Events from the year 1883 in Scotland.
Incumbents
Law officers Lord Advocate – John Blair Balfour Solicitor General for Scotland – Alexander Asher
Judiciary Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General – Lord Glencorse Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Moncreiff
Events 20 January – Fenian dynamite campaign: In Glasgow, bombs explode at Tradeston Gasworks, Possil Street Bridge and Buchanan Street railway station; about a dozen people are injured. 28 April – the first rugby sevens tournament is played at Melrose RFC. 3 June – Sabbatarian riot at Stromeferry: the local fishing community prevent the loading of fish (caught by east coast fishermen) from Stornoway ships to railway on a Sunday. 3 July – SS Daphne sinks on launch at Alexander Stephen and Sons' Linthouse shipyard, leaving 124 dead. 29 August – Dunfermline Carnegie Library, the first Carnegie library in the world, is opened in Andrew Carnegie's hometown, Dunfermline. 4 October – the Boys' Brigade is founded in Glasgow. November–December – the Tay Whale (a humpback) appears in the Firth of Tay; on 31 December it is harpooned but escapes, dying later. Denny Ship Model Experiment Tank at Dumbarton completed. Edinburgh Mathematical Society founded.
Sport Association Football Raith Rovers F.C. is established in Kirkcaldy. Curling Scotland's first boys' club is established in Wanlockhead. Rugby union Scotland take part in the inaugural Home Nations Championship. Scotlands first home international game played at Raeburn Place in Edinburgh. First match against Wales, hosted at St. Helen's Rugby and Cricket Ground in Swansea; Scotland win by three goals to one.
Births 17 January – Compton Mackenzie, author and co-founder in 1928 of the Scottish National Party (born in England; died 1972) 27 January – James Lithgow, industrialist (died 1952) 24 March – Dorothy Campbell, golfer (died 1945 in the United States) 12 April – Francis Cadell, Colourist painter (died 1937) 15 May – Lord Ninian Crichton-Stuart, British Army officer and Unionist politician (killed in action 1915 in France) 5 June – Mary Helen Young, nurse and resistance fighter during World War II (died 1945 in Germany) 9 July – John Watson, advocate and sheriff, Solicitor General for Scotland 1929–31 (died 1944) 21 August – Victor Fortune, British Army officer (died 1949) 17 October – A. S. Neill, educationalist (died 1973 in England) 17 December – David Powell, stage and silent film actor (died 1925 in the United States)
Deaths 27 March – John Brown, royal servant (born 1826) 8 May – John Miller, civil engineer (born 1805) 20 May – William Chambers, publisher and politician (born 1800) 2 July – John Strain, first Roman Catholic Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh (born 1810) 9 August – Robert Moffat, missionary (born 1795) David Rhind, architect (born 1808)
The arts James Guthrie paints A Hind's Daughter and To Pastures New.
See also Timeline of Scottish history 1883 in Ireland
References