Events from the year 1839 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 ...

– John Murray until April; then Andrew Rutherfurd *

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 ...

– Andrew Rutherfurd; then

James Ivory James Francis Ivory (born June 7, 1928) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. For many years, he worked extensively with Indian-born film producer Ismail Merchant, his domestic as well as professional partner, and with scree ...

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 Granton *

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 Boyle

Events

* January – the first parallax measurement of the distance to Alpha Centauri is published by Thomas Henderson. *

29 May Events Pre-1600 * 363 – The Roman emperor Julian defeats the Sasanian army in the Battle of Ctesiphon, under the walls of the Sasanian capital, but is unable to take the city. *1108 – Battle of Uclés: Almoravid troops under th ...

– Mungo Ponton presents his discovery of the light-sensitive quality of

sodium dichromate Sodium dichromate is the inorganic compound with the formula Na2 Cr2 O7. However, the salt is usually handled as its dihydrate Na2Cr2O7·2 H2O. Virtually all chromium ore is processed via conversion to sodium dichromate and virtually all compou ...

as a method of permanent

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employe ...

. * 10 June – Major Chartist meeting on

Glasgow Green Glasgow Green is a park in the east end of Glasgow, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde. Established in the 15th century, it is the oldest park in the city. It connects to the south via the St Andrew's Suspension Bridge. History I ...

. *

15 June Events Pre-1600 *763 BC – Assyrians record a solar eclipse that is later used to fix the chronology of Mesopotamian history. * 844 – Louis II is crowned as king of Italy at Rome by pope Sergius II. * 923 – Battle of Soi ...

– ''David Clark'', the first emigrant ship to sail directly from Great Britain to

Port Phillip Port Phillip ( Kulin: ''Narm-Narm'') or Port Phillip Bay is a horsehead-shaped enclosed bay on the central coast of southern Victoria, Australia. The bay opens into the Bass Strait via a short, narrow channel known as The Rip, and is com ...

sets out from Greenock under the command of Capt. J. B. Mills, with mainly Scots assisted immigrants, arriving in Australia on 27 October. * 15 July – first clipper ship launched in Britain, the schooner ''

Scottish Maid ''Scottish Maid'' was a Scottish packet boat, a two-masted wooden schooner, built at Alexander Hall and Sons' boatyard in 1839 for the Aberdeen Line. She has been described as the first clipper vessel to be built in Britain. Her design of sharp, ...

'' at

Alexander Hall Alexander Hall (January 11, 1894 – July 30, 1968) was an American film director, film editor and theatre actor. Biography Hall acted in the theatre from the age of four through 1914, when he began to work in silent movies. Following his milit ...

's yard in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

. * August – National Chartist organisation set up in Scotland. *

30 August Events Pre-1600 * 70 – Titus ends the siege of Jerusalem after destroying Herod's Temple. *1282 – Peter III of Aragon lands at Trapani to intervene in the War of the Sicilian Vespers. *1363 – The five-week Battle of Lake Po ...

– the Eglinton Tournament, a recreation of a medieval

tourney A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

, takes place at

Eglinton Castle Eglinton Castle was a large Gothic castellated mansion in Kilwinning, North Ayrshire, Scotland. History The castle The ancient seat of the Earls of Eglinton, it is located just south of the town of Kilwinning. The original Eglinton Castle w ...

, North Ayrshire. * October –

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...

s across Scotland. * City of Glasgow Bank established. * James Templeton's textile company is established at

Bridgeton, Glasgow Bridgeton ( sco, Brigtoun, gd, Baile na Drochaid) is a district to the east of Glasgow city centre. Historically part of Lanarkshire, it is bounded by Glasgow Green Glasgow Green is a park in the east end of Glasgow, Scotland, on the north ...

. *

Consumer cooperative A consumers' co-operative is an enterprise owned by consumers and managed democratically and that aims at fulfilling the needs and aspirations of its members. Such co-operatives operate within the market system, independently of the state, as a f ...

s established in

Galashiels Galashiels (; sco, Gallae, gd, An Geal Àth) is a town in the Scottish Borders with a population of around 12,600. Its name is often colloquially shortened to "Gala". The town is a major commercial centre for the Borders region with extensive ...

and

Hawick Hawick ( ; sco, Haaick; gd, Hamhaig) is a town in the Scottish Borders council area and historic county of Roxburghshire in the east Southern Uplands of Scotland. It is south-west of Jedburgh and south-south-east of Selkirk. It is one ...

, predecessors of the Lothian, Borders & Angus Co-operative Society. * Decision of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

on appeal in the Auchterarder case that the

General Assembly of the Church of Scotland The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the sovereign and highest court of the Church of Scotland, and is thus the Church's governing body.''An Introduction to Practice and Procedure in the Church of Scotland'' by A. Gordon McGillivray, ...

