Burkes Peerage - Article Library - NOTABLE DATES IN HISTORY

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ARTICLES FROM ELECTRIC SCOTLAND

Electric Scotland is the premier Scottish web site where you can learn all about Scotland. Below are a range of articles exploring Scottish History, Culture and Tradditions.

NOTABLE DATES IN SCOTTISH HISTORY

The families in Burke's Landed Gentry have played a major role over the centuries in shaping the history of Scotland. The notable dates below detail a great number of these people and where possible these have been linked to the respective family homepage.

10 March 560	St Kessog, Irish missionary in the Lennox and south of Perthshire was killed. His name was once used as a battle-cry in Scotland.
9 June 597	Death of St Columba in Iona.
13 January 603	Death of St Kentigern (or Mungo), patron saint of Glasgow.
6 March 608	Death of St Balfred, hermit of the Bass Rock.
17 April 616	St Donan, missionary in northern and western Scotland, killed by sea pirates in Eigg.
23 February 664	Death of St Boisel, Prior of Melrose, Confessor.
25 August 683	Death of St Ebba, Abbess of Coldingham and of St Abbs.
20 May 685	Battle of Dunnichen, Angus, resulted in a significant victory for Brude MacBile, King of the Picts, over Ecgfirth, King of Northumbria.
23 September 704	Death of St Adamnan, Abbot of Iona; author of a 'Life' of Columba and a work on the holy places.
20 August 1158	St Ronald, Earl of Orkney, was killed. He was canonised in 1192.
8 December 1174	Treaty of Falaise, after William I had been captured by the English, he agreed to accept Henry II as his feudal overlord.
5 October 1240	Birth of Margaret, Queen of Scots, first wife of Alexander III.
4 September 1241	Birth of Alexander III at Roxburgh, last Celtic King of Scots. He succeeded the throne in 1249 on the death of his father, Alexander II. His reign became known as "The Golden Age".
July 1249	King Alexander II died at Kerrera whilst leading his forces in an attempt to win back the Hebrides.
13 July 1249	Alexander III, King of Scots, crowned at Scone. His reign ( 1249 - 1286 ) became known as "The Golden Age".
26 December 1251	Marriage of Alexander III, King of Scots, to Margaret, daughter of Henry III, King of England, in York. The young Alexander refused to acknowledge English overlordship of Scotland.
2 October 1263	The Battle of Largs resulted in a victory by Alexander III over the Norsemen, leading to cessation of the Hebrides and Isle of Man to Scotland.
23 July 1266	Treaty of Perth in which Magnus IV, King of Norway, ceded the Hebrides and the Isle of Man to Scotland in return for a payment of 4000 merks in four annual installments and 100 merks in perpetuity - "The annual of Norway".
8 October 1275	Scottish forces put down a Manx rebellion in the Battle of Ronaldsway, Isle of Man. The Manx had refused peace terms the previous day and before dawn were routed and more than five hundred slain. The Isle of Man had passed from Norwegian to Scottish rule in 1266. "ten times 50, three times 10, and five and two did fall, O Manx race, beware lest future catastrophe you befall." from the Chronicles of the Kings of Man and the Isles.
28 October 1278	Alexander III, King of Scots, paid homage to Edward I of England, for lands he held in England but reserved the Kingdom of Scotland from English overlordship.
14 October 1285	Yolande ( or Joleta ), youngest daughter of Robert IV, Comte de Dreux, married Alexander III, King of Scots, in Jedburgh. His first wife Magaret died in 1275.
19 March 1286	Alexander III, King of Scots, killed accidentally at Kinghorn, Fife. The last of the MacAlpine dynasty and the Celtic line of Scottish Kings, his reign was known as "The Golden Age".
30 November 1292	Coronation of John Balliol, the last recorded inauguration of a King of Scots on the Stone of Destiny. Known as 'The Toom Tabard', (empty coat), Baliol was seen as a puppet of Edward I of England.
23 October 1295	Treaty between John Balliol, King of Scots, and Philippe IV of France, made at Paris for mutual military help against the English - "The Auld Alliance". Renewed by Robert I (Treaty of Corbeil, 1326) it became accepted response to English aggression against either party.
27 April 1296	Rout of Scottish army in the Battle of Dunbar by Edward I, King of England, after John Balliol, King of Scots, had renounced his allegiance to England. Known as the "Dunbar Drave".
8 August 1296	Scottish Coronation Stone, The Stone of Destiny, removed from Scone Abbey by King Edward I of England.
11 September 1297	Battle of Stirling Bridge where the Scots under the command of William Wallace and Andrew de Moray defeated a larger English force under John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, and the Treasurer of England, Hugh de Cressingham. Andrew de Moray subsequently died of wounds received in the battle.
11 October 1297	Letter from Andrew de Moray and William Wallace, Guardians of Scotland, to the cities of Lubeck and Hamburg informing them that Scotland and the Hanseatic League could recommence.
23 August 1305	Execution of Sir William Wallace in London, England after his betrayal by Menteith. "The story of Wallace poured a Scottish prejudice into my veins, which will boil along there till the flood-gates of life shut in eternal rest" - Robert Burns in a letter to Dr Moore 2 August 1787.
