|
||
1 February 1692: Troops are moved south from Fort William and billeted with the MacDonalds in Glen Coe as a prelude to the Glencoe Massacre.
1 February 1889: The the birth in Cawdor of John MacGregor, who would join the Canadian army and become a First World War recipient of the Victoria Cross.
1 February 1918: The novelist, poet and non-fiction writer Dame Muriel Spark, DBE, is born in Edinburgh.
2 February 1423: The marriage takes place in London between King James I of Scotland and Lady Joan Beaufort, a close relative of King Henry VI of England.
2 February 1645: The 1st Marquess of Montrose makes a forced march south and surprises the Campbells at Inverlochy Castle. Though outnumbered Montrose soundly defeats the Covenanters, killing 1,500 for the loss of far fewer men.
2 February 1709: Alexander Selkirk, famous for spending four years as a castaway on the uninhabited Juan Fernández Islands, is rescued.
2 February 1782: The birth in Arbroath of James Chalmers, the inventor of the adhesive postal stamp.
2 February 1987: The death in Munich of thriller and adventure novel writer, Alistair MacLean.
3 February 1304: The Community of Scotland under the Guardianship of John III Comyn or the Red Comyn, agrees a peace treaty with Edward I.
3 February 1878: The birth in 10 Downing Street in London of Dame Flora MacLeod the 28th Chief of Clan MacLeod.
3 February 1903: The birth in London of Sir Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton and 11th Duke of Brandon, a member of one of Scotland's leading noble families and a pioneering aviator.
4 February 1593: The death of Robert Stewart, the despotic 1st Earl of Orkney and Lord of Zetland. He is succeeded by his son, the equally unpleasant Patrick Stewart, 2nd Earl of Orkney.
4 February 1652: Cromwell's "Tender of Union" is announced in Edinburgh. This gives Scots 30 seats in a united Parliament in London. General Monck becomes Military Governor of Scotland and builds a series of defenses to ensure continued control over the country.
4 February 1716: Prince James and the Earl of Mar board a ship at Montrose and leave Scotland for the continent. The Jacobite army simply disbands and dissolves. "The 1715" is over.
4 February 1818: The Honours of Scotland, the nation's Crown Jewels, are put on display in Edinburgh Castle after their discovery there by Sir Walter Scott.
5 February 1649: The Scots Parliament proclaims Charles II as King.
5 February 1705: The English Parliament pass the Alien Act designed to secure English interests from what they see as the subversion of the Scottish Parliament. In effect, the Scots are invited to negotiate a full union with England, on pain of seizure of Scottish assets and the ending of Scottish exports to England if they do not.
5 February 1723: The birth in Gifford of John Witherspoon, who goes on to become a signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence.
5 February 1881: The death of essayist, satirist, and historian, Thomas Carlyle.
5 February 1840: John Boyd Dunlop is born in Ayrshire. He is chiefly remembered for founding the company that bears his name, Dunlop Tyres.
5 February 1941: The "SS Politician", loaded with 264,000 bottles of whisky, runs aground on Eriskay in the Western Isles. Much of the cargo is salvaged by residents.
6 February 1615 : Patrick Stewart, 2nd Earl of Orkney is beheaded for treason following an uprising by his son in Orkney.
6 February 1665: Queen Anne is born. She will become Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702 on the death of her brother-in-law, William III/II, and the last monarch of the House of Stuart.
6 February 1685: Charles II dies after conversion to the Catholic Church on his deathbed. He is succeeded by his brother James Stewart, Duke of York as James II of England and VII of Scotland. James Stewart has been a convert to Catholicism for some time.
6 February 1918: The Representation of the People Act 1918 is given Royal Assent. This extends the right to vote to almost all men aged 21 or over, and to women aged 30 or over.
6 February 1952: King George VI dies, and is succeeded as monarch by his daughter Elizabeth.
7 February 1603: The Battle of Glen Fruin takes place near Loch Lomond between Clan Gregor and Clan Colquhoun. Some 200 men of Clan Colquhoun and their allies are killed, while casualties on the Clan Gregor side are very light.
7 February 1935: Lewis Grassic Gibbon, the author of the classic Scottish novel, Sunset Song dies, aged just 34.
7 February 1979: 12,000 players and spectators descended on the frozen Lake of Menteith for Scotland's only outdoor curling tournament, known as the Bonspiel or the Grand Match.
8 February 1429: 1,000 Scots under the command of brothers John and William Stuart try to relieve the French garrison at Orleans in France. The Scots are defeated by the English at Rouvray Saint Denis and both brothers are killed.
