Events from the year 1785 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 –

Ilay Campbell Sir Ilay Campbell, 1st Baronet, Lord Succoth, (1734–1823) was a Scottish advocate, judge and politician. He rose to be Lord President of the Court of Session. Life Campbell's birthplace is given as either Argyll or Edinburgh. His mother was ...

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 ...

– Robert Dundas of Arniston

Judiciary

* Lord President of the Court of Session – Lord Arniston, the younger * Lord Justice General – The Viscount Stormont * Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Barskimming

Events

* 7 March – geologist

James Hutton James Hutton (; 3 June O.S.172614 June 1726 New Style. – 26 March 1797) was a Scottish geologist, agriculturalist, chemical manufacturer, naturalist and physician. Often referred to as the father of modern geology, he played a key role i ...

proposes the theory of uniformitarianism to the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

. * Late September –

James Boswell James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck (; 29 October 1740 (New Style, N.S.) – 19 May 1795), was a Scottish biographer, diarist, and lawyer, born in Edinburgh. He is best known for his biography of his friend and older contemporary the Englis ...

’s ''

The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides ''The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D.'' is a travel journal by Scotland, Scotsman James Boswell first published in 1785. In 1773, Boswell enticed his English friend Samuel Johnson to accompany him on a tour through ...

'' is published. * 5 October – flight by Florentine aeronaut

Vincenzo Lunardi Vincenzo Lunardi (11 January 1754 in Lucca – 1 August 1806 in Lisbon) was a pioneering Italian aeronaut, born in Lucca. Ascents in England Vincenzo Lunardi's family were of minor Tuscan nobility from Lucca, and his father had married late in li ...

in a

gas balloon A gas balloon is a balloon that rises and floats in the air because it is filled with a gas lighter than air (such as helium or hydrogen). When not in flight, it is tethered to prevent it from flying away and is sealed at the bottom to prevent t ...

from George Heriot's School, Edinburgh, across the

Firth of Forth The Firth of Forth () is the estuary, or firth, of several Scottish rivers including the River Forth. It meets the North Sea with Fife on the north coast and Lothian on the south. Name ''Firth'' is a cognate of ''fjord'', a Norse word meani ...

to Ceres, Fife (32 mi (51.5 km) in 1.5 hrs). * 23 November – Lunardi flies from

St Andrew's Square, Glasgow St Andrew's Square is a public square in the city of Glasgow, Scotland and lies to the south east corner of Glasgow Cross, close to Glasgow Green. The square is noted for its immense 18th-century classical church, St Andrew's in the Square, fro ...

, to

Hawick Hawick ( ; sco, Haaick; gd, Hamhaig) is a town in the Scottish Borders council area and historic county of Roxburghshire in the east Southern Uplands of Scotland. It is south-west of Jedburgh and south-south-east of Selkirk. It is one of ...

Births

* 18 May – John Wilson, writer (died

1854 Events January–March * January 4 – The McDonald Islands are discovered by Captain William McDonald aboard the ''Samarang''. * January 6 – The fictional detective Sherlock Holmes is perhaps born. * January 9 – The Teut ...

) * 18 November – David Wilkie, painter (died at sea 1841)

Deaths

* 23 January –

Matthew Stewart Matthew or Matt Stewart may refer to: *Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox (1516–1571), father of Henry Stewart, King of the Scots *Matthew Stewart, 2nd Earl of Lennox (1460–1513), Scottish nobleman *Matthew Stewart (mathematician) (1717–1785 ...

, mathematician (born

1717 Events January–March * January 1 – Count Carl Gyllenborg, the Swedish ambassador to the Kingdom of Great Britain, is arrested in London over a plot to assist the Pretender to the British throne, James Francis Edward Stuart. * Ja ...

) * 4 October – Alexander Runciman, painter (born

1736 Events January–March * January 12 – George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney, becomes the first Field Marshal of Great Britain. * January 23 – The Civil Code of 1734 is passed in Sweden. * January 26 – Stanislaus I of Pol ...

) * 23 October – William Cochran, painter (born

1738 Events January–March * January 1 – At least 664 African slaves drown, when the Dutch West Indies Company slave ship ''Leusden'' capsizes and sinks in the Maroni River, during its arrival in Surinam. The Dutch crew escape ...

)

The arts

* 22 May – Robert Burns' first child, Elizabeth ("''Dear-bought Bess''"), is born to his mother's servant,

Elizabeth Paton Elizabeth "Betsey" Paton or later Elizabeth Andrew of Lairgieside (1760 – c. 1799) was the daughter of James Paton and Eleanor Helen Paton of Aird Farm, Crossroads, Ayrshire. Following an affair with Robert Burns she gave birth on 22 May 1785 ...

and his poems " To a Mouse" and "

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...

" are written.

References

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

1780s in Scotland