25 March 1306	Robert de Brus, Earl of Annandale, crowned King of Scots at Scone in the presence of four bishops, five earls and the people of the land by the Countess of Buchan.
7 July 1307	Death of King Edward I of England on his last punitive expedition to Scotland at Burgh-on-Sands near Carlisle. "Edwardus Primus Scotorum Malleus hic est." - The epitaph in Westminster Abbey, London, England to "the hammer of the Scots."
8 November 1308	Death of John Duns Scotus, born in Berwickshire c.1265, scholastic philosopher at Oxford, Paris and Cologne. The Subtle Doctor (doctor Subtilis), John Duns Scotus was one of the great philosophers; study and use of his work was commended by Pope John XXIII, and he was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1993.
23 February 1310	Declaration of the Clergy and People in favour of King Robert I, The Bruce, from the Church of the Friary Minor in Dundee.
29 October 1312	Treaty of Inverness, Robert I gave an undertaking to Haakon V of Norway to observe the terms of Treaty of Perth (1266).
23 June 1314	Robert I, King of Scots, killed Henry de Bohun at commencement of Battle of Bannockburn. "Just as they met, Bruce shunn'd the spear. Onward the baffled warrior bore His course - but soon his course was o'er! High in the stirrups stood the King, And gave his battle-axe the swing. Right on DeBoune, the whiles he pass'd, Fell that stern dint - the first - the last!" Sir Walter Scott -"The Lord Of the Isles" canto vi
24 June 1314	Scots, under Robert I, defeated a far larger English army led by Edward II, King of England, at the Battle of Bannockburn.
2 March 1316	King Robert II, first of the House of Stewart, was born at Renfrew. His mother was Marjorie Bruce, daughter of Robert I and wife of Walter, Great Stewart of Scotland.
6 April 1320	Declaration of Arbroath - Letter from Scottish barons to Pope John XXII, affirming their determination to maintain Scottish Independence and support King Robert I unless he showed signs of yielding. There are echoes of the Arbroath Declaration in the American Declaration of Independence in 1776. Extract from Arbroath Declaration - "for so long as a hundred of us are left alive, we will yield in no least way to English dominion. We fight not for glory nor for wealth nor honours; but only and alone we fight for freedom, which no good man surrenders but with his life."
17 March 1328	Treaty of Edinburgh by which England acknowledged the independence of Scotland under Robert I was concluded at Edinburgh and ratified at Northampton on 4 May 1328.
7 June 1329	Death of Robert I, The Bruce, King of Scots, at Cardross Castle.
12 August 1332	Battle of Dupplin Moor where the Scots led by the regent Earl of Mar squandered their numerical advantage and following a confused attack were routed with heavy losses by Edward Balliol's army.
19 July 1333	Battle of Halidon Hill at Berwick where an English army under Edward III and Edward Balliol defeated the Scots forces led by Sir Archibald Douglas. English archers devastated the Scottish army and inflicted terrible losses, including six earls, seventy barons and over 500 knights.
28 September 1396	Thirty of Clan Chattan, with the loss of 19 men, slew 29 out of 30 of the Clan Kay or Quhele, in a battle on the North Inch at Perth in the presence of Robert III.
24 July 1411	Battle of Harlaw, Inverurie, where the Crown forces under the Earl of Mar faced a Highland Host led by Donald Lord of the Isles. Heavy casualties were inflicted on both sides but victory went to the Lowlanders as the Highlanders withdrew. Aberdeen suffered heavy losses with the death of Provost Robert Davidson and many of the City Burgesses fighting on the Crown side.
22 March 1421	Scottish and French troops under the Earl of Buchan defeated English forces at Bauge in Anjou, France.
4 December 1423	Treaty of London provided for the release of James I from English captivity, for ransom of £40,000 paid in 6 annual instalments, and for the sessation of reinforcements to Scottish troops in France.
17 August 1424	French and Scots troops under the command of John, Earl of Buchan, and Archibald, Earl of Douglas, defeated in the Battle of Verneuil by English forces under Duke of Bedford.
15 September 1436	Battle of Piperden where Scots under William, 2nd Earl of Angus, defeated English forces led by Percy and Sir Robert Ogle, near Berwick.
7 January 1451	Glasgow University founded by a bull of Pope Nicolas V, at the suit of James II and Bishop Wiliam Turnbull.
3 August 1460	James II killed by the bursting of a cannon at the seize of Roxburgh Castle.
20 February 1472	Orkney and Shetland annexed to the crown of Scotland as security for the dowry of Princess Margaret, daughter of Christian I, King of Norway and Denmark, and wife of James III of Scotland.
8 August 1503	The Marriage of the Thistle and the Rose - the wedding of James IV and Margaret Tudor, sister of Henry VIII from which the Stewarts made claim to the English crown.
4 April 1508	The earliest known book printed in Scotland by Edinburgh printers Walter Chapman and Andrew Millar.
9 September 1513	Battle of Flodden took place near Branxton, in Northumberland, in which James IV, King of Scots, was killed, with the flower of Scotland, by English troops under Thomas Howard, the Earl of Surrey.
25 October 1514	Death of Bishop William Elphinstone, Chancellor of James III and founder of King's College, Aberdeen.
29 February 1528	Patrick Hamilton, student of Parid, Louvain, St Andrews, Marburg, Abbot of Fearn, burned at St Andrew for heresy, the first Reformation martyr in Scotland.
