Scotland Timeline of Events

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Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the southwest...

Timeline of Events

1804

4.5.1804

High Possil Meteorite: The first recorded meteorite in Scotland falls in Possil.

1823

10.12.1823

Charles Macintosh, of Scotland, sells the first raincoat.

1848

3.23.1848

The ship ''John Wickliffe'' arrives at Port Chalmers carrying the first Scottish settlers for Dunedin, New Zealand. Otago province is founded.

1858

4.16.1858

The Wernerian Natural History Society, a former Scottish learned society, is wound up.

1867

7.9.1867

An unsuccessful expedition led by E.D. Young sets out to search for Dr David Livingstone (Scottish missionary and explorer).

1869

11.22.1869

In Dumbarton, Scotland, the clipper ''Cutty Sark'' is launched – one of the last clippers ever to be built, and the only one still surviving to this day.

1877

10.22.1877

The Blantyre mining disaster in Scotland kills 207 miners.

1879

12.28.1879

The Tay Bridge Disaster: The central part of the Tay Rail Bridge in Dundee, Scotland collapses as a train passes over it, killing 75.

1883

10.4.1883

First meeting of the Boys' Brigade in Glasgow, Scotland.

1890

3.4.1890

The longest bridge in Great Britain, the Forth Rail Bridge in Scotland, measuring Convert 1710 long, is opened by the Prince of Wales, who later becomes King Edward VII.

1906

6.7.1906

Cunard Line's RMS Lusitania is launched at the John Brown Shipyard, Glasgow (Clydebank), Scotland.

1915

5.22.1915

Three trains collide in the Quintinshill rail crash near Gretna Green, Scotland, killing 227 people and injuring 246; the accident is found to be the result of non-standard operating practices during a shift change at a busy junction.

1918

1.31.1918

A series of accidental collisions on a misty Scottish night leads to the loss of two Royal Navy submarines with over a hundred lives, and damage to another five British warships.

1919

1.31.1919

The Battle of George Square takes place in Glasgow, Scotland.

1930

8.29.1930

The last 36 remaining inhabitants of St Kilda are voluntarily evacuated to other parts of Scotland.

1939

10.14.1939

The German Kriegsmarine submarine (U-boat) ''U-47'' sinks the British battleship HMS ''Royal Oak'' within her harbor at Scapa Flow, Scotland.

12.4.1939

World War II: ''HMS Nelson'' is struck by a mine (laid by ''U-31'') off the Scottish coast and is laid up for repairs until August 1940.

12.12.1939

HMS Duchess (H64) sinks after a collision with HMS Barham off the coast of Scotland with the loss of 124 men

1941

5.10.1941

World War II: Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland to try to negotiate a peace deal between the United Kingdom and Nazi Germany.

1951

4.11.1951

The Stone of Scone, the stone upon which Scottish monarchs were traditionally crowned, is found on the site of the altar of Arbroath Abbey. It had been taken by Scottish nationalist students from its place in Westminster Abbey.

1964

9.4.1964

Scotland's Forth Road Bridge near Edinburgh officially opens.

1967

9.20.1967

RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 is launched at John Brown & Company, Clydebank, Scotland. It is operated by the Cunard Line.

1969

12.18.1969

Capital punishment in the United Kingdom: Home Secretary James Callaghan's motion to make permanent the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965, which had temporarily suspended capital punishment in England, Wales and Scotland for murder (but not for all crimes) for a period of five years.

1979

8.20.1979

The East Coast Main Line rail route between England and Scotland is restored when the Penmanshiel Diversion opens.

1988

12.21.1988

A bomb explodes on board Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, killing 270.

1989

4.1.1989

Margaret Thatcher's new local government tax, the Community Charge (commonly known as the "poll tax"), is introduced in Scotland.

1990

4.24.1990

Gruinard Island, Scotland, is officially declared free of the anthrax disease after 48 years of quarantine.

1996

3.13.1996

Dunblane massacre: in Dunblane, Scotland, 16 kindergarten children and 1 teacher are shot dead by a spree killer, Thomas Watt Hamilton who then committed suicide.

2001

1.31.2001

In the Netherlands a Scottish court convicts Libyan Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi and acquits another Libyan citizen for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 which blew up over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.

2005

12.20.2005

The first same sex civil partnerships in Scotland are celebrated.

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