1837 in Scotland

Centuries:	17th; 18th; 19th; 20th; 21st;
Decades:	1810s; 1820s; 1830s; 1840s; 1850s;
See also:	List of years in Scotland; Timeline of Scottish history; 1837 in: The UK • Wales • Elsewhere

Events from the year 1837 in Scotland.

Incumbents[]

Law officers[]

Lord Advocate – John Murray
Solicitor General for Scotland – John Cunninghame; then Andrew Rutherfurd

Judiciary[]

Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General^[1] – Lord Granton
Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Boyle

Events[]

From beginning – Highland Destitution: 2 years of harvest failure leave many in the Highlands and Islands requiring aid.^[2]
3 April – the Paisley and Renfrew Railway is opened, a 4 ft 6 in gauge railway providing passenger services hauled by steam locomotives.^[3]
2 June – John O'Groat Journal newspaper first published in Wick, Caithness.
1 July – Isle of May disaster: A rowing boat carrying an excursion party from Cellardyke capsizes with the loss of 13 lives.
15 July – The Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr and Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock Railways are authorised.^[3]
18 October – William Perrie is hanged in Paisley for uxoricide.^[4]
October – John Heathcoat's steam plough is demonstrated for the Highland Show near Dumfries.^[5]
Cotton spinners' strike in Glasgow; the leaders will be sentenced to penal transportation.^[6]
Robert Davidson produces a model battery-electric locomotive.
Major reconstruction of Dornoch Cathedral by William Burn for the Duchess of Sutherland is completed.
The capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus urogallus) is reintroduced to Scotland (Perthshire) from Sweden.
William Forbes Skene's The Highlanders of Scotland: their Origin, History and Antiquities; with a sketch of their manners and customs, and an account of the clans into which they were divided, and of the state of society which existed among them is published by John Murray.

Births[]

1 January – Hercules Linton, surveyor, designer, shipbuilder and antiquarian; designer of the Cutty Sark (died 1900)
7 January – James Key Caird, jute manufacturer and philanthropist (died 1916)
January – Daniel Cottier, artist and designer (died 1891)
7 February – James Murray, lexicographer (died 1915 in Oxford)
16 February – Asher Asher, physician and promoter of Jewish causes (died 1889 in London)
24 March – George Henry Mackenzie, chess master (died 1891 in the United States)
25 March – Francis Farquharson, soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross (died 1875 in England)
27 March – John MacWhirter, landscape painter (died 1911 in London)
3 May – Rev. Dr. Robert Blair, Presbyterian minister and Gaelic scholar (died 1907)
14 June – John Thomson, pioneering photographer, geographer and traveller (died 1921)
17 June – Alexander Skene, gynaecologist (died 1900 in the United States)
4 July – Agnes McLaren, physician (died 1913 in France)
8 July – Donald Dinnie, Highland games strongman (died 1916)
11 July – John Balfour, 1st Baron Kinross, lawyer and Liberal politician (died 1905)
10 November – William Bain Scarth, businessman and politician in Canada (died 1902 in Canada)
13 November – John McClure, admiral in the Imperial Chinese Navy (died 1920)
2 December – Joseph Bell, surgeon, an inspiration for Sherlock Holmes (died 1911)
17 December – William Harkness, astronomer (died 1903 in the United States)
29 December – Francis Carmichael Bruce, businessman and politician in Ontario (died 1928 in Canada)
date unknown –
- John Dudgeon, medical missionary (died 1901 in China)
- Robert Farquharson, physician and Liberal politician (died 1918)
- Hughie Fraser, politician in South Australia (died 1900 in Australia)
- David Greig, landowner
- Eliza Newton, actress (died 1882 in the United States)
- Douglas Argyll Robertson, ophthalmologist (died 1909)

Deaths[]