5 July 1530	John Armstrong of Gilnockie, a Border reiver, and 50 of his men were hanged for blackmail by James V at Carlanrig.
6 January 1540	First performance of Sir David Lyndsay's play 'Ane Satyre o the Thrie Estaites' in Linlithgow
7 May 1542	Earl of Hertford invaded Scotland in an attempt to force the marriage of Edward, son of Henry VIII, and Mary Queen of Scots. Known as "The Rough Wooing", it led to the burning and distruction of Border towns and abbeys and of Edinburgh.
1 July 1543	Treaties of Greenwich provided for Anglo-Scottish peace and for marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots, to Edward, heir to Henry VIII; repudiated before by Scots before end of year.
1 August 1545	Birth of Andrew Melville, reformer, founder of the Presbyterian Church in Scotland, Principal of Glasgow University and St Mary's College, St Andrews.
29 May 1546	David Beaton, Cardinal Archbishop of St Andrews, Lord High Chancellor of Scotland, murdered in St Andrews Castle by a band of Protestant Reformers.
30 July 1547	Surrender to French forces of St Andrews Castle by Protestants responsible for murder ofCardinal David Beaton.
10 November 1556	Russian treasure ship Edward Bonaventure, carrying Ivan the Terrible's ambassador to Elizabeth I of England, was wrecked off Rosehearty, Aberdeenshire.
19 June 1566	Birth of James VI, only son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Lord Darnley, in Edinburgh.
10 February 1567	Murder of Henry, Lord Darnley, estranged husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, in Kirk o Field.
17 June 1567	Mary, Queen of Scots, imprisoned in Lochleven castle by the Council of Scotland and compelled to abdicate in favour of her son (James VI).
29 July 1567	James VI was crowned at Stirling. Regarded as 'The Wisest Fool in Christendom' he succeeded to the English throne in 1603. He subsequently only revisited his Northern Kingdom once.
13 May 1568	Battle of Langside, the final defeat of Mary, Queen of Scots, in her attempt to regain the throne from her son, James VI, and his supporters. She fled to England and was imprisoned until her execution in 1587.
23 January 1570	James Stewart, Earl of Moray, Regent of Scotland, assassinated by James Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh at Linlithgow.
14 April 1575	Death of James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, third husband of Mary Queen of Scots, at Dragsholm Castle in Denmark. He had been a prisoner since 1567 and is thought to have become mad. His body is preserved in Faarevejle Church.
28 January 1580	King James VI signed the Confession of Faith, "The King's or Negative Confession", later incorporated into the National Covenant of 1638.
25 October 1586	Death sentence was pronounced against Mary, Queen of Scots. She had been imprisoned in England since 1568.
24 November 1589	Marriage of Anne of Denmark, daughter of Frederick II, to James VI, King of Scots, in Oslo.
1 July 1592	Charter granted to Sir Alexander Fraser of Philorth to found a university at Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire. "To edifie and big up collegis, nocht onlie till the great decoirement of the cuntrey, bot also to the advancement of the loist and tint youthe in bringing tham up in leirning and vertew." - Act of Scottish Parliament 16 December 1597 endowing the college.
2 April 1593	The College of New Aberdeen, founded by the Earl Marischal of Scotland, George Keith of Inverugie, now part of the University of Aberdeen.
2 November 1619	Patent granted to Nathaniel Udwart of Edinburgh for a monopoly in the manufacture of soap. 'Haveing fund his greene soap to be als goode and sufficient as the soape of that kind broght from Flanderis.' From the Privy Council Commission's Report, 1621.
24 April 1633	Warrant from the Privy Council to Sir John Hepburn to raise regiment of 1200 men to fight in the French service. The recruits came mainly from Scottish mercenaries of Gustavus Aldolphus in the Thirty Years' War. The cops ultimately became the First Regiment of Foot, the Royal Scots.
2 February 1645	Royalist army led by James Graham, 5th Earl and 1st Marquis of Montrose routed the Earl of Argyll's Covenating forces in the Battle of Inverlochy.
1 January 1651	King Charles II crowned at Scone. The last coronation in Scotland.
18 December 1661	The "Elizabeth" of Burntisland lost off the English coast with the Scottish records aboard, being returned from London to which they had been taken by Oliver Cromwell.
1 June 1679	Battle of Drumclog fought between victorious Covenanters, attending a Conventicle, and Royalist troops under Graham of Claverhouse ( Bonnie Dundee ) in Avondale Parish, Lanarkshire.
22 June 1679	Battle of Bothwell, defeat of the Covenanters under Balfour of Burleigh and Hackson of Rathillet, by Royal Troops led by the Duke of Monmouth.
13 February 1692	Under orders from King William a Royalist force, under the command of Captain Robert Campbell of Glenlyon, carried out the Massacre of Glencoe which resulted in the death of 38 MacIan MacDonalds.
26 June 1695	Formation of the Company which undertook the Darien Scheme and came to ruin five years later through English obstruction, Spanish hostility and Scottish mismanagement.
17 July 1695	Establishment of the Bank of Scotland under an Act of the Scottish Parliament, The Three Estates.
20 November 1695	Death of James Dalrymple, the 1st Viscount of Stair, Covenanter, professor at Glasgow University and Lord President. He opposed the Test Acts and fled to Holland, a supporter of William of Orange he is best known for his masterly systematising of Scots Law in his "Institutions of the Law of Scotland", 1681.
