1787 in Scotland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Events from the year 1787 in Scotland.
See also:List of years in Scotland
Timeline of Scottish history
1787 in: Great Britain ⢠Wales ⢠Elsewhere
Timeline of Scottish history
1787 in: Great Britain ⢠Wales ⢠Elsewhere
Incumbents
Law officers
Judiciary
- Lord President of the Court of Session â Lord Arniston, the younger until 13 December; then from 22 December, Lord Glenlee
- Lord Justice General â The Viscount Stormont
- Lord Justice Clerk â Lord Barskimming, then Lord Braxfield
Events
- 11 January â new Assembly Rooms opened in George Street, Edinburgh.
- 27 January â Bridge of Dun completed.[1]
- 1 February â New Club, Edinburgh, founded as a private gentlemen's club.
- June
- Patrick Miller of Dalswinton demonstrates his design of manually-propelled paddleboat on the Firth of Forth.
- Kennetpans Distillery begins to operate a condensing rotative stationary steam engine designed by James Watt, the first in Scotland.[2]
- Summer â Calton weavers' strike. On 3 September, six of the Calton weavers are killed by troops.
- 1 December â Kinnaird Head Lighthouse first illuminated.
- Catrine is developed on the River Ayr around one of the first cotton mills in Scotland by Claud Alexander of Ballochmyle in partnership with David Dale.[3]
- The Scotch Distilling Act imposes a tax on gin exported from Scotland to England.
- Kerelaw House and Tarbat House built.
Births
- 7 January â Patrick Nasmyth, landscape painter (died 1831 in London)
- 11 February â Alexander Maconochie, naval officer, geographer and penal reformer (died 1860 in England)
- 14 May â Alexander Laing, "the Brechin poet" (died 1857)
- 5 November â John Richardson naturalist, explorer and naval surgeon (died 1865 in England)
- 22 November â Robert Balmer, minister of the Secession Church (died 1844)
- 17 December â John Forbes, physician (died 1861 in England)
- Susanna Hawkins, poet (died 1868)
- Hugh Maxwell, lawyer and politician in New York (died 1873 in the United States)
Deaths
- 2 March â Anne Mackintosh, Jacobite (born 1723)
- 6 June â Robert Duff, naval officer (born c. 1721)
- 19 June â John Brown, theologian (born 1722)
- 5 September â John Brown, portrait-draftsman and painter in Edinburgh (born 1749)
- 27 December â Thomas Hay, 9th Earl of Kinnoull, politician (born 1710)
The arts
- 17 April â the Edinburgh edition of Robert Burns' Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect is published by William Creech including a portrait of Burns by Alexander Nasmyth. The poet has great social success in the city's literary circles; 16-year-old Walter Scott meets him at the house of Adam Ferguson. Burns also writes the first version of "The Battle of Sherramuir" this year.
- 4 December â Burns meets Agnes Maclehose at a party given by Miss Erskine Nimmo.[4]
- The Scots Musical Museum begins publication.
Sport
- May â Glasgow Golf Club founded.