4 or 11 January – John MacKenzie, physician and friend of Robert Burns
16 January – Robert Macnish, surgeon, physician, philosopher and writer (born 1802)
18 January – James St Clair-Erskine, 2nd Earl of Rosslyn, army officer, politician and freemason (born 1762 in England)
19 February – Sir Hugh Cleghorn, first colonial secretary to Ceylon (born 1752)
8 May – Robert Heriot Barclay, commander in the Royal Navy (born 1786)
1 August – Walter Geikie, painter (born 1795)
17 August – John Donald Carrick, journalist (born 1787)
24 August – George Watson, portrait painter (born 1767)
15 September – William Ritchie, physicist (born c. 1790)
22 October – Sir David Erskine, dramatist and antiquary (born 1772)
3 December – Charles Douglas, 6th Marquess of Queensberry, peer (born 1777) (Barony of Solway becomes extinct)
7 December – Robert Nicoll, radical journalist and poet (born 1814)

References[]

^ Per the , the offices of Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General were combined on the death in December 1836 of the incumbent Lord Justice General, 3rd Duke of Montrose
^ MacAskill, John, ed. (2013). The Highland Destitution of 1837: Government Aid and Public Subscription. Aberdeen: Scottish History Society. ISBN 978-0906245378.
^ ^a ^b (1971). A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain. Vol. 6 – Scotland: the Lowlands and Borders. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-5408-6.
^ "October 18th – 18/10/1837 – William Perrie – Paisley". Victorian Hangings. London: True Crime Library. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
^ Allen, Martin (2015). "John Heathcoat's steam plough". Transactions of the Dumfriesshire & Galloway Natural History & Antiquarian Society. 89: 123–8.
^ Timeline of Glasgow history.

[1] Per the , the offices of Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General were combined on the death in December 1836 of the incumbent Lord Justice General, 3rd Duke of Montrose

[2] MacAskill, John, ed. (2013). The Highland Destitution of 1837: Government Aid and Public Subscription. Aberdeen: Scottish History Society. ISBN 978-0906245378.

[Thomas-3] (1971). A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain. Vol. 6 – Scotland: the Lowlands and Borders. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-5408-6.

[4] "October 18th – 18/10/1837 – William Perrie – Paisley". Victorian Hangings. London: True Crime Library. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 4 July 2014.

[5] Allen, Martin (2015). "John Heathcoat's steam plough". Transactions of the Dumfriesshire & Galloway Natural History & Antiquarian Society. 89: 123–8.

[6] Timeline of Glasgow history.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

v t Years in Scotland (843–present)
11th century	1012 1018
12th century
13th century	1202 1214 1221 1239 1249 1250 1263 1265 1266 1286 1291 1292
14th century	1305 1306 1307 1308 1309 1310 1311 1312 1313 1314 1315 1316 1317 1318 1319 1320 1321 1322 1323 1324 1325 1326 1327 1328 1329 1330 1331 1332 1333 1334 1335 1342 1400
15th century	1455 1500
16th century	1503 1504 1511 1512 1513 1550 1578 1579 1580 1581 1582 1583 1584 1585 1586 1587 1588 1589 1590 1591 1592 1593 1594 1595 1596 1597 1598 1599 1600
17th century	1608 1609 1650 1651 1652 1653 1654 1655 1656 1657 1658 1659 1660 1661 1662 1663 1664 1665 1666 1667 1668 1669 1680 1681 1682 1683 1684 1685 1686 1687 1688 1689 1690 1691 1692 1693 1694 1695 1696 1697 1698 1699 1700
18th century	1701 1702 1703 1704 1705 1706 1707 1708 1709 1710 1711 1712 1713 1714 1715 1716 1717 1718 1719 1720 1721 1722 1723 1724 1725 1726 1727 1728 1729 1730 1731 1732 1733 1734 1735 1736 1737 1738 1739 1740 1741 1742 1743 1744 1745 1746 1747 1748 1749 1750 1751 1752 1753 1754 1755 1756 1757 1758 1759 1760 1761 1762 1763 1764 1765 1766 1767 1768 1769 1770 1771 1772 1773 1774 1775 1776 1777 1778 1779 1780 1781 1782 1783 1784 1785 1786 1787 1788 1789 1790 1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796 1797 1798 1799 1800
19th century	1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900
20th century	1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
21st century	2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

1837 in Scotland

Contents

Incumbents[]

Law officers[]

Judiciary[]

Events[]

Births[]

Deaths[]

See also[]

References[]