's Veto Act of

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. ...

is invalid. *

George Murray, 6th Duke of Atholl George Augustus Frederick John Murray, 6th Duke of Atholl, (20 September 1814 – 16 January 1864) was a Scottish peer, important landowner, and freemason. Life Born at Great Cumberland Place, Westminster, Murray was the son of James Murray, ...

, revives the

Atholl Highlanders The Atholl Highlanders is a Scottish ceremonial infantry regiment. They are the only remaining private army in Europe, and act as the personal bodyguard to the Duke of Atholl, chieftain of the Clan Murray, a family that has thrived in Perthshire ...

as a personal bodyguard. *

Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals The Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (also known as the Scottish SPCA and SSPCA) is a charity to promote animal welfare in Scotland. History and operations It was founded in Edinburgh in 1839 and one of its first aims ...

established in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

. * Roderick Murchison publishes ''The Silurian System''. * Claimed invention of the rear-wheel driven bicycle by Kirkpatrick Macmillan.

Births

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 ...

– Anne Jane Cupples, née Douglas, writer (died

1896 Events January–March * January 2 – The Jameson Raid comes to an end, as Jameson surrenders to the Boers. * January 4 – Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state. * January 5 – An Austrian newspaper reports that ...

) * 13 February –

William Arrol Sir William Arrol (13 February 1839 – 20 February 1913) was a Scottish civil engineer, bridge builder, and Liberal Unionist Party politician. Career The son of a spinner, Arrol was born in Houston, Renfrewshire, and started work in a cotton ...

, civil engineering contractor (died

1913 Events January * January 5 – First Balkan War: Battle of Lemnos – Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it will not venture for the rest of the ...

) * 17 March – John Pettie, painter (died

1893 Events January–March * January 2 – Webb C. Ball introduces railroad chronometers, which become the general railroad timepiece standards in North America. * Mark Twain started writing Puddn'head Wilson. * January 6 – Th ...

) *

26 March Events Pre-1600 * 590 – Emperor Maurice proclaims his son Theodosius as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire. *1021 – On the feast of Eid al-Adha, the death of the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, kept secret for six weeks, is ...

– John Mackay, pioneer in Australia (died 1914 in Australia) *

4 April Events Pre-1600 *503 BC – Roman consul Agrippa Menenius Lanatus celebrates a triumph for a military victory over the Sabines. * 190 – Dong Zhuo has his troops evacuate the capital Luoyang and burn it to the ground. * 611 – ...

– James Blyth, electrical engineer (died

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

) *

18 April Events Pre-1600 * 796 – King Æthelred I of Northumbria is murdered in Corbridge by a group led by his ealdormen, Ealdred and Wada. The ''patrician'' Osbald is crowned, but abdicates within 27 days. *1428 – Peace of Ferrara betwe ...

– Donald MacKinnon, Celtic scholar (died

1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It als ...

) * 7 May – Joseph Hunter, surveyor, civil engineer and politician in British Columbia (died 1935 in Canada) * 10 June – James Cleland, merchant and politician in Ontario (died 1908 in Canada) * 17 May – Alexander Davidson, architect in Australia (died 1908 in Australia) *

23 August Events Pre-1600 *30 BC – After the successful invasion of Egypt, Octavian executes Marcus Antonius Antyllus, the eldest son of Mark Antony, and Caesarion, the last king of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt and only child of Julius Caesar ...

–

James Geikie James Murdoch Geikie PRSE FRS LLD (23 August 1839 – 1 March 1915) was a Scottish geologist. He was professor of geology at Edinburgh University from 1882 to 1914. Life Education He was born in Edinburgh, the son of James Stuart Geikie a ...

, geologist (died

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". * January ...

) *

8 September Events Pre-1600 * 617 – Battle of Huoyi: Li Yuan defeats a Sui dynasty army, opening the path to his capture of the imperial capital Chang'an and the eventual establishment of the Tang dynasty. *1100 – Election of Antipope Theodo ...

– John Aitken, meteorologist (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 ...

) *

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 ...

– Joseph Tait, businessman and politician in Ontario (died

1911 in Canada Events from the year 1911 in Canada. Incumbents Crown * Monarch – George V Federal government * Governor General – Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey (until October 13) then Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn * Prime Minister – ...

) * 30 October –

Flora Stevenson Flora Clift Stevenson (30 October 1839 – 28 September 1905) was a British social reformer with a special interest in education for poor or neglected children, and in education for girls and equal university access for women. She was one of t ...

, social reformer (died

1905 As the second year of the massive Russo-Japanese War begins, more than 100,000 die in the largest world battles of that era, and the war chaos leads to the 1905 Russian Revolution against Nicholas II of Russia ( Shostakovich's 11th Symphony ...

