1785 in Scotland explained

Events from the year 1785 in Scotland.

Incumbents

Law officers

• Lord Advocate – Ilay Campbell
• Solicitor General for Scotland – Robert Dundas of Arniston

Judiciary

• Lord President of the Court of Session – Lord Arniston, the younger
• Lord Justice General – The Viscount Stormont
• Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Barskimming

Events

• 7 March – geologist James Hutton proposes the theory of uniformitarianism to the Royal Society of Edinburgh.^{[1] [2]}
• Late September – James Boswell’s The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides is published.^[3]
• 5 October – flight by Florentine aeronaut Vincenzo Lunardi in a gas balloon from George Heriot's School, Edinburgh, across the Firth of Forth to Ceres, Fife (32 mi (51.5 km) in 1.5 hrs).^[4]
• 23 November – Lunardi flies from St Andrew's Square, Glasgow, to Hawick.^[5]

Births

• 18 May – John Wilson, writer (died 1854)
• 18 November – David Wilkie, painter (died at sea 1841)

Deaths

• 23 January – Matthew Stewart, mathematician (born 1717)
• 4 October – Alexander Runciman, painter (born 1736)
• 23 October – William Cochran, painter (born 1738)

The arts

• 22 May – Robert Burns' first child, Elizabeth ("Dear-bought Bess"), is born to his mother's servant, Elizabeth Paton^[6] and his poems "To a Mouse" and "Halloween" are written.

Notes and References

1. James . Hutton . Theory of the Earth; or an Investigation of the Laws observable in the Composition, Dissolution, and Restoration of Land upon the Globe . Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh . 1 . 2 . 209–304 . 1788 . 2011-10-12 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20030729055405/http://www.uwmc.uwc.edu/geography/Hutton/Hutton.htm . 29 July 2003 . dmy .
2. Book: The Hutchinson Factfinder. Helicon. Oxford. 2nd. 1999. 1-85986-000-1.
3. Book: Williams, Hywel. Cassell's Chronology of World History. registration. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. London. 2005. 0-304-35730-8. 337.
4. Web site: Notable Dates in History. The Flag in the Wind. The Scots Independent. 2016-01-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20160125210210/http://scotsindependent.scot/oldsitearchive/scotind/dates1-e.htm. 25 January 2016. dead. dmy-all.
5. Book: Lunardi, Vincenzo. An Account of Five Aerial Voyages in Scotland. London. 1786.
6. Web site: Paton, Elizabeth. The Burns Encyclopedia. 2014-01-28.