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1 December 1787: Scotland's first lighthouse lights up at Kinnaird Head, Fraserburgh. It is built by Thomas Smith and Robert Stevenson.
1 December 1960: The death in Glasgow of Ethel McDonald, an anarchist best known for her propaganda broadcasts on Barcelona radio during the Spanish Civil War.
2 December 1837: The birth in Edinburgh of Joseph Bell, the lecturer in medicine whose deductive approach to diagnosis inspired Arthur Conan Doyle's character Sherlock Holmes.
2 December 1848: The birth in Aberdeen of Mary Slessor, the Scottish missionary to Nigeria who had considerable success in promoting both Christianity and women's rights.
2 December 1971: The last two permanently resident families leave the island of Scarp, off Harris in the Western Isles.
3 December 1797: The birth in Hawick of Sir Andrew Smith, the doctor and naturalist best known for his study of the zoology of South Africa.
3 December 1845: The death in Venezuela of Gregor MacGregor, Prince of the (fictitious) Principality of Poyais, a conman who persuaded many British and, later, French to invest in, and in many case emigrate to, a non-existent colony called Poyais on the Bay of Honduras in central America.
3 December 1877: Mount Stewart on Bute is badly damged by fire.
3 December 1894: The death in Samoa of renowned poet, and author of fiction and travel books, Robert Louis Stevenson.
4 December 1214: William I dies after a reign of 49 years. He is succeeded by his son, Alexander II.
4 December 1423: The Treaty of London provides for the release of King James I after eighteen years as a prisoner of the English.
4 December 1745: Charles Edward Stuart and the Jacobite army reaches Derby. In London, only 150 miles south, there is total panic and it is reported that George II is preparing to flee.
4 December 1795: The birth in Ecclefechan of Thomas Carlyle, the hugely influential essayist, satirist, and historian.
4 December 1937: The first appearance in print of Desperate Dan, a popular cowboy character in the British comic magazine The Dandy.
5 December 1560: King Francis II of France, husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, dies of an infected ear and is succeeded by his brother, Charles IX of France.
5 December 1905: Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman becomes First Lord of the Treasury, five days later being the first UK politician ever to officially adopt the title "Prime Minister".
5 December 1973: Sir Robert Watson-Watt, the inventor of radar, dies in Inverness. He is buried in Pitlochry.
6 December 1214: King Alexander II is crowned at Scone.
6 December 1745: In the absence of the promised French invasion of England and in the light of very limited support from English Jacobites, Charles Edward Stuart withdraws from Derby.
6 December 1799: The death of Joseph Black, the eminent Scottish physicist, chemist and medical doctor.
7 December 521: The birth in County Donegal in Ireland of the man who would go on to become Saint Columba.
7 December 1545: The birth at Temple Newsam in Yorkshire of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, who would become the second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots.
7 December 1566: Mary Queen of Scots leaves Craigmillar Castle after a group of her advisers agree the Craigmillar Bond, an arrangement for the disposal of Lord Darnley, who by now everyone including Mary knows to be thoroughly unsuitable as a husband. Those involved include The Earls of Argyll, Huntly, and Bothwell, Sir James Balfour, and William Maitland of Lethington.
7 December 1834: The death of Edward Irving, the famous preacher born in Annan.
8 December 1174: King William I, William the Lion, signs the Treaty of Falaise to secure his release from English captivity. This gives control of key Scottish castles to the English and acknowledges Henry II of England as his feudal superior.
8 December 1542: Marie de Guise, gives birth to a daughter, Mary Queen of Scots, at Linlithgow Palace.
8 December 1959: The lifeboat RNLB Mona, based at Broughty Ferry, capsizes in a storm in St Andrews Bay with the loss of all eight crew.
9 December 1165: Malcolm IV dies, aged 24 and unmarried, and is succeeded by his younger brother William I or William the Lion after his symbol, a red lion rampant on a yellow field that becomes the basis of one of Scotland's two flags.
9 December 1688: Serious rioting in Edinburgh spreads across Scotland.
9 December 1770: The poet and novelist James Hogg is baptised in Ettrick in the Scottish Borders.
10 December 1747: The death of Duncan Forbes, Lord Culloden, an important figure in the legal establishment of Scotland for a number of decades and a staunch opponent of the Jacobites in two uprisings.
