10, Thomas Johnstone
Lipton, yachtsman, tea magnate (Lipton Tea), was born in Glasgow.
(MC, 5/10/02)
1850 Nov 13, Robert Lewis
Stevenson (d.1894), novelist, was born in Scotland. His books
included: "Treasure Island" and "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and
Mr. Hyde." In 1996 R.C. Terry edited and published “Robert Louis
Stevenson: Interviews and Recollections."
(Smith., 8/95, p.54)(SFC, 9/1/96, Par. p.12)(HN,
11/13/98)
1850-1860 John Cameron was a clockmaker in
Kilmarnock during this time.
(SFC, 12/30/98, Z1 p.2)
1852 James Young (1811-1883),
Scottish chemist, took out a US patent for the production of
paraffin oil by distillation of coal. Both the US and UK patents
were subsequently upheld in both countries in a series of lawsuits
and other producers were obliged to pay him royalties.
(WSJ, 12/6/08,
p.A10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Young)
1855-1905 Fiona MacLeod (William Sharp), Scottish
author and poet: "My heart is a lonely hunter that hunts on a lonely
hill."
(AP, 9/15/98)
1859 Mar 8, Kenneth Grahame,
Scottish author who created the children’s classic "The Wind in the
Willows," was born.
(HN, 3/8/99)
1859 Mar 21, The Scottish
National Gallery opened in Edinburgh.
(MC, 3/21/02)
1859 May 22, Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle (d.1930), author of the Sherlock Holmes series, was born in
Edinburgh, Scotland. He wrote 4 novels featuring Sherlock Holmes.
"Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly
recognizes genius." In 1999 Daniel Stashower published the
biography: "Teller of Tales."
(AP, 6/17/97)(HN, 5/22/98)(WSJ, 4/12/99, p.A21)
1859 Samuel Smiles (1812-1904),
Scottish doctor and writer, authored “Self-Help.” It became a
classic work on self-improvement.
(Econ, 4/24/04, p.86)
1860 May 9, James Matthew
Barrie (d.1937), novelist (Margaret Ogilvy, Peter Pan), was born in
Kirriemuir, Scotland.
(www.angus.gov.uk)
1860 The British Open was 1st
held at the Old Course in St. Andrew’s. The prize was a red leather
belt with a silver buckle. The belt was retired in 1872 and replaced
with a silver claret jug.
(WSJ, 7/21/00, p.W9)
1860-1937 Sir James Matthew Barrie, Scottish
dramatist-author: "The life of every man is a diary in which he
means to write one story, and writes another; and his humblest hour
is when he compares the volume as it is with what he hoped to make
it."
(AP, 8/6/97)
1861 Nov 10, Robert T.A. Innes,
astronomer (Proxima Centauri), was born in Edinburgh, Scotland.
(MC, 11/10/01)
1861 Dr. Joseph Lister, British
surgeon, was appointed head of the surgical wards at the Glasgow
Royal Infirmary.
(ON, 7/00, p.8)
1864 Nov 25, David Roberts
(b.1796), Scottish painter, died. He toured Egypt and the Holy Land
from 1838-1840. His work there made him a prominent Orientalist
painter.
(SSFC, 7/24/11,
p.F7)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Roberts_%28painter%29)
1864 Composer Eugen D'Albert
was born in Glasgow. He considered himself a German and set only
German text in his works, which included his Cello Concerto and the
operas "Tiefland" and "Die Toten Augen" (The Dead Eyes).
(SFEC, 1/30/00, DB p.33)
1864 Scottish author W.R.
chambers published “Book of Days: A Miscellany of Popular
Antiquities in Connection with the Calendar, Including Anecdote,
Biography, & History, Curiosities of Literature and Oddities of
Human Life and Character.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chambers_Book_of_Days)y
1865 Mar, Thomas Sutherland of
Scotland founded the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation
(HSBC) to finance the growing trade between China and Europe.
It established the Shanghai branch on April 3, 1865.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_and_Shanghai_Banking_Corporation)
1865 The Killiechassie House,
near Aberfeldy, was built by a Scottish general. In 2001 it was
purchased by J.K. Rawling, author of the Harry Potter books.
(SFC, 11/23/01, p.C15)
1866 Nov 10, William Thompson
(1824-1907), Irish-born Scottish professor, was knighted by Queen
Victoria as Sir William Thompson. On his ennoblement in 1892 in
honor of his achievements in thermodynamics, and of his opposition
to Irish Home Rule, he adopted the title Baron Kelvin of Largs.
(ON, 10/2010,
p.3)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Thomson,_1st_Baron_Kelvin)
1867 British surgeon Joseph
Lister, Professor of Surgery at Glasgow University, published the
results of his antiseptic system in the Lancet medical journal.
(ON, 7/00, p.8)
1867 Scottish physicist James
Clerk Maxwell first imagined an atom-size device dubbed Maxwell's
Demon.
(Reuters, 1/31/07)
1868 The ship Balclutha was
built in Glasgow, Scotland. It was named in Gaelic for Clyde’s rock.
For 16 years it sailed from the British Isles with a load of coal
around Cape Horn to SF where it picked up grain and returned to
Europe. It was later preserved at the National Maritime Museum in
San Francisco. [1st source said 1860]
(SFC, 5/28/96, p.A15)(SFEC,11/23/97, p.D1)
1868-1952 Norman Douglas, Scottish [British]
author: Justice is too good for some people and not good enough for
the rest. "You can tell the ideals of a nation by its
advertisements."
(AP, 11/3/97)(AP, 5/22/99)
1869 Aug 18, Dr. Joseph Lister,
British surgeon, was appointed head of Clinical Surgery at the Univ.
of Edinburgh.
(ON, 7/00, p.9)
1869 In Scotland the tea
clipper Cutty Sark was launched. The name referred to the Scottish
word for short shift or dress.
(SSFC, 6/19/05, p.E6)
1872 The 1st place golf prize
for the British Open at the Old Course in St. Andrew’s, a red
leather belt with a silver buckle, was retired and replaced with a
silver claret jug.
(WSJ, 7/21/00, p.W9)
1872 A police raid in Glasgow
found only 2 pubs in 30 serving real Scotch whiskey.
(WSJ, 1/4/02, p.A7)
1874 Feb 20, Mary Garden, opera
star, was born in Aberdeen, Scotland.
(MC, 2/20/02)
1875 Aug 26, John Buchan
(d.1940), Lord Tweedsmuir, was born in Perth, Scotland. He became a
writer and governor general of Canada (1935), and was famous for his
spy story "The Thirty-Nine Steps" (1915). "There may be Peace
without Joy, and Joy without Peace, but the two combined make
Happiness."
(HN, 8/26/99)(WSJ, 12/9/06, p.P12)(AP, 1/7/98)
1875 Stuart Cranston, Scottish
tea merchant, setup the world’s first tea room in Glasgow.
(WSJ, 4/7/07, p.P14)
1878 The 266-foot square-rigger
Falls of Clyde was built in Glasgow, Scotland. From 1899-1922 the
Matson shipping line used it to haul molasses to California and back
to Hawaii with kerosene. The ship was then demasted and sent to
Alaska where it became a floating fuel dock. In 1963 enthusiasts
towed the ship back to Hawaii, where it later came under the
ownership of the Bishop Museum. In 2008 new owners hoped to save an
renovate the ship.
(SSFC, 10/19/08, p.A11)
1879 Robert Louis Stevenson
(1850-1894), the future author of "The Amateur Emigrant" and other
works, authored “Travels with a Donkey.” It covered 12 days spent
trekking in the Cevennes Mountains in France with the donkey,
Celestine. He embarked this year on a 6,000-mile journey from his
native Scotland to see his ailing-and married-lover in California.
Stevenson, the author of "Treasure Island," must have realized the
recklessness of this venture. There was no guarantee that the object
of his affection-Frances (Fanny) Vandegrift Osbourne, would abandon
her comfortable life and run off with the then-little-known author.
Yet he seemed compelled to make the appeal, telling a friend that
"No man is of any use until he has dared everything." The pair
married on May 19, 1880.
(HNQ, 9/6/98)(WSJ, 9/23/06, p.P8)
1879 Dec 28, The new Tay Bridge
in Scotland, opened in 1877 over the Firth of Tay, collapsed during
a storm as a train was crossing. Some 75 people were killed.
