← 1815 1814 1813 1812 1811 1816 in Scotland → 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821
Centuries:	17th 18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1790s 1800s 1810s 1820s 1830s
See also:	List of years in Scotland Timeline of Scottish history 1816 in: The UK • Wales • Ireland • Elsewhere

Events from the year 1816 in Scotland.

Incumbents[edit]

• 
  Monarch – George III
  

Law officers[edit]

• 
  Lord Advocate – Archibald Colquhoun; then Alexander Maconochie
  


• 
  Solicitor General for Scotland – Alexander Maconochie; then James Wedderburn
  

Judiciary[edit]

• 
  Lord President of the Court of Session – Lord Granton
  


• 
  Lord Justice General – The Duke of Montrose
  


• 
  Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Boyle
  

Events[edit]

• April – Highland Clearances: Factor Patrick Sellar is tried but acquitted at Inverness of culpable homicide during the mass expulsion of crofting tenants from Strathnaver in 1814.^[1]
  


• 
  18 June – causeway, bridge and sluice across Loch Fleet at The Mound, designed by Thomas Telford, completed.


• 
  13 August – an earthquake in Inverness is the strongest ever in Scotland.^[2]
  


• 
  1 September – the Northern Lighthouse Board's new light on the Isle of May, designed by Robert Stevenson, is completed.^[3]
  


• The Nelson Monument, Edinburgh, on Calton Hill, is completed.


• Logie Bridge at Ferness completed to a design by Telford;^[4] as also is the bridge at Contin and the harbour at Portmahomack.


• 
  Suspension footbridge erected over the Gala Water in Galashiels^[5] and upper arch bridge at Rumbling Bridge completed.


• 
  David Brewster discovers stress birefringence.


• Rev. Robert Stirling obtains a U.K. patent for the Stirling hot air engine.


• 
  Lagavulin distillery established on Islay.


• 
  St Andrew's Cathedral, Glasgow, is completed as the city's first post-Reformation Roman Catholic church (architect: James Gillespie Graham).


• First Jewish community in Edinburgh in modern times established.


• The Edinburgh Races and Caledonian Hunt are held for the first time at Musselburgh Racecourse rather than on the sands of Leith.^[6][7]
  

Births[edit]

• 5 January
  
  
  
  • 
    James Brunlees, civil engineer (died 1892)
  
  
  • 
    Daniel Wilson, archaeologist and academic (died 1892 in Canada)
  
  
  
  


• 
  11 January – Henry Robertson, railway promoter (died 1888 in Wales)


• 
  3 February – Archibald McKellar, politician in Ontario (died 1894 in Canada)


• 
  14 February – James Morison, evangelical (died 1893)


• 
  13 June – Charles Alexander, merchant and politician in Quebec (died 1905 in Canada)


• 
  1 September – James Drummond, historical painter and curator (died 1877)


• 
  16 September – Theodore Martin, writer (died 1909)


• 
  30 September – Archibald Sturrock, steam locomotive engineer (died 1909)


• 
  12 October – Alexander Bryson, scientist (died 1866)

Deaths[edit]

• 
  22 February – Adam Ferguson, philosopher and historian (born 1723)


• 
  28 February – Archibald Bruce, theologian (born 1746)


• 
  14 June – Allan Maconochie, jurist (born 1748)


• 
  25 December – Hercules Ross, merchant in Jamaica (born 1745)

The arts[edit]

• 
  Walter Scott's novels The Antiquary, The Black Dwarf and Old Mortality are published.


• The Elgin Marbles are purchased by the British government from Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, for the British Museum in London.

See also[edit]

• Timeline of Scottish history


• 1816 in the United Kingdom

References[edit]