1857 in Scotland

← 1856 1855 1854 1853 1852 1857 in Scotland → 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862
Centuries:	17th 18th 19th 20th 21st
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See also:	List of years in Scotland Timeline of Scottish history 1857 in: The UK • Wales • Elsewhere

Events from the year 1857 in Scotland.

Incumbents

Further information: Politics of Scotland and Order of precedence in Scotland

Law officers

• Lord Advocate – James Moncreiff
• Solicitor General for Scotland – Edward Maitland

Judiciary

• Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General – Lord Colonsay
• Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Glencorse

Events

• 18 March – the Greenock Telegraph begins publication.
• 1 May – Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland inaugurated in Glasgow.
• 30 June – 9 July: trial of Madeleine Smith, charged with the poisoning of a former lover in Glasgow; a "not proven" verdict is returned.^[1]
• 9 November – The Western Bank of Scotland (Glasgow) collapses.^[2]
• 16 November – the 93rd (Sutherland Highlanders) Regiment of Foot wins six Victoria Crosses in the storming of Sikandar Bagh during the second relief of Lucknow in the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
• Police (Scotland) Act 1857 makes the provision of a police force mandatory in the counties of Scotland.
• Lunga, Treshnish Isles, is depopulated.^[3]
• First whaler to be fitted with a steam engine, the Tay at Dundee.^[4]
• W. C. Stewart publishes The Practical Angler.

Births

• 31 March – John James Burnet, architect (died 1938)
• 11 April – John Davidson, poet and playwright (drowned himself 1909 at Penzance)
• 15 May – Williamina Fleming, née Stevens, astronomer noted for her discovery of the Horsehead Nebula in 1888 (died 1911 in the United States)
• 15 June – William Fife, yacht designer (died 1944)
• 4 July – John Campbell, architect (died 1942 in New Zealand)
• 11 July – David Prain, botanist (died 1944)
• 19 September – James Bridie, international rugby union player (died 1893 in England)
• 2 October – John Macintyre, laryngologist and pioneer radiographer (died 1928)
• Date unknown – John Wilson, Lord Ashmore, Sheriff 1900–20, Senator of the College of Justice 1930–28 (died 1932)

Deaths

• 9 March – James Duff, 4th Earl Fife, general in Spanish service and landowner (born 1776)
• 19 March – William Henry Playfair, architect (born 1790 in London)
• 15 April – William Skinner, bishop and Primus (born 1778)
• 26 August – Christian Isobel Johnstone, writer and editor (born 1781)
• 14 October – Alexander Laing, "the Brechin poet" (born 1787)
• 18 November – John Fleming, minister, naturalist, zoologist and geologist (born 1785)

The arts

• Britannia Music Hall opened in Glasgow.

See also

• Timeline of Scottish history
• 1857 in Ireland

References

1. "A Trial of Passion". The Victorian Achievement. BBC. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
2. Saville, Richard (1996). Bank of Scotland: A History, 1695-1995. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 393–4. ISBN 978-0-7486-0757-0.
3. "Lunga". Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
4. Lythe, S. G. E. (1964). "Shipbuilding at Dundee down to 1914". Scottish Journal of Political Economy. 11 (3): 219–32. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9485.1964.tb00681.x.