(AFP,
5/16/08)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tay_Rail_Bridge)
1880-1954 B.C. Forbes, Scottish journalist: "You
have no idea how big the other fellow's troubles are."
(AP, 12/17/98)
1881 Feb 5, Thomas Carlyle
(b.1795), Scottish essayist and historian, died in London.
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/carlyle.htm)
1881 Aug 6, Alexander Fleming
(d.1955), Scottish bacteriologist who discovered penicillin (1928),
was born. He won the Nobel Prize in 1945. Fleming first observed the
antibiotic properties of the mold that makes penicillin, but it was
Ernst Boris Chain and Howard Walter Florey who developed it into a
useful treatment.
(AHD, 1971,
p.501)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Fleming)
c1881-1927 Mary Webb, Scottish religious leader:
The more anybody wants a thing, the more they do think others want
it. "The well of Providence is deep. It's the buckets we bring to it
that are small."
(AP, 7/7/97)(AP, 12/9/98)
1883 Jun 2, Four gentlemen
departed London on velocipedes and spent the next 2 weeks bicycling
800 miles to John O’Grouts in Scotland.
(ON, 1/00, p.5)
1883 Jul 3, SS Daphne sank on
Clyde River in Scotland and 195 died.
(MC, 7/3/02)
1883 Oct 18, The weather
station at the top of Ben Nevis, Scotland, the highest mountain in
Britain, was declared open.
(HN, 10/18/98)
1887 The Earl of Lovelace built
a shooting lodge that was later converted to the Loch Torridon
Hotel.
(SFEC,12/797, p.T5)
1888 Feb 22, John Reid of
Scotland demonstrated golf to Americans at Yonkers, NY. Reid
converted his lawn to six hole for golf in Yonkers N.Y., the first
golf course in the US.
(SFEC, 7/18/99, Z1 p.8)(MC, 2/22/02)
1888 Aug 13, John Logie Baird,
inventor (father of TV), was born in Scotland.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1889 John Alexander MacWilliam,
Scottish physiologist, discovered that he could restore heart
rhythms in cats using a metronome and a needle electrode. His work
went unrecognized until his paper on the subject resurfaced in 1972.
(Econ, 3/7/09, TQ p.25)
1892 Aug 11, Hugh MacDiarmid,
founder of the Scottish Nationalist Party , was born.
(HN, 8/10/98)
1896 Jul 19, A.J. Cronin,
Scottish novelist (The Citadel, The Keys of the Kingdom), was born.
(HN, 7/19/01)
1898 Apr 28, William Soutar,
Scottish poet, was born.
(HN, 4/28/01)
1900 Jan 31, Scottish peer Sir
John Sholto Douglas (56), 8th Marquis of Queensberry, died. He
supervised the formulation by John Graham chambers of the rules of
boxing, which became known as the Queensberry Rules. In 1895 Irish
writer Oscar Wilde had unsuccessfully sued the Marquis for libel
following allegations of a homosexual relationship with
Queensberry’s son Lord Alfred Douglas, allegations which ultimately
led to Wilde’s imprisonment in Reading Gaol, England.
(HC, 2003, p.64)
1900 Aug 4, Elizabeth
Bowes-Lyon (d.2002), later known as the Queen Mum (mother of Queen
Elizabeth II), was born in Scotland as the daughter of Lord Glamis,
who became the 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne. She later
became the wife of King George VI.
(SFC, 8/4/00, p.A18)(SFC, 8/5/00, p.A12)(WSJ,
8/10/00, p.A16)(MC, 8/4/02)
1901 William James presented
his Gifford Lectures at the Univ. of St. Andrews in Scotland. They
were published in 1902 as "The Varieties of Religious Experience."
In 1999 it was rated the 2nd best work of non-fiction in the English
language by the Modern Library.
(WSJ, 11/11/97, p.A16)(SFC, 4/29/99, p.C5)(WSJ,
12/24/01, p.A9)
1902 Sep 29, William McGonagall
(b~1825), poet, died in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was mocked by
literary critics and had food thrown at him during public readings.
He died penniless and was buried in an unmarked grave. Critics later
awarded him the "world's worst" label because of the crashing lack
of subtlety in terms of rhyme, imagery, vocabulary or repetition.
His most famous poem is about the Tay Bridge disaster of 1879, in
which 75 people died. In 2008 35 broadsheets of his original poems
were auctioned for $13,200.
(AFP,
5/16/08)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_McGonagall)(WSJ,
5/17/08, p.A1)
1902 J.M. Barrie featured Peter
Pan as a minor character in his book “The Little White Bird.”
(USAT, 9/2/04, p.2D)
1903 Aug 23, William Primrose,
violist (Method for Violin & Viola), was born in Glasgow,
Scotland.
(MC, 8/23/02)
1906 W.D. McKay authored “The
Scottish School of Painting.”
(McKay, 1906, 369pp)
1907 Mar 16 The British cruiser
Invincible, the world's largest, was completed at Glasgow shipyards.
(HN, 3/16/98)
1907 Dec 17, William Thompson
(b.1824), Belfast-born mathematical physicist and engineer, (aka
Lord Kelvin), died in Scotland.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Thomson,_1st_Baron_Kelvin)
1908 Kenneth Grahame
(1859-1952) of Edinburgh, Scotland, wrote the classic British
children’s book "Wind in the Willows." It was made into a movie in
1997.
(SFC, 1/9/98, p.D3)(WSJ, 11/24/07, p.W8)
1909 Mar 1, David Niven, actor
(Casino Royale, Eye of the Devil), was born in Kirriemuir Angus,
Scotland.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1909 Nov 3, James "Scotty"
Reston, New York Times reporter, editor and columnist, was born in
Clydebank, Scotland.
(HN, 11/3/00)(MC, 11/3/01)
1910 Oct 4, Scottish surgeon
Joseph Bell died. He was the real-life model for Arthur Conan
Doyle's character Sherlock Holmes.
(MC, 10/4/01)
1914 Jun 6, The 1st air flight
out of sight of land was made from Scotland to Norway.
(MC, 6/6/02)
1914 Jul 15, Gavin Maxwell,
Scottish writer and naturalist (Ring of Bright Water), was born.
(HN, 7/15/01)
1914 The British Royal Navy's
Grand Fleet moved to a new base in Scapa Flow, in Scotland’s Orkney
Islands. They needed a safe place to take on a German Fleet based in
the Baltic.
(www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/eastmainland/churchill/)
1915 May 22, Near Gretna,
Scotland, a passenger train collided with a troop train, killing 227
people.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A15)(AP, 2/18/04)
1916 Mar 10, James Herriot
(d.1995), Scottish writer and country veterinarian (All Creatures
Great and Small), was born as James Alfred Wight, in Sunderland,
England. [See Oct 3]
(HN, 3/10/01)
1916 Oct 3, James Herriot
(d.1995), Yorkshire veterinarian and author, was born in Sunderland,
England. His books include "All Creatures Great and Small." [see Mar
10]
(HN, 10/3/00)
1917 Jul 9, British warship
"Vanguard" exploded at Scapa Flow killing 804.
(MC, 7/9/02)
1917 D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson
(1860-1948), Scottish classicist, mathematician and biologist,
produced his work "On Growth and Form," the first formal
attempt to analyze patterns and shapes in nature. His work also
included "A Glossary of Greek Birds" and "A Glossary of Greek
Fishes."
(NH, 12/98, p.10)(Econ, 3/7/09, p.92)
1919 Jun 21, German sailors
under Admiral von Reuter scuttled 72 warships at Scapa Flow in the
Orkneys even though Germany had surrendered. It was the greatest act
of self-destruction in modern military history.
(HN, 6/21/98)(Camelot, 6/21/99)(MC, 6/21/02)
1922 Aug 2, Alexander Graham
Bell (b.1847), Scottish-US physicist (telephone), died in Nova
Scotia. He and Gardiner Hubbard, his father-in-law, were the
founders of the National Geographic Society.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Graham_Bell)(ON, 1/03, p.5)
1922 Scotland joined the United
Kingdom of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
(WSJ, 4/16/97, p.A13)
1926 Apr 22, James Stirling,
Scottish D-day-parachutist, architect, knight, was born.
