Events from the year 1766 in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

Incumbents

Law officers

Lord Advocate His Majesty's Advocate, known as the Lord Advocate ( gd, Morair Tagraidh, sco, Laird Advocat), is the chief legal officer of the Scottish Government and the Crown in Scotland for both civil and criminal matters that fall within the devolved p ...

– Thomas Miller of Glenlee; then 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 ...

– James Montgomery; then

Henry Dundas Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, PC, FRSE (28 April 1742 – 28 May 1811), styled as Lord Melville from 1802, was the trusted lieutenant of British Prime Minister William Pitt and the most powerful politician in Scotland in the late 18t ...

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 ...

– Sir Gilbert Elliot, 2nd Baronet, of Minto, Lord Minto, then Thomas Miller, Lord Barskimming, Lord Barskimming

Events

* 1 January – Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie", "the young Pretender") becomes the new House of Stuart, Stuart claimant to the throne of Great Britain as King Charles III and figurehead for Jacobitism, on the death of his father James Francis Edward Stuart in Rome. * 17 April – James Craig (architect), James Craig's plan for the New Town, Edinburgh, wins the prize offered by the city council in January. * 13 June – two soldiers and a civilian found guilty in Aberdeen of theft during an earlier meal riot in Banff, Aberdeenshire, Banff are rescued from custody by a mob. * 28 October – Coldstream Bridge across the River Tweed on the Northumberland border, designed by John Smeaton, is opened to traffic.

Births

* 18 January – Robert Forsyth (writer), Robert Forsyth, topographical writer (died 1845 in Scotland, 1845) * March – Helen Hyslop, domestic servant, a possible mistress and muse of Robert Burns (died 1852 in Scotland, 1852) * 10 April – John Leslie (physicist), John Leslie, mathematician and physicist, researcher into radiant heat (died 1832 in Scotland, 1832) * 6 July – Alexander Wilson (ornithologist), Alexander Wilson, ornithologist (died 1813 in the United States) * 21 July – Thomas Charles Hope, physician and chemist, discoverer of strontium (died 1844 in Scotland, 1844) * 16 August – Carolina Nairne, songwriter (died 1845 in Scotland, 1845) * 29 December – Charles Macintosh, chemist, inventor of a waterproof fabric (died 1843 in Scotland, 1843) * Charles Baird (engineer), Charles Baird, mechanical engineer (died 1843 in Russia) * May Cameron, domestic servant, a mistress of Robert Burns * Jenny Clow ("Clarinda"), domestic servant, a mistress and muse of Robert Burns (died 1792 in Scotland, 1792)

Deaths

* 3 September – Archibald Bower, Jesuit historian (born 1686 in Scotland, 1686; died in London) * 1 December – David Scott (of Scotstarvit), politician (born 1689 in Scotland, 1689) * 13 December – Andrew Fletcher, Lord Milton, judge and entrepreneur (born 1692 in Scotland, 1692) * 24 December – James Grainger, surgeon, poet and translator (born c.1721 in Scotland, 1721; died in Saint Kitts) * Robert Maxwell (writer), Robert Maxwell, writer on agriculture (born 1696 in Scotland, 1696) * Approximate date – John Alexander (painter), John Alexander, painter (born 1686)

References

{{Years in Scotland , state=collapsed 1766 in Scotland, 1766 in Great Britain, Scotland 1790s in Scotland