1804 in Scotland

Incumbents

Law officers

• Lord Advocate – Charles Hope; then Sir James Montgomery, Bt
• Solicitor General for Scotland – Robert Blair

Judiciary

• Lord President of the Court of Session – Lord Succoth
• Lord Justice General – The Duke of Montrose
• Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Eskgrove, then Lord Granton

Events

• January – founders on patrol off Scotland, apparently striking the Inchcape rock, with the loss of all 491 on board.
• 5 April – High Possil meteorite, the first recorded meteorite to fall in Scotland in modern times, falls at Possil.
• 19 August – St Peter's Church, Aberdeen, is dedicated as the city's first purpose-built post-Reformation Roman Catholic church.
• 14 September – lighthouse on Inchkeith, designed by Thomas Smith and Robert Stevenson, is first illuminated.The Glasgow Herald is first published under this title.
• Galashiels Baptist Church is established as an independent Baptist congregation.

Births

• 7 January – George Deas, judge
• 13 January – John Pringle Nichol, scientist
• 1 March – John Henderson, ecclesiastical architect
• 22 March – James Smart, chief constable
• 20 June – John Forrest, military doctor
• 15 July – Jane Stirling, pianist, student of Chopin
• 18 September – John Steell, sculptor
• 3 November – Charles Baillie, Lord Jerviswoode, judge
• Robert Davidson, inventor
• Alexander McKay, heavyweight bare-knuckle boxer
• James Mackay (New Zealand [politician, born 1804)|James Mackay], politician in New Zealand
• George Thompson, shipowner and politician

Deaths

• 11 January – James Tytler, editor of Encyclopædia Britannica
• 26 July – Sir James Cockburn, 8th Baronet, politician
• 4 August – Adam Duncan, 1st Viscount Duncan, admiral
• 23 October – David Rae, Lord Eskgrove, judge

The arts

• John Galt's poem The Battle of Largs is published anonymously, the author's first published work.
• David Wilkie paints Pitlessie Fair and .