(MC, 4/22/02)
1927-1989 R.D. Laing, Scottish psychiatrist: "We
live in a moment of history where change is so speeded up that we
begin to see the present only when it is disappearing."
(AP, 1/31/99)
1928 Feb 8, Scottish inventor
J. Blaird demonstrated color TV.
(MC, 2/8/02)
1928 Sep 3, Scottish
bacteriologist Alexander Fleming (1881-1955) discovered, by
accident, that the mold penicillin has an antibiotic effect.
(V.D.-H.K.p.354)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Fleming)
1928 Dec 10, Charles Rennie
Mackintosh (b.1868), Scottish architect and designer, died. He
designed the walls of Kate Cranston’s first tea rooms in Glasgow
(1903). His watercolors included "The Rock" (1927).
(WSJ, 1/29/97,
p.A9)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Rennie_Mackintosh)(WSJ,
4/7/07, p.P14)
1929 Dec 31, Guy Lombardo and
his Royal Canadians played "Auld Lang Syne" as a New Year’s Eve song
for the first time. Scottish poet Robert Burns is credited with
writing the song, although a similar poem by Robert Ayton
(1570-1638), not to mention even older folk songs, use the same
phrase, and may well have inspired Burns. The literal translation
means "old long since" which less literally meant "days gone by."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auld_Lang_Syne)(WSJ, 12/29/06, p.W10)
1929 Sir Alexander Fleming
co-discovered penicillin. [see 1928,1941]
(WUD, 1994, p.541)
1930 Aug 21, Princess Margaret
Rose (d.2002), sister to Elizabeth, was born to King George VI and
Queen Elizabeth at Glamis Castle, Scotland.
(WSJ, 8/10/00, p.A16)(SSFC, 2/10/02, p.A12)
1930 Aug 25, Sean Connery,
Scottish actor famous for playing the character James Bond in the
Ian Flemming movie series, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. Connery
is well noted actor as James Bond in many of the Bond movies.
He has acted in more serious film roles since retiring from the 007
series which won him great accolades including an Oscar (Academy
Award-winning actor: The Untouchables [1987]; The Rock, First
Knight, The Hunt for Red October, Highlander, Rising Sun,
Outland, The Longest Day; "Bond. James Bond.": Dr. No, From
Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live
Twice, Diamonds are Forever)
(HN, 8/25/98)(MC, 8/25/02)
1930 In Scotland’s Outer
Hebrides the human population of the St Kilda archipelago was
removed. In 1931 St Kilda was sold to the Marquess of Bute, a keen
ornithologist. He bequeathed them to The National Trust for Scotland
in 1957.
(SFC, 2/9/08, p.B6)(www.kilda.org.uk/frame1.htm)
1933 May 22, Loch Ness Monster
was 1st "sighted" by John Mackay.
(SFEC,12/797, p.T4)(MC, 5/22/02)
1934 The Scottish National
Party, advocating home rule for Scotland, was formed with the merger
of the National Party of Scotland and the Scottish Party.
(Reuters, 2/16/12)
1935 Mar 16, John J.R. Macleod
(58), Scottish-Canadian physiologist (Nobel 1923), died.
(MC, 3/16/02)
1935 Apr 28, Alexander Campbell
Mackenzie (87), Scottish composer, died.
(MC, 4/28/02)
1935 John Buchan (1875-1940),
Scottish novelist and Unionist politician, became Governor General
of Canada and was created Baron Tweedsmuir. Canadian PM William Lyon
Mackenzie King had wanted him to go to Canada as a commoner, but
King George V insisted on being represented by a peer.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Buchan)
1937 Apr 28, Jean Redpath,
Scottish folk singer, was born.
(HN, 4/28/01)
1937 Jun 19, James M. Barrie
(b.1860), Scottish writer (Dear Brutus, Peter Pan), died. In 2004
the film "Finding Neverland," was based on Barrie’s life.
(www.angus.gov.uk)(AP, 9/5/04)
1938 Sep 27, Ocean liner Queen
Elizabeth was launched at Glasgow. The RMS Queen Elizabeth,
the largest passenger liner built to that date, boasted a
200,000-horsepower engine and beautiful art deco style. The elegant
ocean liner was named to honor Queen Elizabeth, a consort of King
George VI of England and mother to Queen Elizabeth II.
(MC, 9/27/01)
1938 Karl Barth, Swiss
theologian, presented his Gifford Lectures at the Univ. of St.
Andrews in Scotland. He held that our existence and the existence of
the universe testified best to the truths of Christianity.
(WSJ, 12/24/01, p.A9)
1939 Oct 14, The German U-47,
commanded by Kapitan Gunther Prien, sank the British battleship HMS
Royal Oak at Scapa Flow, Scotland, and 833 people were killed. This
prompted Churchill to order the creation of concrete barriers at the
eastern entrance of Scapa Flow.
(SFEM, 10/10/99,
p.49)(http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/hoy/scapa/)
1939 Reinhold Niebuhr presented
his Gifford Lectures at the Univ. of St. Andrews in Scotland. The
purpose of religion for him shifted from salvation to economic and
scientific progress on earth.
(WSJ, 12/24/01, p.A9)
1941 Feb 5, The SS Politician
wrecked off the coast of the Isle of Eriskay in the Hebrides. It
carried some 20,000 cases of whisky, which the natives hid from
customs agents. The story was told in the 1947 book “Whisky Galore”
by Compton Mackenzie. The book was made into a film in 1949.
(http://heritage.scotsman.com/timelines.cfm?cid=1&id=40422005)
1941 May 10, Rudolf Hess
(d.93), a deputy of Adolf Hitler, parachuted into Scotland to see
the Duke of Hamilton on what he claimed was a peace mission. Hess
ended up serving a life sentence at Spandau prison until 1987, when
he apparently committed suicide.
(AP, 5/10/97)(ON, 4/02, p.7)
1941 Nov 22, Tom Conti, actor
(Reuben Reuben, American Dreamer), was born in Paisley, Scotland.
(MC, 11/22/01)
1941 Penicillin was discovered
by Dr. Alexander Fleming. [see 1928,1929]
(TMC, 1994, p.1941)
1942 Oct 22, The 1st ships of
invasion fleet for Oran (Algeria) left Scotland.
(MC, 10/22/01)
1942 Nov 3, The 12th day of
battle at El Alamein (Egypt): Scottish assault.
(MC, 11/3/01)
1942 In Scotland the testing of
anthrax was sanctioned on the island of Gruinard amid fears the
Germans might attack the UK with biological or chemical weapons. A
film was made of their work and it remained classified until 1997.
(AH, 6/03,
p.46)(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/1457035.stm)
1943 May 10, Donovan Leitch,
guitarist, folk singer (Mellow Yellow), was born in Scotland.
(MC, 5/10/02)
1944 Sep 12, A US submarine
patrol that included the USS Pampanito, the Growler and the Sealion
II, came upon a Japanese convoy carrying war material. The Japanese
transport Kachidoki Maru, carrying over 900 British soldier, was
sunk by the Pampanito. Much of the convoy was sunk including most of
some 2,000 Allied prisoners of war. The subs after chasing
stragglers of the convoy returned to find 159 British and Australian
survivors clinging to wreckage [see Sep 14]. Some 1000 POWs from
Australia were on the Japanese freighter Enoura Maru sunk by the USS
Sealion. Alistair Urquhart of Scotland, a prisoner on the Kachidoki
Maru, was picked up 5 days later by a Japanese whaling ship and
taken to Japan, where he was forced to work in a coal mine.
Kachidoki Maru had been captured earlier in the war as the President
Harrison home ported in SF. The Pampanito was later berthed as a
visitor attraction in SF. In 2008 Urquhart (89) visited the
Pampanito.
(SFC, 5/27/97, p.A17)(SFC,12/5/97, p.C3)(SFC,
9/17/08, p.B1)
1944 Sep 14, The submarine USS
Pampanito picked up 73 allied prisoners left adrift following the
Sep 12 submarine attack on a Japanese convoy that included the
transport ship Rakuyo Maru.
(SFC, 3/18/09, p.B2)
1945 May 12, The Churchill
Barriers were formally opened by the first Lord of the Admiralty.
They were built to protect Scapa Flow from enemy submarines. The 5
causeways linked Orkney’s Mainland to South Ronaldsay and marked a
dividing line between the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.