5 August 1704	The Act of Security, which allowed The Three Estates to choose another successor to Queen Anne than the choice by the English Parliament if Scottish conditions were not met, was approved by the Scottish Parliament. The English responded with the Alien Act (1705) which demanded an Act of Union.
1 May 1707	The Act of Union between Scotland and England came into force. Scottish Kirk Bells played the tune "Why Am I So Sad On My Wedding Day?" The Union was brought about in spite of the opposition by the majority of Scots.
3 October 1712	Warrant issued for the arrest of Rob Roy MacGregor, Highland Freebooter, by the Lord Advocate at the instigation of the Duke of Montrose.
6 September 1715	The standard of the Old Pretender, the Jacobite "James VIII", was unfurled by the Earl of Mar, "Bobbing John", at Braemar in the first of the major Jacobite Risings.
10 June 1719	Battle of Glenshiel which saw the end of a minor Jacobite rising. Only 1000 men joined the Jacobite side under the 10th Earl Marischal. Faced by a Hanovarian army under General Wightman, after some hours of engagement, the Jacobite forces disbanded.
31 December 1720	Birth of Charles Edward Louis Casimir Silvester Maria Stewart, The Young Pretender, in the Palazzo Muti, Rome. Known as Bonnie Prince Charlie he led the 1745 Jacobite Rising.
8 November 1736	The first regular public theatre in Scotland was opened in Carruber's Close, Edinburgh by the poet, editor and playwrite Allan Ramsay.
23 July 1745	Prince Charles Edward Stewart, 'The Young Pretender', landed in Eriskay with only seven men. The last Jacobite Rising was to follow.
19 August 1745	Prince Charles Edward Stewart's standard unfurled at Glenfinnan to start the most famous Jacobite Rising which ended tragically on the field of Culloden on 16 April 1746.
3 September 1745	James Francis Stewart proclaimed as King James VIII of Scotland by his son, Prince Charles Edward at Perth.
16 September 1745	Canter of Coltbrig where Jacobite forces routed Hanovarian dragoons on the outskirts of Edinburgh.
21 September 1745	Hanovarian army under the command of John Cope were surprised and overwhelmingly defeated, in ten minutes, by the Jacobite forces of Prince Charles Edward Stewart in the Battle of Prestonpans. The victory left most of Scotland open to the Jacobites and Cope to ridicule: 'Hey Johnnie Cope, are ye wauken yet? Or are your drums a-beatin yet? If ye were auken I would wait To gang to the coals in the mornin.'
17 November 1745	Prince Charles Edward Stewart, accompanied by pipers, entered Carlysle following the surrender of the city to the Jacobite Army.
6 December 1745	Charles Edward Stewart and the Jacobite Army retreated from Derby, England.
18 December 1745	Skirmish at Clifton where retreating Jacobite forces under Lord George Murray, defeated General Bland's Hanoverian troops. The last battle to be fought on English soil.
8 January 1746	The Burgh of Stirling surrendered to Jacobite Army but the Castle remained in Hanoverian hands.
17 January 1746	The Jacobite Army, led by Lord George Murray, defeated Government forces under General Hawley. The last Jacobite victory.
16 February 1746	Government forces under Lord Louden attempted to capture Prince Charles Edward Stewart at Moy Hall but were surprised and routed by a handful of Jacobites. The only death in the Rout of Moy was Duncan Bam MacCrimmon, Hereditory Piper to the MacLeods of Dunvegan, who took the Hanoverian side in the 45
16 April 1746	Jacobite army routed by Hanoverian Government forces in the Battle of Culloden. The defeat marked the end of the last Stewart attempt to regain, by force, the throne forfeited by James VII.
20 September 1746	To escape capture in Scotland, Prince Charles Edward Stewart sailed from Loch nan Uamh to safety in France aboard the French ship L'Heureux. It eluded Government ships under the cover of fog.
18 July 1747	Birth of John Paul Jones, the son of a gardener at Arbigland near Kirkbean (Kirkcudbrightshire), the future 'Founder of the American Navy'. Admiral Jones died in Paris in 1792. There is a national monument to Jones in Washington DC and in Kirkbean Church there is a memorial font donated by the US Navy in 1945.
10 December 1747	Death of Duncan Forbes of Culloden, Lord President of the Court of Session, who was largely responsible for the failure of the Jacobite Rising 1745-6 and tried to mitigate the subsequent repressive measures.
5 September 1750	Birth of Robert Fergusson, poet, in the Canongate, Edinburgh. His poetry in Scots was to inspire Robert Burns who wrote in praise of Fergusson - "my elder brother in misfortune, by far my elder brother in the muse". Fergusson died tragically in the Edinburgh Bedlam in 1774.
21 September 1756	Birth of John McAdam, Ayr born surveyor who introduced the 'macadam' system of road surfacing.
19 January 1757	Death of Thomas Ruddiman, born in Banff in 1674, grammarian, schoolmaster, reviewer, historian, printer and publisher, Jacobit, librarian of Advocates' Library.
