Events from the year 1831 in Scotland.
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| See also: | List of years in Scotland Timeline of Scottish history 1831 in: The UK • Wales • Elsewhere | ||||
Incumbents
editLaw officers
editJudiciary
editEvents
edit- Spring – the 12th-century Lewis chessmen are found in a sand-bank on the Isle of Lewis.
- 19–21 March – one of Goldsworthy Gurney’s steam road coaches runs from Edinburgh to Glasgow.[1]
- May – Wellington Suspension Bridge over River Dee at Aberdeen opened to all traffic.
- 10 May – first steam locomotive to be built in Glasgow completed by Murdoch, Aitken & Co. for the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway.[2]
- Mid-May – mineral traffic over Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway commences.[3]
- 1 June
- A regular horse-drawn passenger service between Leaend at Airdrie and Glasgow over the Ballochney, Monkland and Kirkintilloch and Garnkirk and Glasgow Railways commences.[3]
- One of Goldsworthy Gurney’s steam road coaches suffers a boiler explosion in Glasgow.[4]
- 6 June – first iron steamboat to be launched on the River Clyde, Fairy Queen by John Neilson & Sons.[5]
- 4 July – opening of first section of Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway, from St Leonards to Craighall,[6] including St Leonards Tunnel, Scotland's earliest tunnel on a public railway, and the early cast iron bridge at Braid Burn (erected in March).
- August – the Dugald Stewart Monument in Edinburgh, designed by W. H. Playfair, is completed.
- 1 August – the Roman Catholic St Thomas's Church, Keith, is opened for worship.
- 27 September – formal opening of Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway: locomotive St Rollox hauls Scotland’s first steam-worked passenger train from the Townhead terminus at Glasgow to Gartsherrie.[3]
- 16 December – opening of first section of Dundee and Newtyle Railway, the first public railway in the north of Scotland (horse worked).[7]
- 23 December – the second cholera pandemic (1829–51) reaches Scotland.[8]
- The Ardrossan and Johnstone Railway opens as a waggonway from Johnstone to Kilwinning.[9]
- Dunnet Head lighthouse, designed by Robert Stevenson, is built.
- North Church in Aberdeen, designed by John Smith, is opened.
- The Burns Monument, Edinburgh (on Calton Hill), is designed by Thomas Hamilton.
- William Wallace invents the eidograph.[10]
- Glenugie distillery is established as Invernettie at Peterhead by Donald McLeod;[11] Talisker distillery is built at Carbost, Talisker, Skye, by Hugh and Kenneth MacAskill.
Births
edit- 31 January – Alexander Balmain Bruce, theologian (died 1899)
- February – George Stewart, recipient of the Victoria Cross (died 1868 in England)
- 31 March – Archibald Scott Couper, organic chemist (died 1892)
- 2 April – David MacGibbon, architect (died 1902)
- 26 April – James Donaldson, classical scholar, educationalist and theological writer (died 1915)
- 28 April – Peter Tait, mathematical physicist (died 1901)
- 7 May – Richard Norman Shaw, architect (died 1912 in England)
- 28 May – Richard B. Angus, financier (died 1922 in Canada)
- 13 June – James Clerk Maxwell, physicist (died 1879 in England)
- 24 June – Robert Wallace, writer and politician (died 1899 in England)
- 3 July – Edmund Yates, writer (died 1894 in England)
- 18 July – John Skelton, lawyer, author and administrator (died 1897)
- 17 August – John McLaren, politician and judge (died 1910)
- 13 September – Andrew Noble, physicist (died 1915)
- 12 October – Helen Acquroff, pianist, singer, poet and music teacher (died 1887)[12]
- 17 October – Isa Craig, née Knox, poet (died 1903 in England)
- 23 November – David MacKay, recipient of the Victoria Cross (died 1880)
- 25 December – John Bartholomew, cartographer (died 1893)
Deaths
edit- 14 January – Henry Mackenzie, novelist (born 1745)
- 4 February – William Ritchie, newspaper editor (born 1781)
- 14 February – Robert Brown, agriculturalist (born 1757)
- 22 March – William Symington, engineer and steamboat builder (born 1764; died in London)
- May – James Campbell, army officer (born 1745)
- 1 July – Archibald Cochrane, 9th Earl of Dundonald, industrial chemist (born 1748; died in Paris)
- 16 August – Sir Hugh Innes, politician (born c. 1764)
- 17 August – Patrick Nasmyth, landscape painter (born 1787)
- Joseph Lowe, economist
The arts
edit- James Hogg publishes Songs, by the Ettrick Shepherd.[13]
- The Literary and Commercial Society of Glasgow is last known to be active.
See also
edit
References
edit- ^ The Glasgow Herald 25 March 1831.
- ^ The Glasgow Courier 12 May 1831.
- ^ a b c Martin, Don (1981). The Garnkirk & Glasgow Railway. Auld Kirk Museum Publications, no. 6. Strathkelvin District Libraries & Museums. pp. 14–19. ISBN 0-904966-06-2.
- ^ The Glasgow Courier 4 June 1831.
- ^ The Glasgow Herald 10 June 1831.
- ^ Thomas, John (1971). A regional history of the railways of Great Britain, volume VI: Scotland – the Lowlands and the Borders. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. p. 234. ISBN 0-7153-5408-6.
- ^ Awdry, Christopher (1990). Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies. Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0049-7. OCLC 19514063. CN 8983.
- ^ "Chronology of Scottish History". A Timeline of Scottish History. Rampant Scotland. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
- ^ Lewin, Henry Grote (1925). Early British Railways: A short history of their origin and development 1801–1844. London: The Locomotive Publishing Co. pp. 17–18. OCLC 11064369.
- ^ Waterston, Charles D.; Shearer, A. Macmillan (July 2006). Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002: Biographical Index (PDF). Vol. 2. Royal Society of Edinburgh. p. 964. ISBN 978-0-902198-84-5. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
- ^ Halley, Ned (2005). The Wordsworth Dictionary of Drink. Ware: Wordsworth Editions. p. 257. ISBN 978-1-84022-302-6. Retrieved 13 September 2008.
- ^ Ewan, Elizabeth; Pipes, Rose; Rendall, Jane; Reynolds, Siân (eds.). The new biographical dictionary of Scottish women. Edinburgh University Press. p. 4. ISBN 9781474436281.
- ^ Cox, Michael, ed. (2004). The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-860634-6.