Events from the year 1943 in Scotland.
Incumbents
Secretary of State for Scotland and Keeper of the Great Seal – Tom Johnston
Law officers Lord Advocate – James Reid Solicitor General for Scotland – Sir David King Murray
Judiciary Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General – Lord Normand Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Cooper Chairman of the Scottish Land Court – Lord Gibson
Events 11 February – At the Midlothian and Peebles Northern by-election, the radical socialist Common Wealth Party candidate Tom Wintringham comes close to winning the seat (which is held for the Unionist Party by Sir David King Murray). 24 February – Royal Navy submarine is lost with all 37 crew on sea trials in the Sound of Bute; she would not be located until 1994. 27 March – Royal Navy escort carrier is destroyed by an accidental explosion in the Firth of Clyde, killing 379 of the crew of 528. 21 April – "Big Blitz" bombing of Aberdeen. 30 May – Royal Navy submarine is lost with all hands on a training exercise in the Firth of Clyde. 19 June – Jackie Paterson wins the world flyweight boxing title by a knockout in the first minute at Hampden Park in Glasgow. 5 August – North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board established by Act of Parliament (with headquarters in Edinburgh). 11 November – Total evacuation of an area near Portmahomack in Easter Ross begins, to make way for rehearsal of the Normandy Landings. 2 December – Broughty Ferry pigeon Winkie, serving with the Royal Air Force, is among the first recipients of the Dickin Medal, instituted to honour the work of animals in war. The last crofting family leaves the island of South Rona. Ferranti open a plant at Crewe Toll in Edinburgh, originally to manufacture gyro gunsights for aircraft.
Births 23 January – Ernie Hannigan, footballer (died 2015 in Australia) 31 January – Peter McRobbie, screen actor in the United States 18 February – Graeme Garden, author, actor, comedian, artist and television presenter, one of The Goodies 1 March – Witold Rybczynski, Canadian American architect, born in Edinburgh 3 April – John Hughes, footballer (died 2022)) 16 April – Morris Stevenson, footballer (died 2014) 19 April – Margo MacDonald, politician (died 2014) 1 May – Ian Dunn, gay and paedophile rights activist, founder of the Scottish Minorities Group (died 1998) 5 May – Kay Ullrich, politician (died 2021) 10 May – Jack Bruce, rock musician (died 2014) 22 June – J. Michael Kosterlitz, Scottish-born condensed matter physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics 16 July – Ian Donald Cochrane Hopkins, comedy writer 18 July – Robin MacDonald, pop guitarist (died 2015) 20 August – Sylvester McCoy, born Percy James Patrick Kent-Smith, actor 16 October – Tommy Gemmell, footballer (died 2017) 24 November – Robin Williamson, acoustic musician 28 November – George T. Miller, film director (died 2023 in Australia) Alan Bold, poet and biographer (died 1998) G. C. Peden, historian D. R. Thorpe, biographer
Deaths 17 June – Annie S. Swan, novelist (born 1859) 8 September - Anderson Gray McKendrick, military physician and epidemiologist, (born 1876) 15 October – William Soutar, poet (born 1898) 23 December – George Henry, painter (born 1858) Ann Scott-Moncrieff, author (born 1914)
The arts November – Sorley MacLean's first collection of Gaelic poems, Dàin do Eimhir agus Dàin Eile, is published. Glasgow Citizens Theatre founded. Poetry Scotland magazine founded in Glasgow by Maurice Lindsay.
See also Timeline of Scottish history 1943 in Northern Ireland
References