Events from the year 1920 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

Secretary for Scotland The secretary of state for Scotland ( gd, Rùnaire Stàite na h-Alba; sco, Secretar o State fir Scotland), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom ga, Rialtas a Shoi ...

and Keeper of the Great Seal – Robert Munro

Law officers

* Lord Advocate – James Avon Clyde until 31 March; then Thomas Brash Morison *

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 ...

– Thomas Brash Morison until 31 March; then

Charles David Murray Charles David Murray, Lord Murray (20 October 1866 – 9 June 1936) was a Scottish Tory politician, lawyer and judge. He became Lord Advocate in 1922. Life He was born in London the son of David William Murray, a merchant. Murray was educate ...

Judiciary

* Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General –

Lord Strathclyde Baron Strathclyde is a title that has been created twice in British history, both times in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was first created on 15 January 1914 when the politician and judge Alexander Ure was made Baron Strathclyde, of Sa ...

until 1 April; then Lord Clyde * Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Dickson *

Chairman of the Scottish Land Court The Scottish Land Court is a Scottish court of law based in Edinburgh with subject-matter jurisdiction covering disputes between landlords and tenants relating to agricultural tenancies, and matters related to crofts and crofters. The Scott ...

– Lord St Vigeans

Events

12 February Events Pre-1600 *1404 – The Italian professor Galeazzo di Santa Sophie performed the first post-mortem autopsy for the purposes of teaching and demonstration at the Heiligen–Geist Spital in Vienna. *1429 – English forces under S ...

– Paisley by-election: Former Prime Minister

H. H. Asquith Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom f ...

, who lost his East Fife seat at the general election two years previously, retains the seat for Liberals, with an increased majority of 2,834 votes over the Labour Party candidate, John McLaren Biggar. *

31 March Events Pre-1600 * 307 – After divorcing his wife Minervina, Constantine marries Fausta, daughter of the retired Roman emperor Maximian. *1146 – Bernard of Clairvaux preaches his famous sermon in a field at Vézelay, urging the nec ...

– ** Thomas Brash Morison appointed Lord Advocate, replacing James Avon Clyde **

appointed

, replacing Thomas Brash Morison *

8 June Events Pre-1600 * 218 – Battle of Antioch: With the support of the Syrian legions, Elagabalus defeats the forces of emperor Macrinus. * 452 – Attila leads a Hun army in the invasion of Italy, devastating the northern provinces ...

– John Wilson installed as

Senator of the College of Justice The senators of the College of Justice are judges of the College of Justice, a set of legal institutions involved in the administration of justice in Scotland. There are three types of senator: Lords of Session (judges of the Court of Session); ...

with the judicial title Lord Ashmore, replacing the deceased

Lord Guthrie Field Marshal Charles Ronald Llewelyn Guthrie, Baron Guthrie of Craigiebank, (born 17 November 1938) is a retired senior officer of the British Army who served as Chief of the General Staff from 1994 to 1997 and Chief of the Defence Staff from ...

17 August Events Pre-1600 * 309/310 – Pope Eusebius is banished by the Emperor Maxentius to Sicily, where he dies, possibly from a hunger strike. * 682 – Pope Leo II begins his pontificate. * 986 – Byzantine–Bulgarian wars: Battle of ...

–

transatlantic liner An ocean liner is a passenger ship primarily used as a form of transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships). Ca ...

RMS ''Empress of Canada'' is launched at the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company's yard at

Govan Govan ( ; Cumbric?: ''Gwovan'?''; Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of south-west City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south ba ...

on the Clyde for

Canadian Pacific Steamships CP Ships was a large Canadian shipping company established in the 19th century. From the late 1880s until after World War II, the company was Canada's largest operator of Atlantic and Pacific steamships. Many immigrants travelled on CP ships fr ...

. *

20 November Events Pre-1600 * 284 – Diocletian is chosen as Roman emperor. * 762 – During the An Shi Rebellion, the Tang dynasty, with the help of Uyghur Khaganate, Huihe tribe, recaptures Luoyang from the rebels. *1194 – Palermo is conq ...

– Edinburgh absorbs the burgh of

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by '' Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

. *

5 December Events Pre-1600 *63 BC – Cicero gives the fourth and final of the Catiline Orations. * 633 – Fourth Council of Toledo opens, presided over by Isidore of Seville. * 1033 – The Jordan Rift Valley earthquake destroys multiple ...