8 February 1587: Mary Queen of Scots is beheaded at Fotheringay. Her son, James VI, briefly breaks off diplomatic relations with England.
8 February 1941: Tom Johnston is appointed Secretary of State for Scotland.
9 February 1739: Publication of the first edition of the Scots Magazine, originally established as a current affairs and news magazine.
10 February 1306: Robert the Bruce, the grandson of the Robert Bruce who had competed with John Balliol for the crown in 1292, murders John III Comyn, the Red Comyn, head of one of the most powerful familes in Scotland and his only rival as future king in a church in Dumfries.
10 February 1567: Lord Darnley, now ill with syphilis, is murdered while staying at the Provost's House on the edge of Edinburgh. The cellar of the building has been packed with gunpowder, but it seems Darnley may have been strangled while trying to escape the explosion. Public suspicions grow that the Earl of Bothwell, and possibly Mary Queen of Scots herself, are involved in the murder.
10 February 1840: Queen Victoria marries Prince Albert at the Chapel Royal in St James's Palace.
10 February 1868: The death of Sir David Brewster, FRS, the renowned scientist who studied optics and invented the kaleidoscope.
10 February 1972: The Island of Rockall, 250 miles west into the Atlantic formally becomes part of Scotland.
11 February 1893: The birth near Aberdeen of Nan Shepherd, a poet and author who set her novels in north-east Scotland and also wrote about the Cairngorms.
11 February 1940: The death of John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, author and Governor General of Canada.
11 February 2008: Tolls are removed from the three remaining Scottish toll bridges, the Erskine Bridge, the Tay Road Bridge, and the Forth Road Bridge.
12 February 1624: The death in London of Goldsmith and philanthropist George Heriot.
12 February 1846: The death in Ruthwell of Henry Duncan, the founder of the world's first savings bank.
12 February 1935: Robert Watson-Watt, the inventor of radar, sends the Air Ministry a report entitled "The Detection of Aircraft by Radio Methods".
13 February 1462: The Treaty of Westminster-Ardtornish is signed between King Edward IV and John MacDonald II, Lord of the Isles. This effectively divides up northern Scotland and the islands should England conquer Scotland.
13 February 1692: The Glencoe Massacre by government troops from Fort William under the command of Captain Robert Campbell takes place to punish the MacDonalds for the failure of their chief to swear allegiance to William. The Secretary of State for Scotland, Sir John Dalrymple is later held responsible for the massacre and resigns. Full details can be found on our Glen Coe feature page.
13 February 1901: The birth in Aberdeenshire of James Leslie Mitchell, who writing as Lewis Grassic Gibbon became a renowned Scottish author.
14 February 1858: The birth near Thornhill of Joseph Thomson, a geologist and explorer who played an important part in the "Scramble for Africa" in the 1880s and 1890s.
14 February 1876: Alexander Graham Bell's lawyers file a patent application for the telephone with the US Patent Office.
15 February 1817: The birth in Glasgow of Robert Angus Smith, the chemist and an early environmentalist who invented the term "acid rain".
15 February 1842: The death in London of Archibald Menzies, a surgeon and naturalist who made the first recorded ascent of Mauna Loa in Hawaii.
15 February 1970: The death in Kent of Hugh Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding, the commander of RAF Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain.
16 February 1926: The death in Paisley of Thomas Graham Abercrombie, a renowned architect whose buildings are still very much in evidence in Paisley and the surrounding area.
17 February 1688: James Renwick, leader of the remaining Covenanter Presbyterian rebels, is executed in Edinburgh.
17 February 1796: The death of James Macpherson, the poet best known as the translator (or more likely the author) of the Ossian cycle of poems.
17 February 1913: The birth in Rutherglen of Alastair Borthwick, a journalist, broadcaster and author remembered primarily for two very different books, each of which remains a classic in its field.
18 February 1515: Gavin Douglas, a younger son of Scottish nobility, is appointed as Bishop of Dunkeld.
19 February 1314: Roxburgh Castle is captured from the English by Sir James Douglas, the Black Douglas, who disguises his men as cows.
19 February 1789: The birth in Kelso of Sir William Fairbairn, 1st Baronet of Ardwick, an eminent structural engineer who pioneered new designs for iron bridges and ships.
19 February 1792: The birth in Lerwick of Arthur Anderson, who went on to found the Peninsula and Oriental Steam Navigation Company: which has since become P&O.
20 February 1472: Shetland and Orkney formally become part of Scotland under an Act of Parliament, so settling the northern extent of the kingdom.
