Events from the year 1789 in
Scotland.
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 ...
; then
Robert Dundas of Arniston
*
Solicitor General for Scotland –
Robert Dundas of Arniston; then
Robert Blair
Judiciary
*
Lord President of the Court of Session –
Lord Glenlee
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 ar ...
until 27 September; then from 26 October
Lord Succoth
*
Lord Justice General –
The Viscount Stormont
*
Lord Justice Clerk –
Lord Braxfield
Robert McQueen, Lord Braxfield (4 May 1722 – 30 May 1799) was a Scottish advocate and judge.
Life
McQueen was born at Braxfield House near Lanark on 4 May 1722, son of John McQueen.
He studied law at Edinburgh University and was admitted to ...
Events
* 10 July – Scottish explorer
Alexander Mackenzie reaches the
Mackenzie River delta in North America.
* November – foundation stone for
Old College, University of Edinburgh, laid.
* December – steamboat experiments on the
Forth and Clyde Canal by
Patrick Miller of Dalswinton
Patrick Miller of Dalswinton, just north of Dumfries (1731–1815) was a Scottish banker, shareholder in the Carron Company engineering works and inventor. Miller is buried in a tomb against the southern wall of Greyfriars Kirkyard in Edinbur ...
.
* The original
lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways.
Lighthouses mar ...
s at
Eilean Glas on
Scalpay, Outer Hebrides
Scalpay (; gd, Sgalpaigh or ''Sgalpaigh na Hearadh''; i.e. "Scalpay of Harris" to distinguish it from Scalpay off Skye) is an island in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.
Toponym
Mac an TÃ illeir (2003) suggests the name derives from "ship isla ...
, and
Dennis Head Old Beacon
Dennis Head Old Beacon is a ruined lighthouse on the island of North Ronaldsay, Orkney, Scotland. The beacon and keepers' houses are protected as a scheduled monument.
The tower was completed in 1789 under the supervision of Thomas Smith assis ...
on
North Ronaldsay,
Orkney
Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...
, are completed by
Thomas Smith.
*
Robert Adam designs a new house at
Newliston.
*
Andrew Duncan delivers the first lectures on
forensic medicine
Forensic medicine is a broad term used to describe a group of medical specialties which deal with the examination and diagnosis of individuals who have been injured by or who have died because of external or unnatural causes such as poisoning, assa ...
in
Britain, at the
University of Edinburgh.
* The
Aberdeen Medico-Chirurgical Society is founded by
James McGrigor
Sir James McGrigor, 1st Baronet, (9 April 1771 – 2 April 1858) was a Scottish physician, military surgeon and botanist, considered to be the man largely responsible for the creation of the Royal Army Medical Corps. He served as Rector of the U ...
and James Robertson.
*
Robert Burns is appointed an
exciseman
A tax collector (also called a taxman) is a person who collects unpaid taxes from other people or corporations. The term could also be applied to those who audit tax returns. Tax collectors are often portrayed as being evil, and in the modern w ...
.
* New pump room for
St Bernard's Well, Stockbridge, Edinburgh, designed by painter
Alexander Nasmyth.
*
John Ainslie completes and publishes his 9-sheet map of Scotland.
*
Flax mill established at
Old Deer.
*
Clyde Model Dockyard is established as a toyshop in Glasgow.
Births
* 5 January –
Thomas Pringle, writer, poet and abolitionist (died
1834
Events
January–March
* January – The Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad is chartered in Wilmington, North Carolina.
* January 1 – Zollverein (Germany): Customs charges are abolished at borders within its member states.
* January 3 †...
)
* 28 February –
David Duncan, Presbyterian minister (died
1829
Events
January–March
* January 19 – August Klingemann's adaptation of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's ''Faust'' premieres in Braunschweig.
* February 27 – Battle of Tarqui: Troops of Gran Colombia and Peru battle to a draw.
* March ...
)
* 1 March –
John Ramsay McCulloch, economist (died 1864 in London)
* 17 August –
William Knox, poet and journalist (died
1825
Events
January–March
* January 4 – King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies dies in Naples and is succeeded by his son, Francis.
* February 3 – Vendsyssel-Thy, once part of the Jutland peninsula forming westernmost Denmark, becomes a ...
)
* 12 October –
William Collins, publisher (died
1853
Events
January–March
* January 6 – Florida Governor Thomas Brown signs legislation that provides public support for the new East Florida Seminary, leading to the establishment of the University of Florida.
* January 8 – Taiping Reb ...
)
* 30 October –
Michael Scott, author (died
1835
Events
January–March
* January 7 – anchors off the Chonos Archipelago on her second voyage, with Charles Darwin on board as naturalist.
* January 8 – The United States public debt contracts to zero, for the only time in history.
...
)
* 9 November –
Robert Pearse Gillies
Robert Pearse Gillies (9 November 1789 – 28 November 1858) was a Scottish poet and writer.
References
19th-century Scottish writers
Scottish translators
19th-century Scottish poets
1789 births
1858 deaths
{{UK-poet-stub ...
, poet and writer (died 1858 in London)
* November –
Peter Miller Cunningham, naval surgeon and pioneer in Australia (died 1864 in Greenwich)
* 3 December –
Archibald Robertson, physician (died 1864 in Bristol)
* 20 December –
William Burn, architect, pioneer of the Scottish Baronial style (died
1870
Events
January–March
* January 1
** The first edition of ''The Northern Echo'' newspaper is published in Priestgate, Darlington, England.
** Plans for the Brooklyn Bridge are completed.
* January 3 – Construction of the Broo ...
)
* 23 December –
George Douglas, 17th Earl of Morton, Tory politician (died
1858
Events
January–March
* January –
**Benito Juárez (1806–1872) becomes Liberal President of Mexico. At the same time, conservatives install Félix MarÃa Zuloaga (1813–1898) as president.
**William I of Prussia becomes regent f ...
)
*
Thomas Wright, prison visitor (died 1875 in Manchester)
Deaths
* 17 March –
Sir Charles Douglas, 1st Baronet, admiral (born
1727
Events
January–March
* January 1 – (December 21, 1726 O.S.) Spain's ambassador to Great Britain demands that the British return Gibraltar after accusing Britain of violating the terms of the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht. Britain ...
)
* 27 September –
Thomas Miller, Lord Glenlee, judge and politician (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 ...
)
Sport
* 9 October – the first recorded
cricket century to be scored in Scotland is made by the
Hon. Colonel Charles Lennox: he scores 136 not out.
References
{{Years in Scotland , state=collapsed
Years of the 18th century in Scotland
Scotland
1780s in Scotland