– Scotland votes against

prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

generally, although about 40 districts vote in favour. * First

council house A council house is a form of British public housing built by local authorities. A council estate is a building complex containing a number of council houses and other amenities like schools and shops. Construction took place mainly from 1919 ...

s in Scotland, and the first housing estate in Europe to have a

district heating District heating (also known as heat networks or teleheating) is a system for distributing heat generated in a centralized location through a system of insulated pipes for residential and commercial heating requirements such as space heating a ...

system, the Logie Estate in

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 ...

. * Edith Hughes establishes her own architectural practice, in Glasgow, the first British woman to do so. * The fishing village of Obbe on the Isle of Harris is renamed

Leverburgh Leverburgh ( gd, An t-Òb is the second largest village, after Tarbert, in Harris in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Leverburgh is within the parish of Harris. In 1971 it had a population of 223. History In his 30s, English businessman William ...

after the English landowner William Lever, Baron Leverhulme. *

Scottish Protestant League The Scottish Protestant League (SPL) was a political party in Scotland during the 1920s and 1930s. The League was led by Alexander Ratcliffe, who founded it in 1920. Creation and initial years The SPL was launched by Ratcliffe in Edinburgh on ...

founded by Alexander Ratcliffe. * Border Terrier first recognised as a dog breed by The Kennel Club.

Births

3 January Events Pre-1600 * 69 – The Roman legions on the Rhine refuse to declare their allegiance to Galba, instead proclaiming their legate, Aulus Vitellius, as emperor. * 250 – Emperor Decius orders everyone in the Roman Empire (except ...

– Hugh McCartney, Labour MP (died

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

) *

4 March Events Pre-1600 *AD 51 – Nero, later to become Roman emperor, is given the title ''princeps iuventutis'' (head of the youth). * 306 – Martyrdom of Saint Adrian of Nicomedia. * 852 – Croatian Knez Trpimir I issues a statute, ...

–

Alan MacNaughtan Alan MacNaughtan (4 March 1920 – 29 August 2002) was a Scottish actor, born in Bearsden, Dunbartonshire, Scotland. He was educated at the Glasgow Academy, trained at RADA, and graduated in 1940 with the Bancroft Gold Medal. An experienc ...

, Scottish actor (died

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

) *

27 April Events Pre-1600 * 247 – Philip the Arab marks the millennium of Rome with a celebration of the ''ludi saeculares''. * 395 – Emperor Arcadius marries Aelia Eudoxia, daughter of the Frankish general Flavius Bauto. She becomes one o ...

– Edwin Morgan, poet (died

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

) *

22 September Events Pre-1600 * 904 – The warlord Zhu Quanzhong kills Emperor Zhaozong, the penultimate emperor of the Tang dynasty, after seizing control of the imperial government. * 1236 – The Samogitians defeat the Livonian Brothers of the ...

– Lyall Stuart Scott, consultant surgeon (died

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

) *

17 October Events Pre-1600 * 690 – Empress Wu Zetian Wu Zetian (17 February 624 – 16 December 705), personal name Wu Zhao, was the ''de facto'' ruler of the Tang dynasty from 665 to 705, ruling first through others and then (from 690) ...

– Donald Stewart, SNP MP for the Western Isles 1970–87 (died

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

) *

22 November Events Pre-1600 * 498 – After the death of Anastasius II, Symmachus is elected Pope in the Lateran Palace, while Laurentius is elected Pope in Santa Maria Maggiore. * 845 – The first duke of Brittany, Nominoe, defeats the Fra ...

–

Anne Crawford Imelda Anne Crawford (22 November 1920 – 17 October 1956) was a British film actress, born in Palestine of a Scottish father and an English mother, and brought up in Edinburgh. Biography A contemporary of Margaret Lockwood and Phyllis Calver ...

, film actress, born in Mandatory Palestine (died 1956 in England) *

28 November Events Pre-1600 * 587 – Treaty of Andelot: King Guntram of Burgundy recognizes Childebert II as his heir. * 936 – Shi Jingtang is enthroned as the first emperor of the Later Jin by Emperor Taizong of Liao, following a revolt again ...

– Alexander Scott, poet and literary scholar (died

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

) * 13 December –

John Rennie (GC) Acting Sergeant John Rennie, GC (13 December 1920 – 29 October 1943) was posthumously awarded the George Cross for the gallantry he displayed in protecting others after a training accident at Riddlesworth in Norfolk on 29 October 1943. Ser ...

