1763 in Scotland explained

Events from the year 1763 in Scotland.

Incumbents

Law officers

• Lord Advocate – Thomas Miller of Glenlee
• Solicitor General for Scotland – James Montgomery jointly with Francis Garden

Judiciary

• Lord President of the Court of Session – Lord Arniston, the younger
• Lord Justice General – vacant until April; then Duke of Queensberry
• Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Tinwald, then Lord Minto

Events

• 16 May – James Boswell is introduced to Samuel Johnson at Thomas Davies's bookshop in London. Boswell records the event:

[Boswell:] "Mr. Johnson, I do indeed come from Scotland, but I cannot help it."
[Johnson:] "That, Sir, I find, is what a very great many of your countrymen cannot help."^[1]

• 21–29 May – John Wesley travels in Scotland.
• 26 June – stagecoach service between Glasgow and Greenock initiated.^[2]
• July – construction of Coldstream Bridge across the border with England begins.
• August 5–6 – Battle of Bushy Run (Pontiac's War) in Pennsylvania: 77th Regiment of Foot (Montgomerie's Highlanders) fight on the winning British side prior to disbandment. 78th Fraser Highlanders are also disbanded.
• August 6 – the post of Historiographer Royal for Scotland is revived for Rev. William Robertson, Principal of the University of Edinburgh.
• Before October? – a pamphlet promoting creation of a British colony of Charlotina in North America is published in Edinburgh.^[3]
• 1 October – construction of first North Bridge, Edinburgh, begins, including drainage of eastern end of Nor Loch. The Edinburgh Physick Garden moves from a site by the loch to Leith Walk.

Births

• March – Mary Campbell (Highland Mary), dairymaid, beloved and a muse of Robert Burns (died 1786)
• 12 May – John Bell, surgeon (died 1820 in Rome)
• 29 June – Charles Hope, Lord Granton, politician and judge (died 1851)
• 9 August – James Leith, army officer and colonial governor (died 1816 in Barbados)
• 10 September – James Thomson, weaver poet (died 1832)
• 27 October – William Maclure, geologist of North America (died 1840 in Mexico)
• 6 December – Mary Anne Burges, religious allegorist (died 1813 in England)
• Approximate date – William McCoy, naval mutineer (suicide 1798 on Pitcairn Island)

Deaths

• 5 March – William Smellie, obstetrician (born 1697)
• 30 September – William Duff, 1st Earl Fife (born 1696)

The arts

• March – James Macpherson, supposedly translating "Ossian", publishes Temora: An ancient epic poem; also this year Hugh Blair writes A Critical Dissertation on the Poems of Ossian.
• Before April? – English satirical poet Charles Churchill writes The Prophecy of Famine: A Scots Pastoral.
• St Cecilia's Hall is opened by Edinburgh Musical Society as the first purpose-built concert hall in Scotland (architect: Robert Mylne).

See also

• Timeline of Scottish history

Notes and References

1. Book: Boswell, James. Life of Samuel Johnson. 1791. 1992 Everyman. 247.
2. Web site: Notable Dates in History. The Flag in the Wind. The Scots Independent. 2016-01-31. https://web.archive.org/web/20160125210210/http://scotsindependent.scot/oldsitearchive/scotind/dates1-e.htm. 25 January 2016. dead. dmy-all.
3. The Expediency of Securing our American Colonies by Settling the Country Adjoining the River Mississippi, and the Country upon the Ohio, Considered.