Thousands of Italian prisoners of war carried out the project and
left behind their decorated Italian Chapel.
(SSFC, 11/13/05,
p.F10)(www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/eastmainland/churchill/)
1946 May 10, Donovan, rocker
(Mellow Yellow), was born as Donovan Leitch in Scotland.
(http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:0ifqxqe5ldhe~T1)
1947 Aug 10, Ian Anderson,
rocker (Jethro Tull-Bungle in the Jungle), was born in Scotland.
(MC, 8/10/02)
1947 In Scotland the Edinburgh
International Festival (EIF) was started as an antidote to war-time
austerity. Accompanying the EIF when it first opened was the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The Fringe started life as a more
accessible and less highbrow accompaniment to the "main" festival,
literally on the fringe of it.
(Econ, 5/5/07, SR
p.15)(www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/edinburgh/festival/index.html)
1950 Feb 26, Harry Lauder
(b.1870), notable Scottish entertainer, died. He was, at one time,
the highest-paid performer in the world, making the equivalent of
£12,700 a night plus expenses, and was the first British
performer to sell more than a million records.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Lauder)
1950 Dec 25, Scottish
nationalists stole the Stone of Scone from the British coronation
throne in Westminster Abbey. The 485 pound stone was recovered in
April 1951.
(HN, 12/25/98)
1953 Aug 3, Ian Bairnson,
guitarist (Alan Parsons Project, Pilot), was born in Shetland Isles,
Scotland.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1953 The Scottish film "Rob
Roy, The Highland Rogue" starred Ian MacNaughton as Callum
MacGregor.
(SFC, 1/4/03, p.A15)
1956 Sep 24, The first
transatlantic telephone cable system from Newfoundland to Scotland
began operation.
(HN, 9/24/98)(MC, 9/24/01)
1956 The Scottish sci-fi film
"X the Unknown" starred Ian MacNaughton.
(SFC, 1/4/03, p.A15)
1957 Construction began on
Scotland’s Hunterston A nuclear power plant. The 1st of its 2
reactors began supplying power in 1964.
(www.britishnucleargroup.com/content.php?pageID=269)
1958 Colin Tennant (1926-2010),
Scottish noble and later Lord Glenconner, acquired the island of
Mustique, part of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and turned it into
a luxury playground for his friends.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Tennant,_3rd_Baron_Glenconner)(Econ,
9/11/10, p.103)
1959 May 29, Mel Gaynor, rock
drummer (Simple Minds-Water Front), was born in Glasgow,
Scotland.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1960 Mar 28, In Glasgow,
Scotland, a factory exploded burying 20 fire fighters.
(MC, 3/28/02)
1964 Peter Higgs of the Univ.
of Edinburgh proposed the existence of a particle to account for why
some bosons have no mass. The Higgs mechanism, a way that the
massless gauge bosons in a gauge theory get a mass by interacting
with a background Higgs field, was proposed in 1964 by Robert Brout
and Francois Englert, independently by Peter Higgs and by Gerald
Guralnik, C. R. Hagen, and Tom Kibble. It was inspired by the BCS
theory of superconductivity, vacuum structure work by Yoichiro
Nambu, the preceding Ginzburg–Landau theory, and the suggestion by
Philip Anderson that superconductivity could be important for
relativistic physics. Physicist’s search for the Higgs boson
continued in 2007 with the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva,
Switzerland.
(SFC, 9/18/00, p.A6)(Econ, 3/10/07,
p.77)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_mechanism)
1967 Jan 3, Mary Garden
(b.1874), Scottish opera star, died in Inverurie, Scotland.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Garden)
1967 Sep 20, The 963-foot
passenger ship Queen Elizabeth II was launched. The RMS Queen
Elizabeth 2 was christened by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in
Clydebank, Scotland.
(www.cunard.co.uk)(AP, 9/20/07)
1967 Construction began on
Scotland’s Hunterston B nuclear power plant. It was commissioned in
1976.
(www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/features/featurefirst2011.html)
c1970 Peter Higgs of the Univ.
of Edinburgh postulated the Higgs boson, a particle responsible for
mass.
(SFC, 9/18/00, p.A6)
1975 Apr 3, Mary Ure (b.1933),
Scottish actress (Sons & Lovers, Where Eagles Dare), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ure)
1976 The Isle of Eigg,
Scotland, was sold to Keith Schellenberg, an industrial heir, for
$375,000. He sold it in 1995 for $2.3 million to the German artist
Marlin Eckhardt. Eckhardt put the isle up for sale in 1996 as
he was in debt and unable to sell his "pictures from the world
beyond matter," produced by igniting paint on a fireproof canvas.
(SFC, 8/29/96, p.A14)
1977 Tam Dalyell, British MP
for the Scottish constituency of Linlithgow, posed the so-called
West Lothian question during the debate on Scottish and Welsh
devolution.
(Econ, 7/8/06,
p.52)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Lothian_question)
1979 Mar, A referendum in
Scotland failed to produce clear support for the devolution of power
from London to a Scottish assembly.
(Reuters, 2/16/12)
1980 Construction began on
Scotland’s Torness nuclear power plant. It was commissioned in 1988.
(www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/features/featurefirst274.html)
1988 Dec 21, Pan Am Flight 103
was downed over Lockerbie, Scotland by a terrorist bomb. 270 people
were killed aboard the Boeing 747. Libya was accused of
responsibility for the bombing, which killed 259 people onboard and
11 on the ground. Two Libyan operatives, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi and
A-Amin Khalifa Fahimah, were indicted in 1991 and thought to be in
hiding in Libya. They were sent to the Netherlands for trial in 1999
and implicated Mohammed Abu Talb, a Palestinian terrorist jailed in
Sweden. In 2000 Ahmad Behbahani (32) told a 60 Minutes journalist
from a refugee camp in Turkey that he proposed the Pan Am operation
and coordinated the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi
Arabia. He also claimed that Iran was behind the 1994 bombing in
Argentina that killed 86 people. Behbahani was later called a fraud
by the CIA and FBI. In 2001 a Scottish court convicted Abdel Basset
Ali al-Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence officer, of murder in the 1998
bombing of Pan am Flight 103. A 2nd Libyan, Lamen Khalifa Fhimah,
was acquitted. The conviction was upheld in 2002. In 2003 Libya set
up a $2.7 billion fund for families of 270 people killed.
(WSJ, 12/18/95, p.A-9)(SFC, 5/11/96, p.A-8)(SFC,
6/7/97, p.A4)(AP, 12/21/97)(WSJ, 4/6/99, p.A1)(SFC, 11/25/99,
p.A14)(SFC, 6/5/00, p.A9)(SFC, 6/6/00, p.A10)(SFEC, 6/11/00,
p.A20)(SFC, 1/31/01, p.A11)(SFC, 3/15/02, p.A9)(AP, 8/15/03)
1988 Dec 25, Christmas services
were held in Lockerbie, Scotland, where residents mourned the loss
of 270 lives in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 with relatives of
the victims.
(AP, 12/25/98)
1988 Dec 26, Another body from
the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 was found, bringing the confirmed
death toll to 240.
(AP, 12/26/98)
1988 Dec 27, Hundreds of
residents of Lockerbie, Scotland, paid silent tribute to five of the
Americans killed in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, as coffins
containing victims' remains began the journey home.
(AP, 12/27/98)
1988 Dec 28, British
authorities investigating the explosion that destroyed Pan Am Flight
103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, concluded that a bomb caused the blast
aboard the jumbo jet.
(HN, 12/28/98)
1989 Feb 16, Investigators in
Lockerbie, Scotland, said a bomb hidden inside a radio-cassette
player was what brought down Pan Am Flight 103 the previous
December, killing all 259 people aboard and 11 on the ground.
(AP, 2/16/99)
1989 Dec, Reactor 2 of
Scotland’s Hunterston A nuclear power plant was shut down. Reactor 1
was shut down the following March.
(www.britishnucleargroup.com/content.php?pageID=269)
1989 British PM Margaret
Thatcher's government introduces the hugely unpopular poll tax in
Scotland a year before England. The tax was abolished across Britain
in 1993.
(Reuters, 2/16/12)
1991 Luke Cresswell and Steve
McNicholas introduced their dance and rhythm ensemble show at the
Edinburgh Festival.
