1790 in Scotland

Incumbents

Law officers

• Lord Advocate – Robert Dundas of Arniston
• Solicitor General for Scotland – Robert Blair

Judiciary

• Lord President of the Court of Session – Lord Succoth
• Lord Justice General – The Viscount Stormont
• Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Braxfield

Events

• 16 June–28 July – British general election gives Pitt an increased majority.
• 28 June – Forth and Clyde Canal opened.
• October – Pladda Lighthouse first illuminated.
• Balblair distillery at Edderton founded.
• Caerlee Mill at Innerleithen completed, the oldest woollen mill in the Scottish Borders.
• New Ardkinglas Castle built.
• Construction of Gosford House to the design of Robert Adam for Francis Wemyss-Charteris is begun.
• The mineral element strontium is discovered near Strontian by chemists Adair Crawford and William Cruickshank.
• Approximate date – Whaligoe steps cut.

Births

• 3 March – Robert Story, Church of Scotland minister and writer
• 25 October – Robert Stirling, Church of Scotland minister and inventor of the Stirling engine
• 29 October – David Napier, marine engineer
• James Clow, Presbyterian minister and settler in Melbourne
• Approximate date – Mary Diana Dods, writer as "David Lyndsay", later known as "Walter Sholto Douglas"

Deaths

• 5 February – William Cullen, physician and chemist
• 4 March – Flora MacDonald, Jacobite
• 17 July – Adam Smith, economist and philosopher
• 24 November – Robert Henry, historian and Church of Scotland minister

The arts

• Catholic priest Alexander Geddes writes the poem Linton: a Tweedside Pastoral, Carmen Seculare pro Gallica Gente in praise of the French Revolution.
• Kirkmichael musician Robert Petrie publishes several Highland music pieces with "Mrs. Small of Dirnanean" in their title. The compositions are published in "Petrie's Collection of Strathspey Reels & County Dances".