Events from the year 1879 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 ...

–

William Watson William, Willie, Bill or Billy Watson may refer to: Entertainment * William Watson (songwriter) (1794–1840), English concert hall singer and songwriter * William Watson (poet) (1858–1935), English poet * Billy Watson (actor) (1923–2022), Ame ...

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 ...

– John Macdonald

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 ...

and

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 ...

– Lord Glencorse *

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 Moncreiff

Events

Catastrophe du pont sur le Tay - 1879 - Photo

4 January Events Pre-1600 *46 BC – Julius Caesar fights Titus Labienus in the Battle of Ruspina. * 871 – Battle of Reading: Æthelred of Wessex and his brother Alfred are defeated by a Danish invasion army. 1601–1900 *1649 – Engli ...

– Dundee-born

Mormon missionary Missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church)—widely known as Mormon missionaries—are volunteer representatives of the church who engage variously in proselytizing, church service, humanitarian aid, and commu ...

Hugh Findlay Hugh Findlay (June 9, 1822 in Newmilns, Ayrshire, Scotland – March 2, 1900 in Fish Haven, Idaho) was one of the first two Mormon missionaries to enter India and initiated Mormon missionary work in the Shetland Islands. Conversion Findlay ...

arrives in

Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...

from the United States and on 31 March baptizes the islands' first two converts. *

25 January Events Pre-1600 * 41 – After a night of negotiation, Claudius is accepted as Roman emperor by the Senate. * 750 – In the Battle of the Zab, the Abbasid rebels defeat the Umayyad Caliphate, leading to the overthrow of the dynasty. ...

– first service held in

St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh (Episcopal) The Cathedral Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, commonly known as St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, is a cathedral of the Anglican Scottish Episcopal Church in Edinburgh, Scotland. Its foundation stone was laid in Palmerston Place, in the city's ...

on completion of the nave. *

1 April Events Pre-1600 * 33 – According to one historian's account, Jesus Christ's Last Supper is held. * 527 – Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne. *1081 – Alexios I Kom ...

–

Dundee Stock Exchange The Dundee Stock Exchange was established in 1879. In 1964, it merged into the Scottish Stock Exchange along with the Glasgow Stock Exchange, Edinburgh Stock Exchange, and Aberdeen Stock Exchange. It continued to operate as a local branch until ...

established. *

6 June Events Pre-1600 * 913 – Constantine VII, the eight-year-old illegitimate son of Leo VI the Wise, becomes nominal ruler of the Byzantine Empire under the regency of a seven-man council headed by Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos, appointed b ...

–

William Denny and Brothers William Denny and Brothers Limited, often referred to simply as Denny, was a Scottish shipbuilding company. History The shipbuilding interests of the Denny family date back to William Denny (born 1779), for whom ships are recorded being built ...

launch the world's first ocean-going steamer to be built of

mild steel Carbon steel is a steel with carbon content from about 0.05 up to 2.1 percent by weight. The definition of carbon steel from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) states: * no minimum content is specified or required for chromium, cobalt ...

, the SS ''Rotomahana'', at

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

. * 31 July – the

Caledonian Railway The Caledonian Railway (CR) was a major Scottish railway company. It was formed in the early 19th century with the objective of forming a link between English railways and Glasgow. It progressively extended its network and reached Edinburgh an ...

opens the original

Glasgow Central station , symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Main Concourse at Glasgow Central Station.JPG , caption = The main concourse , borough = Glasgow, City of Glasgow , country ...

. * 30 September – foundation stone of the

Forth Bridge The Forth Bridge is a cantilever railway bridge across the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland, west of central Edinburgh. Completed in 1890, it is considered a symbol of Scotland (having been voted Scotland's greatest man-made wonder in ...

is laid on

Inchgarvie Inchgarvie or Inch Garvie is a small, uninhabited island in the Firth of Forth. On the rocks around the island sit four caissons that make up the foundations of the Forth Bridge. Inchgarvie's fortifications pre-date the modern period. In the da ...

. *

2 October Events Pre-1600 * 829 – Theophilos succeeds his father Michael II as Byzantine Emperor. * 939 – Battle of Andernach: Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, crushes a rebellion against his rule, by a coalition of Eberhard of Franconia and oth ...

– William Denny and Brothers launch the world's first

transatlantic Transatlantic, Trans-Atlantic or TransAtlantic may refer to: Film * Transatlantic Pictures, a film production company from 1948 to 1950 * Transatlantic Enterprises, an American production company in the late 1970s * ''Transatlantic'' (1931 film), ...

steamer to be built of mild steel, the SS ''Buenos Ayrean'', at Dumbarton. On 1 December she makes her maiden voyage out of Glasgow for South America. *

28 December Events Pre-1600 * 418 – A papal conclave begins, resulting in the election of Pope Boniface I. * 457 – Majorian is acclaimed as Western Roman Empire, Western Roman emperor. * 484 – Alaric II succeeds his father Euric and beco ...