25 January 1759	Birth of Robert Burns, Scotland's National Bard, in a clay bigan at Alloway.
15 August 1771	Birth in Edinburgh of Sir Walter Scott, poet and novelist. 'Breathes there the man, with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land!' The Lay of the Last Ministrel (1805)
10 September 1771	Birth of Mungo Park at Foulshiels in the Yarrow Valley, surgeon and explorer in West Africa.
16 October 1774	Death of Robert Fergusson, poet, in the Edinburgh Bedlam. Twelve years later Robert Burns arranged for the erection of a headstone at Fergusson's unmarked grave in the Canongate Kirkyard, Edinburgh. 'No Sculptured Marble here, nor pompous Lay, 'No storied Urn nor animated Bust'; This simple Stone directs pale Scotia's Way To pour her Sorrows o'er her Poet's Dust.' Burns' inscription for Fergusson's headstone.
8 June 1778	The Earl of Seaforth raised a regiment for the American War from the MacKenzies and MacRaes of Ross-shire and Sutherland. In 1961 the Seaforth Highlanders amalgamated with the Camerons to form the Queen's Own Highlanders.
31 July 1780	The first edition of Robert Burns' poems was published by John Wilson, Kilmarnock, "The Kilmarnock Edition", under the title of "POEMS, chiefly in the SCOTTISH DIALECT".
1 December 1787	The first lighthouse, built at Kinnaird Head, Fraserburgh, by Thomas Smith and Robert Stevenson, lit.
31 January 1788	Prince Charles Edward Stewart, "The Young Pretender", died in Rome.
28 June 1790	Forth and Clyde Canal opened. The 35 mile course from Bowling to Grangemouth was the longest of the Lowland canals. It was formally abandoned in 1962.
2 January 1793	Thomas Muir of Huntershill, Glasgow-born Advocate, arrested for sedition. He was released after a few days and went to France, on his return to Scotland, he was tried and sentenced to 14 years transportation.
22 July 1793	Alexander MacKenzie, Stornoway-born explorer, reached Pacific from Canada by land in the first crossing of North America.
19 May 1795	Death of James Bothwell, diarist and biographer of Dr Samuel Johnson.
21 July 1796	Death in Dumfries of Robert Burns, Scotland's National Bard. Composer of some 400 songs including the Scottish National Anthem 'Scots Wha Hae'.
16 June 1807	Death of Rev. John Skinner, poet, theologion, Episcopalian minister of Longside in Buchan. His song 'Tullochgorum' was regarded by Robert Burns as "the best Scotch song ever Scotland saw". (letter from Burns to Skinner October 1787).
4 February 1818	Sir Walter Scott supervised the rediscovery of the Honours of Scotland - the Scottish Crown Jewels - in Edinburgh Castle.
2 April 1820	The 1820 Rising Proclamation distributed in the west of Scotland. The Radical Rising resulted in the execution of John Baird, Andrew Hardie and James Wilson.
8 April 1820	Radical prisoners from Paisley were taken under escort to jail in Greenock. The citizens of Greenock fought their escort, the Port Glasgow Militia, until they reached the jail. Still coming under attack the Militia opened fire on the stone throwing crowd killing eight and wounding ten before retreating from Greenock. In the evening the angry Greenockians stormed the jail and freed the prisoners.
13 July 1820	Commencement of the trial in Stirling for High Treason of the Radicals captured at the Battle of Bonnymuir. Two of the accused, John Baird and Andrew Hardie, were subsequently executed on 8 September 1820.
30 August 1820	James Wilson, Strathaven Radical, hung and beheaded at Glasgow Green for his part in the 1820 Rising. A crowd of 20,000 sympathetic to Wilson, witnessed the event. James Wilson, on his way to the scaffold, remarked to the hangman Thomas Moore - "Did ye evir see sic a crowd, Tammas?"
8 September 1820	John Baird and Andrew Hardie were hung and beheaded for treason in Stirling. They led the Radicals at the Battle of Bonnymuir in April 1820. Nineteen others were transported to New South Wales. "My suffering countrymen! I remain under the firm conviction that I die a Martyr in the cause of Truth and Justice, and in the hope that you will soon succeed in the cause which I took up arms to defend" Andrew Hardie, August 1820.
22 December 1820	The 1820 Radicals, sentenced to transportation to Australia, set sail on the convict ship Speke. Only one, Andrew White, returned when pardoned to Scotland.
29 March 1822	Death of Ewan MacLachlan, Gaelic poet born in Lochaber in 1775, librarian at King's College, Aberdeen, translator of Homer into Gaelic.
23 October 1822	Opening of the Caledonian Canal, Scotland's longest canal connecting Corpach (near Fort William) with Clachnaharry (near Inverness), about two-thirds of its 60 mile length comprises existing lochs - Loch Lochy, Loch Oich and Loch Ness. One of Thomas Telford's greatest engineering works.
12 June 1826	Birth of William Alexander, novelist, social historian and journalist. He became editor of the Aberdeen Free Press in 1870 and is best known for his 'Doric' classic 'Johnny Gibb of Guahetneuk'.
16 July 1832	Thirty-one Shetland "sixerns", with a total of 105 crewmen were lost in a storm. The event is still remembered as "The Bad Day".
12 July 1838	Death in Edinburgh of Rev. John Jamieson, D.D., minister of the Secession Church and compiler of 'The Dictionary of the Scottish Language'.