10 December 1824: The birth in Huntly of George MacDonald, the church minister who became an early author of fantasy fiction.
10 December 1912 The birth in Siberia of of Vera Eriksen, a German spy (and a British double-agent) who landed in Scotland in September 1940.
10 December 1928: The death in London of Charles Rennie Mackintosh the hugely influential architect and design icon.
10 December 1936: King Edward VIII abdicates and is succeeded by his brother Albert, who becomes King George VI.
11 December 1781: The birth in Jedburgh of Sir David Brewster, who would go on to become a renowned scientist and make a particular contribution in the field of optics.
11 December 1997: The Royal Yacht Britannia is decommissioned at Portsmouth Naval Base after a 44-yareer service life in which she carried the Queen and the Royal Family on 968 official voyages in almost every part of the globe.
11 December 2004: The death at the age of 101 of Margaret Fay Shaw, the American writer who did much to record the music and culture of South Uist.
12 December 1574: The birth at Skanderborg Castle in Denmark of Anne of Denmark, who became queen consort of King James I of England and VI of Scotland.
12 December 1902: The birth on the island of Barra of Nan MacKinnon, who became a traditional singer and storyteller on the island of Vatersay.
13 December 1721: The death off the coast of West Africa of Alexander Selkirk, the Scot whose experiences inspired Daniel Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe".
13 December 1784: The death in London of Samuel Johnson, the English author, journalist and literary critic who travelled with James Boswell to the Highlands and Islands in 1773.
13 December 1805: The birth near Braemar of Johann von Lamont, who would become an eminent German astronomer.
14 December 1542: James V dies at Falkland Palace, aged 30, probably from cholera.
14 December 1730: The birth near Airth of James Bruce, who went on to explore large parts of North Africa and Ethiopia and reached the source of the Blue Nile.
14 December 1861: The death of Queen Victoria's Consort, Prince Albert.
14 December 1896: The Glasgow District Underground opens for service.
15 December 1785: George, Prince of Wales, the future King George IV, enters into an illegal marriage with Maria Fitzherbert.
16 December 1332: Edward Balliol is surprised by Sir Andrew Murray in a dawn attack at Annan, and flees the country.
16 December 1653: Oliver Cromwell is sworn in as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
16 December 1263: The death of King Håkon IV of Norway while staying at the Bishop's Palace in Kirkwall.
16 December 1911: Businessman Thomas Blake Glover, one of the founding fathers of modern Japan, dies in Tokyo.
17 December 1566: The future James VI/I is christened at Stirling Castle. Lord Darnley refuses to attend.
17 December 1796: The birth at Kinghorn in Fife of Christina Robertson, a portrait painter who became the painter in residence at the Russian Court in St Petersburg.
17 December 1798: A skirmish takes place at Collieston in Aberdeenshire between smugglers and excisemen, in which the most notorious of the smugglers, Phillip Kennedy, is killed.
17 December 1907: The death in Largs of William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin (better known simply as Lord Kelvin), the renowned physicist and engineer.
18 December 1661: The ship Elizabeth of Burntisland sinks off the coast of north-east England, taking with it many of Scotland's most important historical records, en route back to Scotland after their earlier removal to London by Oliver Cromwell.
19 December 1808: The birth in Edinburgh of Horatius Bonar, a clergyman and writer who would serve as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1883.
19 December 1923: The birth in Glasgow of Gordon Jackson, an award winning actor who made many appearances in both film and TV as well as on the stage.
20 December 1538: Archbishop David Beaton is appointed a Cardinal by Pope Paul III.
20 December 1745: The Jacobite army, heading north after reaching Derby, retreats into Scotland.
20 December 1789: The birth in Edinburgh of William Burn, the architect who pioneered the Scots Baronial style.
20 December 1862: The death in London of Robert Knox, the Edinburgh surgeon and anatomist whose reputation was ruined through his involvement with the bodysnatchers, Burke and Hare.
21 December 1805: The birth in Glasgow of Thomas Graham, the eminent chemist remembered in the name of "Graham's Law", which relates to the diffusion of gases.
