1889 in Scotland explained

Events from the year 1889 in Scotland.

Incumbents

• Secretary for Scotland and Keeper of the Great Seal – The Marquess of Lothian

Law officers

• Lord Advocate – James Robertson
• Solicitor General for Scotland – Moir Tod Stormonth Darling

Judiciary

• Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General – Lord Glencorse
• Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Kingsburgh

Events

• 26 January – Dundee is granted city status in the United Kingdom by letters patent.^{[1] [2] [3]}
• 5 February – the first issue of Glasgow University Magazine is published.
• 11 March – baby farmer Jessie King is the last woman to be hanged in Edinburgh, for infanticide.
• 24 April – William Henry Bury is hanged in Dundee for uxoricide.
• 15 July – the Scottish National Portrait Gallery opens in Edinburgh in premises designed by Rowand Anderson, the first in the world to be purpose-built as a portrait gallery.^[4]
• 26 August – the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889, receives royal assent. School fees abolished for compulsory education.
• 5 September – Mauricewood Colliery disaster: a fire at the pit near Penicuik kills 63 of the 70 men and boys working underground.^[5]
• 1 November – new building under construction at Templeton's Carpet Factory on Glasgow Green collapses killing 29 women in adjacent weaving sheds.
• November - King's Cross Hospital opens in Dundee.^[6]

Births

• 7 January – George Samson, sailor, recipient of the Victoria Cross (died at sea 1923)
• 30 May – Isobel Wylie Hutchison, explorer (died 1982)
• 20 July – John Reith, broadcasting executive (died 1971)
• 11 August – Ronald Fairbairn, psychoanalyst (died 1964)
• 25 September – Charles Kenneth Scott Moncrieff, writer (died 1930)
• 1 December – Alexander Keiller, marmalade manufacturer and archaeologist (died 1955)
• John Munro (Iain Rothach), Gaelic poet (killed in action 1918)

Deaths

• 31 May – Horatius Bonar, churchman, writer and hymnodist (born 1808)
• 24 December – Charles Mackay, poet, journalist, author, anthologist, novelist and songwriter (born 1812)

The arts

• Arthur Conan Doyle's novel The Mystery of Cloomber is published.
• Robert Louis Stevenson's novel The Master of Ballantrae is published.
• The Great Scottish National Panorama (Battle of Bannockburn) is opened in Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow.

See also

• Timeline of Scottish history
• 1889 in Ireland

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2019-01-24. Dundee – Scotland’s First City?. 2022-01-21. The Dundee City Archives Blog. en.
2. Web site: 2019-01-28. Calling all history buffs: Dundee is actually the oldest city in Scotland - here's why. 2022-01-21. SeeDundee. en-GB.
3. Web site: Milne. Scott. Dundee is Scotland's oldest city — and here's why. 2022-01-21. The Courier. en-GB.
4. News: The Scottish National Portrait Gallery. The Times. London. 16 July 1889. 5. 32752.
5. Web site: Mauricewood 1889. Scottish Mining Website. 2021-05-21.
6. Web site: Collection THB 22 - King's Cross Hospital . Archive Services Catalogue . University of Dundee . 13 December 2023.