1812 in Scotland

Events from the year 1812 in Scotland.

← 1811 1810 1809 1808 1807 1812 in Scotland → 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817
Centuries:	17th 18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1790s 1800s 1810s 1820s 1830s
See also:	List of years in Scotland Timeline of Scottish history 1812 in: The UK • Wales • Elsewhere

Incumbents

Further information: Politics of Scotland and Order of precedence in Scotland

Law officers

• Lord Advocate – Archibald Colquhoun
• Solicitor General for Scotland – David Monypenny

Judiciary

• Lord President of the Court of Session – Lord Granton
• Lord Justice General – The Duke of Montrose
• Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Boyle

Events

• 1 January – Tron riot in Edinburgh concludes.
• March – meeting in Edinburgh to discuss formation of the Scottish Widows Fund and Life Assurance Society.
• 6 July – the Kilmarnock and Troon Railway becomes the first public railway line to open in Scotland. It begins life as a 9.5-mile (16-kilometre), horse-drawn waggonway to carry coal from Kilmarnock to Troon harbour.^[1] On 27 June the horse-drawn passenger coach Caledonia began running over the line between Troon and Gargieston, near Kilmarnock.^[2]
• 12 July (The Twelfth) – first Protestant Orange march in Scotland held in Glasgow, attracting hostile Catholic crowds.^[3]
• August – Henry Bell's PS Comet begins a passenger service on the River Clyde between Glasgow and Greenock, the first commercially successful steamboat service in Europe.^[4]
• November – first bridge at Bonar Bridge completed in cast iron to the design of Thomas Telford.
• Ongoing – Highland Clearances.
• Nelson's Tower completed in Forres as a monument to Lord Nelson.^[5]
• Brackla distillery built by Captain William Fraser of Brackla House on the estate of Cawdor Castle.
• Glasgow Bible Society established.
• Gaelic chapel opens in London.

Births

• 3 February – William Fraser Tolmie, scientist and politician in Canada (died 1886 in Canada)
• 29 February – James Milne Wilson, Premier of Tasmania (died 29 February 1880 in Tasmania)
• 26 March (probable date) – Charles Mackay, writer (died 1889)
• 4 April – George Grub, church historian (died 1892)
• 27 May – Robert Stirling Newall, engineer and astronomer (died 1889)
• 3 June – Norman Macleod, Church of Scotland minister (died 1872)
• 2 September – Kirkpatrick Macmillan, inventor of the bicycle (died 1878)
• 16 September – Robert Fortune, botanist, pioneer of the Indian tea industry (died 1880)
• 23 December – Samuel Smiles, author and reformer (died 1904)

Deaths

• 23 January – Robert Craufurd, general (mortally wounded during Peninsular War) (born 1764)
• 14 May – Duncan Ban MacIntyre, Gaelic poet (born 1724)

The arts

• William Tennant's ottava rima mock-heroic poem Anster Fair is published, the first use of this Italian style in Britain.^[6]

See also

• Timeline of Scottish history
• 1812 in Ireland