23 March 1848	Free Church of Scotland settlement at New Edinburgh, later Dunedin, New Zealand, under Rev Thomas Burns, a nephew of the poet Robert Burns.
17 October 1850	James Young obtains a patent for the extraction of paraffin from shale, the beginning of the paraffin industry in West Lothian. The successful business earned the Glasgow-born Chemist the nickname 'Paraffin Young'.
13 November 1850	Birth of Robert Louis Stevenson, author and poet, in Edinburgh, only son of lighthouse engineer Thomas Stevenson. Famous for books such as "Kidnapped" and "Treasure Island", ill-health forced him to leave Scotland and he died at Vailima, Samoa on 3 December 1894. "I have been a Scotchman all my life and denied my native land."
1 February 1865	The Highland Railway formed by the amalgamation of the Inverness and Perth Junction and the Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railways.
9 July 1867	Queens Park Football Club, the first senior club in Scotland, was formed. The Club dominated the early days of Scottish Football but, retaining as it still does amateur status, lost out to professional sides. Season 1999/2000 saw 'The Spiders' gain promotion as Division 3 Champions.
22 April 1869	Death of Rev. Patrick Bell of Carmyllie in Angus, inventor ( in 1828 ) of the reaping machine.
6 July 1870	Institute of Bankers in Scotland formed, the first such body in the world.
10 August 1872	Education ( Scotland ) Act passed. It provided for a state elementary education for all children, and amended previous provisions in the Acts of 1696, 1793, 1839 and 1861.
16 January 1874	Birth of Robert Service, poet, in Preston, his Scottish father was from Kilwinning. Raised in Ayrshire he emigrated to Canada and through his poetry became known as the 'Bard of the Yokon'.
26 August 1875	Birth of John Buchan, author of successful adventure novels and of historical works, including 'Montrose'. He was MP for Scottish Universities 1927-35, Lord High Commissioner to General Assembly 1933-4 and Governor General of Canada 1935-40.
9 March 1876	Scots-born Alexander Graham Bell patented the first telephone literally hours before a similar patent was lodged by American Elisha Gray. The first actual coherent message was transmitted the next day from one room to the next at 5 Exeter Place, Boston, Massachussetts, USA when Bell spoke to his assistant, Thomas Watson, saying "Come here, Watson, I want you."
5 November 1879	Death of James Clark Maxwell, one of the greatest mathematicians and physicists of the 19th century, born in Edinburgh 1831, professor at Aberdeen and London, he formulated the electro-magnetic theory of light and kinetic theory of gases, the basis of x-rays and thermodynamics.
14 October 1881	Eyemouth Fishing Disaster, known locally as 'Disaster Day', some 129 men and boys, one in three of the Berwickshire town's fishermen lost their lives in a hurricane.
3 July 1883	The SS Daphne capsized after her launch from a Linthouse ship yard, 124 workers were drowned in the Clyde's worst accident of its type.
4 October 1883	The Boys' Brigade founded in Glasgow by Sir William Alexander Smith. Its stated object was 'the advancement of God's Kingdom among Boys and the promotion of habits of Reverence, Discipline, Self-Respect, and all that tends towards a true Christian Manliness'.
20 July 1889	Birth of Lord Reith, first director general of the BBC 1927 - 1938: Minister of Information and of Transport 1940 and of Works and Planning 1940 - 1942.
5 September 1889	Sixty-three miners died in an underground fire at Mauricewood Pit, Penicuik, the cause of which was never discovered. Most of the miners died from suffocation when smoke entered the ventilation shaft.
4 March 1890	The Forth Railway Bridge, designed by Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker, opened for traffic. Total length : 1 mile 1005 yards. Main spans : 1710 feet long, the track 156 feet above high water, the cantilever towers 361 feet high.
11 August 1892	Birth of Christopher Murray Grieve in Langholm. As the poet Hugh MacDiarmid, he set in motion the Twentieth Century Scottish Literary Renaissance.' A Scottish poet maun assume The burden o his people's doom And dee to brak their livin tomb.'
17 June 1895	Birth of Very Rev Lord MacLeod of Fuinary, founder of the Iona Community.
13 February 1901	Birth of James Leslie Mitchell in the Croft of Hillhead of Segget, Auchterless. As the writer Lewis Grassic Gibbon he is best known for his trilogy "A Scots Quair".
26 August 1901	Donibristle Mining Disaster in Fife, part of Mossmorran peat bog near Cowdenbeath collapsed on sixteen miners 360 feet underground. Four miners were lost, as was a four-strong rescue party. All the bodies were recovered between September and December.
4 October 1911	Death of Dr Joseph Bell, Edinburgh surgeon and prototype for Sherlock Holmes.
24 October 1911	Birth of Sorley MacLean, poet and teacher, Oagaig, Raasay. The greatest Gaelic poet of the Twentieth Century.
9 December 1913	Birth of Robert D. McIntyre, elected as first-ever Scottish National Party MP in the Motherwell and Wishaw by-election 1 April 1945. Recognised as the "Father of the modern SNP", he was Party Chairman 1948-56 and Provost of Stirling 1967-75.
25 September 1915	The Battle of Loos began, in which Piper Daniel Laidlaw, The King's Own Scottish Borderers, won the Victoria Cross for mounting the parapet during heavy bombardment and playing his regiment "over the top".
