1809 in Scotland

{{further|Politics of Scotland|Order of precedence in Scotland}}

• Lord Advocate – Archibald Colquhoun
• Solicitor General for Scotland – David Boyle

• Lord President of the Court of Session – Lord Avontoun
• Lord Justice General – The Duke of Montrose
• Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Granton

• {{circa|April}} – the General Association of Operative Weavers is formed.Timeline of Glasgow history.
• May – a construction railway at the site of Bell Rock Lighthouse is completed.{{cite web|first=David|last=Taylor|title=Bell Rock Lighthouse|work=Bellrock.org.uk|url=http://www.bellrock.org.uk|access-date=2012-08-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928012048/http://www.bellrock.org.uk/|date=April 2007|archive-date=2007-09-28}}
• August – Crinan Canal declared "finally complete".{{cite book|first=Jean|last=Lindsay|title=The Canals of Scotland|location=Newton Abbot|publisher=David & Charles|year=1968|isbn=0-7153-4240-1|page=124}}
• 16 August – Meikle Ferry disaster: An overloaded ferry crossing the Dornoch Firth to Tain market sinks, drowning 99.{{cite web|title=Disasters|work=Society|publisher=Am Baile|url=http://www.ambaile.org.uk/en/sub_section.jsp?SectionID=7¤tId=196|access-date=2014-08-15|archive-date=12 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812233822/http://ambaile.org.uk/en/sub_section.jsp?SectionID=7¤tId=196|url-status=dead}}
• November – Thomas Telford certifies completion of his Dunkeld–Birnam bridge.{{cite web|title=Telford's Bridge|url=http://www.dunkeldandbirnam.org.uk/history-heritage/1550-Telfords-Bridge|publisher=Dunkeld & Birnam Tourist Association|access-date=2014-08-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819125824/http://www.dunkeldandbirnam.org.uk/history-heritage/1550-Telfords-Bridge|archive-date=19 August 2014|url-status=dead}} His bridges at Ballater and Conon Bridge are also completed this year.
• 11 November – the North British and Mercantile Insurance company commences business as a fire insurance office in Edinburgh.{{cite web|title=North British and Mercantile Insurance Co Ltd|url=http://www.aviva.com/about-us/heritage/companies/north-british-and-mercantile-insurance/|publisher=Aviva|access-date=2014-08-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808083549/http://www.aviva.com/about-us/heritage/companies/north-british-and-mercantile-insurance/|archive-date=8 August 2014|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}
• 9 December – the Dumfries Courier is established as a weekly newspaper in Annan by Rev. Dr. Henry Duncan as The Dumfries and Galloway Courier.{{cite book|last=Duncan|first=George John C.|title=Memoir of the Rev. Henry Duncan, D.D., Minister of Ruthwell, Founder of Savings Banks, Author of Sacred Philosophy of the Seasons, &c., &c.|date=1848|publisher=W. Oliphant Hamilton, Adams|location=Edinburgh; London|pages=77}}
• Highland Clearances – first commissioner for clearance of the Leveson-Gower family estates in Scotland for sheep farming, William Young, is appointed.
• The Tally Toor, a Martello tower, is erected off Leith.{{cite web|url=http://www.leithhistory.co.uk/2004/05/26/the-martello-tower/|work=History of Leith|title=The Martello Tower|access-date=2014-08-15|archive-date=28 September 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928210818/http://www.leithhistory.co.uk/2004/05/26/the-martello-tower/|url-status=dead}}
• A bridge over the River Cart is washed away in a flood.{{cite web|title=White Cart Bridge|work=Secret Scotland|url=http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/index.php/Secrets/WhiteCartBridge|date=2013-03-30|access-date=2014-08-15}}
• Blackie and Son, publishers, are established in Glasgow by John Blackie as Blackie, Fullarton and Company.
• The Scottish Bible Society is established as the Edinburgh Bible Society, a missionary organization, by Christopher Anderson.
• The Caledonian Horticultural Society is established in Edinburgh.
• Arthur Edmondston's A View of the Ancient and Present State of the Zetland Islands is published.

• 16 February – John Laing, bibliographer and Free Church minister (died 1880)
• 20 April – James David Forbes, physicist, glaciologist and seismologist (died 1868 in Bristol)
• 7 June – William Forbes Skene, historian (died 1892)
• 22 August – John Hill Burton, historian (died 1881)
• 27 August – John West, pioneer of food canning (died 1888 in the United States)
• 8 September – Robert Reid Kalley, physician and Presbyterian missionary to the lusophone countries (died 1888)
• 21 October – John Stenhouse, chemist (died 1880 in London)
• 24 October – John Barr, poet (died 1889 in New Zealand)
• 29 December – William Ewart Gladstone, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born in Liverpool; died 1898 in Wales)
• Alexander Allan, locomotive engineer (died 1891 in England)
• Archibald Campbell, born Douglas, laird (died 1868)

• 14 January – Robert Anstruther, British Army general (born 1768; died on active service at Corunna)
• 16 January – John Moore, British Army general (born 1761; killed in Battle of Corunna)
• 24 January – James Duff, 2nd Earl Fife (born 1729; died in London)
• 25 February – John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, colonial governor (born 1730; died in Ramsgate)
• 10 May – Andrew Bell, engraver, co-founder of the Encyclopædia Britannica (born 1726)
• 3 August – Andrew Mackay, mathematician (born 1760; died in London)
• 29 August – Robert Melvill, British Army general and antiquary (born 1723)
• 8 October – James Elphinston, philologist (born 1721; died in London)
• 18 December – Alexander Adam, classical scholar (born 1741)
• Sir William Douglas, 1st Baronet, landowner and industrialist

• 1809 in Ireland

{{Reflist}}

{{Years in Scotland}}

Category:Years of the 19th century in Scotland

Category:1800s in Scotland