1711 in Scotland

Incumbents

• Secretary of State for Scotland: The Duke of Queensberry, until 6 July; then The Earl of Mar

Law officers

• Lord Advocate – Sir David Dalrymple, 1st Baronet; then Sir James Stewart
• Solicitor General for Scotland – Thomas Kennedy jointly with Sir James Steuart, Bt.

Judiciary

• Lord President of the Court of Session – Lord North Berwick
• Lord Justice General – Lord Ilay
• Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Grange

Events

• 5 April – Elgin Cathedral's central tower collapses.
• 7 November – Dutch East Indiaman Liefde runs aground and sinks off Out Skerries, Shetland with the loss of all but one of her 300 crew.
• Church Patronage (Scotland) Act 1711 restores the right of patrons to present ministers to Church of Scotland churches.
• Scottish Episcopalians Act 1711 tolerates the right of the Scottish Episcopal Church to continue its Anglican form of liturgy and communion.
• Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company founded at Greenock.
• Weir constructed at Forestmill on the Black Devon by George Sorocold to feed Gartmorn Dam reservoir.
• Export duty on linen.

Births

• 26 April – David Hume, philosopher and economist
• 12 October – William Tytler, historian

• Alan Breck Stewart, Jacobite

Deaths

• 6 July – James Douglas, 2nd Duke of Queensberry, politician

• Sir James Foulis, 3rd Baronet, judge
• Adam Brown of Blackford, Lord Provost of Edinburgh died in office

The arts

• Publication of Choice Collection of Comic and Serious Scots Poems edited by James Watson concludes in Edinburgh.