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Centuries:	18th; 19th; 20th; 21st; ;
Decades:	1920s; 1930s; 1940s; 1950s; 1960s;
See also:	List of years in Scotland; Timeline of Scottish history; 1944 in: The UK • England • Wales • Elsewhere; Scottish football: 1943–44 • 1944–45

Events from the year 1944 in Scotland.

Incumbents

Secretary of State for Scotland and Keeper of the Great Seal – Tom Johnston

Law officers

Judiciary

Events

17 February – Kirkcaldy Burghs by-election is held. The Scottish National Party candidate Douglas Young comes close to winning the seat (which is retained by Labour candidate, Thomas Hubbard).^[1]
6 June – World War II: Normandy landings – Brigadier Lord Lovat leads the 1st Special Service Brigade ashore with his personal piper Bill Millin.^[2]
26–30 June – World War II: the 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division spearhead Operation Epsom, also known as the First Battle of the Odon, during the Battle of Normandy.
September – Churchill Barriers on Orkney completed, together with the Italian Chapel on Lamb Holm.
9 November – The House of the Binns (near Linlithgow) becomes the first estate house given to the National Trust for Scotland (by Eleanor Dalyell).
12 November – World War II: sinking of the German battleship Tirpitz at Tromsø by Lancaster bombers of No. 9 and 617 Squadrons flying from RAF Lossiemouth.^[3]
30 November – HMS Vanguard (23) is launched at John Brown & Company's shipyard at Clydebank by the Princess Elizabeth. The Royal Navy's largest, fastest and last battleship, she was laid down in October 1941 and will be in commission from 1946 to 1960.^[4]
December – 97 Italians tunnel out of a prisoner-of-war camp at Doonfoot but are quickly recaptured.^[5]

Births

23 January – John McCluskey, boxer (died 2015)
31 January – Robin Murray, psychiatrist
19 February – Ron Mathewson, jazz double bassist and bass guitarist (died 2020)
25 February – Campbell Armstrong (born Thomas Campbell Black), novelist (died 2013 in Ireland)
2 March – Stuart McGugan, actor
11 March – Graham Lyle, singer-songwriter
23 March – Maoilios Caimbeul (Myles Campbell) writer of poetry, prose and children's literature in Scottish Gaelic
19 April – Andrew Welsh, Scottish National Party politician (died 2021)
3 May – Carl Forgione, actor (died 1998 in England)
13 May – Vivien Heilbron, actress
17 May – Jimmy Boyle, sculptor, writer and murderer
5 June – Jim Brogan, footballer (died 2018)
3 July – Paul Young, actor
7 July – George Logan, entertainer (died 2023 in France)
8 August – Robert Smith, Baron Smith of Kelvin, businessman, chairman of the Green Investment Bank
11 August – Ian McDiarmid, actor
17 August – Bobby Murdoch, international footballer (died 2001)
22 August – Tom Leonard, poet (died 2018)
13 September – Leslie Harvey, rock guitarist (died 1972)
21 September – Susan Fleetwood, stage, film and television actress (died 1995 in England)
21 September – Christopher Harvie, historian and Scottish National Party politician
23 September – Eric Bogle, folk singer-songwriter in Australia
30 September – Jimmy Johnstone, international footballer (died 2006)^[6]
3 October – Harry Hood, footballer (died 2019)
17 November – Malcolm Bruce, Liberal politician
23 November – Christopher Rush, writer
28 November – James Smillie, actor and singer
12 December – Kenneth Cranham, actor
29 December – Gilbert Adair, novelist, poet, film critic and journalist (died 2011 in London)
Alison Fell, poet and novelist
Shena Mackay, novelist

Deaths

8 February – John Watson, advocate and sheriff, Solicitor General for Scotland 1929–31 (born 1883; dies on train to Scotland)
29 February - Durward Lely, opera singer and actor (born 1852)
16 March – David Prain, botanist (born 1857)
23 June - J. Storer Clouston, author and historian (born 1870 in Cumberland)
5 July – Robert William Hamilton, Liberal politician and MP (born 1867)
6 July - Alexander Lorne Campbell, architect (born 1871)
11 July – Sir Daniel Macaulay Stevenson, shipbroker, Liberal politician and philanthropist (born 1851)
11 August – William Fife, yacht designer (born 1857)
16 August – Walter Robberds, Bishop of Brechin and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church (born 1863 in the British Raj)
27 September – David Dougal Williams, painter (born 1888 in England)

References

^ "House of Commons". Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page. 28 March 2008. Archived from the original on 7 June 2008. Retrieved 17 July 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^ "Bill Millin". The Economist. London. 28 August 2010. p. 76. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
^ "History". RAF Lossiemouth. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
^ McCart, Neil (2001). HMS Vanguard 1944–1960: Britain's Last Battleship. Liskeard, Cornwall: Maritime Books. ISBN 0-907771-83-1.
^ "PoW Camp Summary WW II". Secret Scotland. 31 July 2013. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
^ Glanville, Brian (14 March 2006). "Obituary: Jimmy Johnstone". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 February 2018.