Events from the year 1956 in Scotland.
Incumbents
Secretary of State for Scotland and Keeper of the Great Seal – James Stuart
Law officers Lord Advocate – William Rankine Milligan Solicitor General for Scotland – William Grant
Judiciary Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General – Lord Clyde Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Thomson Chairman of the Scottish Land Court – Lord Gibson
Events 7 March – The first floodlit Scottish Football League match is played at Ibrox Park in Glasgow; home team Rangers F.C. beat Queen of the South 8–0. 1 June – Elsie Stephenson becomes founding director of the Nurse Teaching Unit, University of Edinburgh, the first nurse teaching unit within a British university. 4 July – The National Library of Scotland's first purpose-built premises are opened on George IV Bridge in Edinburgh. 29 July – the Ecurie Ecosse motor racing team, Ninian Sanderson and Ron Flockhart, win the 1956 24 Hours of Le Mans race. 14 August – death of John Crichton-Stuart, 5th Marquess of Bute (born 1904); he bequeaths the uninhabited islands of St Kilda to the National Trust for Scotland as a bird sanctuary. 25 September – the TAT-1 transatlantic telephone cable between the UK and North America is inaugurated; it comes ashore near Oban. 4 October – Prince's Cairn unveiled at Loch nan Uamh to mark the spot where Charles Edward Stuart left Scotland in 1746 after failure of the Jacobite rising of 1745. 20 October – Dundee Corporation Tramways last operate. 16 November – Edinburgh Corporation Tramways last operate. Trams return to Edinburgh after much delay on 31 May 2014. 2 December – in the 1956 Summer Olympics at Melbourne, Richard McTaggart of Dundee wins a gold medal in lightweight boxing. 10 December – Thurso life-boat destroyed when its boathouse is burnt out. The Scottish Medical Journal is first published in Edinburgh following merger of the Edinburgh Medical Journal and The Glasgow Medical Journal.
Births 7 January – Ian Bell, journalist (died 2015) 11 January – Phyllis Logan, actress 12 January – Myra McFadyen, actress (died 2024) 22 February – Philip Kerr, writer (died 2018) 25 February – Davie Cooper, footballer (died 1995) 19 April – Anne Glover, biologist 7 May – Calum MacDonald, Labour MP 2 June – Susan Rae, radio newsreader 22 June - Derek Forbes, Musician 7 September – Robert Reed, judge, President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom 26 September – Mick Imlah, poet (died 2009 in England) 3 November – Cathy Jamieson, Labour MP 29 December – Fred MacAulay, comedian Lachlan Mackinnon, poet and critic
Deaths 11 January – Buchanan Sharp, footballer (born 1894) 30 May – Sir John Stirling-Maxwell, 10th Baronet, Conservative politician and philanthropist (born 1866) 21 September – Bill Struth, football manager (born 1876) 6 December – Helen Duncan, medium (born 1897)
See also 1956 in Northern Ireland
References