20 February 1902: The death in Edinburgh of David MacGibbon, an architect and a partner in the practice of MacGibbon and Ross best known today for their comprehensive multi-volume books about Scotland's castles and churches.
20 February 1992: The death near Kirkliston of Isabel Hutchison, the pioneering arctic traveller and author.
21 February 1437: King James I is assassinated while staying at the Blackfriars monastery in Perth. Queen Joan is injured but escapes with their son James, now James II. She ensures that the conspirators, including relatives of James I, are identified and executed.
21 February 1842: The Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway begins passenger services.
21 February 1945: The missionary and athlete Eric Liddell dies in a Japanese internment camp in China.
21 February 2016: The death of Captain Eric Brown, a renowned naval aviator and test pilot who holds a record unlikely ever to be beaten for the largest number of different aircraft types flown by a single person, 487. In later life he was widely acknowledged by others as "the greatest pilot ever".
22 February 1371: King David II dies at Edinburgh Castle. He is succeeded by his nephew, Robert Stewart who becomes King Robert II, and the founder of the Stewart dynasty that is to rule Scotland for most of the next three hundred years. Robert II is the grandson of Robert the Bruce by his daughter Marjory.
22 February 1452: James II invites the dangerously powerful 8th Earl of Douglas to Stirling Castle under a safe-conduct, where he stabs him and throws his body out of a window. Followers of the Earl subsequently sack the town of Stirling.
22 February 1540: Marie de Guise is crowned Queen Consort of Scotland at Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh.
22 February 1816: The death in St Andrews of Adam Ferguson, sometimes known as "Ferguson of Raith", the moral philosopher and historian.
23 February 1716: Lady Winifred Maxwell, Countess of Nithsdale, effects the escape of her husband William from the Tower of London, where he is condemned to be executed for treason as a Jacobite the following day, by dressing him in women's clothes.
23 February 1937: The death in Edinburgh of John Begg, the architect best remembered for his work in India and for his teaching at the Edinburgh College of Art.
23 February 1981: The death in Aberdeen of Nan Shepherd, a poet and author who set her novels in north-east Scotland and also wrote about the Cairngorms.
24 February 1303: The Battle of Roslin takes place between English and Scottish forces at Roslin, south of Edinburgh, resulting in a Scottish victory.
24 February 1784: The birth near Lochmaben of William Jardine, the ship's surgeon who went on to become one of the founders of the Hong Kong based Jardine Matheson trading company.
24 February 1909: The birth in Motherwell of the anarchist Ethel McDonald, who became best known for her propaganda broadcasts on Barcelona radio during the Spanish Civil War.
25 February 1822: The birth near Carlisle of Sir Thomas Bouch, the eminent railway engineer best known as the designer of the ill-fated Tay Rail Bridge, which collapsed with the loss of 75 lives on 28 December 1879.
26 February 1935: Radar pioneer Robert Watson-Watt successfully demonstrates the detection of radio signals being reflected off a circling RAF bomber in what became known as the Daventry Experiment.
26 February 1950: The death of Sir Harry Lauder, one of Scotland's greatest singers and entertainers.
26 February 1955: The death of Agnes Mackenzie, CBE, the eminent historian and author.
27 February 1545: The Battle of Ancrum Moor is fought north-west of Jedburgh between English and Scottish forces as part of the War of the Rough Wooing. The result is a decisive victory for the Scottish.
27 February 1560: The Treaty of Berwick is concluded at Berwick-upon-Tweed. It is an agreement made between the English and the group of Protestant Scottish nobles known as the Lords of the Congregation to pursue the removal from Scotland of the French troops who are defending the regency of Marie de Guise.
27 February 1843: The death of William Jardine, the ship's surgeon who went on to become one of the founders of the Hong Kong based Jardine Matheson trading company.
27 February 1868: The death of Arthur Anderson, native of Shetland and founder of P&O.
28 February 1638: The National Covenant is signed, eventually by thousands of Scots. It seeks to preserve distinctive Scots cultural and religious practices against the increasingly arbitrary and Kingdom-wide approach of Charles I.
28 February 1974: At the General Election the Scottish National Party take 22% of the vote and 7 parliamentary seats.
29 February 1528: Patrick Hamilton is tried and found guilty for heresy and burned in St Andrews. He is the first of eleven Protestant martyrs in Scotland.
29 February 1808: The birth in Forres of Hugh Falconer, an important botanist, geologist and paleontologist particularly remembered for his work on the flora, fauna and fossils of the Indian sub-continent.
|
||
