1816 in Scotland
{{Short description|none}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2016}}
{{Year in Scotland|1816}}
Events from the year 1816 in Scotland.
Incumbents
{{further|Politics of Scotland|Order of precedence in Scotland}}
= Law officers =
= Judiciary =
Events
- 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.{{cite web|first=Eric|last=Richards|title=Sellar, Patrick (1780–1851)|work=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2004|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/25055|access-date=2016-03-09|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/25055}} {{ODNBsub}}
- 21 May – Highland Society of London (established 1778) incorporated by Act of Parliament.
- 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.{{cite book|title=The Guinness Book of Answers|location=Enfield|publisher=Guinness Superlatives|edition=3rd|year=1980|isbn=0-85112-202-7|page=56}}
- 1 September – the Northern Lighthouse Board's new light on the Isle of May, designed by Robert Stevenson, is completed.{{cite web|url=https://www.nlb.org.uk/LighthouseLibrary/Lighthouse/Isle-of-May/|publisher=Northern Lighthouse Board|title=Isle of May|access-date=2014-08-27}}
- The Nelson Monument, Edinburgh, on Calton Hill, is completed.
- Logie Bridge at Ferness completed to a design by Telford;{{cite web|title=Logie Bridge|url=http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/15487/details/logie+bridge/|work=Canmore|publisher=Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland|year=2007|access-date=2014-08-09}} as also is the bridge at Contin and the harbour at Portmahomack.
- Suspension footbridge erected over the Gala Water in Galashiels{{cite web|title=1816 Galashiels|url=http://www.bridgemeister.com/bridge.php?bid=584|publisher=Bridgemeister|access-date=2014-05-23}} 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.{{cite web|title=History of Edinburgh|url=http://www.visionsofscotland.co.uk/EdinHistory.htm|work=Visions of Scotland|access-date=2014-05-15|archive-date=14 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150214170220/http://www.visionsofscotland.co.uk/EdinHistory.htm|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://www.johngraycentre.org/east-lothian-subjects/leisure/horse-racing-at-musselburgh/|title=Horse-racing at Musselburgh|publisher=John Gray Centre|location=Haddington, East Lothian|access-date=2014-05-15}}
Births
- 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
- 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
- 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.