Events from the year 1779 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 ...

–

Henry Dundas Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, PC, Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, FRSE (28 April 1742 – 28 May 1811), styled as Lord Melville from 1802, was the trusted lieutenant of British Pri ...

; *

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 ...

– Alexander Murray

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 ...

– The Viscount Stormont *

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 Barskimming

Events

Bowmore distillery Bowmore ( ) is a distillery that produces Scotch whisky on the Isle of Islay, an island of the Inner Hebrides. The distillery, which lies on the South Eastern shore of Loch Indaal, is one of the oldest in Scotland. It is said to have been esta ...

Islay Islay ( ; gd, Ìle, sco, Ila) is the southernmost island of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Known as "The Queen of the Hebrides", it lies in Argyll just south west of Jura, Scotland, Jura and around north of the Northern Irish coast. The isl ...

is established. *

Cotton mill A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning (textiles), spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system. Althou ...

Rothesay, Bute Rothesay ( ; gd, Baile Bhòid ) is the principal town on the Isle of Bute, in the council area of Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies along the coast of the Firth of Clyde. It can be reached by ferry from Wemyss Bay, which offers an onward rail ...

, is established. * New bridge over

River Deveron The River Deveron ( gd, Uisge Dubh Èireann), known anciently as the Dovern, is a river in the north east of Scotland. The river has a length of , and has a reputation for its Atlantic salmon, sea trout and brown trout fishing. In its upper re ...

between Banff and Macduff, designed by

John Smeaton John Smeaton (8 June 1724 – 28 October 1792) was a British civil engineer responsible for the design of bridges, canals, harbours and lighthouses. He was also a capable mechanical engineer and an eminent physicist. Smeaton was the fir ...

, is completed. * Bridge of Awe is completed. *

David Hume David Hume (; born David Home; 7 May 1711 NS (26 April 1711 OS) – 25 August 1776) Cranston, Maurice, and Thomas Edmund Jessop. 2020 999br>David Hume" ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 18 May 2020. was a Scottish Enlightenment philo ...

's ''

Dialogues concerning Natural Religion ''Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion'' is a philosophical work by the Scottish philosopher David Hume, first published in 1779. Through dialogue, three philosophers named Demea, Philo, and Cleanthes debate the nature of God's existence. Whet ...

'' are published posthumously and anonymously.

Births

* 1 May –

Alexander Morison Sir Alexander Morison M.D. (1 May 1779 – 14 March 1866) was a Scottish physician and alienist (psychiatrist). Life Morison was born at Anchorfield, near Edinburgh, and was educated at Edinburgh High School and the University of Edinburgh, ...

, physician and psychiatrist (died

1866 Events January–March * January 1 ** Fisk University, a historically black university, is established in Nashville, Tennessee. ** The last issue of the abolitionist magazine '' The Liberator'' is published. * January 6 – Ottoman tr ...

) * 2 May –

John Galt John Galt () is a character in Ayn Rand's novel ''Atlas Shrugged'' (1957). Although he is not identified by name until the last third of the novel, he is the object of its often-repeated question "Who is John Galt?" and of the quest to discover ...

, novelist and entrepreneur (died

1839 Events January–March * January 2 – The first photograph of the Moon is taken, by French photographer Louis Daguerre. * January 6 – Night of the Big Wind: Ireland is struck by the most damaging cyclone in 300 years. * January 9 – T ...

) * 25 August –

Robert Barclay Allardice Robert Barclay Allardice of Ury (25 August 1779, Stonehaven, Kincardineshire – 8 May 1854), generally known as Captain Barclay, was a notable Scottish walker of the early 19th century, known as the celebrated pedestrian. His most famous feat w ...

("Capt. Barclay"), competitive walker (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 ...

) * 26 October – Henry Cockburn, judge and man of letters (died

) * 20 December – Alexander Walker, physiologist (died 1852) * 22 December –

Ralph Wardlaw Ralph Wardlaw (22 December 1779 – 15 December 1853) was a Scottish Presbyterian minister and writer. He was known as an abolitionist campaigner. Life He was born in Dalkeith, just south of Edinburgh, but his family moved to Glasgow when he w ...

, Presbyterian clergyman (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 ...

) * James Barr, composer (died

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 ...

) *

James Marr Brydone James Marr Brydone (1779–29 March 1866), was a Scottish surgeon who served in the British fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar. He is best remembered for being the first person in the main British battle fleet to sight the Franco-Spanish fleet, and ...

, naval surgeon (died 1866 in England) * Patrick Campbell, army officer and diplomat (died 1857) *

John Douglas, 7th Marquess of Queensberry John Douglas, 7th Marquess of Queensberry (1779 – 19 December 1856), styled Lord John Douglas from May to December 1837, was a Scottish Whig politician. Early life Queensberry was the son of Sir William Douglas, 4th Baronet (died 16 May 178 ...

, Whig politician (died 1856) * James Forbes, inspector-general of army hospitals (died 1837 in London) *

James Mudie James Mudie (1779–1852) was a Scottish-born free settler of Australia who became an officer of marines, large landowner, and author. He was the son of John and Margaret Mudie of Forfarshire, Scotland. Life in the military Mudie's life in t ...

, settler in Australia (died 1852) * Hugh Murray, geographer (died 1846 in London)

Deaths

* 10 March ''(bur.)'' – John Rutherford, physician (born

1695 It was also a particularly cold and wet year. Contemporary records claim that wine froze in the glasses in the Palace of Versailles. Events January–March * January 7 (December 28, 1694 O.S.) – The United Kingdom's last joint monarch ...

) * John Dalrymple, political writer (born

1734 Events January– March * January 8 – Salzburgers, Lutherans who were expelled by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Salzburg, Austria, in October 1731, set sail for the British Colony of Province of Georgia, Georgia in North America ...

)

The arts

* George Richardson's ''Iconology'' is published.

References

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

1770s in Scotland