– the

Tay Bridge disaster The Tay Bridge disaster occurred during a violent storm on Sunday 28 December 1879, when the first Tay Rail Bridge collapsed as a North British Railway (NBR) passenger train on the Edinburgh to Aberdeen Line from Burntisland bound for its fina ...

: the central part of the new

Tay Bridge The Tay Bridge ( gd, Drochaid-rèile na Tatha) carries the railway across the Firth of Tay in Scotland between Dundee and the suburb of Wormit in Fife. Its span is . It is the second bridge to occupy the site. Plans for a bridge over the Tay to ...

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

collapses in a storm as a train passes over it, killing 78. * Construction of

Garnethill Synagogue Garnethill is a predominantly residential area of the city of Glasgow, Scotland with a number of important public buildings. Geography Located in the city centre, the area borders Cowcaddens to its north, Sauchiehall Street to its south, Cambri ...

, Glasgow, the oldest to survive in Scotland, begins. *

Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, or RIE, often (but incorrectly) known as the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, or ERI, was established in 1729 and is the oldest voluntary hospital in Scotland. The new buildings of 1879 were claimed to be the largest v ...

moves to Lauriston Place. * First

Angus Angus may refer to: Media * ''Angus'' (film), a 1995 film * ''Angus Og'' (comics), in the ''Daily Record'' Places Australia * Angus, New South Wales Canada * Angus, Ontario, a community in Essa, Ontario * East Angus, Quebec Scotland * An ...

cattle society formed.

Births

* 13 January –

William Reid Dick Sir William Reid Dick, (13 January 1878 – 1 October 1961) was a Scottish sculptor known for his innovative stylisation of form in his monument sculptures and simplicity in his portraits. He became an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1921, a ...

, sculptor (died 1961 in England) *

16 January Events Pre-1600 *27 BC – Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus is granted the title Augustus by the Roman Senate, marking the beginning of the Roman Empire. * 378 – General Siyaj K'ak' conquers Tikal, enlarging the domain of King Speart ...

–

Jimmy Gillespie John Imrie Gillespie (16 January 1879 – 5 December 1943), known as Jimmy Gillespie, was a Scottish international rugby union player, who played for and the British and Irish Lions, Lions.Bath, p117Godwin, p164 Rugby Union career Amateur ...

, rugby union player (died

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 – ...

) *

27 March Events Pre-1600 *1309 – Pope Clement V imposes excommunication and interdiction on Venice, and a general prohibition of all commercial intercourse with Venice, which had seized on Ferrara, a papal fiefdom. * 1329 – Pope John XXII ...

–

Catherine Carswell Catherine Roxburgh Carswell (née Macfarlane; 27 March 1879 – 18 February 1946) was a Scottish author, biographer and journalist, now known as one of the few women to take part in the Scottish Renaissance. Her biography of the Scottish poet Ro ...

, née Catherine Roxburgh Macfarlane, author (died 1946 in England) *

29 March Events Pre-1600 * 845 – Paris is Siege of Paris (845), sacked by Viking raiders, probably under Ragnar Lodbrok, who collects a huge ransom in exchange for leaving. *1430 – The Ottoman Empire under Murad II Siege of Thessalonica (14 ...

–

Evelyn Vida Baxter Evelyn Vida Baxter LLD FRSE FLS FZS MBE (29 March 1879 - 1 October 1959) was a Scottish naturalist and ornithologist, and the first woman to receive Union Medal of the British Ornithological Union. Life Baxter was born on 29 March 1879 ...

, ornithologist (died

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

) *

24 August Events Pre-1600 * 367 – Gratian, son of Roman Emperor Valentinian I, is named co-Augustus at the age of eight by his father. * 394 – The Graffito of Esmet-Akhom, the latest known inscription in Egyptian hieroglyphs, is written. * ...

– John Maclean, Marxist (died

1923 Events January–February * January 9 – Lithuania begins the Klaipėda Revolt to annex the Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory). * January 11 – Despite strong British protests, troops from France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr area, t ...

) *

13 September Events Pre-1600 *585 BC – Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, king of Rome, celebrates a triumph for his victories over the Sabines, and the surrender of Collatia. *509 BC – The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on Rome's Capitoline Hill ...