15 October 1915	HMS Hawke was sunk off the east coast of Scotland by submarine action and more than 400 of her crew perished.
2 August 1916	Death of Hamish MacCunn, Greenock born, 1868, composer who is best known for his overture 'Land of the Mountain and the Flood'.
9 May 1918	John MacLean, Glasgow schoolmaster, labour leader and first Soviet Consul in Britain, tried in the High Court in Edinburgh for sedition.
21 June 1919	Seventy-two warships of the German fleet were scuttled in Scapa Flow, Orkney.
11 August 1919	Death of Andrew Carnegie, Dunfermline-born, American steel industrialist and philanthropist.
22 November 1926	Publication of "A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle" by Hugh MacDiarmid, Scotland's Greatest 20th Century poet and a founder member of the National Party of Scotland in 1928.
23 June 1928	Inaugural Bannockburn Day demonstration by the National Party of Scotland in Stirling. A large crowd were addressed by, amongst others, Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham, Lewis Spence and Christopher Murray Grieve (Hugh MacDiarmid), and pledged support for the new political party and its aim of achieving Independent National Status for Scotland.
2 October 1929	Reunion of the Church of Scotland and the United Free Church of Scotland as the Church of Scotland.
29 August 1930	Evacuation of the population of St Kilda on economic grounds. The fall of the population from 73 in 1920 to 37 in 1928 led to the request by the islanders to move to the mainland.
28 November 1930	W Oliver Brown, candidate for the fledgling National Party of Scotland, polled 4,818 votes in the Renfrew East By-Election and became the first NPS candidate to save election deposit. The National Party of Scotland amalgamated with the Scottish Party in April 1934 to form the modern Scottish National Party.
20 April 1934	The first public meeting of the Scottish National Party was held in the Central Hall, Tollcross, Edinburgh with Compton Mackenzie, Lord Rector of Glasgow University, and W Oliver Brown, prospective Nationalist candidate for East Renfrewshire, as guest speakers. The Scottish National Party was formed by the amalgamation of The National Party of Scotland and The Scottish Party.
28 September 1934	The Cunard-White Star Queen Mary launched at Clydebank. Built by John Brown and Sons Ltd it was then the world's largest liner. Gross tonnage: 81,235 tons. Length: 975.2 feet. Breadth: 118.6 feet. Depth: 68.5 feet. Speed: 28 knots.8
15 August 1938	Clyde-built liner Queen Mary set a record for the eastbound crossing of the Atlantic. Having set a record on the westward crossing, she completed the return journey two minutes short of four days.
12 April 1945	First Westminster Paliamentary victory for the Scottish National Party in the Motherwell and Wishaw by-election. Dr Robert D McIntyre won the election in a straight fight with Labour by a majority of 617 votes.
17 August 1947	Opening of the Edinburgh International Festival, the first major post-war Festival of Music and the Arts in Europe. The first Director was Randolph Bing.
7 September 1950	An area, the size of a football pitch, collapsed into the working at Knockshinnoch Castle Colliery, Ayrshire, trapping 129 miners 720 ft underground. In a huge rescue operation via old workings at Bank Colliery, 116 men were saved, but 13 died, as well as one rescue worker.
25 December 1950	Four young Scots, led by Ian Hamilton, retrieved the Stone of Destiny from Westminster Abbey, London, England.
14 March 1952	The first TV programme to be broadcast in Scotland showed the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society performing the Duke of Edinburgh Reel. They were celebrating the opening of Kirk o Shotts station in Lanarkshire.
18 October 1958	Aberdeen-born Denis Law, of Huddersfield Town, became the youngest footballer to play for Scotland. He was 18 years and 7 months old when he played against Wales at Cardiff. Scotland won 3-0.
18 September 1959	Forty-seven miners at Auchengeich Colliery, Chryston, Lanarkshire, were trapped and died when the bogies carrying them to work ran into smoke 300 yards from the pit bottom, 1,000 ft below ground. Only one of the squad escaped in Scotland's worst pit disaster of the century. Later the same evening the decision was taken to flood the burning pit.
18 May 1960	Spanish football side Real Madrid, won European Cup for the fifth time, defeating Eintracht Frankfurt 7-3 at Hampden Park, Glasgow, in one of the greatest football matches ever seen in Scotland.
14 June 1962	West Lothian By-Election in which SNP candidate William C Wolfe gained 9,750 votes and second place. The result confirmed the Nationalist revival set in motion with the Glasgow Bridgeton By-Election in November 1961. The SNP went on to contest 15 seats in the 1964 General Election as against only 5 in 1959.
25 May 1967	Celtic, managed by Jock Stein, became the first "British" football club to win the European Cup by defeating Inter Milan 2-1 in Lisbon.
13 November 1968	Death of Joe Corrie, playwright, novelist and poet, in Edinburgh. A former Fife miner, he turned to full-time writing and his 3-act play "In Time of Strife", based on a mining strike, toured Scotland with great success in the 1920's.
18 June 1970	First General Election success for the Scottish National Party with Donald Stewart winning the Western Isles constituency from Labour. He held the seat until his retiral in 1987.
30 July 1971	The beginning of the work-in at John Brown's Clydebank Shipbuilding Yard, organised by Jimmy Reid, which led to the formation of Govan Shipbuilders.