(SFEC, 2/2/97, DB. p.27)
1991 In Margate, Scotland,
Vicky Hamilton (15) was last seen. In 2007 her skeleton was
discovered at a house where handyman Peter Tobin used to live. Her
remains were found during a search for another missing teenager,
Dinah McNicol (18) from the county of Essex, eastern England, who
was last seen returning from a 1991 music festival. The remains of
McNicol were found a few days after the Hamilton find. Tobin (61)
was charged with the murders.
(AP, 11/16/07)(AFP, 11/17/07)
1993 Jan 5, The Braer, a
Liberian-registered tanker, ran aground in Scotland's Shetland
Islands, spilling some 26 million gallons of light crude oil.
(AP, 1/5/98)(SFC, 11/20/02, p.A14)
1994 James Kelman won the
Booker Prize for his novel "How Late It Was, How Late." He was the
first Scot to be awarded the prize.
(SFEC, 11/10/96, p.C17)
1996 Mar 13, Thomas Hamilton
(43) killed 16 kindergarten children, a teacher and himself in a
classroom in Dunblane, Scotland.
(WSJ, 3/14/96, p.A-1)(AP, 3/13/01)
1996 Apr 13, George Mackay
Brown (b.1921), Scottish poet and novelist, died in his hometown of
Stromness, on the Orkney Mainland. In 2006 Maggie Ferguson authored
“George Mackay Brown: The Life.”
(Econ, 6/3/06, p.81)(http://tinyurl.com/fdgky)
1996 Jul 5, A cloned lamb,
named Dolly (d.2003) after Dolly Pardon, was born in Edinburgh
Scotland. The event was not announced until Feb 23, 1997 when it was
made public that researchers under Dr. Ian Wilmut at Edinburgh,
Scotland, created a clone lamb from adult sheep DNA. In 2001 it was
reported that Dolly suffered from arthritis, a sign of premature
aging.
(SFEC, 2/23/96, p.C1)(SFC, 1/5/02, p.A2)(SFC,
2/15/03, p.A2)
1996 Residents of the island of
Eigg organized the purchase of the 7,400-acre island for $2.4
million. It had been in private hands since 1828.
(Hem., 6/98, forum)
1997 Jan 20, An 1800-year-old
sculpture of a lioness devouring a man was found in the mud of the
Almond River near Edinburgh.
(SFC, 1/22/96, p.A9)
1997 Feb 23, It was announced
that researchers under Dr. Ian Wilmut at Edinburgh, Scotland,
created a clone lamb from adult sheep DNA. The lamb was born in Jul,
1996, and named Dolly after Dolly Pardon. Dolly was put down Feb.
14, 2003, after a short life marred by premature aging and disease.
(SFEC, 2/23/97, p.C1)(AP, 2/23/98)
1997 Sep 11, In Scotland voters
went to the polls on a referendum for a separate Scottish
Parliament. In a two-part referendum, 74.3% of Scots voted for a
129-member parliament to administer many aspects of Scottish life.
63.5% said 'yes' to giving it modest tax changing powers. The
parliament controls schools, the health service, environmental
affairs and farm support programs.
(SFC, 9/11/97, p.A10)(SFC, 9/12/97,
p.A12)(Reuters, 2/16/12)
1998 Apr 21, It was reported
that the US and Britain had begun a secretive removal of nuclear
materials near Tbilisi. Britain volunteered to accept the material
and had already taken 270 pounds. The unused highly enriched uranium
was to be processed by a Scottish plant.
(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A18)(SFC, 4/23/98, p.A16)
1998 Aug 19, In Scotland
Campbell Aird was to be fitted with a new bionic arm developed by
the Prosthetics Research and Development Team at Princess Margaret
Rose Orthopedic Hospital. It was to have the first fully powered
electrical shoulder.
(SFC, 8/20/98, p.A17)
1998 Aug 24, The United States
and Britain agreed to allow two Libyan suspects in the bombing of
Pan Am flight 103 to be tried by a Scottish court sitting in the
Netherlands. A former Libyan intelligence agent was later convicted
of murder; the other suspect was acquitted.
(AP, 8/24/08)
1998 The film "My Name Is Joe"
was directed by Ken Loach and set in working-class Glasgow.
(SFEC, 9/20/98, DB p.50)
c1998 Fried candy bars began to
show up at US fairs, imported from the fish-and-chip shops of
Scotland.
(WSJ, 10/21/03, p.A1)
1999 Apr 5, Libya handed over
to UN officials 2 men accused in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight
103. They were then flown to the Hague to be tried under Scottish
law. UN Sec. Gen'l. Kofi Annan immediately suspended economic
sanctions on Libya.
(SFC, 3/20/99, p.A8)(SFC, 4/6/99, p.A1)
1999 May 6, In Scotland
elections for the 129-member Edinburgh parliament were scheduled.
Its powers would include control over taxes, health, transport,
education, legal affairs, sports and the arts. Reversing decades of
overwhelming loyalty to Britain's governing Labor Party, Scottish
and Welsh voters elected strong nationalist oppositions to their
first separate assemblies of modern times. The Scottish National
Party won 56 of 129 seats, the Liberal Democrats won 17 and the
Conservatives won 18.
(SFEC, 5/2/99, p.A28)(SFC, 5/8/99, p.A10)(AP,
5/6/00)
1999 May 12, A new Scottish
parliament sat for the first time in 292 years after elections.
"This was the parliament adjourned on the 25th of March in 1707 and
is hereby reconvened," says the oldest member of the house, the
SNP's Winnie Ewing.
(Reuters, 2/16/12)
1999 Jul 1, Scotland celebrated
the opening of its 129-member Parliament.
(SFC, 7/2/99, p.A13)
2000 Mar 23, It was reported
that John MacLeod, the 29th chief of the MacLeod clan, offered for
sale the 35-sq. mile Cuillin mountain range on the Isle of Skye for
$16 million. The land was held by the clan for some 1200 years and
the proceeds were to be used for the repair of Dunvegan Castle.
(SFC, 3/23/00, p.D2)
2000 Oct 11, Donald Dewar, the
1st Minister of the new Parliament, died at age 63.
(SFC, 10/12/00, p.C2)
2001 Jan 31, In the Netherlands
a Scottish court sentenced Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, a Libyan
intelligence officer, to life in a Scottish prison for the 1998
bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. A second Libyan was acquitted.
(SFC, 1/31/01, p.A11)(SFC, 2/1/01, p.A1)(WSJ,
2/1/01, p.A1)(AP, 12/19/03)
2001 Mar 26, Two US Air Force
F15C fighter jets were lost during training. The body of one pilot,
Lt. Col. Kenneth John Hyvonen, and F15 wreckage was found the next
day. Wreckage of the 2nd F15 was found after 2 days. The body
of Capt. Kirk Jones was found Mar 30.
(SFC, 3/27/01, p.F1)(SFC, 3/28/01, p.A10)(SFC,
3/29/01, p.A11)(SFC, 3/31/01, p.A14)
2001 Jun 17, Cardinal Thomas
Winning, leader of Scotland’s Roman Catholics, died at age 76. He
had called homosexuality a disorder and supported the Pro-Life
Initiative.
(SFC, 6/18/01, p.A15)
2001 Arthur Herman authored
"How the Scots Invented the Modern World."
(WSJ, 12/14/01, p.W14)
2001 Stanley Hauer was
delivered the 2001 Gifford Lectures at the Univ. of St. Andrews in
Scotland. The lectures were published as "With the Grain of the
Universe." He said modern economic and scientific progress have
created a warped the understanding of man and god.
(WSJ, 12/24/01, p.A9)
2002 Feb 13, The Scottish
Parliament outlawed fox hunting with dogs.
(SFC, 2/14/02, p.A8)
2002 May, In Scotland the
Falkirk Wheel, the world’s 1st rotating boat lift, opened to connect
boats on the Union Canal with the Forth and Clyde Canal. The 2
canals were separated by a height of 115 feet.
(WSJ, 1/7/06, p.P14)
2002 Scotland named the 720
square miles of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs as its 1st national
park.
(SSFC, 12/7/03, p.C8)
2003 Feb 14, Dolly (b.1996),
the world’s 1st clone sheep and mother of 6 lambs, was put to sleep
by veterinarians in Scotland after they failed to cure her of a
severe lung infection.
