1948 in Scotland

← 1947 1946 1945 1944 1943 1948 in Scotland → 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s
See also:	List of years in Scotland Timeline of Scottish history 1948 in: The UK • Wales • Elsewhere Scottish football: 1947–48 • 1948–49

Events from the year 1948 in Scotland.

Incumbents

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

• Secretary of State for Scotland and Keeper of the Great Seal – Arthur Woodburn

Law officers

• Lord Advocate – John Thomas Wheatley
• Solicitor General for Scotland – Douglas Johnston

Judiciary

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

Events

• 1 January – A Scottish Region of British Railways begins to operate as a result of nationalisation of rail transport in Great Britain under the Transport Act 1947.^[1]
• 6 February – Last judicial hanging at HM Prison Perth, Stanislaw Miszka for the murder of Catherine McIntyre.
• June – During this year's Highland Show, held at Inverness, the Royal title is bestowed on the event by King George VI.
• 30 June – Glenrothes is designated as a new town under the New Towns Act 1946.^[2]
• 5 July – The National Health Service begins operating as a result of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1947.
• 20 October – 1948 KLM Constellation air disaster: A KLM Lockheed Constellation airliner crashes into power cables on approach to Prestwick Airport, killing all 40 on board.^[3]
• 20 December – Scottish advocate Margaret Kidd becomes the first British woman King's Counsel in Britain.^[4]
• Timex watch and clock factory in Dundee begins operation.
• State Institution for Mental Defectives opens at Carstairs for those with mental disorder following temporary use of the premises as an Army hospital.^[5]

Births

• 8 January – Gillies MacKinnon, film director
• 11 January – Joe Harper, international footballer
• 3 February – Maev Alexander, television and stage actress
• 9 February – David Hayman, actor and director
• 24 February – Walter Smith, football manager (died 2021)
• 26 February – Malcolm MacDonald, classical music critic (died 2014 in England)
• 3 March – Rosemary Byrne, Scottish Socialist Party then Solidarity MSP (2003–2007)
• 7 March - Adam McLean, writer on alchemical texts
• 25 March – Lynn Faulds Wood, television consumer affairs presenter and health campaigner (died 2020 in England)
• 29 March – Marjorie Ritchie, animal researcher and animal surgeon, part of team who cloned Dolly the sheep (died 2015)
• 8 April – Barbara Young, public servant and Labour peer
• 20 April – Merlin Hay, 24th Earl of Erroll, colonel and politician, Lord High Constable of Scotland
• 28 April – Scott Fitzgerald, born William McPhail, singer and musical actor
• 11 May – Fiona Woolf, born Catherine Fiona Swain, lawyer and Lord Mayor of London
• 21 May – Denis MacShane, born Denis Matyjaszek, journalist and Labour Party MP
• 8 June – Lorna Heilbron, actress
• 10 June – Brian Adam, politician and biochemist (died 2013)^[6]
• 15 June – Henry McLeish, footballer, Labour Party MP (1987–2001), MSP (1999–2001) and First Minister of Scotland (2000–2001)
• 19 June – David MacLennan, theatre actor and producer (died 2014)
• 20 June – Alan Longmuir, pop guitarist with the Bay City Rollers (died 2018)
• 18 July – Jim Watt, lightweight boxer
• 5 August – Gordon Jackson, Labour Party MSP (1999–2007) and lawyer
• 11 August – Don Boyd, film director, producer, screenwriter and novelist
• 24 October – Frank McPhee, gangland boss (died 2000)
• 3 November – Lulu, born Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie, singer^[7]
• 24 November – Barry Simmons, quiz player
• 29 November – David Rintoul, actor
• 8 December – Peter Blake, actor (died 2018)
• 13 December – Brian Wilson, Labour Party MP (1987–2005)
• 31 December – Sandy Jardine, international footballer and manager (died 2014)
• David Annand, sculptor
• James Cosmo, actor
• James Hunter, historian
• John Kay, economist
• Edward McGuire, composer
• Robert Mone, murderer
• John Lowrie Morrison, artist
• Janet Paisley, writer (died 2018)
• Tom Russell, rock disc jockey

Deaths

• 31 January – Oscar Slater, acquitted of murder (born 1872 in Silesia)
• 21 February – Frederic Lamond, classical pianist and composer, pupil of Franz Liszt (born 1868)
• 9 March - William J. Watson, toponymist (born 1865)
• 27 March - Douglas Ainslie, poet, translator, critic and diplomat (born 1865)
• 28 May – Unity Mitford, socialite and fascist (born 1914 in England)
• 1 June – David Anderson, Lord St Vigeans, Scottish advocate and judge, Chairman of the Scottish Land Court 1918–34 (born 1862)
• 21 June – D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, biologist (born 1860)
• 17 July – Joseph Westwood, Labour MP (1922–31, 1935-1948) (born 1884)
• 19 November – Charles Jarvis, soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (born 1881)
• 24 November - O. Douglas, novelist (born 1877)

The arts

• Sydney Goodsir Smith's Under the Eildon Tree: a poem in XXIV elegies is published in Edinburgh.

See also

• 1948 in Northern Ireland

References

1. "The Lost Decade Timeline". BBC. Archived from the original on 21 August 2006. Retrieved 2007-09-25.
2. "No. 16556". The Edinburgh Gazette. 2 July 1948. pp. 299–300.
3. At about 23:32 UTC. "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 18 November 2014. Contemporary British reports, e.g. The Times newspaper (October 1948) and the Court of Investigation report (November 1949), cite the accident as occurring early on 21 October.
4. "Dame Margaret Henderson Kidd". On this day in Scotland. ianthepict. 14 March 2012. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
5. "History of the State Hospital" (PDF). NHS Scotland. January 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 September 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2014. The terminology used in this section, describing patients and the bodies looking after them, is no longer used today.
6. "Obituary: Brian Adam MSP, politician and biochemist". www.scotsman.com. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
7. "Lulu's Musical Map Of Glasgow". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 8 March 2021.