1878 in Scotland

Centuries:	17th; 18th; 19th; 20th; 21st;
Decades:	1850s; 1860s; 1870s; 1880s; 1890s;
See also:	List of years in Scotland; Timeline of Scottish history; 1878 in: The UK • Wales • Elsewhere; Scottish football: 1877–78 • 1878–79

Events from the year 1878 in Scotland.

Incumbents[]

Law officers[]

Lord Advocate – William Watson
Solicitor General for Scotland – John Macdonald

Judiciary[]

Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General – Lord Glencorse
Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Moncreiff

Events[]

Original Tay Bridge from the north

14 January – Alexander Graham Bell demonstrates the telephone to Queen Victoria.^[1]
15 March – restoration of the Scottish hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church, carried out on the instructions of the newly appointed Pope Leo XIII.
31 May – the North British Railway's first Tay Bridge across the Firth of Tay is ceremonially opened, its engineer, Thomas Bouch, being made a burgess of Dundee. Designed in iron to replace a train ferry, it is the world's longest bridge at this date.^[2]
12 December – the iron-hulled full-rigged ship Falls of Clyde is launched at Russell & Company's yard at Port Glasgow for Wright and Breakenridge's Glasgow-based Falls Line. In 1968 she will be laid up as a museum ship in Honolulu.
Sophia Jex-Blake sets up in practice in Edinburgh as the city's first woman doctor.
The hydropathic establishment in Moffat is opened.
Construction of forts on Inchkeith begins.
West coast shipping operator David Hutcheson & Co. passes wholly to control of David MacBrayne.
The sanitary porcelainware works at Barrhead that becomes part of Armitage Shanks is established.

Births[]

20 January – Finlay Currie, actor (died 1968 in England)
23 March – Muirhead Bone, graphic artist (died 1953 in England)
12 April – Alex McDonald, footballer (died 1949)
24 July – Louisa Jordan, nurse (died 1915 in Serbia)
10 August – Louis Esson, poet and playwright (died 1943 in Australia)
14 December – James Greenlees, rugby union footballer, educationalist and soldier (died 1951)
Robert Freeman, Baptist minister in the United States
George Wittet, architect (died 1926 in Bombay)

Deaths[]

26 January – Kirkpatrick Macmillan, inventor of the bicycle (born 1812)
19 February – George Paul Chalmers, painter (born 1833; died as the result of a street attack)
6 June – Robert Stirling, Church of Scotland minister and inventor of the Stirling engine (born 1790)
13 August – George Gilfillan, writer and poet (born 1813)
5 December – George Whyte-Melville, novelist and poet (born 1821)^[3]
31 December – James Matheson, Member of Parliament and co-founder of Jardine, Matheson & Co. (born 1796)

The arts[]

July – William McGonagall journeys on foot from Dundee to Balmoral Castle over mountainous terrain and through a violent thunderstorm in a fruitless attempt to perform his verse before Queen Victoria.^[4]

References[]

^ Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
^ (1969). The North British Railway. Vol. 1. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-4697-0.
^ stanford.edu
^ Autobiographical account published in his More Poetic Gems.

[Pocket_On_This_Day-1] Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.

[2] (1969). The North British Railway. Vol. 1. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-4697-0.

[3] stanford.edu

[4] Autobiographical account published in his More Poetic Gems.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

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

1878 in Scotland

Contents

Incumbents[]

Law officers[]

Judiciary[]

Events[]

Births[]

Deaths[]

The arts[]

See also[]

References[]