Events in Scottish History
November
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1 November 1897
Naomi Mitchison, novelist and poet born in Edinburgh.
 
2 November 1902
 

The  Scottish National Antarctic Expedition led by William Speirs Bruce  sails from Troon on the "SCOTIA"
 
2 November 1914 End of the Battle of Messines, "The Race to the Sea".
 
3 November 1749
Daniel Rutherford, chemist, best known for his isolation of nitrogen, born.
 
3 November 1942 End of the Battle of El Alamein with the 7th Argylls of 154 Brigade, 51st (Highland) Division taking the strong point of Tel El Aqqaqir  .
 
4 November 1698
The Scots Expedition to Darien landed at "New Caledonia".
 
5 November 1605
Plot to assassinate James VI of Scotland and I of England by blowing up the Houses of Parliament foiled.
"Remember, remember the 5th of November, gunpowder treason and plot. I see no reason why gunpowder treason should ever be forgot."
 
5 November 1879

 

James Clerk Maxwell, the ground-breaking physicist, died.
 
6 November 1289
The Treaty of Salisbury.  Edward I demanded that Margaret, the Maid of Norway be handed over to him to stay in England until Scotland was a safe place for her. See also The Treaty of Birgham.
See also:
Diplomatarium Norvegicum
ScottishHistory.com
 
6 November 1865
Sir William Leishman born in Glasgow. He became professor of pathology in the Army Medical College, and director-general of the Army Medical Service (1923). He discovered an effective vaccine for inoculation against typhoid, and was the first to discover the parasite that causes the disease Leishmaniasis, which is named after him.
 
7 November 1974
Eric Linklater died. Born in Wales, he always considered himself an Orcadian. Perhaps his greatest work is "Magnus Merriman", a political satire based on his own unsuccessful campaign as a candidate for the National Party of Scotland.
 
8 November 1891
Neil Gunn, author of "The Silver Darlings", and other works on Caithness, born.
 
9 November 1937
Ramsay MacDonald died crossing the Atlantic on holiday on the liner "REINA DEL PACIFICO".
 
10 November 1871
Henry Morton Stanley found the missing Scottish missionary David Livingstone.
 
11 November 1918
Armistice Day, marking the end of hostilities in World War I. The guns were silenced, finally , on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Scotland  accounted for 10% of the United Kingdom's population, but 147,609 Scots were killed during the war, a fifth of the UK's War Dead.
 
12 November 2023 Remembrance Sunday
Poppy Scotland
The Royal British Legion

 

12 November
 

St Machar's Day St Machar's is Aberdeen's Cathedral.
 
12 November 1094
Duncan II killed by the Mormaer of the Mearns at the Battle of Monthechin.
 
13 November 1093
Malcolm III (Canmore) was killed at the Battle of Alnwick, aged about 62.  His wife, Margaret, died on receiving the news of his death, and was made a saint in 1249.
 
13 November 1715
The Battle of Sherrifmuir. The Jacobites under the the 6th  Earl of Mar "Bobbing John" fought a ferocious but inconclusive battle with Hanoverian forces under John, 2nd Duke of Argyll.
 
13 November 1850
Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Edinburgh.
 
14 November 1715
The Battle of Preston. The Jacobite Rising in the North of England, where Scots had joined English Jacobites, were defeated by Government Forces.  This was the last Battle on English soil, rather than Sedgemoor, and would be followed by the minor engagement at Clifton in 1745.
The Battle of Preston 1715 - Old Maps of Lancashire

Battle of Preston (1715)
 
14 November 1770
James Bruce, Scots Explorer discovered  the source of the Blue Nile.
 
14 November 1797
Sir Charles Lyell, eminent Scots Geologist, was born at Kinnordy House, near Kirriemuir.
 
14 November 1857  

 


The 93rd Highlanders later Sutherland Highlanders, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and now Balaklava Company 5 SCOTS  took part in the Relief of Lucknow.  The sound of their pipes was the first signal to the besieged British that help was at hand. 11 Victoria Crosses were awarded to Members of the 93rd, 78th and 42nd Regiments during the campaign.

