1940 in Scotland explained

Events from the year 1940 in Scotland.

Incumbents

• Secretary of State for Scotland and Keeper of the Great Seal – John Colville until 10 May; vacant until 14 May; then Ernest Brown

Law officers

• Lord Advocate – Thomas Mackay Cooper
• Solicitor General for Scotland – James Reid

Judiciary

• Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General – Lord Normand
• Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Aitchison
• Chairman of the Scottish Land Court – Lord Murray

Events

• 1 January – the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1939 outlawed "irregular" marriages ("marriage by declaration" or "handfasting") from this date, ending the practice of "anvil marriage" at Gretna Green.^[1]
• 17 January – World War II: sank SS Polzella and the neutral Norwegian ship Enid 10 miles north of Shetland.
• 9 February – World War II: A German aircraft was forced down on North Berwick Law.
• 3–9 March – made her maiden voyage on delivery from Clydebank to New York.
• 11 March – World War II: Scotland north and west of the Great Glen and Inverness became a restricted area.
• 16 March – World War II: First civilian casualty of bombing in the UK, on Orkney.^[2]
• 10 April – World War II: the was sunk at Bergen by British Fleet Air Arm Blackburn Skua dive bombers flying from RNAS Hatston in Orkney.
• 30 April – was sunk by accidental explosion off Greenock.
• May – construction of Churchill Barriers on Orkney began.
• 9 May – Guy Lloyd won the East Renfrewshire by-election for the Unionist Party.
• 29 May – World War II: Requisitioned Clyde steamers Queen-Empress, Duchess of Fife, Oriole (called Eagle on the Clyde), Marmion and Waverley took part in the Dunkirk evacuation; Waverley was lost.^[3]
• 12 June – World War II: More than 10,000 soldiers of the 51st (Highland) Division under General Victor Fortune surrendered to General Erwin Rommel at Saint-Valery-en-Caux.^[4]
• 16 June – World War II: The troopships,,,, and steamed in convoy into the River Clyde and anchored off Gourock with the first large contingent of Australian and New Zealand troops.^[5]
• 24 June–1 July – World War II: Operation Fish – Royal Navy cruiser sailed from Greenock in convoy to Halifax, Nova Scotia, carrying a large part of the gold reserves of the United Kingdom and securities for safe keeping in Canada. Another convoy set sail on 5 July from the Clyde, including HMS Batory,^[6] carrying cargo worth $1.7 billion, the largest movement of wealth in history.^[7]
• 1 July – World War II: First Luftwaffe daylight bombing raid on mainland Britain at Bank Row, Wick: 15 civilians, 8 of them children, killed.^[8]
• 19 July – World War II: First Luftwaffe daylight raid on Glasgow; little damage was caused.^[9]
• 20 July – World War II: A Luftwaffe bomb largely destroyed the stand at King's Park F.C.'s Forthbank Park in Stirling, leading to the demise of the club.
• 16 September – World War II: British liner SS Aska was bombed by a German aircraft south of Gigha whilst carrying French troops from Gambia; 12 crew died but 75 survivors were picked up by trawlers.
• 18 September – World War II: Royal Navy heavy cruiser HMS Sussex is hit by bombs in Glasgow while undergoing mechanical repairs and is kept out of service until August 1942.
• November – World War II: Building of No. 1 Military Port at Faslane on the Gare Loch^[10] and No. 2 Military Port at Cairnryan began.^[11] Garelochhead Training Area is also established this year.
• Kilquhanity School near Castle Douglas was founded by John Aitkenhead.

