1857 in Scotland

Events from the year 1857 in Scotland.

Incumbents

Law officers

Judiciary

Events

18 March – the Greenock Telegraph begins publication.
1 May – Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland inaugurated in Glasgow.
30 June – 9 July: trial of Madeleine Smith, charged with the poisoning of a former lover in Glasgow; a "not proven" verdict is returned.
9 November – The Western Bank of Scotland collapses.
16 November – the 93rd (Sutherland Highlanders) Regiment of Foot wins six Victoria Crosses in the storming of Sikandar Bagh during the second relief of Lucknow in the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
Police (Scotland) Act 1857 makes the provision of a police force mandatory in the counties of Scotland.
Lunga, Treshnish Isles, is depopulated.
First whaler to be fitted with a steam engine, the Tay at Dundee.
W. C. Stewart publishes The Practical Angler.

Births

31 March – John James Burnet, architect
11 April – John Davidson, poet and playwright
15 May – Williamina Fleming, née Stevens, astronomer noted for her discovery of the Horsehead Nebula in 1888
15 June – William Fife, yacht designer
4 July – John Campbell, architect
11 July – David Prain, botanist
19 September – James Bridie, international rugby union player
2 October – John Macintyre, laryngologist and pioneer radiographer
Date unknown – John Wilson, Lord Ashmore, Sheriff 1900–20, Senator of the College of Justice 1930–28

Deaths

9 March – James Duff, 4th Earl Fife, general in Spanish service and landowner
19 March – William Henry Playfair, architect
15 April – William Skinner, bishop and Primus
26 August – Christian Isobel Johnstone, writer and editor
14 October – Alexander Laing, "the Brechin poet"
18 November – John Fleming, minister, naturalist, zoologist and geologist

The arts

Britannia Music Hall opened in Glasgow.