, acting

sergeant Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...

with

the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (Princess Louise's) (Scotland forever) , colors = , identification_symbol_2 Sutherland, identification_symbol_2_label = Tartan , march = Quick: "The Campbells Are Coming" , mascot = , ...

, awarded the

George Cross The George Cross (GC) is the highest award bestowed by the British government for non-operational gallantry or gallantry not in the presence of an enemy. In the British honours system, the George Cross, since its introduction in 1940, has been ...

(died 1943 in England)

Deaths

18 January Events Pre-1600 * 474 – Seven-year-old Leo II succeeds his maternal grandfather Leo I as Byzantine emperor. He dies ten months later. * 532 – Nika riots in Constantinople fail. * 1126 – Emperor Huizong abdicates the Chines ...

– John McClure, admiral in the Imperial Chinese Navy (born

1837 Events January–March * January 1 – The destructive Galilee earthquake causes 6,000–7,000 casualties in Ottoman Syria. * January 26 – Michigan becomes the 26th state admitted to the United States. * February – Charles Dickens's ...

) *

14 April Events Pre-1600 * 43 BC – Legions loyal to the Roman Senate, commanded by Gaius Pansa, defeat the forces of Mark Antony in the Battle of Forum Gallorum. * 69 – Vitellius, commanding Rhine-based armies, defeats Roman emperor Otho ...

–

John George Bartholomew John George Bartholomew (22 March 1860 – 14 April 1920) was a Scottish cartographer and geographer. As a holder of a royal warrant, he used the title "Cartographer to the King"; for this reason he was sometimes known by the epithet "the P ...

, cartographer (born

1860 Events January–March * January 2 – The discovery of a hypothetical planet Vulcan is announced at a meeting of the French Academy of Sciences in Paris, France. * January 10 – The Pemberton Mill in Lawrence, Massachusett ...

) *

17 April Events Pre-1600 *1080 – Harald III of Denmark dies and is succeeded by Canute IV of Denmark, Canute IV, who would later be the first Dane to be canonization, canonized. *1349 – The rule of the Bavand dynasty in Mazandaran is brough ...

– Alex Higgins, international footballer (born

1863 Events January–March * January 1 – Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation during the third year of the American Civil War, making the abolition of slavery in the Confederate states an official war goal. It proclaims t ...

) *

10 August Events Pre-1600 * 654 – Pope Eugene I elected to succeed Martinus I. * 955 – Battle of Lechfeld: Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor defeats the Magyars, ending 50 years of Magyar invasion of the West. * 991 – Battle of Maldon: T ...

–

Erskine Beveridge Erskine Beveridge FRSE FSAScot (27 December 1851 – 10 August 1920) was a Scottish textile manufacturer, historian and antiquary. He was the owner of Erskine Beveridge & Co. Ltd., which had been founded by his father in 1832 and was the larg ...

, textile manufacturer and antiquarian (born

1851 Events January–March * January 11 – Hong Xiuquan officially begins the Taiping Rebellion. * January 15 – Christian Female College, modern-day Columbia College, receives its charter from the Missouri General Assembly. ...

) *

12 October Events Pre-1600 *539 BC – The army of Cyrus the Great of Persia takes Babylon, ending the Babylonian empire. (Julian calendar) * 633 – Battle of Hatfield Chase: King Edwin of Northumbria is defeated and killed by an alliance und ...

–

Thomas Lennox Watson Thomas Lennox Watson (21 August 1850 – 12 October 1920), FRIBA, was a Scottish architect and interior designer. Born in Glasgow, he submitted designs for the city's City Chambers (1880) and Kelvingrove Art Gallery (1892) competitions, but w ...

, architect, (born

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 ...

) * Robert Munro,

archeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts ...

, (born

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. ...

)

The arts

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 ...

publishes her first novel, ''Open the Door!'', set in Glasgow * Will Fyffe writes and records the song "

I Belong to Glasgow "I Belong To Glasgow" is a song written and recorded by the music hall entertainer Will Fyffe, in 1920. It has also been performed by Danny Kaye, Eartha Kitt, Gracie Fields and Kirk Douglas. According to Albert Mackie's ''The Scotch Comed ...

" * Pavilion Cinema in Galashiels opens as The Playhouse.

References

{{Years in Scotland

Years of the 20th century in Scotland 1920s in Scotland