1956 in Scotland
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{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2015}}
{{Year in Scotland| 1956 }}
Events from the year 1956 in Scotland.
Incumbents
{{further|Politics of Scotland|Order of precedence in Scotland}}
= Law officers =
= Judiciary =
Events
- 7 March – The first floodlit Scottish Football League match is played at Ibrox Park in Glasgow; home team Rangers F.C. beat Queen of the South 8–0.{{cite web|work=The Flag in the Wind |title=Notable Dates in History |publisher=The Scots Independent |url=http://www.scotsindependent.org/dates1-g.htm |access-date=2014-07-16 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140523225830/http://www.scotsindependent.org/dates1-g.htm |archive-date=23 May 2014 }}
- 1 June – Elsie Stephenson becomes founding director of the Nurse Teaching Unit, University of Edinburgh, the first nurse teaching unit within a British university.
- 4 July – The National Library of Scotland's first purpose-built premises are opened on George IV Bridge in Edinburgh.{{cite news|title=Bute Collection for Scotland: Library Opening by The Queen|work=The Times|date=1956-07-05|page=12|issue=53575}}
- 29 July – the Ecurie Ecosse motor racing team, Ninian Sanderson and Ron Flockhart, win the 1956 24 Hours of Le Mans race.
- 14 August – death of John Crichton-Stuart, 5th Marquess of Bute (born 1904); he bequeaths the uninhabited islands of St Kilda to the National Trust for Scotland as a bird sanctuary.
- 25 September – the TAT-1 transatlantic telephone cable between the UK and North America is inaugurated;{{cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-14-102715-0|year=2006}} it comes ashore near Oban.
- 4 October – Prince's Cairn unveiled at Loch nan Uamh to mark the spot where Charles Edward Stuart left Scotland in 1746 after failure of the Jacobite rising of 1745.{{cite web|title=The Loch of the Caves|url=http://www.1745association.org.uk/Loch%20Nan%20Uamh.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060621054433/http://www.1745association.org.uk/Loch%20Nan%20Uamh.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=21 June 2006|access-date=2014-07-16}}
- 20 October – Dundee Corporation Tramways last operate.
- 16 November – Edinburgh Corporation Tramways last operate. Trams return to Edinburgh after much delay on 31 May 2014.
- 2 December – in the 1956 Summer Olympics at Melbourne, Richard McTaggart of Dundee wins a gold medal in lightweight boxing.
- 10 December – Thurso life-boat destroyed when its boathouse is burnt out.
- The Scottish Medical Journal is first published in Edinburgh following merger of the Edinburgh Medical Journal and The Glasgow Medical Journal.
Births
- 7 January – Ian Bell, journalist (died 2015)
- 11 January – Phyllis Logan, actress
- 12 January – Myra McFadyen, actress (died 2024)
- 22 February – Philip Kerr, writer (died 2018)
- 25 February – Davie Cooper, footballer (died 1995)
- 19 April – Anne Glover, biologist
- 7 May – Calum MacDonald, Labour MP
- 2 June – Susan Rae, radio newsreader
- 22 June - Derek Forbes, Musician
- 7 September – Robert Reed, judge, President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
- 26 September – Mick Imlah, poet (died 2009 in England)
- 3 November – Cathy Jamieson, Labour MP
- 29 December – Fred MacAulay, comedian
- Lachlan Mackinnon, poet and critic
Deaths
- 11 January – Buchanan Sharp, footballer (born 1894)
- 30 May – Sir John Stirling-Maxwell, 10th Baronet, Conservative politician and philanthropist (born 1866)
- 21 September – Bill Struth, football manager (born 1876)
- 6 December – Helen Duncan, medium (born 1897)