1879 in Scotland

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

• Lord Advocate – William Watson
• Solicitor General for Scotland – John Macdonald

• Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General – Lord Glencorse
• Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Moncreiff

File:Catastrophe du pont sur le Tay - 1879 - Photo.jpg]]

• 4 January – Dundee-born Mormon missionary Hugh Findlay arrives in Shetland from the United States and on 31 March baptizes the islands' first two converts.{{cite book|last=Jensen|first=Andrew|title=Church Chronology: A Record of Important Events Pertaining to the History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|year=1914|page=103|isbn=1-4179-6854-0}}
• 25 January – first service held in St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh (Episcopal) on completion of the nave.
• 1 April – Dundee Stock Exchange established.
• 6 June – William Denny and Brothers launch the world's first ocean-going steamer to be built of mild steel, the SS Rotomahana, at Dumbarton.{{cite web|title=SS Rotomahana|work=Clydebuilt|url=http://www.clydesite.co.uk/clydebuilt/viewship.asp?id=10503|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050312163620/http://www.clydesite.co.uk/clydebuilt/viewship.asp?id=10503|url-status=dead|archive-date=2005-03-12|access-date=2014-04-14}}
• 31 July – the Caledonian Railway opens the original Glasgow Central station.
• 30 September – foundation stone of the Forth Bridge is laid on Inchgarvie.
• 2 October – William Denny and Brothers launch the world's first transatlantic steamer to be built of mild steel, the SS Buenos Ayrean, at Dumbarton. On 1 December she makes her maiden voyage out of Glasgow for South America.{{cite web|title=S/S Buenos Ayrean, Allan Line|url=http://www.norwayheritage.com/p_ship.asp?sh=bueay|work=Norway Heritage|access-date=2016-03-11}}
• 28 December – the Tay Bridge disaster: the central part of the new Tay Bridge at Dundee collapses in a storm as a train passes over it, killing 78.{{cite book|last=Palmer|first=Alan|last2=Palmer |first2=Veronica|year=1992|title=The Chronology of British History|publisher=Century Ltd|location=London|pages=303–304|isbn=0-7126-5616-2}}
• Construction of Garnethill Synagogue, Glasgow, the oldest to survive in Scotland, begins.
• Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh moves to Lauriston Place.
• First Angus cattle society formed.

• 13 January – William Reid Dick, sculptor (died 1961 in England)
• 16 January – Jimmy Gillespie, rugby union player (died 1943)
• 27 March – Catherine Carswell, née Catherine Roxburgh Macfarlane, author (died 1946 in England)
• 29 March – Evelyn Vida Baxter, ornithologist (died 1959){{cite book |last1=Ewan |first1=Elizabeth L. |last2=Innes |first2=Sue |last3=Reynolds |first3=Sian |last4=Pipes |first4=Rose |title=Biographical Dictionary of ScottishWomen |date=2007 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=9780748626601 |page=32 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zs6qBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA32 |language=en}}
• 24 August – John Maclean, Marxist (died 1923)
• 13 September – Tommy Tait, international footballer (died 1942)
• 21 October – Willie Anderson, golfer (died 1910 in the United States)
• 23 October – John MacDougall Hay, Church of Scotland minister and novelist (died 1919)
• John Maxwell, film producer (died 1940 in England)
• Henry J. Watt, experimental psychologist (died 1925)

• 19 June – James Valentine, photographer (born 1815)
• 23 July – Charles Baillie, Lord Jerviswoode, advocate, judge and politician (born 1804)
• 29 October – John Blackwood, publisher (born 1818)
• 5 November – James Clerk Maxwell, theoretical physicist (born 1831; died of abdominal cancer in Cambridge){{cite book|last=Harman|first=Peter M.|title=The Natural Philosophy of James Clerk Maxwell|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qf6jtc4nZisC|year=1998|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-00585-X}}
• 23 November – Mark Napier, lawyer, sheriff, biographer and historical author (born 1798)

• 6 September – first publication of a story by Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Mystery of Sasassa Valley" in Chambers's Journal.
• Construction of Royalty Theatre, Glasgow, completed.

• Timeline of Scottish history
• 1879 in Ireland

{{Reflist}}

{{Years in Scotland}}

{{Year in Europe|1879}}

Category:Years of the 19th century in Scotland

Scotland

Category:1870s in Scotland