(AP, 2/15/03)(SFC, 2/15/03, p.A2)
2003 Aug, A $65 million da
Vinci painting was stolen from Drumlanrig Castle in southern
Scotland after two men join a public tour and overpower a guide. It
was recovered four years later.
(AP, 2/11/08)
2003 Scotland named the 1,467
square miles of Cairngorms as its 2nd national park.
(SSFC, 12/7/03, p.C8)
2004 Jan 7, In Scotland Stephen
Gough (44) was convicted of breaching the peace and sentenced to
three months in jail for trying to walk the length of Britain naked
to promote public nudity.
(AP, 1/7/04)
2004 Jan 31, In southern
Scotland a fire broke out at nursing home, killing 10 residents and
injuring six others.
(AP, 1/31/04)
2004 May 11, In Scotland an
explosion destroyed part of a plastics factory in Glasgow. 7 people
were killed and 44 injured. 2 remained missing.
(AP, 5/11/04)(AP, 5/12/04)
2004 May 16, It was reported
that a Scottish bus firm had begun issuing DNA “spit kits” to help
drivers verify assault charges on passengers spitting at drivers.
(SSFC, 5/16/04, p.A2)
2004 Jul 26, Banco Santander
Central Hispano of Spain, with the help of Royal Bank of Scotland,
announced a deal to acquire Abbey National Bank in the UK. The $16
billion deal created the tenth largest bank in the world.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbey_(bank))
2004 Jul 27, In Prestonpans,
Scotland, Baron Gordon Prestoungrange granted posthumous pardons to
81 people convicted and executed for being witches from 1563-1727.
(WSJ, 9/15/06,
p.A10)(http://forejustice.org/wc/sp/scottish_pardons.html)
2004 Aug 7, The Edinburgh
Festival Fringe, a three-week cultural jamboree, began this weekend.
This year's event featured 1,700 shows, a big jump on last year's
1,541.
(AP, 8/7/04)
2004 Oct 9, Queen Elizabeth
opened Scotland's new parliament building in Edinburgh, which was
finished late and cost 430 million pounds ($845 million), 10 times
over budget.
(Reuters, 2/16/12)
2004 Nov 10, The Scottish
cabinet voted to ban smoking in public.
(Econ, 11/13/04, p.61)
2004 Scotland’s new ₤431
million Parliament building opened in Edinburgh.
(Econ, 5/20/06, p.27)
2004 James Robertson became the
Scottish Parliament’s first writer in residence. In 2007 he authored
his novel “The Testament of Gideon Mack.”
(WSJ, 4/21/07, p.P11)
2005 Jun 18, In Scotland a
couple was wed in Britain's first legally recognized humanist
ceremony. 12 members of the Humanist Society of Scotland were
granted the right to legally conduct marriages by the country's
registrar general starting June 1.
(AP, 6/19/05)
2005 Jul 2, In Scotland tens of
thousands of protesters clad in white streamed through the cobbled
streets of Edinburgh, demanding that the leaders of the world's
richest nations act to better the lives of the poorest.
(AP, 7/2/05)
2005 Jul 4, In Edinburgh,
Scotland, police scuffled with black-clad anarchists and
antiglobalization protesters, and 450 demonstrators sat down in the
road blocking an entrance to a naval base for nuclear submarines.
(AP, 7/4/05)
2005 Jul 6, In Scotland G-8
leaders scaled back goals for relieving African poverty and
combating global warming under US opposition to British PM Tony
Blair's ambitious objectives.
(AP, 7/6/05)
2005 Jul 6, In Scotland riot
police with attack dogs beat back demonstrators as thousands marched
near the site of the Group of Eight summit, demanding action from
the world's leaders on poverty reduction and climate change.
(AP, 7/7/05)
2005 Jul 7, In Scotland world
leaders united in a show of solidarity to condemn the deadly
bombings in London as an attack on all nations and vowed to defeat
the terrorists responsible.
(AP, 7/7/05)
2005 Jul 8, In Scotland G8
world leaders concluded an economic summit shaken by terrorism,
offering an "alternative to the hatred," a $50 billion aid package
for Africa and up to $3 billion in additional support for the
Palestinians. They pledged new joint efforts against terrorism in
response to the deadly London bombings the day before.
(AP, 7/8/05)(Econ, 7/16/05, p.74)
2005 Aug 21, In Scotland Rory
Blackhall (11), from Livingston in West Lothian, was found
asphyxiated.
(AFP, 8/23/05)
2005 Sep 22, In Scotland a
judge sentenced a British lord to 16 months in prison for causing a
fire at a hotel. Lord Mike Watson (56) admitted to setting fire to a
curtain after having several drinks at the Scottish Politician of
the Year awards ceremony in Edinburgh on Nov. 12.
(AP, 9/22/05)
2005 Michael Fry authored “Wild
Scots: Four Hundred Years of Highland History.”
(Econ, 9/3/05, p.74)
2005 Allan Massie authored “The
Thistle and the Rose: Six Centuries of Love and Hate Between the
Scots and the English.”
(Econ, 9/3/05, p.74)
2006 Mar 26, A smoking ban in
enclosed public places took effect in Scotland, although a poll
showed that a fifth of all Scottish smokers planned to ignore the
new law.
(AP, 3/26/06)
2006 Apr 6, Britain's national
farming union said tests have confirmed a dead swan found in
Scotland had the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.
(AP, 4/6/06)
2006 Apr, Mohammed Atif
Siddique (21), a British-born Muslim student, was arrested as he
tried to board a flight from Glasgow to Lahore, Pakistan. He had
stored and posted guides to bomb-making, guns and explosives on a
network of Web sites.
(AP, 2/9/10)
2006 Aug 6, In Scotland the
Fringe Festival kicked off when an estimated 100,000-strong crowd
turned out on the streets of Edinburgh to watch a parade by 3,000
performers from the Fringe and the Edinburgh Military Tattoo.
(AFP, 8/7/06)
2006 Sep 29, In Scotland police
found the body of Angelika Kluk (23), a missing Polish student, at
Saint Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in the Anderston area of
Glasgow.
(AFP, 9/30/06)
2007 Apr 12, A Norwegian oil
rig support vessel carrying 15 people capsized off northern Scotland
and five crew members were missing.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 25, Royal Bank of
Scotland, Fortis, a Belgian-Dutch lender and Santander of Spain
launched a blockbuster 72-billion-euro takeover battle for Dutch
group ABN Amro, outgunning by far an agreed offer by Barclays.
(AFP, 4/25/07)(Econ, 4/28/07, p.85)(Econ,
7/19/08, p.84)
2007 May 3, Scotland held
parliamentary elections. Labor was knocked out of the top spot for
the 1st time in 50 years by the Scottish National Party. The SNP
supported a future referendum on independence. The SNP won 47 of the
129 seats.
(AFP, 5/3/07)(Econ, 5/12/07, p.61)(Reuters,
2/16/12)
2007 May 16, Scottish National
Party leader Alex Salmond was elected to become first minister of
the devolved Edinburgh parliament, after the pro-independence
party's historic election victory this month.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, Indian company
United Spirits bought Scottish liquor maker Whyte and Mackay for
more than one billion dollars, emphasizing India's growing economic
clout abroad.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 Jun 29, British police
thwarted a devastating terrorist plot, discovering two Mercedes
loaded with nails packed around canisters of propane and gasoline
set to detonate and kill possibly hundreds in London's crowded
theater and nightclub district. On Dec 16, 2008, Bilal Abdulla (29),
an Iraqi doctor who claimed he intended only to frighten Britons,
was convicted of conspiracy to murder with car bombs in London and
Scotland.
(AP, 6/30/07)(AP, 12/16/08)
2007 Jun 30, In Scotland a
four-wheel-drive Jeep rammed into the main terminal at Glasgow
airport and exploded in flames; the attack came a day after two cars
rigged as bombs were found in London. Police arrested two men for
the attack, one of them under guard in the hospital after being
engulfed in flames when the Jeep crashed into the airport. The
driver was later identified as Kafeel Ahmed (28), an Indian
aeronautical engineer.
(Reuters, 6/30/07)(AP, 7/1/07)(SFC, 7/9/07,
p.A8)(AP, 6/30/08)
2007 Jul 1, Britain police
arrested two people, a 26-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman, on a
major highway in Cheshire, northern England, in a joint swoop by
officers from London and Birmingham, Scotland Yard said in London in
relation to the attack in Glasgow and 2 car bombs in London. A fifth
suspect was arrested in Liverpool. 2 more arrests in the failed car
bombings brought the total to 7.
