1759 in Scotland
Events from the year 1759 in Scotland.
Incumbents
Law officers
- Lord Advocate – Robert Dundas the younger
- Solicitor General for Scotland – Andrew Pringle of Alemore; then Thomas Miller of Glenlee
Judiciary
- Lord President of the Court of Session – Lord Glendoick
- Lord Justice General – Lord Ilay
- Lord Justice Clerk – Charles [Erskine, Lord Tinwald|Lord Tinwald]
Events
- 13 September – Battle of the Plains of Abraham : British forces, including the 78th Fraser Highlanders, defeat those of the French to take Quebec City.
- September–October – Benjamin Franklin visits Scotland.
- 87th Regiment of Foot (Keith's Highlanders) raised at Perth and sent to Germany.
- Dumfries House, designed by Robert Adam, completed.
- David Erskine establishes his own legal practice in Edinburgh, origins of the partnership Dundas & Wilson.
- The Carron Company establishes its ironworks at Falkirk.
Births
- 25 January – Robert Burns, national poet of Scotland
- 5 March – John Jamieson, Secession minister and lexicographer
- 26 March – John Mayne, printer, journalist and poet
- 29 March – Alexander Chalmers, biographer and editor
- 4 May – Isabella Kelly, novelist and poet
- 7 May – John Beugo, engraver
- 22 June – John Gilchrist, Indologist and surgeon
- 22 September – William Playfair, political economist
- Aeneas Chisholm (Vicar [Apostolic of the Highland District)|Aeneas Chisholm], Roman Catholic Vicar Apostolic of the Highland District
- Approximate date – Anne Rankine, innkeeper and possible muse of Robert Burns
Deaths
- 20 January – James Fergusson, Lord Kilkerran, judge
- 11 March – John Forbes, British Army general
- 7 August – John Kennedy, 8th Earl of Cassilis
Publications
- William Robertson – The History of Scotland During the Reigns of Queen Mary and of King James
- Adam Smith – The Theory of Moral Sentiments, embodying some of his Glasgow lectures