1815 in Scotland explained

Events from the year 1815 in Scotland.

Incumbents

Law officers

• Lord Advocate – Archibald Colquhoun
• Solicitor General for Scotland – Alexander Maconochie

Judiciary

• Lord President of the Court of Session – Lord Granton
• Lord Justice General – The Duke of Montrose
• Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Boyle

Events

• February/March – foundation stone of Montrose Academy laid.^{[1] [2]}
• 18 June – Battle of Waterloo: Ensign Charles Ewart of the Royal Scots Greys captures the French Imperial Eagle standard.^[3]
• 1 July – Union Bank of Scotland opens.^[3]
• 19 September – foundation stones for Regent Bridge and Calton Jail in Edinburgh laid.^[4]
• The Nelson Monument, Edinburgh, on Calton Hill, is dedicated.
• Hackness Martello Tower and Battery and Crockness Martello tower in Orkney are completed.
• Dunans and Ferness Bridges and Avoch harbour are completed to the designs of Thomas Telford.
• Glenfinnan Monument erected to mark the landing of "Bonnie Prince Charlie" at the start of the Jacobite rising of 1745 to the design of James Gillespie Graham.
• Armadale Castle on Skye is built in the style of Scottish Baronial architecture to the design of James Gillespie Graham.
• A Jury Court as a division of the Court of Session is introduced.^[5]
• Regius Professorships at the University of Glasgow in Midwifery and Surgery are established by King George III.
• The Scottish Widows Fund and Life Assurance Society opens to business as Scotland's first mutual life insurance office.
• On Islay, Ardbeg distillery begins commercial production and Laphroaig distillery is established by Donald and Alexander Johnston.^[6]
• The Clyde Shipping Company is set up by John Henderson, William Croil, Donald McPhee and George Jardine Kidston to provide services by paddle steamer.
• Pringle of Scotland, knitwear manufacturer, is established by Robert Pringle in the Borders.
• John Fletcher Macfarlan takes over the family apothecary business in Edinburgh, the predecessor of MacFarlan Smith, and begins to manufacture laudanum.
• Aberdeen Savings Bank is formed.

Births

• 11 January
  • John A. Macdonald, first Prime Minister of Canada (died 1891 in Ottawa)
  • David Stevenson, lighthouse engineer (died 1886)
• 22 January – William Brodie, sculptor (died 1881)
• 25 March – George Thomson, shipbuilder (died 1866)
• 1 April – William Chalmers Burns, evangelical missionary to China (died 1868)
• 19 May
  • Kate Dickens, née Catherine Hogarth, wife of Charles Dickens (died 1879 in London)
  • Hugh Fraser, retailer (died 1873)
• 11 June – W McEwan, cricketer (died 1862 in Australia)
• 12 June – James Valentine, photographer (died 1879)
• 29 August – James Fenton, railway engineer (died 1863)
• 20 December – James Legge, Congregationalist missionary to China (died 1897 in Oxford)
• Thomas Stuart Smith, painter and benefactor (died 1869 in Avignon)

Deaths

• 14 January – William Creech, publisher and Lord Provost of Edinburgh (born 1745)
• 4 February – John Ferriar, physician and writer (born 1761)
• 9 February – Claudius Buchanan, theologian, Church of England missionary to India (born 1766)
• 23 February – William Duff, Presbyterian minister and writer on psychology (born 1732)
• 10 April – William Roxburgh, Scottish surgeon and botanist (born 1751)
• 26 August – John Spalding, politician (born 1763)
• 8 September – Andrew Graham, naturalist
• 28 September – Gilbert Gerard, theological writer (born 1760)
• 9 December – Patrick Miller of Dalswinton, banker and steamboat promoter (born 1730)
• Thomas Keith, soldier (born c.1793)

The arts

• Christian Isobel Johnstone's novel Clan-Albin: A National Tale is published.
• Robert Kirk's The Secret Commonwealth, Gaelic folklore collected in 1691/92, is first published.
• Walter Scott's narrative poem The Lord of the Isles and anonymous novel Guy Mannering are published.
• 6-year-old Edgar Allan Poe attends school in Irvine, North Ayrshire.

See also

• Timeline of Scottish history
• 1815 in Ireland

Notes and References

1. Book: Johns, Trevor W.. The Mid Links, Montrose, since Provost Scott. Montrose Review Press. 1988. 52.
2. Book: Cormack, Alexander Allan. Susan Carnegie, 1744-1821: her life of service. Aberdeen University Press. 1966. 300.
3. Web site: Chronology of Scottish History. A Timeline of Scottish History. Rampant Scotland. 2014-02-20.
4. Web site: History of Edinburgh. Visions of Scotland. 2014-02-20. 14 February 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150214170220/http://www.visionsofscotland.co.uk/EdinHistory.htm. dead.
5. Web site: Court of Session – other series. National Archives of Scotland. 2014-02-20. 18 December 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20091218094647/http://www.nas.gov.uk/guides/otherSeries.asp. dead.
6. Web site: History. 2014-02-20. Laphroaig Collector. https://web.archive.org/web/20130921075816/http://laphroaigcollector.com/history.htm. 2013-09-21. live.