Events this week  in Scottish History
 


2 December 1837
Dr Joseph Bell, inspiration for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's characted "Sherlock Holmes", born.
 
2 December 1848
Mary Slessor, missionary, born at Gilcomston, Aberdeen.
 
3 December 1894
Robert Louis Stevenson died in Samoa.
 
4 December 1649 William Drummonds Tomb at Lasswade
Image © AA Young
William Drummond, poet of Hawthornden, Midlothian, died.
 
5 December 1560
Francis II of France, husband of Mary Queen of Scots, dies, leading to her return, the following year, to Scotland.
 
6 December 1745 Prince Charles Edward Stuart's Jacobite Army began their retreat north from Derby.
 
7 December 521
St Columba born.
 
7 December 1545
Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, born.
 
7 December 1784
Allan Cunningham, Scottish Poet, born.
 
8 December 1542
 

Mary Queen of Scots, born at Linlithgow.
 
9 December 1165
Malcolm IV "The Maiden" died.
 
9 December 1578
Robert Kerr, 1st Earl of Ancram died after this date in poverty, in the Netherlands.
 
10 December 1540 Act of Annexation of the lordships, lands and castles, with pertinents of Orkney and Shetland.

Reference
Records of the Parliaments of Scotland

See also The Annexation of the earldom of Orkney and lordship of Shetland to the Crown, 20th February 1472
 

10 December 1747
Duncan Forbes of Culloden died. Scots statesman, and loyal to the Government, he persuaded many not to join the Jacobite cause in 1745 and also sought mercy for the Jacobites after their defeat.
 
10 December 1941 The sinking of HMS PRINCE OF WALES and HMS REPULSE in 1941 by Japanese aircraft off the Malayan coast in the events leading to the fall of Singapore. HMS PRINCE OF WALES had a crew of 1,612 and 20 officers, 280 sailors and 27 marines were lost. The dead included Admiral Sir Tom Phillips, CinC of the Eastern Fleet, and PRINCE OF WALES commanding officer, Capt John C. Leach. .HMS REPULSE was built on the Clyde.
 
Other events in November and December
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Scotland's Early History