(AP, 7/1/07)(AP, 7/2/07)
2007 Jul 5, British media
reported that a Scottish house had been used as a makeshift bomb
factory to carry out the terror attacks in London and Scotland.
Three "cyber-jihadis" who used the Internet to urge Muslims to wage
holy war on non-believers were jailed for between six-and-a-half and
10 years in the first case of its kind in Britain.
(AP, 7/5/07)(AFP, 7/5/07)
2007 Jul 16, The University of
Edinburgh confirmed that it had withdrawn an honorary doctorate
awarded to Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe in 1984, because of
concern over his human rights record.
(AP, 7/16/07)
2007 Aug 2, Kafeel Ahmed (27),
the suspect who was critically burned in a botched car bomb attempt
at Glasgow Airport, died after 5 weeks in hospital from burns to 90%
of his body.
(AP, 8/3/07)
2007 Aug 28, Organizers in
Scotland said the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world's biggest
arts festival, this year broke its attendance record by selling 1.7
million tickets.
(AFP, 8/28/07)
2007 Sep 15, Former world rally
champion Colin McRae (39) and his five-year-old son were among four
people killed in a helicopter crash in southern Scotland.
(AFP, 9/16/07)
2007 Sep 17, In Scotland a jury
at Glasgow's High Court found Mohammed Atif Siddique (21) guilty of
four offenses under British terrorism laws and a separate offense of
breaching the peace, carried out between March 1, 2003, and April
13, 2006. This included causing a disturbance by telling fellow
students he planned to become a suicide bomber.
(AP, 9/18/07)(AP, 2/9/10)
2007 Oct 23,
Mohammed Atif Siddique (21), a British-born Muslim student,
described at his trial as a "wannabe suicide bomber," was jailed in
Scotland for 8 years after being convicted of promoting Islamist
extremism on the Internet. On Feb 9, 2010, his conviction was
overturned after a court in Scotland ruled that the trial judge did
not properly instruct the jury.
(AFP, 10/23/07)(AP, 2/9/10)
2007 Oct, The first commercial
wave farm was set up off the coast of Portugal. The system was
created at Pelamis Wave Power, a firm based in Scotland.
(Econ, 6/7/08, TQ p.22)
2007 Dec 29, The Scottish
government said a new case of bluetongue has been detected for the
first time in Scotland.
(AFP, 12/29/07)
2008 Apr 1, A woman's severed
head was found on a Scottish beach. She was later identified as
Jolanta Bledaite (35) from Alytus, Lithuania. On April 4 police
arrested two Lithuanian men in connection with the murder.
(AP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 22,
The Royal Bank of Scotland announced a record share issue of
12 billion pounds to shore up its finances after huge
subprime-related writedowns and the blockbuster takeover of Dutch
giant ABN Amro.
(AP, 4/22/08)
2008 Apr 27, Hundreds of
workers at Scotland's only oil refinery began a 48-hour strike. This
forced BP PLC to shut a pipeline system that delivers almost a third
of Britain's North Sea oil.
(AP, 4/27/08)
2008 Apr 29, Workers returned
to the Grangemouth refinery in central Scotland after a 48-hour
strike that forced the closure of a major North Sea pipeline system.
(AP, 4/29/08)
2008 Jun 4, Scientists issued
warnings about the puffin’s future as the population of the
orange-beaked seabird off Scotland's east coast has dropped by
nearly a third in less than five years.
(AP, 6/5/08)
2008 Jul 25, British PM Gordon
Brown suffered another serious blow to his leadership after Scottish
nationalists won a longtime Labour seat in Glasgow.
(AFP, 7/25/08)(WSJ, 7/26/08, p.A1)
2008 Aug 3, In Scotland the
Int’l. Primatological Society Congress opened a 6-day conference. On
August 5 scientists released a report saying the nearly half of the
world’s 634 types of primates are in danger of becoming extinct due
to human activity.
(SFC, 8/5/08, p.A3)
2008 Nov 3, The Scottish
government approved controversial plans by US tycoon Donald Trump to
build a huge luxury golf resort on the country's east coast.
(AFP, 11/3/08)
2008 Dec 29, Scottish police
charged Justice Ngema (35) with attempting to murder Magdeline
Makola (38), a nurse who was found locked in the trunk of her car,
where police say she may have been kept for up to 10 days. Makola
had been reported missing after she failed to show up for work at
the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on Dec. 18. She was last seen Dec. 15.
(AP, 12/29/08)
2008 “The Invention of
Scotland” by Hugh Trevor-Roper (1914-2003), English historian, was
published posthumously.
(WSJ, 7/26/08, p.W8)
2009 Feb 26, The Royal Bank of
Scotland posted a 2008 loss of 24.1 billion pounds, the largest in
British corporate history, because of the credit crunch and the
mis-timed takeover of ABN Amro. The British government has meanwhile
agreed to insure RBS "toxic" assets worth 325 billion pounds in its
Asset Protection Scheme (APS) and will cover 90 percent of losses
stemming from such holdings. Sir Fred Goodwin (50), head of RBS for
a decade, insisted that he is entitled to his full pension of over
£700,000 ($980,000) a year. In March Goodwin received a $4
million tax-free advance as part of his negotiated pension package.
(AFP, 2/26/09)(Econ, 3/7/09, p.22)(SFC, 3/18/09,
p.A2)
2009 Mar 25, In Edinburgh,
Scotland, vandals attacked the home of former Royal Bank of Scotland
head Fred Goodwin, smashing windows at the house of the ex-CEO whose
700,000 pound ($1.2 million) annual pension has prompted public
outrage.
(AP, 3/25/09)
2009 Apr 1, A helicopter
returning to Aberdeen with 16 people from an oil platform crashed in
the North Sea. The Bond Super Puma helicopter went down off the
northeast coast of Scotland. 8 bodies were recovered and the others
were presumed dead. 7 bodies were later found inside the wreckage of
the helicopter.
(AFP, 4/1/09)(AP, 4/2/09)(AP, 4/5/09)
2009 May 23, The Church of
Scotland voted in favor of appointing an openly gay minister, the
latest case involving sexuality to create a division in the Anglican
Communion. The church's ruling body voted 326 to 267 to support the
appointment of the Rev. Scott Rennie (37), who was previously
married to a woman and is now in a relationship with a man.
(AP, 5/24/09)
2009 May 30, Susan Boyle (48),
Scottish singing sensation, was been beaten in the televised finals
of "Britain's Got Talent," by the street dance group "Diversity,"
who jumped, kicked and shook their way to victory against her.
"Diversity" mesmerized audiences with a frenetic but perfectly
choreographed dance routine.
(AP, 5/31/09)
2009 Jun 18, The Bank of
Scotland said Fred Goodwin, its disgraced former boss, has agreed to
take a 40% pension cut, after widespread pressure to do so. He will
see his annual pension reduced to 342,500 pounds from 555,000
pounds. The agreement was condemned by trade unions who said it did
not go far enough.
(AFP, 6/18/09)
2009 Jul 10, Earl Haig (91),
Scottish artist and son of WWI Field Marshal Douglas Haig, died. He
developed his gift for painting as a prisoner of war in World War
II.
(AP, 7/15/09)
2009 Aug 2, Stanley Robertson
(69), the last of Scotland’s traveling storytellers, died. He had
spent 47 years filleting fish for a living.
(Econ, 9/5/09, p.94)
2009 Aug 13, Scottish officials
said they were considering early release for the Lockerbie bomber,
leading to sharp debate among victims' relatives in the US and
Britain over whether he should be allowed to return home to Libya.
British media said Abdel Baset Ali al-Megrahi could soon be freed on
compassionate grounds because he is terminally ill with cancer.
(AP, 8/13/09)
2009 Aug 20, Kenny MacAskill,
Scotland’s justice secretary, freed Abdel Baset al-Megrahi (57),
former Libyan intelligence agent and alleged Lockerbie bomber (Dec
21, 1988), on compassionate grounds after eight years in jail
allowing him to go home to Libya to die. Al-Megrahi has terminal
prostate cancer and has been given less than three months to live.
