1953 in Scotland explained

Events from the year 1953 in Scotland.

Incumbents

• Secretary of State for Scotland and Keeper of the Great Seal – James Stuart

Law officers

• Lord Advocate – James Latham Clyde
• Solicitor General for Scotland – William Rankine Milligan

Judiciary

• Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General – Lord Cooper
• Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Thomson
• Chairman of the Scottish Land Court – Lord Gibson

Events

• 30 January – The cargo vessel Clan MacQuarrie runs aground near Borve, Lewis in a storm; all 66 crew are rescued by breeches buoy the following morning.^[1]
• 31 January – The car ferry, sailing from Stranraer to Larne in Northern Ireland, sinks in the Irish Sea in a storm killing 133 people on board.^[2] Fleetwood trawler Michael Griffiths sinks seven miles south of Barra Head with the loss of 13 crew.^[1]
• 9 February – Fraserburgh life-boat John and Charles Kennedy capsizes on service: six crew killed.
• 5 March –, the last full-size paddle steamer built in the UK, is launched on the River Clyde at A. & J. Inglis's Pointhouse Shipyard. On 25 May, she enters excursion service on Loch Lomond.
• c. March – New Bridge Street Bridge across Peterhead harbour completed, the last Scherzer rolling lift bridge erected by Sir William Arrol & Co. of Glasgow.
• 16 April – The Queen launches the Royal Yacht Britannia at John Brown & Company shipbuilders at Clydebank.^[3]
• 20 May – Celtic F.C. beat Hibernian 2-0 in the final of the Coronation Cup (football) at Hampden Park.^[4]
• 20 June – Most of the population of the island of Soay, Skye, moves to the Isle of Mull.
• 24 June – First state visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Scotland since her accession; the Honours of Scotland are carried before the monarch for the first time since 1822^[5] and presented to her at St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh.
• 22 July – Great Bernera is connected to Lewis by Scotland's first prestressed concrete girder bridge.^[6]
• 8 August – The northbound Royal Scot train derails near Abington descending from Beattock Summit due to buckling of track caused by high temperature; 37 are injured.^[7]
• 27 October – Arbroath life-boat Robert Lindsay capsizes on service: six crew killed.
• Scottish law case of MacCormick v Lord Advocate decides that the right of Elizabeth II to so style herself in Scotland is a matter of royal prerogative.
• IBM establishes a manufacturing facility in Greenock.

Births

• 1 January – Maureen Beattie, Irish-born actress
• 6 January – Malcolm Young, rock guitarist (died 2017 in Australia)
• 11 January – John Sessions, born John Gibb Marshall, actor and comedian (died 2020)
• 20 January – John Robertson, international footballer
• 27 February – Gavin Esler, television journalist
• 6 April – Patrick Doyle, film composer
• 6 May
  • Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 1997-2007
  • Graeme Souness, international footballer and manager
• 19 May – Patrick Hodge, lawyer, a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
• 21 May – Jim Devine, Labour politician^[8]
• 22 May – Andy Nisbet, mountaineer (died 2019)
• 23 May – Ronald Frame, fiction writer
  • • 7 June Colin Boyd, Baron Boyd of Duncansby, lawyer and judge
  • Dougie Donnelly, television presenter
• 23 June – John Stahl, actor (died 2022)^[9]
• 24 August – Sam Torrance, golfer
• 31 August – Jimmy McKenna, actor
• 8 September – John McGlynn, actor
• 10 September – John Thurso, born John Sinclair, businessman and Liberal Democrat politician
• 28 September – Jim Diamond, pop singer-songwriter (died 2015)
• 21 October – Eric Faulkner, pop musician
• 4 November – Derek Johnstone, international footballer
• 12 November – Calum MacDonald, Celtic rock songwriter and percussionist
• 22 December – Gregor Fisher, actor and comedian
• Steven Campbell, figurative painter (died 2007)
• Ian Read, businessman

Deaths

• 19 March – Thomas Hunter, Unionist Party politician and Member of Parliament (MP) for Perth (born 1872)
• 1 June – Alex James, international footballer (born 1901)
• 23 July – Sir Thomas Jaffrey, actuary (born 1861)
• 30 September – Lewis Fry Richardson, mathematical physicist (born 1881 in England)

The arts

• April – Comedy film Laxdale Hall is released.
• Lewis Spence's Collected Poems are published in Edinburgh.

See also

• 1953 in Northern Ireland

Notes and References

1. Web site: Clan Macquarrie – historic rescue at Borve. https://web.archive.org/web/20140726212701/http://www.stornowaygazette.co.uk/what-s-on/leisure/clan-macquarrie-historic-rescue-at-borve-1-118252. dead. 26 July 2014. Stornoway Gazette. 2014-07-22.
2. Web site: 130 die in ferry disaster. BBC. On This Day. 2008-01-10. 31 January 1953. https://web.archive.org/web/20080108160829/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/31/newsid_2505000/2505913.stm. 2008-01-08. live.
3. Web site: Queen launches Royal Yacht Britannia. BBC. On This Day. 2008-01-10. 16 April 1953. https://web.archive.org/web/20080121004217/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/16/newsid_2846000/2846801.stm. 2008-01-21. live.
4. News: The green shoots of recovery with Hibs. Scotland On Sunday. 2005-09-10.
5. Web site: Notable Dates in History . The Flag in the Wind . The Scots Independent . 2014-07-22 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140523225830/http://www.scotsindependent.org/dates1-g.htm . 23 May 2014 .
6. Web site: Great Bernera Bridge. 2014-05-18. https://web.archive.org/web/20101111023235/http://www.cne-siar.gov.uk/eriskay/bernera.htm. 11 November 2010. dead. dmy-all.
7. Web site: Accident at Abington on 8th August 1953. Railways Archive. 2014-07-22.
8. Web site: WPR - Jim Devine (Ex-MP). 15 July 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110715044446/http://www.parliamentaryrecord.com/content/profiles/mp/Jim-Devine/Livingston/766. 15 July 2011.
9. Web site: John Stahl obituary . the Guardian . 20 May 2022 . en . 31 March 2022.