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1 August 1714: Queen Anne dies and is succeeded by George, Elector of Hanover, under the terms of the 1701 Act of Settlement. George I cannot speak English and is not popular in England.
1 August 1747: The Act of Proscription prohibits the wearing of highland garb, in particular tartans and kilts, except within the army.
1 August 1967: Queen's College in Dundee becomes a fully fledged university in its own right and is renamed the University of Dundee.
2 August 1696: The death in Bruges of Captain Robert Campbell, the 5th Laird of Glen Lyon, and the officer commanding the government troops who massacred the MacDonalds of Glencoe on 13 February 1692.
2 August 1922: The death in Canada of Alexander Graham Bell, the scientist, inventor, and innovator best known for developing and patenting the telephone.
2 August 1938: The death of Captain Frank Barnwell, the aviation pioneer who, with his brother Harold, was responsible for the first powered flight in Scotland, and who later became a noted aircraft engineer with the Bristol Aeroplane Company.
3 August 1305: William Wallace is captured near Glasgow after periods spent as guerrilla and abroad. He is tried in London on 23 August, then executed.
3 August 1460: James II is killed during his siege of Roxburgh Castle when an artillery piece explodes. A week later his 9 year old son James is crowned James III of Scotland.
3 August 1847: The birth in Edinburgh of John Campbell Hamilton-Gordon, 7th Earl of Aberdeen and (from 1916) 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair. He was a politician who served as Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland and Governor General of Canada.
4 August 1792: The birth in Annan of Edward Irving. He became a successful preacher who in 1833 was accused of heresy for announcing the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, and went on to form his own sect.
4 August 1870: The birth in Portobello of Sir Harry Lauder, the highly successful Scottish singer and entertainer who toured the world for four decades.
4 August 1914: Britain declares war on Germany.
5 August 642: The death at the Battle of Maserfield (near modern Oswestry) of King Oswald of Northumbria, later known as St Oswald.
5 August 1388: Scottish troops under James Douglas, 2nd Earl of Douglas, decisively defeat an English army at the Battle of Otterburn in Northumberland.
5 August 1600: An attempt is allegedly made on James VI's life by the Gowrie family in Perth during what is known as the Gowrie conspiracy. Some suggest it was a plot by the King to avoid paying the £80,000 owed by the crown to the family.
5 August 1695: King William III approves the establishment of a General Post Office in Scotland.
5 August 1704: The Scottish Parliament refuses to raise taxes and threatens to withdraw troops from Marlborough's army in France unless the crown accepts the Act of Security and it is given Royal Assent. It is.
5 August 1876: The missionary Mary Slessor sets sail for Nigeria.
6 August 1514: Margaret Tudor marries Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus who becomes the young James V's stepfather.
6 August 1879: The death in Munich of Johann von Lamont, the eminent Scottish-born astronomer.
6 August 1881: The birth near Darvel of Sir Alexander Fleming, the eminent biologist primarily remembered for his discovery in 1928 of the antibiotic penicillin.
7 August 1548: Five year-old Mary Queen of Scots sets sail for France to escape Henry VIII's English troops.
7 August 1894: The first train arrives in Fort William on the newly opened West Highland Line.
7 August 1936: Air services begin from Barra Airport, the only beach airport anywhere in the world to be used for scheduled airline services.
8 August 1296: The Stone of Scone, or the Stone of Destiny, is removed from Scone Abbey by King Edward I of England.
8 August 1503: A "Treaty of Perpetual Peace" with England is followed by the marriage between James IV and Margaret Tudor, eldest daughter of Henry VII of England at Holyrood. This does little to interrupt James IV's succession of mistresses and illegitimate children.
8 August 1812: Henry Bell runs Europe's first commercial steamboat service, from Glasgow's Broomielaw to Greenock, in the steamboat Comet.
8 August 1984: The Queen opens the Kylesku Bridge in Sutherland, which has taken two years to build.
9 August 1757: The birth of Thomas Telford, the man whose civil engineering achievements would transform Scotland.
9 August 1822: King George IV arrives in Edinburgh, the first visit to Scotland by a reigning monarch since Charles II.
9 August 1997: The Isle of Arran Distillery's new visitor centre is opened by HM The Queen during a tour of the Western Isles on the Royal Yacht Britannia.
10 August 1460: The coronation at Kelso Abbey of King James III.
10 August 1784: The death in Dover of the renowned portrait painter, Allan Ramsay (the Younger).
10 August 1935: The Perth Museum and Art Gallery's new building is opened by the Duke and Duchess of York, later to become King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.
11 August 1306: Robert the Bruce attacks John MacDougall of Lorne at the Battle of Dalrigh near Tyndrum. The outcome was probably a defeat for Bruce.
11 August 1332: At the Battle of Dupplin Moor near Perth, Edward Balliol and his English army inflicts a severe defeat on Scottish supporters of the infant King David II.
11 August 1586: Mary Queen of Scots is arrested after writing a letter approving of a plot to kill Queen Elizabeth.
11 August 1892: The birth in Langholm of Christopher Murray Grieve who, writing as Hugh MacDiarmid, is widely regarded as the most important Scottish poet of the 20th Century.