) * 3 November – Aeneas James George Mackay, lawyer and historian (died

1911 A notable ongoing event was the Comparison of the Amundsen and Scott Expeditions, race for the South Pole. Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory ...

) *

17 November Events Pre-1600 * 887 – Emperor Charles the Fat is deposed by the Frankish magnates in an assembly at Frankfurt, leading his nephew, Arnulf of Carinthia, to declare himself king of the East Frankish Kingdom in late November. * 1183 &nd ...

–

David Farquharson David Farquharson (17 November 1839 – 12 July 1907) was a Scottish painter. Life Farquharson was a Scottish landscape painter. He was born in Blairgowrie, Perthshire, and lived there until he moved to Edinburgh about 1872. He was, to a gre ...

, landscape painter (died

1907 Events January * January 14 – 1907 Kingston earthquake: A 6.5 Mw earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills between 800 and 1,000. February * February 11 – The French warship ''Jean Bart'' sinks off the coast of Morocco ...

) *

18 December Events Pre-1600 * 1271 – Kublai Khan renames his empire "Yuan" (元 yuán), officially marking the start of the Yuan dynasty of Mongolia and China. *1499 – A rebellion breaks out in Alpujarras in response to the forced conversion ...

– William Grant, whisky distiller (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 ...

) *

26 December Events Pre-1600 * 887 – Berengar I is elected as king of Italy by the lords of Lombardy. He is crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy at Pavia. * 1481 – Battle of Westbroek: An army of 4,000 to 5,000 soldiers raised by David o ...

– Selina Murray McDonald Sutherland, nurse and social reformer in Australasia (died 1909 in Australia) * James Caldwell, politician (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 Itali ...

) * Arthur Lloyd, music hall entertainer (died

1904 Events January * January 7 – The distress signal ''CQD'' is established, only to be replaced 2 years later by ''SOS''. * January 8 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library syst ...

) *

Charles Macintosh Charles Macintosh FRS (29 December 1766 – 25 July 1843) was a Scottish chemist and the inventor of the modern waterproof raincoat. The Mackintosh raincoat (the variant spelling is now standard) is named after him. Biography Macintosh was ...

, folk music composer and performer and mycologist (died

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éireann, the day after Éamon de Valera ...

) * Alexander Provand, Liberal politician (died

) *

James Galloway Weir James Galloway Weir (6 July 1839 – 18 May 1911) was a Scottish people, Scottish businessman and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party politician. Biography Born in Scotland, he was the son of a builder, James Ross Weir. He was a pupil at Dollar Ac ...

, businessman and Liberal politician (died

)

Deaths

22 January Events Pre-1600 * 613 – Eight-month-old Constantine is crowned as co-emperor (''Caesar'') by his father Heraclius at Constantinople. * 871 – Battle of Basing: The West Saxons led by King Æthelred I are defeated by the Danelaw V ...

– Christian Ramsay, Lady Dalhousie, botanist (born

1786 Events January–March * January 3 – The third Treaty of Hopewell is signed, between the United States and the Choctaw. * January 6 – The outward bound East Indiaman '' Halsewell'' is wrecked on the south coast of Engla ...

) *

17 February Events Pre-1600 *1370 – Northern Crusades: Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Teutonic Knights meet in the Battle of Rudau. *1411 – Following the successful campaigns during the Ottoman Interregnum, Musa Çelebi, one of the sons of ...

–

William Adam of Blair Adam The Right Hon. William Adam of Blair Adam (2 August 175117 February 1839) was a Scottish advocate, barrister, politician and judge. He served as Solicitor General for Scotland (1802–1805) and as Lord Chief Commissioner of the Jury Court (18 ...

, lawyer (born 1751) *

11 April Events Pre-1600 * 491 – Flavius Anastasius becomes Byzantine emperor, with the name of Anastasius I. *1241 – Batu Khan defeats Béla IV of Hungary at the Battle of Mohi. *1512 – War of the League of Cambrai: Franco-Ferra ...

–

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 (born

1779 Events January–March * January 11 – British troops surrender to the Marathas in Wadgaon, India, and are forced to return all territories acquired since 1773. * January 11 – Ching-Thang Khomba is crowned King of Manip ...

) * 17 May – Archibald Alison, Episcopalian minister and writer (born

1757 Events January–March * January 2 – Seven Years' War: The British Army, under the command of Robert Clive, captures Calcutta, India. * January 5 – Robert-François Damiens makes an unsuccessful assassination attempt ...

) * 7 September – Sir Andrew Halliday, physician (born

1782 Events January–March * January 7 – The first American commercial bank (Bank of North America) opens. * January 15 – Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris goes before the United States Congress to recommend establish ...

) * 21 September – James Mylne, philosopher (born

)

References

{{Years in Scotland , state=collapsed

1830s in Scotland