1718 in Scotland

Incumbents

• Secretary of State for Scotland: The Duke of Roxburghe

Law officers

• Lord Advocate – Sir David Dalrymple, 1st Baronet
• Solicitor General for Scotland – Robert Dundas

Judiciary

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

Events

• Damask linen industry established at Dunfermline by James Blake and at Drumsheugh.
• Marrow Controversy, an ecclesiastical dispute.
• Old Calton Burial Ground established on Calton Hill, Edinburgh, by the Society of the Incorporated Trades of Calton.Edinburgh Evening Courant newspaper launched.
• First passage to America of a ship built on the Clyde, and belonging to Glasgow.
• Regius Chair of Anatomy and Botany at the University of Glasgow established.

Births

• 18 February – Robert Henry, historian
• 7 April – Hugh Blair, Presbyterian preacher and man of letters
• 29 April – Robert Sandeman, theologian
• 23 May – William Hunter, anatomist and obstetrician

Deaths

• 1 May – Sir Gilbert Elliot, 1st Baronet, of Minto, judge, politician and writer