1955 in Scotland explained

Events from the year 1955 in Scotland.

Incumbents

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

Law officers

• Lord Advocate – James Latham Clyde until January; then William Rankine Milligan
• Solicitor General for Scotland – William Rankine Milligan until January; then William Grant

Judiciary

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

Events

• 1955 – Dounreay Nuclear Power Development Establishment founded with the primary aim to develop Dounreay as the site for testing previously untried fast breeder reactor technology.^{[1] [2]}
• 24 February – a big freeze across the UK results in many roads being blocked with snow; Caithness is practically cut off. The Royal Air Force works to deliver food and medical supplies to the worst affected areas.^[3]
• 21 March – American evangelist Billy Graham begins a seven-week Scottish crusade at the Kelvin Hall, Glasgow.^[4]
• 1 April – the South of Scotland Electricity Board is formed by merger.
• 23 April – the Scottish Cup Final is broadcast live on television for the first time. Clyde F.C. draw 1-1 with Celtic, winning the replay 1-0.^[4]
• 19 May – Greenock Coin Hoard found.
• 27 May – United Kingdom general election: In Scotland, as throughout the UK as a whole, the Conservatives have a majority of seats.
• 25 June – the Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer STOL transport aircraft, built at Prestwick, first flies.
• 30 June – two Hawker Sea Hawk jet fighters flying from RNAS Lossiemouth independently crash into the North Sea; one pilot is killed.^[5]
• 25–27 July – 'Operation Sandcastle': The first load of deteriorating captured Nazi German bombs filled with Tabun (nerve agent) is shipped from Cairnryan on the for scuttling in the Atlantic Ocean.
• 30 September – first electricity supply to the isolated railway community at Riccarton Junction.^[6]
• 10 November – a major fire in Edinburgh destroys the footwear warehouse of C. W. Carr Aitkman in Jeffrey Street.^[4]
• 11 November – a second major fire in Edinburgh largely destroys the C&A fashion store in Princes Street.^[4]
• 9 December – Cumbernauld is designated a New town.^[7]
• 14 December – RMS Carinthia is launched at John Brown & Company's shipyard on Clydebank for the Cunard Line's Canadian service.
• The collection of the world's first Museum of Childhood is established on Edinburgh's Royal Mile (initially at Lady Stair’s House) by optician Patrick Murray.
• Archaeological excavations on St Ninian's Isle begin.

Births

• 18 January – Robin Wales, Labour politician, mayor of the London Borough of Newham
• 3 February – Kirsty Wark, television presenter
• 19 March – John Burnside, writer
• 31 March – Angus Young, rock musician
• 23 April – Allan Forsyth, footballer
• 2 May – Willie Miller, footballer
• 5 May – John Stroyan, Anglican bishop
• 14 May – Alasdair Fraser, fiddler
• 4 June – Val McDermid, crime novelist
• 13 June – Alan Hansen, footballer and television presenter
• 1 July – Candia McWilliam, fiction writer
• 8 July – Douglas Flint, banker
• 12 July – Robin Robertson, poet, novelist and editor
• 25 August – John McGeoch guitarist (died 2004 in England)
• 11 October – Sally Magnusson, journalist and broadcast presenter
• 12 October – Aggie MacKenzie, television presenter
• 28 October – Jeff Stewart, actor
• 12 November – Les McKeown, pop-rock singer (died 2021)
• 22 November – Mary Macmaster, harpist
• 2 December – Janice Galloway, writer
• 6 December – Anne Begg, Labour politician
• 23 December – Carol Ann Duffy, poet

Deaths

• 21 February – Sir Henry Wade, surgeon (born 1876)
• 26 February – Agnes Mure Mackenzie, writer and historian (born 1891)
• 3 March – Lewis Spence, writer and folklorist (born 1874)
• 11 March – Sir Alexander Fleming, bacteriologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (born 1881; died in London)
• 22 April – Herbert MacNair, artist (born 1868)
• 11 October – Hector McNeil, politician (born 1907)
• Mary Newbery Sturrock, artist and designer (born 1890)
• Salvador Ysart, glassblower (born 1878 in Barcelona)

The arts

• Robin Jenkins's novel The Cone Gatherers is published.
• Sandy MacMillan, Thomas Limond and Ross Taylor's Scots language nursery rhyme collection Bairnsangs is published, as by Sandy Thomas Ross.
• Edith Anne Robertson's Scots language poetry collections Voices frae the city o trees; and ither voices frae nearbye and Poems Frae the Suddron O Walter De La Mare Made Ower Intil Scots are published.

See also

• 1955 in Northern Ireland

Notes and References

1. Web site: UKAEA – The First Fifty Years. Andy. Munn. Caithness.Org. 2011-02-05.
2. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/may/25/pollution.conservation Robin McKie, Science Editor, Guardian, 25 May 2008
3. Web site: Britain's big freeze. 2016-03-08. On This Day. BBC News. 1955-02-24.
4. Web site: The Flag in the Wind . Notable Dates in History . . 2014-07-16 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140523225830/http://www.scotsindependent.org/dates1-g.htm . 23 May 2014 .
5. News: Two Sea Hawks Down. The Times. London. 1955-07-01. 10. 53261.
6. The Railway Magazine October 1955.
7. Web site: Cumbernauld Town Centre. 2013-04-07.