Events in Scottish History
March
1st March 1546: George Wishart, Protestant Martyr, burn at the stake at St Andrews on the orders of Cardinal David Beaton. The site is marked by a plaque and the letters “GW” in the roadway.
2nd March 1316: Robert II son of Robert the Bruce’s daughter, Marjorie, born in Paisley.
2nd March 1705: William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield born. at Scone, Perthshire.
2nd March 1805: First meeting of the Wernerian Natural History Society commonly abbreviated as the Wernerian Society, a learned society interested in the broad field of natural history, an off-shoot of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
3rd March 1759: John Jamieson, lexicographer, whose Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language is credited with keeping the language alive, born in Glasgow.
3rd March 1759: Robert Adam, Architect, died.
3rd March 1841: Sir John Murray, Canadian Scots Oceanographer born to Scots parents in Cobourg, Ontario, Canada. He moved to Scotland aged 17.
3rd March 1847: Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, born in Edinburgh.
4th March 1756: Sir Henry Raeburn, artist and portrait painter, born in Edinburgh.
4th March 1890: Forth Bridge opened by the Prince of Wales.
5th March 1790: Flora MacDonald, who saved “Bonnie Prince Charlie”, died at Kingsburgh, Skye.
6th March 1457: In a resolution of the 14th Parliament of James II, convened in Edinburgh, the games of football and golf were banned in favour of archery practice. It stated “..that the fut ball and golf be utterly cryit doun and nocht usit.”
6th March 1836: The Battle of the Alamo,1836, There were four Scots born, Richard W Ballentine, John McGregor (piper), and Isaac Robinson. David L. Wilson and many others of Scots ancestry were among the 189 defenders who resisted a Mexican army of 4,000 who began their assault at 0500 hrs. The Alamo fell at 0630 hrs. Only the non combatants were spared.
7th March 1744: The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers held their first meeting on Leith Links. The City of Edinburgh provided a silver club for competition which was won by John Rattray. He joined the Jacobite ’45 Rising after the Battle of Prestonpans, becoming “Bonnie Prince Charlie’s” personal surgeon. He avoided execution thanks to the intercession of Duncan Forbes, President of the Court of Session, a golfing friend.
8th March 1702: William III died at Kensington Palace after a fall from a horse.
Anne succeeded to the throne.
8th March 1899: Eric Linklater, author, born.
9th March 1566: David Rizzio, Mary Queen of Scots Italian Secretary, murdered at Holyrood Palace.
9th March 1648: James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton died.
10th March 1615: John Ogilvie SJ, executed in Glasgow for saying Mass and for treason..
10th March 1748: John Playfair, mathematician, born in Benvie, Forfarshire.
10th March 1823: George Keith Elphinstone, 1st Viscount Keith GCB , died a British admiral active throughout the Napoleonic Wars. He died on He was born on 7th January 1746 in Elphinstone Tower, near Stirling.
11th March 1911: Soldier and author, Sir Fitzroy Maclean, born.
11th March 1955: Sir Alexander Fleming, discoverer of penicillin, died..
12th March 1881: Andrew Watson, born in Guyana, son of a wealthy Scottish planter, Peter Miller, and a local girl, Rose Watson, made his first international appearance for Scotland’s football team.
12th March 1945: “HMS VENGEANCE” left Greenock, four months after Commissioning, for the Mediterranean, and thence to join the British Pacific Fleet.
13th/14th March 1941: The Clydebank Blitz, left 528 dead, 617 injured, and 48,000 homeless, many of whom never returned. Only 7 out of 12,000 houses intact.
14th March 1900: Dame Margaret Kidd QC born at Bo’ness. Scotland’s first and, for more than quarter of a century, only female advocate. Called to the bar in 1923 she was the first woman in the United Kingdom to take silk in 1948. She became Scotland’s first Sheriff Principal in 1960 when she took charge of the Sheriffdom of Dumfries and Galloway. She was Sheriff Principal of Perth and Angus from 1966 to 1974 and was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1975.
15th March 1663: John Campbell, 1st Earl of Loudon, Chancellor of Scotland, died.
15th March 1754: Archibald Menzies naval officer, surgeon, botanist, and artist born in Perthshire.
16th March 1642: Charles I issued at Westminster a Commission addressed to Archibald, 1st Marquis of Argyll, authorising him to raise a Royal Regiment of 1,500 men to be “led into our Realm of Ireland”. The Regiment was intended by the King to be his Royal Guard, later the Scots Guards.
16th March 1995: Simon Fraser Lord Lovat, Chief of Clan Fraser, died. He was involved in the formation of the Commandos, the Dieppe Raid and D-Day.
17th March 1291: John Duns Scotus ordained a priest at St Andrews Church Northampton.
Source: The Scottish Invention of America, Democracy and Human Rights, Klieforth and Munro, 2004, ISBN 0-7618-2791
17th March 1780: Rev. Thomas Chalmers, D.D., LL.D. born. He was leader of The Disruption of 1843 when 470 Ministers walked out of the General Assembly in a dispute over the appointment of Ministers to Parishes, and thereafter of the Free Church of Scotland.
18th March 1689: Raising of Lord Leven’s Regiment, later The King’s Own Scottish Borderers. The Regiment was raised for the defence of Edinburgh from the Jacobite Rebellion being lead by James Graham of Claverhouse, “Bonnie Dundee”, and first saw action at the Battle of Killiecrankie. They served for 317 years with distinction until 2006 when they were merged with The Royal Scots in into “1 Scots”, the 1st Battalion of The Royal Regiment of Scotland. On 30th November 2021 1 Scots became 1 Ranger and left the Royal Regiment of Scotland.
19th March 1286: Alexander III died, and was succeeded by Margaret, Maid of Norway. He died when his horse stumbled and he fell from a cliff at Kinghorn in Fife.
19th March 1764: Lieutenant-Colonel George Johnston born in Annandale, Dumfriesshire, he was briefly Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales, Australia after leading the rebellion later known as the Rum Rebellion which deposed the Governor, William Bligh. He died on 5th January 1823.
20th March 1141: Malcolm IV “The Maiden” born.
21st March 1729: John Law, economist, known as the “Father of Finance”, and the initiator of paper money, died.
21st March 1925: Murrayfield Stadium, the home of Scottish Rugby was opened.
22nd March 1421: Scottish and French troops under the command of the Earl of
Buchan defeated English forces at Baugé in Anjou.
24th March 1603: The Union of Crowns. James VI of Scotland accedes to the English Throne and becomes James I of England.
25th March 1437: James II born.
27th March 1371: Robert II crowned at Scone.
27th March 1625: James VI died in his 59th year, the Stuart Monarch who united the Kingdoms of England and Scotland, he returned only once to his native land after acceding to the English Throne. He became known as the “Wisest fool in Christendom. Among his many achievements was the “Authorised Version” of the Bible, the first freely available in English, and still used today.
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28th March 1633: A Royal Warrant issued at Whitehall to raise Scotland’s first Infantry Regiment, The Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment), 1st Regiment of Foot, and served with distinction for 373 years.
The Regiment was merged into the new Royal Regiment of Scotland this day in 2006 as “1 Scots”, and were joined on 1st August 2006 by The King’s Own Scottish Borderers to become the “Royal Scots Borderers” Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.
On 30th November 2021 1 Scots became 1 Ranger and left the Royal Regiment of Scotland.
30th March 1406: James I captured by the English on his way to France.
31st March 1652: Honours of Scotland saved from Cromwell’s forces at Dunnottar Castle by Mrs Grainger, the Minister’s wife from Kinneff.
