1726 in Scotland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Events from the year 1726 in Scotland.
See also:List of years in Scotland
Timeline of Scottish history
1726 in: Great Britain ⢠Wales ⢠Elsewhere
Timeline of Scottish history
1726 in: Great Britain ⢠Wales ⢠Elsewhere
Incumbents
- Secretary of State for Scotland: vacant
Law officers
- Lord Advocate â Duncan Forbes
- Solicitor General for Scotland â John Sinclair, jointly with Charles Erskine
Judiciary
Events
- c. April/May â General George Wade begins an 11-year construction program on military roads of Scotland.[1]
- 25 May â Britain's first circulating library[2] is opened in Edinburgh[3] by poet and bookseller Allan Ramsay.
- 23 June â professional Irish swordsman Andrew Bryan is defeated in a public duel in Edinburgh by 62-year-old Killiecrankie veteran Donald Bane "to the great joy of the Edinburgh citizenry".[4]
- A faculty of medicine is formally established at the University of Edinburgh, a predecessor of the University of Edinburgh Medical School. John Rutherford becomes Professor of Practice of Medicine.
Births
- 17 January â Hugh Mercer, soldier and physician (died 1777 of wounds received at the Battle of Princeton)
- 6 February â Patrick Russell, surgeon and herpetologist (died 1805 in London)
- 3 June â James Hutton, geologist (died 1797)
- 26 September â John H. D. Anderson, scientist (died 1796)
- Andrew Bell, engraver, co-founder of the Encyclopædia Britannica (died 1809)
- Thomas Melvill, natural philosopher (died 1753)
Deaths
- 8 July â John Ker, spy (born 1673)
- August â Colonel John Stewart (of Livingstone), former Member of Parliament for the Kirkcudbright Stewartry, killed by Sir Gilbert Eliott, 3rd Baronet, of Stobs
- 25 November â Robert Dundas, Lord Arniston, judge
The arts
- James Thomson begins publication of his poem cycle The Seasons with "Winter".