Events from the year 1953 in Scotland.
Incumbents
Secretary of State for Scotland and Keeper of the Great Seal – James Stuart
Law officers Lord Advocate – James Latham Clyde Solicitor General for Scotland – William Rankine Milligan
Judiciary Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General – Lord Cooper Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Thomson Chairman of the Scottish Land Court – Lord Gibson
Events 30 January – The cargo vessel Clan MacQuarrie runs aground near Borve, Lewis in a storm; all 66 crew are rescued by breeches buoy the following morning. 31 January – The car ferry , sailing from Stranraer to Larne in Northern Ireland, sinks in the Irish Sea in a storm killing 133 people on board. Fleetwood trawler Michael Griffiths sinks seven miles south of Barra Head with the loss of 13 crew. 9 February – Fraserburgh life-boat John and Charles Kennedy capsizes on service: six crew killed. 5 March – , the last full-size paddle steamer built in the UK, is launched on the River Clyde at A. & J. Inglis's Pointhouse Shipyard. On 25 May, she enters excursion service on Loch Lomond. c. March – New Bridge Street Bridge across Peterhead harbour completed, the last Scherzer rolling lift bridge erected by Sir William Arrol & Co. of Glasgow. 16 April – The Queen launches the Royal Yacht Britannia at John Brown & Company shipbuilders at Clydebank. 20 May – Celtic F.C. beat Hibernian 2-0 in the final of the Coronation Cup (football) at Hampden Park. 20 June – Most of the population of the island of Soay, Skye, moves to the Isle of Mull. 24 June – First state visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Scotland since her accession; the Honours of Scotland are carried before the monarch for the first time since 1822 and presented to her at St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh. 22 July – Great Bernera is connected to Lewis by Scotland's first prestressed concrete girder bridge. 8 August – The northbound Royal Scot train derails near Abington descending from Beattock Summit due to buckling of track caused by high temperature; 37 are injured. 27 October – Arbroath life-boat Robert Lindsay capsizes on service: six crew killed. Scottish law case of MacCormick v Lord Advocate decides that the right of Elizabeth II to so style herself in Scotland is a matter of royal prerogative. IBM establishes a manufacturing facility in Greenock.
Births 1 January – Maureen Beattie, Irish-born actress 6 January – Malcolm Young, rock guitarist (died 2017 in Australia) 11 January – John Sessions, born John Gibb Marshall, actor and comedian (died 2020) 20 January – John Robertson, international footballer (died 2025) 27 February – Gavin Esler, television journalist 6 April – Patrick Doyle, film composer 6 May Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 1997–2007 Graeme Souness, international footballer and manager 19 May – Patrick Hodge, lawyer, a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom 21 May – Jim Devine, Labour politician 22 May – Andy Nisbet, mountaineer (died 2019) 23 May – Ronald Frame, fiction writer 7 June Colin Boyd, Baron Boyd of Duncansby, lawyer and judge Dougie Donnelly, television presenter 23 June – John Stahl, actor (died 2022) 24 August – Sam Torrance, golfer 31 August – Jimmy McKenna, actor 8 September – John McGlynn, actor 10 September – John Thurso, born John Sinclair, businessman and Liberal Democrat politician 28 September – Jim Diamond, pop singer-songwriter (died 2015) 21 October – Eric Faulkner, pop musician 4 November – Derek Johnstone, international footballer 12 November – Calum MacDonald, Celtic rock songwriter and percussionist 22 December – Gregor Fisher, actor and comedian Steven Campbell, figurative painter (died 2007) Ian Read, businessman
Deaths 19 March – Thomas Hunter, Unionist Party politician and Member of Parliament (MP) for Perth (born 1872) 1 June – Alex James, international footballer (born 1901) 23 July – Sir Thomas Jaffrey, actuary (born 1861) 30 September – Lewis Fry Richardson, mathematical physicist (born 1881 in England)
The arts April – Comedy film Laxdale Hall is released. Lewis Spence's Collected Poems are published in Edinburgh.
See also 1953 in Northern Ireland
References