1705 in Scotland explained

Events from the year 1705 in the Kingdom of Scotland.

Incumbents

• Monarch – Anne
• Secretary of State –
  • until March: John Ker, 5th Earl of Roxburghe jointly with James Ogilvy, 1st Earl of Seafield
  • March–June: John Ker, 5th Earl of Roxburghe jointly with William Johnstone, 1st Marquess of Annandale
  • June–September: William Johnstone, 1st Marquess of Annandale jointly with Hugh Campbell, 3rd Earl of Loudoun
  • from September: Hugh Campbell, 3rd Earl of Loudoun, jointly with John Erskine, 6th Earl of Mar

Law officers

• Lord Advocate – Sir James Stewart
• Solicitor General for Scotland – William Carmichael

Judiciary

• Lord President of the Court of Session – Lord North Berwick
• Lord Justice General – Lord Tarbat
• Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Whitelaw, then Lord Ormiston

Events

• 30 January – Janet Cornfoot is killed by a mob, and Thomas Brown is starved to death, for accusations of witchcraft at Pittenweem subsequently exposed as perjuries.^[1]
• 14–19 February – date of first Edinburgh Courant newspaper published, by printer James Watson.
• March – the Parliament of England passes the Alien Act in response to the Parliament of Scotland's Act of Security 1704; it is repealed in December without taking effect.
• 11 April – English captain Thomas Green and two of his crew are hanged at Leith for alleged piracy on the Malabar Coast.
• 20 July – Act of the Parliament of Scotland for the promotion of salmon, white and herring fishing.^[2]
• September – negotiations for a Treaty of Union with England are resumed. At about this time, the independent pro-Union group around John Hay, 2nd Marquess of Tweeddale, is first nicknamed the Squadrone Volante.
• Lord Archibald Campbell appointed Lord High Treasurer of Scotland.

Births

• 2 March – William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, judge and politician (died 1793)
• 5 May – John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudoun, noble and military leader (died 1782)

Date unknown

• David Mallet, writer (died 1765)

Deaths

• 11 March – Margaret Wemyss, 3rd Countess of Wemyss (born 1659)
• 14 March – James Scott, Earl of Dalkeith (born 1674)

Date unknown

• Alexander Arbuthnot, politician (born 1654)

See also

• Timeline of Scottish history

Notes and References

1. Web site: Notable Dates in History. The Flag in the Wind. The Scots Independent. 2016-03-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20160126115905/http://scotsindependent.scot/oldsitearchive/scotind/dates1-d.htm. 26 January 2016. dead. dmy-all.
2. XI, 292.