21 December 1988: Pan Am flight 103 en route from London to New York is destroyed over Lockerbie, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew on board, and 11 people on the ground.
21 December 2004 : Tolls are lifted on the Skye Bridge: crossing is now free.
22 December 1715: Prince James, the Pretender, lands at Peterhead before moving through Aberdeen and Dundee to the Earl of Mar's Headquarters at Perth.
22 December 1797: Explorer Mungo Park returned to Scotland from west Africa, long after he had been given up for dead.
22 December 1930: The death in Helsnburgh of Neil Munro, the journalist and author best remembered as the creator the the fictional Clyde puffer Vital Spark and her captain, Para Handy.
23 December 1688: James VII/II sails to France after a largely bloodless coup by William and Mary.
23 December 1761: The death of Alastair Ruadh MacDonnell, the government spy in the Jacobite camp known as "Pickle".
23 December 1812: The birth in Haddington of the author and political reformer Samuel Smiles.
24 December 1165: King William I, or William the Lion, is crowned King of Scotland at Scone.
24 December 1856: The death of geologist and writer, Hugh Miller.
24 December 1914: The death of John Muir, noted naturalist, explorer, writer, and geologist.
25 December 1665: The birth near Greenlaw of songwriter and poet Lady Grisell (or Grizel) Baillie.
25 December 1724: General George Wade is appointed Chief of His Majesty's forces, castles, forts and barracks in North Britain. He begins the construction of hundreds of miles of good "military" roads and stone bridges designed to allow government troops to counter future uprisings with greater ease.
25 December 1950: Scottish Nationalists steal the Stone of Destiny from Westminster Abbey in London, where it has been kept since Edward I took it from Scone in 1286.
25 December 1978: The death in Sussex of Victoria Drummond, the first woman to serve as a chief engineer in the Merchant Navy and first woman member of Institute of Marine Engineers.
26 December 1251: Ten year-old King Alexander III marries Henry III of England's eldest daughter, Princess Margaret in York.
26 December 1449: The first service is held at Crichton Collegiate Church, south of Edinburgh.
26 December 1780: The birth in Jedburgh of Mary Somerville, a writer with a deep understanding of many of the newly emerging fields in science, mathematics and astronomy, and the world's first "scientist".
26 and 27 December 1789: William Symington operates a paddle steamer on the Forth and Clyde Canal.
27 December 1782: The death in Edinburgh of Henry Home, Lord Kames, the philosopher, lawyer and judge who became a leading force in the Scottish Enlightenment.
27 December 1794: The birth in Edinburgh of Alexander Gordon Laing, the first European to reach Timbuktu from the north.
27 December 1904: The first performance takes place in London of J.M. Barrie's classic play Peter Pan.
28 December 1734: Rob Roy MacGregor dies at his home in Balquhidder Glen.
28 December 1879: The Tay Railway Bridge, designed by Thomas Bouch, collapses while being crossed by a train with the loss of 75 lives.
28 December 1906: The Elliot Junction rail accident takes place between Arbroath and Carnoustie with the loss of 22 lives.
29 December 1766: The birth in Glasgow of Charles Macintosh, the chemist and inventor of waterproof fabric.
29 December 1807: Orcadian Isobel Gunn gives birth to a son while posing as a man and working for The Hudson's Bay Company in Canada.
30 December 1899: The Albion Motor Car Company Ltd, later known as Albion Motors, is founded in Glasgow.
30 December 1915: The Royal Navy cruiser HMS Natal explodes in the Cromarty Firth with the loss of at least 390 lives.
30 December 1995: Scotland's joint lowest temperature, of -27.2°C, is recorded at Altnaharra in Sutherland.
31 December: Hogmanay is celebrated in Scotland.
31 December 1720: Prince James, now living in what later becomes Italy, has a son, Charles Edward Stuart, or "Bonnie Prince Charlie".
31 December 1830: The birth in Kilmarnock of Alexander Smith, a Scottish poet who is best remembered for some of the prose he wrote.
31 December 1929: A fire in the Glen Cinema in Paisley causes the deaths of 71 children, and injures many more.
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