1770 in Scotland explained

Events from the year 1770 in Scotland.

Incumbents

Law officers

• Lord Advocate – James Montgomery
• Solicitor General for Scotland – Henry Dundas

Judiciary

• Lord President of the Court of Session – Lord Arniston, the younger
• Lord Justice General – Duke of Queensberry
• Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Barskimming

Events

• 12 April – Monkland Canal authorized.
• 9 March – Haggis is served on board Captain James Cook's ship, anchored off New Zealand, in celebration of the birthday of a Scottish officer on board, Cook himself having a Scottish father.^[1]
• 14 November – Scottish explorer James Bruce is shown the source of the Blue Nile in Ethiopia.^[1]
• Emigrants from the Highland Clearances in the Hebrides migrate to Prince Edward Island, and to Glasgow where the Gaelic-speaking congregation of St Columba Church of Scotland is formed.
• Montgomery's Entail Act remedies the system of short leases on agricultural properties.^[2]
• Plans for improvement of the harbour at Dundee proposed by John Smeaton^[3] and Glasgow Town Council begins deepening the navigable River Clyde.^[2]
• Approximate date
  • Bridge at Bridge of Weir constructed at Burngill.
  • Harbour at Charlestown, Fife, begun by Charles Bruce, 5th Earl of Elgin.
  • The Fordell Railway constructed in Fife.

Births

• 2 February – George Gordon, 5th Duke of Gordon, nobleman, soldier and politician (died 1836 in London)
• c. 25 March – Alexander Carse, genre painter (died 1843)
• 18 April – William Nicol, geologist (died 1851)
• 9 December (bapt.) – James Hogg, "the Ettrick Shepherd", poet and novelist (died 1835)

Deaths

• c. January – William Falconer, poet and marine dictionary compiler (born 1732; lost at sea)
• 27 July – Robert Dinwiddie, colonial Governor of Virginia (born 1693; died in Virginia)
• 1 November – Alexander Cruden, Biblical scholar (born 1699; died in London)
• 9 November – John Campbell, 4th Duke of Argyll, Whig politician (born c. 1693)
• 5 December – James Stirling, mathematician (born 1692)
• Approximate date – Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair, Gaelic poet (born c. 1698)

The arts

• David Dalrymple's anthology of Ancient Scottish Poems is published.

See also

• Timeline of Scottish history

Notes and References

1. Web site: Chronology of Scottish History. A Timeline of Scottish History. Rampant Scotland. 2016-01-26.
2. Book: Kermack, W. R.. 19 Centuries of Scotland. Edinburgh. Johnston. 1944. 80.
3. Book: McKean. Charles. Whatley. Patricia. Lost Dundee: Dundee's Lost Architectural Heritage. 2008. Birlinn. Edinburgh. 978-1-84158-562-8. 12–13.