In 2010 Professor Karol Sikora, who assessed for the Libyan
authorities, told The Sunday Times it was "embarrassing" that he had
outlived his three-month prognosis and that al-Megrahi could survive
for 10 years or longer. It was later reported that BP had promoted
the deal in order to protect a $900 million oil and gas exploration
deal off the Libyan Mediterranean coast.
(AP, 8/20/09)(Econ, 8/29/09, p.48)(AP,
7/03/10)(SFC, 7/16/10, p.A2)
2009 Nov 6, In Scotland finance
ministers from the world's leading rich and developing countries to
begin the difficult negotiations over how to even out the imbalances
weighing on the world economy.
(AP, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 25, The British
government said Scotland will be given greater tax-raising powers
under the biggest shake-up of the nation's finances for 30 years.
(Reuters, 2/16/12)
2009 Nov 30, Scotland First
Minister Alex Salmond set out plans which could pave the way for a
referendum on independence.
(Reuters, 2/16/12)
2009 Colin Kidd authored “Union
and Unionisms: Political Thought in Scotland 1500-2000.
(Econ, 1/10/09, p.74)
2010 Mar 31, Scotland and
Northern Ireland were battered by snow, gale force winds and
torrential rain, leaving thousands of people without power and
causing havoc on roads.
(AP, 3/31/10)
2010 May 16, Aviation officials
closed airports in northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland
due to a drifting, dense cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland.
(AP, 5/16/10)
2010 May 19, John
Shepherd-Barron (84), the Scotsman credited with inventing the
world's first automatic cash machine, died after a short illness.
The first automatic teller machine, now known as ATMs, was installed
at a branch of Barclays Plc in a north London suburb on June 27,
1967.
(AP, 5/19/10)
2010 Aug 4, In Edinburgh,
Scotland, the 3 children Theresa Riggi (46), an American mother,
were found dead after a suspected gas explosion. On Aug 6 she was
charged with murder. On March 7, 2010, California-born Theresa Riggi
pled guilty to a charge of culpable homicide on the grounds of
diminished responsibility at the High Court in Edinburgh. On April
27, 2011, Riggi was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
(SFC, 8/7/10, p.A2)(AFP, 3/7/11)(AP, 4/27/11)
2010 Sep 16, Pope Benedict XVI,
arrived in Edinburgh beginning a controversial visit to Britain. He
acknowledged that the Catholic Church had failed to act decisively
or quickly enough to deal with priests who rape and molest children.
He said the church's top priority now was to help the victims heal.
(AP, 9/16/10)
2010 Dec 15, Scottish
engineering firm Weir was fined £3 million for paying illegal
kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime to secure contracts. Weir
admitted making payments of £3.1 million to the Iraqi regime
through an agent to get contracts worth £35 million between
September 2001 and April 2004 to supply spare pumps for drinking
water and oil projects.
(AFP, 12/15/10)
2011 Jan 9, Chinese Vice
Premier Li Keqiang kicked off a business-focused state visit to
Britain with the sealing of a renewable energy deal between Scottish
and Chinese companies.
(AFP, 1/9/11)
2011 Jan 13, Scotland's First
Minister Alex Salmond announced that online retailer Amazon is to
create 950 full-time jobs at two Scottish locations.
(AP, 1/13/11)
2011 Mar 8, In Scotland Ezedden
Khalid Ahmed Al Khaledi (30) was arrested on suspicion of aiding a
suicide bomber who had targeted Christmas shoppers in Sweden's
capital on Dec 11.
(AP, 3/14/11)
2011 May 5, Scotland held
parliamentary elections. The Scottish National Party, led by first
minister Alex Salmond, won a historic majority in elections for the
Scottish parliament, bringing an independence referendum a step
closer.
(AFP, 5/6/11)(Econ, 5/14/11, p.73)
2011 May 18, Scotland's
pro-independence First Minister Alex Salmond called for Edinburgh to
have greater powers and more say in European affairs as he was
officially re-elected for a second term.
(AFP, 5/18/11)
2011 Jun 4, Greenpeace said 18
of its members have climbed a 53,000-ton oil rig in the Arctic
waters off Greenland to protest deepwater drilling by a Scottish oil
company there. The activists demanded Cairn Energy release a plan
for how to manage a potential oil spill.
(AP, 6/4/11)
2011 Jun 9, London said it will
allow the Scottish Government to start borrowing money for
infrastructural investment from 2011, earlier than a proposal to
give Scotland full borrowing powers from April 2015.
(Reuters, 2/16/12)
2011 Jul 12, Scottish couple
Colin Weir (64) and his wife Chris (55), who have been married for
30 years and live in the seaside town of Largs near Glasgow, became
Europe's biggest ever lottery winners, scooping £162 million
($262 million) in the EuroMillions jackpot.
(AFP, 7/16/11)
2011 Jul 23, Rescuers in
Scotland said they have guided 44 pilot whales stranded in an
estuary back to sea, but 25 other whales from the pod did not
survive the incident and died.
(AP, 7/23/11)
2011 Jul 27, Scottish teenager
Jake Davis (18) was arrested with 16 computers in the Shetland
Islands. This was the alleged nerve center of Lulz Security
(LulzSec), a group of internet hackers whose targets included
computer-security and online gaming firms. The group had broken from
Anonymous, another hacker group, three months earlier. Ryan Cleary
(19) was arrested in June at his home in Wickford, Essex, charged
with attacking websites as part of LulzSec.
(Econ, 8/6/11,
p.49)(http://shetlopedia.com/Jake_Davis)(AFP, 8/30/11)
2011 Aug 12, Royal Dutch Shell
PLC said it is trying to stop oil leaking from a flow line at one of
its drilling platforms in the North Sea off the coast of Scotland.
On Aug 15 Shell estimated that 54,600 gallons had leaked from the
Gannet Alpha oil rig. On Aug 16 Shell said a 2nd smaller leak had
been found at the rig.
(AP, 8/13/11)(SFC, 8/16/11, p.A4)(SFC, 8/17/11,
p.A3)
2011 Sep 27, Scotland's First
Minister Alex Salmond announced a new 35-million-pound offshore wind
technology fund at the start of a two-day Scottish low carbon
investment conference.
(Reuters, 9/27/11)
2011 Dec 2, Royal Bank of
Scotland said it has sold its 918 tenanted pubs in Britain to Dutch
brewer Heineken for 422 million pounds, another step in its exit
from non-core businesses following a government bailout.
(Reuters, 12/2/11)
2011 Dec 5, Scottish artist
Martin Boyce (44), whose works include a modernist reworking of a
library table and artificial trees, won Britain's Turner Prize at a
ceremony in Gateshead, north-east England.
(AFP, 12/5/11)
2011 T.M. Devine authored “To
the Ends of the Earth: Scotland’s Global Diaspora, 1750-2010.”
(Econ, 8/20/11, p.77)
2011 The Hunterston B nuclear
power station in Ayrshire, Scotland, was set to close in 2011.
Torness, in East Lothian, will last until 2023.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4541055.stm)
2012 Jan 9, Britain’s PM David
Cameron said Scotland should hold an independence referendum as
early as 2013, clashing with the SNP which does not want to hold a
one before autumn 2014 - the 700th anniversary of the Battle of
Bannockburn.
(Reuters, 2/16/12)
2012 Jan 10, The British
government set out conditions under which Scotland would be allowed
to hold a referendum - limiting it to a single yes-or-no question
and rejecting a second question on greater powers of devolution.
(Reuters, 2/16/12)
2012 Jan 25, Scotland’s first
minister, Alex Salmond, announced the wording of a referendum on the
nation’s independence, scheduled for the autumn of 2014, in a
consultation document. His wording kept open the option maximum
self-government.
(Econ, 1/28/12, p.57)
2012 Jan 31, Britain stripped
Fred Goodwin, the former head of Royal Bank of Scotland, of his
knighthood. He had steered one of Britain's largest banks to near
collapse with the catastrophic buyout of a Dutch bank, a disaster
that helped bring on the global financial crisis.
(Reuters, 2/1/12)
2012 Feb 16, Britain’s PM David
Cameron, on a trip to meet first minister Alex Salmond in Edinburgh,
made an impassioned plea to the Scots to remain within the United
Kingdom, offering instead more devolved power.
(Reuters, 2/16/12)
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End of file.