11 August 1919: The death in Massachusetts of Andrew Carnegie, the Scots-born industrialist and philanthropist.
12 August 1762: The birth in London of George IV, who served as king of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and of Hanover, from 29 January 1820 until his death in 1830.
12 August 1872: The death of Andrew Smith, a doctor and naturalist best known for his study of the zoology of South Africa.
12 August 1965: The death of Willie Gallacher, a trade unionist who served as a Communist Member of Parliament.
13 August 1784: The birth in Edinburgh of Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, 7th Baronet, of Fountainhall, a writer and a minor member of Scottish nobility.
13 August 1907: The birth in India of Sir Basil Spence, the architect who produced many buildings in the UK and beyond in the Modernist/Brutalist style.
14 August 1337: The future King Robert III is born at Scone Palace.
14 August 1641: Charles I visits Edinburgh in an effort to placate opposition and buy off critics. He ends up confirming the decisions of the 1640 Free Parliament, and so, indirectly, the Covenant.
14 August 1651: General Monck, left by Cromwell to complete the conquest of Scotland, takes Stirling.
14 August 1863: The death of Field Marshal Colin Campbell, 1st Baron Clyde the soldier remembered particularly for his service in the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny.
14 August 1888: The birth in Helensburgh of John Logie Baird, the engineer who is best remembered as the inventor of the first working electromechanical television system.
15 August 1040: Duncan I tries to impose his will on northern Scotland, but loses to Macbeth of Moray and Earl Thorfinn of Orkney at the Battle of Pitgaveny, near Elgin. Duncan is killed during the battle, and King Macbeth is crowned at Scone later in 1040.
15 August 1057: Malcolm Canmore, defeats Macbeth at the Battle of Lumphanan in Aberdeenshire.
15 August 1645: At the Battle of Kilsyth, midway between Stirling and Glasgow, Montrose and the Royalists again defeat the Covenanters, killing 3,000. He moves on to capture Glasgow and Edinburgh, effectively controlling Scotland.
15 August 1771: The birth in Edinburgh of Sir Walter Scott, the world's first international literary superstar.
15 August 1822: King George IV comes ashore at Leith at the start of his visit to Scotland, the first visit to the country by a reigning monarch since 1650.
15 August 1840: The foundation stone is laid of the Scott Monument in Edinburgh, commemorating Sir Walter Scott.
15 August 1856: The birth of Keir Hardie, who would rise from extremely humble origins to become one of Britain's most well regarded politicians, and the first leader of the Labour Party.
15 August 1963: Henry Burnett becomes the last man to be hanged in Scotland, having been convicted of the murder of merchant seaman Thomas Guyan.
16 August 1766: The birth near Dunning of Carolina Oliphant, Baroness Nairn, a collector and writer of songs and ballads whose work is considered by many to be second only to that of Robert Burns.
16 August 1864: The birth in India of Elsie Inglis, who would make her name as a pioneering surgeon and as a suffragette, and do much to improve medical care for women.
16 August 1944: John Logie Baird gives the world's first demonstration of a fully electronic colour television display using a 600 line system.
16 August 1963: The death of Joan Eardley, an important Glasgow-based artist who founded the "Catterline School" of artists.
17 August 1643: Scotland offers to support the Parliamentary side in the Civil War in return for the acceptance by the English of a "Solemn League and Covenant", in effect exporting Presbyterianism to them. Military aspects are settled quickly and the English Parliament later accepts the religious aspects of the Covenant.
17 August 1648: Oliver Cromwell heavily defeats the Scots at Preston, leading to a return to power in Edinburgh of the radical Covenanters of the Kirk Party under the Marquis of Argyll.
17 August 1871: The death in London of Patrick Nasmyth, the celebrated landscape painter.
18 August 1661: The death of Robert Gordon of Straloch, the poet, mathematician, antiquary and geographer, primarily remembered for his cartography of Scotland.
18 August 1773: Samuel Johnson and James Boswell set out on their three month tour of the Highlands and the Inner Hebrides, of which both subsequently write detailed accounts.
18 August 1966: The Tay Road Bridge opens linking Dundee city centre with Fife.
19 August 1561: Mary Queen of Scots, aged eighteen and now a widow, is increasingly isolated in France, and has little choice but to accept an invitation to return to a now Protestant Scotland as Queen.
19 August 1646: The death in Edinburgh of Alexander Henderson the theologian closely involved in the drawing up of the 1638 National Covenant.
19 August 1745: Charles Edward Stuart raises his standard at Glenfinnan.
19 August 1808: The birth in Edinburgh of James Nasmyth the inventor and engineer remembered mostly for his development of the steam hammer.
20 August 1589: James VI marries Anne of Denmark, daughter of King Frederik II of Denmark. The marriage is by proxy and her subsequent efforts to sail to Scotland see her blown back by storm to Norway, allegedly as a result of witchcraft.
