Events from the year 1709 in Scotland.
| |||||
| Centuries: | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decades: | |||||
| See also: | List of years in Scotland Timeline of Scottish history 1709 in: Great Britain • Wales • Elsewhere | ||||
Incumbents
edit- Secretary of State for Scotland: The Earl of Mar, until 3 February 1709; then The Duke of Queensberry
Law officers
edit- Lord Advocate – Sir James Stewart; then Sir David Dalrymple, 1st Baronet
- Solicitor General for Scotland – William Carmichael; then Thomas Kennedy, jointly with Sir James Steuart, Bt.
Judiciary
editEvents
edit- 1 or 2 February – marooned Lower Largo-born privateer Alexander Selkirk, the original Robinson Crusoe, is rescued after four years living on the Juan Fernández Islands and begins his return to civilisation.[1][2]
- 26 April – Act of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland for the provision of public libraries in presbyteries.[3]
- 3 May – Elspeth Rule becomes the last person in Scotland to be tried before the High Court of Justiciary for witchcraft; the judge, sitting at Dumfries, orders her to be burned on the cheek and banished from Scotland for life.[4]
- 1 July – Treason Act 1708 comes into force, harmonising the law of high treason in Scotland with that of England.
- Summer – bad weather causes a poor harvest with consequent distress.[5]
- 5 October – last Scottish coinage issued by a mint in Scotland, at Edinburgh.
- Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge established by royal charter.[5]
- Appointment of the first Chair of Oriental Languages in the University of Glasgow, Charles Morthland.
- First clout archery competition for the Edinburgh Arrow held by the Royal Company of Archers and won by David Drummond, advocate.
Births
editDate unknown
- John Armstrong, physician and poet (died 1779)
Deaths
edit- 24 June – Robert Lauder of Beilmouth, lawyer and Clerk of Exchequer
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
- ^ Ober, Frederick A. (1912). Our West Indian Neighbors: the Islands of the Caribbean Sea. New York: James Pott & Company. p. 11.
- ^ Act XI.
- ^ "Notable Dates in History". The Scots Independent. Archived from the original on 26 January 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
- ^ a b Ross, David (2002). Chronology of Scottish History. New Lanark: Geddes & Grosset. ISBN 1-85534-380-0.