 

14 November 1910
Norman MacCaig, poet, born.  He died on 23rd January 1966.
 
14 November 1916
H H Munro, aka Hector Hugh Munro "Saki" was killed in action at Beaumont Hamel.
 
15 November 1746
James Reid from Angus was hanged, drawn, and quartered at York. He had served as a piper in the 1st Battalion, Lord Ogilvy's (Forfarshire) Regiment, raised in October 1745 in support of the Young Pretender, Prince Charles Edward Stewart. He was among several men from this regiment left as part of the garrison of the English border city of Carlisle when the Jacobites  abandoned their invasion of England, and was captured when the city surrendered to government forces in December 1745. At his treason trial  it was put forward in his defence that, as a musician, he did not carry arms and had not struck a blow against the Government. However the court ruled that "...a Highland regiment never marched without a piper, and therefore his bagpipe, in the eyes of the law, was an instrument of war.". 
 
16 November 1093
 
St Margaret  St Margaret's Chapel
Queen Margaret, wife of Malcolm III died at Edinburgh Castle on receiving the news of his death at the Battle of Alnwick.  She was made a saint in 1249.  St Margaret's  Chapel is in Edinburgh Castle.
 
17 November 1292
John Balliol was awarded the Scottish Crown. He swore fealty to Edward I and on 26 December paid homage to him at Newcastle-upon-Tyne for the Kingdom of Scotland. When it became clear Edward I regarded Scotland as a vassal state, the Scots Nobles resisted and with Balliol agreed the "Auld Alliance" with France.  On 5 April 1296 he renounced his fealty to Edward I, who marched north and defeated the Scots at the Battle of Dunbar.  Balliol surrendered to Edward I on 10 July and his nickname "Toom Tabard" came from the removal of heraldic insignia from his coat to mark his submission.  He was released in 1299 and retired to his French estate at Bailleul where he died in 1313.
 
18 November 1785
Sir David Wilkie, the Scottish painter, was born.
 
18 November 1916
The last day of The Battle of the Somme The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20th March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated there died between July and November 1916.
 
18 November 1998
Robin Hall, of the musical partnership Robin Hall and Jimmy MacGregor, interpreters of The Mingulay Boat Song and ineffable "Ye cannae shove yer Grannie aff the Bus", died.
 
19 November 1600
Charles I born in Fife.
 
19 November 1976
Sir Basil Spence died. Born in Bombay, he was educated in Edinburgh where he spent much of his working life.  His most famous work is Coventry Cathedral, and in Edinburgh the Main University Library.
 
20 November 1776
William Blackwood, publisher, born in Edinburgh.
 
21 November 1917
Lt E A Mackintosh, Seaforth Highlanders, author of  poem Cha Till Maccruimein, which foretold his own death,  killed on the second day of the Battle of Cambrai.
Other versions and the pipe tune.
 
22 November 1515
Mary of Guise born. She was the second French consort of James V, a devout Catholic, and aimed for union between Scotland and France. She brought a French Army to Scotland, but despite her efforts, the Scottish Protestant Reformation began, and the French were driven out of Scotland.
 
23 November 1834
James Thomson, BV, born in Port of Glasgow.  He wrote under the name "Bysshe Vanolis" to distinguish himself from James Thomson 1700-1748, author of "Rule Britannia". He died in 1882.
 
24 November 1542
The Battle of Solway Moss.  The Scots under the command of James V's favourite, Lord Oliver Sinclair and Lord Maxwell, were routed by a smaller English force.
 
25 November 1835
Andrew Carnegie, steel magnate and philanthropist, born in Dunfermline.
 
26 November 1836
John Loudon MacAdam who introduced the "macadam" or "tarmac" system of road surfacing, died at Moffat, Dumfrieshire.
 
27 November 1789
Prints are obtainable from the artist, David Rowlands www.davidrowlands.co.uk

The 72nd Regiment of Foot (Seaforth) took part in the Great Sortie from Gibraltar, doing such damage to the Spanish siege works that their plans to assault were abandoned.
 
27 November 1843
John Murray, publisher, died.
 
28 November 1666
The Covenanter "Pentland Rising" ended with the defeat of the Covenanters at Rullion Green by General Thomas Dalyell.
 
29 November 1489
Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII and future wife of James IV, born.
(According to some sources 28th November).
 
30 November
St Andrew's Day. Patron Saint of Scotland.
 
30 November 1335
The Battle of Culblean, which was the turning point in the Second War of Independence.
 

 

Updated 11/11/2023