Events from the year 1772 in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Incumbents

Law officers

Lord Advocate , body = , insignia = Crest of the Kingdom of Scotland.svg , insigniasize = 110px , image = File:Official Portrait of Dorothy Bain QC.png , incumbent = Dorothy Bain KC , incumbentsince = 22 June 2021 , appointer = Monarch on the advice ...

– James Montgomery *

Solicitor General for Scotland , body = , insignia = Crest of the Kingdom of Scotland.svg , insigniasize = 110px , image = File:Official Portrait of Ruth Charteris QC.png , incumbent = Ruth Charteris KC , incumbentsince = 22 June 2021 , department = Crown Office and ...

–

Henry Dundas Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, PC, Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, FRSE (28 April 1742 – 28 May 1811), styled as Lord Melville from 1802, was the trusted lieutenant of British Pri ...

Judiciary

Lord President of the Court of Session The Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General is the most senior judge in Scotland, the head of the judiciary, and the presiding judge of the College of Justice, the Court of Session, and the High Court of Justiciary. The L ...

– Lord Arniston, the younger *

Lord Justice General Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...

–

Duke of Queensberry The title Duke of Queensberry was created in the Peerage of Scotland on 3 February 1684 along with the subsidiary title Marquess of Dumfriesshire for the 1st Marquess of Queensberry. The Dukedom was held along with the Marquessate of Queensbe ...

Lord Justice Clerk The Lord Justice Clerk is the second most senior judge in Scotland, after the Lord President of the Court of Session. Originally ''clericus justiciarie'' or Clerk to the Court of Justiciary, the counterpart in the criminal courts of the Lord ...

– Lord Barskimming

Events

* April–June – the brig ''Alexander'' collects emigrants from the west of Scotland (the "Glenaladale settlers") and carries them to

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has seve ...

. * 10 June –

Credit crisis of 1772 The British credit crisis of 1772-1773 also known as the crisis of 1772, or the panic of 1772, was a peacetime financial crisis which originated in London and then spread to Scotland and the Dutch Republic.

is triggered when, following the flight of their partner, Aberdeen-born

Alexander Fordyce Alexander Fordyce (7 August 1729-8 September 1789) was an eminent Scottish banker, centrally involved in the bank run on Neale, James, Fordyce and Downe which led to the credit crisis of 1772. He used the profits from other investments to cov ...

, to France, the London banking house of

Neal, James, Fordyce and Down Neale, James, Fordyce and Downe was a London banking house, established in 1757 by Henry Neale, William James, Alexander Fordyce and Richard Downe. Its collapse in June 1772 precipitated a major banking crisis which included the collapse of almos ...

(which has been speculating in

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

stock) suspends payment. The resultant panic causes failure of other banks, particularly in Scotland, and especially in Edinburgh and the

Ayr Bank Douglas, Heron & Company, also known as the Ayr Bank, was a Scottish bank with its head office at Ayr. It opened in November 1769 and folded in 1772 during the crisis of 1772. History The nominal capital of the company was £150,000 or £160,00 ...

. * Summer – Welsh naturalist

Thomas Pennant Thomas Pennant (14 June Old Style, OS 172616 December 1798) was a Welsh natural history, naturalist, traveller, writer and antiquarian. He was born and lived his whole life at his family estate, Downing Hall near Whitford, Flintshire, in Wales ...

makes a second tour of Scotland. * Construction of

St Andrew Square, Edinburgh St Andrew Square is a garden square in Edinburgh, Scotland located at the east end of George Street. The gardens, part of the collection of New Town Gardens, are owned by a number of private owners, managed by Essential Edinburgh and opened to ...

, as the first part of the

New Town New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

(designed by James Craig), begins. * Original

North Bridge, Edinburgh North Bridge is a road bridge and street in Edinburgh linking the High Street with Princes Street, and the Old Town with the New Town. The current bridge was built between 1894 and 1897. A previous North Bridge, built between 1763 and 1772, s ...

, completed. * Three

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

councillors privately sign a secret agreement, the "

Black Bond The Black Bond was a 1773 agreement by three councillors in the Scottish burgh of Stirling to illegally influence the elections of councillors and magistrates and the appointments of council officers. The agreement came to the attention of the a ...

", to run the affairs of the burgh to their own personal advantage. *

Fingal's Cave Fingal's Cave is a sea cave on the uninhabited island of Staffa, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, known for its natural acoustics. The National Trust for Scotland owns the cave as part of a national nature reserve. It became known as Fingal' ...

is brought to the attention of the English-speaking world by English naturalist

Sir Joseph Banks Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the 1766 natural-history expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador. He took part in Captain James C ...

Births

* 15 January –

James Ballantyne James Ballantyne (15 January 1772 – 26 January 1833) was a Scottish solicitor, editor and publisher who worked for his friend Sir Walter Scott. His brother John Ballantyne (1774–1821) was also with the publishing firm, which is noted fo ...

, editor and publisher (died

1833 Events January–March * January 3 – Reassertion of British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (1833), Reassertion of British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. * February 6 – His Royal Highness Prince Otto ...

) * 11 February – Thomas Webster, geologist (died 1844 in London) * 8 June –

Robert Stevenson Robert Stevenson may refer to: * Robert Stevenson (actor and politician) (1915–1975), American actor and politician * Robert Stevenson (civil engineer) (1772–1850), Scottish lighthouse engineer * Robert Stevenson (director) (1905–1986), Engl ...

, lighthouse engineer (died

1850 Events January–June * April ** Pope Pius IX returns from exile to Rome. ** Stephen Foster's parlor ballad "Ah! May the Red Rose Live Alway" is published in the United States. * April 4 – Los Angeles is incorporated as a cit ...

) * 25 December – John Mackay, botanist (died

1802 Events January–March * January 5 – Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, begins removal of the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon in Athens, claiming they were at risk of destruction during the Ot ...

)

Deaths

* 26 July – James Graeme, poet (tuberculosis; born

1749 Events January–March * January 3 ** Benning Wentworth issues the first of the New Hampshire Grants, leading to the establishment of Vermont. ** The first issue of ''Berlingske'', Denmark's oldest continually operating newspaper, ...

) * 10 October –

William Wilkie William Wilkie (5 October 1721 – 10 October 1772) was a Scotland, Scottish Church of Scotland minister and Professor of Natural Philosophy primarily remembered as a poet nicknamed Potato Willie, known more respectfully as the "Scottish Homer". ...

, poet (ague; born

1721 Events January–March * January 6 – The Committee of Inquiry on the collapse of the South Sea Company in Great Britain publishes its findings. * February 5 – James Stanhope, chief minister of Great Britain, dies a day after ...

)

The arts

Lady Anne Lindsay Lady Anne Barnard (née Lindsay; 8 December 17506 May 1825) was a Scottish travel writer, artist and socialite, and the author of the ballad ''Auld Robin Gray''. Her five-year residence in Cape Town, South Africa, although brief, had a signific ...

writes the ballad "

Auld Robin Gray Auld Robin Gray is the title of a Scots ballad written by the Scottish poet Lady Anne Lindsay in 1772. Robin Gray is a good old man who marries a young woman already in love with a man named Jamie. Jamie goes away to sea in order to earn money s ...

References

{{Years in Scotland , state=collapsed Years of the 18th century in Scotland

1770s in Scotland