– Tommy Tait, international footballer (died

1942 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Declaration by United Nations is signed by China, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and 22 other nations, in wh ...

) *

21 October Events Pre-1600 *1096 – A Seljuk Turkish army successfully fights off the People's Crusade. *1097 – First Crusade: Crusaders led by Godfrey of Bouillon, Bohemund of Taranto, and Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse, begin the Siege of Ant ...

– Willie Anderson, golfer (died 1910 in the United States) *

23 October Events Pre-1600 * 4004 BC – James Ussher's proposed creation date of the world according to the Bible. *42 BC – Liberators' civil war: Mark Antony and Octavian decisively defeat an army under Brutus in the second part of the Battl ...

– John MacDougall Hay, Church of Scotland minister and novelist (died

1919 Events January * January 1 ** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (now Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia. ** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off the c ...

) * John Maxwell, film producer (died 1940 in England) * Henry J. Watt, experimental psychologist (died

1925 Events January * January 1 ** The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini makes a pivotal speech in the Italia ...

)

Deaths

19 June Events Pre-1600 * 325 – The original Nicene Creed is adopted at the First Council of Nicaea. *1179 – The Battle of Kalvskinnet takes place outside Nidaros (now Trondheim), Norway. Earl Erling Skakke is killed, and the battle chang ...

– James Valentine, photographer (born

1815 Events January * January 2 – Lord Byron marries Anna Isabella Milbanke in Seaham, county of Durham, England. * January 3 – Austria, Britain, and Bourbon-restored France form a secret defensive alliance treaty against Prussi ...

) * 23 July –

Charles Baillie, Lord Jerviswoode Charles Baillie, Lord Jerviswood (3 November 1804 – 23 July 1879) was a Scottish advocate, judge and politician. Baillie was the second son of George Baillie of Mellerstain House and Jerviswood (1763–1841), son of the Hon. George Hamil ...

, advocate, judge and politician (born

1804 Events January–March * January 1 – Haiti gains independence from France, and becomes the first black republic, having the only successful slave revolt ever. * February 4 – The Sokoto Caliphate is founded in West Africa. * Februa ...

) *

29 October Events Pre-1600 * 312 – Constantine the Great enters Rome after his victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, stages a grand '' adventus'' in the city, and is met with popular jubilation. Maxentius' body is fished out of the Tiber an ...

– John Blackwood, publisher (born

1818 Events January–March * January 1 ** Battle of Koregaon: Troops of the British East India Company score a decisive victory over the Maratha Empire. ** Mary Shelley's ''Frankenstein'' is published anonymously in London. * January 2 – ...

) * 5 November –

James Clerk Maxwell James Clerk Maxwell (13 June 1831 – 5 November 1879) was a Scottish mathematician and scientist responsible for the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, which was the first theory to describe electricity, magnetism and ligh ...

, theoretical physicist (born

1831 Events January–March * January 1 – William Lloyd Garrison begins publishing '' The Liberator'', an anti-slavery newspaper, in Boston, Massachusetts. * January 10 – Japanese department store, Takashimaya in Kyoto establ ...

; died of abdominal cancer in Cambridge) *

23 November Events Pre-1600 *534 BC – Thespis of Icaria becomes the first recorded actor to portray a character on stage. *1248 – Conquest of Seville by Christian troops under King Ferdinand III of Castile. *1499 – Pretender to the thr ...

– Mark Napier, lawyer, sheriff, biographer and historical author (born

1798 Events January–June * January – Eli Whitney contracts with the U.S. federal government for 10,000 muskets, which he produces with interchangeable parts. * January 4 – Constantine Hangerli enters Bucharest, as Prince of Wa ...

)

The arts

6 September Events Pre-1600 * 394 – Battle of the Frigidus: Roman emperor Theodosius I defeats and kills Eugenius the usurper. His Frankish ''magister militum'' Arbogast escapes but commits suicide two days later. *1492 – Christopher Colum ...

– first publication of a story by

Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...

, "The Mystery of Sasassa Valley" in ''

Chambers's Journal ''Chambers's Edinburgh Journal'' was a weekly 16-page magazine started by William Chambers in 1832. The first edition was dated 4 February 1832, and priced at one penny. Topics included history, religion, language, and science. William was soo ...

''. * Construction of

Royalty Theatre, Glasgow The Royalty Theatre, Glasgow (later the Lyric Theatre) was a theatre in Glasgow at the corner of Sauchiehall Street and Renfield Street. It was built in 1879 as part of a development by the Central Halls Company chaired by David Rattray, and was ...

, completed.

References

{{Year in Europe, 1879 Years of the 19th century in Scotland

1870s in Scotland