1831 in Scotland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Events from the year 1831 in Scotland.
See also:List of years in Scotland
Timeline of Scottish history
1831 in: The UK ⢠Wales ⢠Elsewhere
Timeline of Scottish history
1831 in: The UK ⢠Wales ⢠Elsewhere
Incumbents
Law officers
Judiciary
Events
- Spring â the 12th-century Lewis chessmen are found in a sand-bank on the Isle of Lewis.
- 19â21 March â one of Goldsworthy Gurneyâs steam road coaches runs from Edinburgh to Glasgow.[1]
- May â Wellington Suspension Bridge over River Dee at Aberdeen opened to all traffic.
- 10 May â first steam locomotive to be built in Glasgow completed by Murdoch, Aitken & Co. for the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway.[2]
- Mid-May â mineral traffic over Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway commences.[3]
- 1 June
- A regular horse-drawn passenger service between Leaend at Airdrie and Glasgow over the Ballochney, Monkland and Kirkintilloch and Garnkirk and Glasgow Railways commences.[3]
- One of Goldsworthy Gurneyâs steam road coaches suffers a boiler explosion in Glasgow.[4]
- 6 June â first iron steamboat to be launched on the River Clyde, Fairy Queen by John Neilson & Sons.[5]
- 4 July â opening of first section of Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway, from St Leonards to Craighall,[6] including St Leonards Tunnel, Scotland's earliest tunnel on a public railway, and the early cast iron bridge at Braid Burn (erected in March).
- August â the Dugald Stewart Monument in Edinburgh, designed by W. H. Playfair, is completed.
- 1 August â the Roman Catholic St Thomas's Church, Keith, is opened for worship.
- 27 September â formal opening of Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway: locomotive St Rollox hauls Scotlandâs first steam-worked passenger train from the Townhead terminus at Glasgow to Gartsherrie.[3]
- 16 December â opening of first section of Dundee and Newtyle Railway, the first public railway in the north of Scotland (horse worked).[7]
- 23 December â the second cholera pandemic (1829â51) reaches Scotland.[8]
- The Ardrossan and Johnstone Railway opens as a waggonway from Johnstone to Kilwinning.[9]
- Dunnet Head lighthouse, designed by Robert Stevenson, is built.
- North Church in Aberdeen, designed by John Smith, is opened.
- The Burns Monument, Edinburgh (on Calton Hill), is designed by Thomas Hamilton.
- William Wallace invents the eidograph.[10]
- Glenugie distillery is established as Invernettie at Peterhead by Donald McLeod;[11] Talisker distillery is opened at Carbost, Talisker, Skye, by Hugh and Kenneth MacAskill.
Births
- 31 January â Alexander Balmain Bruce, theologian (died 1899)
- February â George Stewart, recipient of the Victoria Cross (died 1868 in England)
- 31 March â Archibald Scott Couper, organic chemist (died 1892)
- 2 April â David MacGibbon, architect (died 1902)
- 26 April â James Donaldson, classical scholar, educationalist and theological writer (died 1915)
- 28 April â Peter Tait, mathematical physicist (died 1901)
- 7 May â Richard Norman Shaw, architect (died 1912 in England)
- 28 May â Richard B. Angus, financier (died 1922 in Canada)
- 13 June â James Clerk Maxwell, physicist (died 1879 in England)
- 24 June â Robert Wallace, writer and politician (died 1899 in England)
- 3 July â Edmund Yates, writer (died 1894 in England)
- 18 July â John Skelton, lawyer, author and administrator (died 1897)
- 17 August â John McLaren, politician and judge (died 1910)
- 13 September â Andrew Noble, physicist (died 1915)
- 12 October â Helen Acquroff, pianist, singer, poet and music teacher (died 1887)[12]
- 17 October â Isa Craig, née Knox, poet (died 1903 in England)
- 23 November â David MacKay, recipient of the Victoria Cross (died 1880)
- 25 December â John Bartholomew, cartographer (died 1893)
Deaths
- 14 January â Henry Mackenzie, novelist (born 1745)
- 4 February â William Ritchie, newspaper editor (born 1781)
- 14 February â Robert Brown, agriculturalist (born 1757)
- 22 March â William Symington, engineer and steamboat builder (born 1764; died in London)
- May â James Campbell, army officer (born 1745)
- 1 July â Archibald Cochrane, 9th Earl of Dundonald, industrial chemist (born 1748; died in Paris)
- 16 August â Sir Hugh Innes, politician (born c. 1764)
- 17 August â Patrick Nasmyth, landscape painter (born 1787)
- Joseph Lowe, economist
The arts
- James Hogg publishes Songs, by the Ettrick Shepherd.[13]
- The Literary and Commercial Society of Glasgow is last known to be active.