Births

• 6 January – John Byrne, playwright and artist
• 11 January – Sydney Devine, singer (died 2021)
• 18 January – Lindsay L. Cooper, jazz string player (died 2001)
• 24 February – Denis Law, international footballer
• 28 February – Jim Baikie, comics artist (died 2017)^[12]
• 2 March – Billy McNeill, Celtic footballer and manager (died 2019)
• 3 March – Patricia Gage, actress (died 2010 in Canada)
• 15 March – Jack Whyte, historical novelist (died 2021 in Canada)
• 19 April – Dougal Haston, mountaineer (killed 1977 in the Swiss Alps)
• 14 May
  • Chay Blyth, yachtsman and adventurer
  • Sir George Ross Mathewson, businessman
• 23 May – Giles Gordon, author and agent (died 2003)
• 8 June - Stanley Robertson, folk singer, ballad singer and piper (died 2009)
• 23 June
  • Derry Irvine, Baron Irvine of Lairg, Lord Chancellor
  • Stuart Sutcliffe, pop musician and artist (died 1962 in Hamburg)
• 28 June – Roderick Wright, Bishop of Argyll and the Isles (Catholic) (died 2005 in New Zealand)
• 29 June – Bill Napier, astronomer and science fiction author
• 1 July – Craig Brown, footballer and Scotland national football team manager (died 2023)
• 10 July – Tom Farmer, entrepreneur
• 28 July – Brigit Forsyth, actress, born in Yorkshire (died 2023)
• 4 August – Robin Harper, Green politician
• 20 August – Gus Macdonald, television journalist and Labour politician
• 3 November – Charlie Gallagher, footballer (died 2021)
• 4 November – Sally Baldwin, social sciences professor (died 2003 in Italy)^[13]
• 24 November – Donald Macleod, theologian
• 1 December – Mike Denness, international cricketer (died 2013)^[14]
• William Barr, Arctic historian
• Peter Kerr, travel writer

Deaths

• 11 February – John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, novelist, historian and Unionist politician (born 1875; died in Canada)
• 15 June – George Washington Browne, architect (born 1853)
• 18 June – Sir George Andreas Berry, ophthalmologist and Unionist politician (born 1853)
• 19 November – James Cromar Watt, artist, architect and jeweller (born 1862)
• 16 December – William Wallace, classical composer and ophthalmologist (born 1860; died in England)
• Dugald Campbell, doctor from the Isle of Arran, set up the national health service in Hawaii during the 1890s

The arts

• Publication of The Golden Treasury of Scottish Poetry edited by Hugh MacDiarmid.

See also

• Timeline of Scottish history
• 1940 in Northern Ireland

Notes and References

1. Web site: Anvil Weddings Outlawed . https://web.archive.org/web/20120916175011/http://www.gretnagreen.com/anvil-weddings-outlawed-a749 . dead . 16 September 2012 . Gretna Green since 1754 . Gretna Green Ltd . 2014-05-08 .
2. Book: Doyle, Peter. ARP and Civil Defence in the Second World War. Oxford. Shire Publications. 2010. 978-0-7478-0765-0. 9.
3. A. J.. Mullay. Clyde Steamers to the Rescue at Dunkirk. History Scotland. May–June 2010. 50–54. 10. 3.
4. Web site: Surrender at St. Valéry. 51st Highland Division. 2014-07-17.
5. Book: Plowman, Peter . Across the Sea to War: Australian and New Zealand Troop Convoys . 1 . 2003 . 9781877058066 .
6. Book: Draper, Alfred. Operation Fish: The Fight to Save the Gold of Britain, France and Norway from the Nazis. 1979. General Publishing. Don Mills. 9780773600683.
7. Book: Breuer, William B.. William Breuer. Top Secret Tales of World War II. 2008. Book Sales. 9780785819516. 62.
8. Web site: The Bank Row Bombing. 1989. Cathness.Org. 2020-06-27.
9. Web site: Notable Dates in History . The Flag in the Wind . . 2014-07-17 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140523225830/http://www.scotsindependent.org/dates1-g.htm . 23 May 2014 .
10. Web site: Gare Loch, Faslane . . . 2014-11-14.
11. Book: Holme, Richard . Cairnryan Military Port, 1940–1996 . Wigtown . GC . 1997 . 978-1872350226.
12. Web site: Obituary: Jim Baikie, Orkney-born artist who conquered world of comics . www.scotsman.com . 20 October 2021 . en.
13. Web site: Bradshaw . Jonathan . Obituary: Sally Baldwin . The Guardian . 5 November 2020 . en . 31 October 2003.
14. Web site: Obituary: Mike Denness OBE, cricketer . www.scotsman.com . 27 October 2021 . en.