Events from the year 1785 in Scotland.
Incumbents
Law officers Lord Advocate – Ilay Campbell Solicitor General for Scotland – Robert Dundas of Arniston
Judiciary Lord President of the Court of Session – Lord Arniston, the younger Lord Justice General – The Viscount Stormont Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Barskimming
Events 7 March – geologist James Hutton proposes the theory of uniformitarianism to the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Late September – James Boswell’s The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides is published. 5 October – flight by Florentine aeronaut Vincenzo Lunardi in a gas balloon from George Heriot's School, Edinburgh, across the Firth of Forth to Ceres, Fife (32 mi (51.5 km) in 1.5 hrs). 23 November – Lunardi flies from St Andrew's Square, Glasgow, to Hawick.
Births 18 May – John Wilson, writer (died 1854) 18 November – David Wilkie, painter (died at sea 1841)
Deaths 23 January – Matthew Stewart, mathematician (born 1717) 4 October – Alexander Runciman, painter (born 1736) 23 October – William Cochran, painter (born 1738)
The arts 22 May – Robert Burns' first child, Elizabeth ("Dear-bought Bess"), is born to his mother's servant, Elizabeth Paton and his poems "To a Mouse" and "Halloween" are written.
References