20 August 1872: The death in Glasgow of William Miller, the Scottish poet best known as the author of the nursery rhyme Wee Willie Winkie.
20 August 1902: The birth in Edinburgh of Margaret Hunter, who as Margaret Thomson was a doctor who was imprisoned by the Japanese during the Second World War.
21 August 1689: The Jacobite highland army attacks government forces in and around Dunkeld and its Cathedral at the Battle of Dunkeld. Both sides suffer heavy losses and much of the town is destroyed.
21 August 1754: The birth near Cumnock of William Murdoch, the engineer with wide ranging interests who, amongst other things, would devise a means of producing gas for public supply.
21 August 1930: Princess Margaret, daughter of the future King George VI, is born at Glamis Castle. She is the first royal princess to be born in Scotland for three centuries.
22 August 1138: The Scots army under David I is defeated at the Battle of the Standard at Northallerton in Yorkshire. Despite the defeat, the Treaty of Durham that follows in 1139 gives David I effective control over Northumbria and Cumbria.
22 August 1513: The Scottish army crosses the border with England, taking Norham Castle amongst others.
22 August 1642: Charles I, having failed to suppress or coerce the English Parliament by his will, takes it on by military might. The English Civil War begins.
22 August 1651: Charles II reaches Worcester with very little evidence of English Royalist support.
23 August 1305: The trial and execution in London of Sir William Wallace, one time Guardian of Scotland.
23 August 1614: Forces under the command of the Earl of Caithness land on Orkney to suppress a revolt by Robert Stewart, son of Patrick Stewart, 2nd Earl of Orkney.
23 August 1913: Work begins on the rebuilding of Eilean Donan Castle. It will take until 1932 to complete.
24 August 1198: The birth in Haddington of King Alexander II of Scotland.
24 August 1802: The birth in Fintry of John Macgregor, who would establish a shipbuilding yard on the River Clyde and do much to pioneer the development of iron ships.
24 August 1879: The birth near Glasgow of John Maclean, the revolutionary socialist politician who played an important part in the Red Clydeside movement.
25 August 1776: The death of David Hume, generally regarded as the most important philosopher ever to write in English.
25 August 1819: The death of James Watt, the engineer and inventor whose improvements to the steam engine were fundamental in bringing about the industrial revolution.
25 August 1819: The birth in Glasgow of Allan Pinkerton, who would go on to found the Pinkerton Detective Agency in the United States.
25 August 1923: The birth in Dunfermline of Dorothy Dunnett, the historical novelist and portrait painter who would become an important figure on the Scottish arts and literary scene.
25 August 1942: Prince George, the Duke of Kent, a younger brother of King George VI, is killed in the crash of a Short Sunderland flying boat at Eagle's Rock near Dunbeath.
26 August 1565: Mary Queen of Scots leads an army out of Edinburgh to supress a rebellion led by her half brother James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, who is opposed to her marriage. She puts the rebellion to flight in what becomes known as the Chaseabout Raid.
26 August 1745: The birth in Edinburgh of Henry Mackenzie, a novelist and leading member of the Edinburgh literary scene in the decades either side of 1800.
26 August 1875: The birth in Perth of John Buchan, the lawyer and politician who became Governor General of Canada, and is most widely remembered as a prolific author of a wide range of fiction and non-fiction books,
26 August 1901: Eight coal miners and rescuers are killed in the Donibristle mining disaster in Fife when the mine is overwhelmed by an inflow of soft peat.
27 August 1695: Alexander Selkirk, the model for Robison Crusoe, is summoned to appear before the kirk-session (ecclesiastical court) in Lower Largo for unspecified indecent behaviour in church. He fails to appear, having run away to sea.
27 August 1788: The trial begins in Edinburgh of Deacon William Brodie, pillar of society and notorious criminal.
28 April 1914: Hugh Dowding is awarded his Royal Flying Corps "wings". He is best remembered as the commander of RAF Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain.
29 August 1797: A peaceful demonstration in Tranent against conscription under the Militia Act is broken up by troops in what becomes known as the "Battle of Tranent", leading to twelve deaths.
29 August 1850: The Royal Border Bridge carrying the main line railway across the River Tweed at Berwick-upon-Tweed is opened by Queen Victoria.
29 August 1930: The remote Island of St Kilda, lying in the Atlantic to the west of the Western Isles, is evacuated.
30 August 1594: The christening takes place in the Chapel Royal at Stirling Castle of Prince Henry, son of King James VI of Scotland.
30 August 1915: The Royal Research Ship Discovery reaches the Falkland Islands on a mission to rescue polar explorer Ernest Shackleton, to find he has already been rescued.
31 August 651: The death in what is now St Aidan's Church in Bamburgh of St Aidan of Lindisfarne, the Apostle of Northumbria.
31 August 1535: Alexander Cant is murdered in Edinburgh by his mother-in-law, property owner and businesswoman Alison Rough and her daughter Katherine, in an argument over a dowry.
31 August 1651: A parliamentary army under the command of General George Monck attacks and takes Broughty Castle.
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