1856 in Scotland
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{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2016}}
{{Year in Scotland| 1856 }}
Events from the year 1856 in Scotland.
Incumbents
{{further|Politics of Scotland|Order of precedence in Scotland}}
= Law officers =
= Judiciary =
Events
- 4 January – Faculty of Actuaries established.
- February – an oak{{cite book|first=Julian|last=Hight|title=Britain's Tree Story|location=London|publisher=National Trust|year=2011|isbn=978-1-907892-20-2|page=25}} and a yew{{cite web|first=Paul|last=Greenwood|title=William Wallace's Yew|url=http://www.ancient-yew.org/mi.php/william-wallaces-yew/85|year=2005|publisher=Ancient Yew Group|access-date=2014-08-26}} tree associated with William Wallace at his reputed birthplace of Elderslie are blown down in a storm.
- 1 April – Aberdeen Waterloo railway station opens to serve the Great North of Scotland Railway main line to Keith.
- November – James Clerk Maxwell takes up an appointment as Professor of Natural Philosophy at Marischal College, Aberdeen.
- 31 December – Lord Brougham's Act requires at least one party to a marriage contracted after this date to have been resident in Scotland for 21 days, putting a curb on Gretna Green marriage.{{cite web|title=Lord Brougham Cooling off Act 1856|url=http://www.gretnagreen.com/lord-brougham-cooling-off-act-1856-a748|work=Gretna Green since 1754|publisher=Gretna Green Ltd|access-date=2014-05-08|archive-date=9 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140509001937/http://www.gretnagreen.com/lord-brougham-cooling-off-act-1856-a748|url-status=dead}}
Image:Otiselevator 1856.jpg elevator in Glasgow, imported from the U.S. in 1856 for Gardner's Warehouse, the oldest cast-iron fronted building in the British Isles]]
- Trinity College, Glasgow, established as a Church College of the Free Church of Scotland.
- Dunfermline claims city status in the United Kingdom by historical usage; the status is never officially recognised.{{cite book|title=City status in the British Isles, 1830–2002|series=Historical urban studies|last=Beckett|first=J. V.|year=2005|publisher=Ashgate|location=Aldershot|isbn=0-7546-5067-7}}
- William McEwan opens McEwan's Fountain Brewery at Fountainbridge in Edinburgh.
- The iron steamboat Thomas is built for service on the Forth and Clyde Canal, origin of the Clyde puffer.
- The Clyde Model Yacht Club, a predecessor of the Royal Northern and Clyde Yacht Club, is established.
Births
- 30 May – James Pittendrigh Macgillivray, sculptor and poet (died 1938)
- 5 July – Ion Keith-Falconer, road racing cyclist, Arabic scholar and missionary (died 1887 in Aden)
- 15 August – Keir Hardie, socialist and labour leader (died 1915){{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/keir_hardie_james.shtml|title=James Keir Hardie (1856–1915)|publisher=BBC|access-date=2013-06-24}}
- 13 September – Henry Halcro Johnston, botanist, army physician and rugby union international (died 1939)
- 27 November – Matthew Stirling, locomotive engineer (died 1931 in Hull)
- 1 December – Malcolm Smith, Liberal politician (died 1935)
- William W. Naismith, mountaineer (died 1935)
- William Robertson, industrialist (died 1923)
Deaths
- August – James Bremner, shipbuilder and salvor (born 1784)
- 30 August – John Ross, naval officer and Arctic explorer (born 1777)
- 20 September – Samuel Morison Brown, chemist, poet and essayist (born 1817)
- 23/24 December – Hugh Miller, geologist, by suicide (born 1802)
- 25 February – George Don, botanist (born 1798)
The arts
- McLellan Galleries opened in Glasgow.