10 October 1974	The Scottish National Party polled 839,628 votes (30.44%) and won 11 seats in Westminster General Election. In addition the Party gained 42 second places and saved every deposit.
5 June 1975	Referendum was held on UK membership of European Community. The UK total vote was; Yes 17,378,581; No 8,470,073. In Scotland the vote was Yes 1,332,286; No 948,039 on a 61% turnout. Shetland and Western Isles had majorities against.
11 June 1975	Oil pumped ashore from Scottish Waters in the North Sea for the first time.
9 September 1978	Christopher Murray Grieve died in Edinburgh but his literary output as Hugh MacDiarmid lives on. Scotland's foremost poet of the 20th Century, he was the lynch-pin of the Scottish Literary Revival and a founder member of the National Party of Scotland in 1928. 'The rose of all the world is not for me. I want for my part Only the little white rose of Scotland That smells sharp and sweet - and breaks the heart.' The Little White Rose (Hugh MacDiarmid)
11 May 1983	Aberdeen FC ( The Dons ) won the European Cup-Winners Cup in Gothenberg by defeating Real Madrid 2-1 ( after extra time ).
6 July 1988	167 died in the Piper Alpha oil platform explosion in the North Sea.
21 December 1988	The Lockerbie Air Disaster resulted in the death of all 243 passengers and 16 crew when a bomb exploded en route from London Heathrow, England to New York. The disaster also claimed the lives of 11 Lockerbie residents.
22 September 1990	Alex Salmond elected as National Convener of the Scottish National Party. He defeated fellow Westminster MP, Margaret Ewing, by 486 votes to 186 at the Party's Annual National Conference in the City Hall, Perth.
30 August 1991	Liz McColgan, Dundee, ran away from the field at the Tokyo World Athletics Championships to win the 10,000 metres final by more than 20 secs.
19 August 1994	Graeme Obree, riding a home-made bike, broke the world record and became world pursuit champion over 4,000 metres in Hamar, Norway.
25 May 1995	The Scottish National Party candidate, Roseanna Cunningham, captured the late Sir Nicholas Fairbairn's Westminster Parliamentary seat of Perth and Kinross in a 11.5% swing from the Tories. She retained the seat in the 1997 General Election, becoming the first SNP MP to hold a seat won at a by-election.
9 October 1996	Estonia failed to appear for a home World Cup qualifier against Scotland in a row over floodlights. Scotland were awarded the match 3-0, but later they were ordered to replay. That game resulted in a 0-0 draw.
17 February 1997	Death of Dr David Murison, editor of The Scottish National Dictionary from 1946 to 1976. He was a former editor of the Scots Independent.
11 September 1997	Scots voted overwhelmingly for a Scottish Parliament with tax-varying powers. The first Scottish Parliament since 1707 was reconvened in 1999.
2 February 1998	Death of Dr Robert D McIntyre, "father of the modern SNP" and first-ever Scottish National Party Westminster MP in 1945.
25 August 1998	Death of Dr W J Allan Macartney, SNP MSP for North East Scotland from June 1994 (maj 1,227) resulted in first ever European Parliament by-election in Scotland. The SNP candidate, Ian Hudghton, successfully defended the seat in November 1998.
6 May 1999	First Scottish Parliament elected since 1707. State of the Parties: Labour 56; Scottish National Party 35; Conservatives 18; Liberal democrats 16; Greens 1; Scottish Socialist Party 1; Independent 1.
12 May 1999	Scottish Parliament reconvened with Dr Winifred M Ewing MSP as acting Presiding Officer. Her first words to the Parliament were - "The Scottish Parliament which adjourned on the 25th of March in the year 1707 is hereby reconvened."
1 July 1999	Official opening of the reconvened Scottish Parliament in the Church of Scotland Assembly Hall, Edinburgh.
23 September 1999	SNP candidate Annabelle Ewing forced Labour to a recount in a Westminster by-election for Hamilton South, a traditional Labour stronghold. The Labour majority fell from 15,878 to 556.
3 May 2000	Lockerbie Trial opened at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands. In the first sitting of a Scottish Court outwith Scotland the Defendants, Libyans, Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi and Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah, were accused of the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 which exploded over Lockerbie on 21 December 1988, killing all 259 people on board and 11 on the ground.
17 July 2000	Alex Salmond MP, MSP, Banff and Buchan, announced his resignation as Leader of the Scottish National Party.
5 August 2000	10,000 Pipers and Drummers marched along Princess Street, Edinburgh and into the record books as the largest ever Pipe Band in the world in a charity fundraiser.
23 September 2000	John Swinney MP, MSP elected as National Convener of the Scottish National Party at the 66th SNP Annual National Conference in Inverness. He defeated fellow MSP Alex Neil by 547 votes to 268.
11 October 2000	Death of Donald Dewar MP, MSP - Scotland's First Minister 1999-2000.
21 October 2000	Henry McLeish MP MSP, elected as interim Scottish Labour Leader following death of First Minister Donald Dewar. He defeated fellow MSP Jack McConnell by 44 to 36 votes.

Disclaimer: This article was supplied by Electric Scotland. Burke's Peerage & Gentry are not responsible for the views and/or facts contained within.

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