1840 in Scotland

← 1839 1838 1837 1836 1835 1840 in Scotland → 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845
Centuries:	17th 18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1820s 1830s 1840s 1850s 1860s
See also:	List of years in Scotland Timeline of Scottish history 1840 in: The UK • Wales • Elsewhere

Events from the year 1840 in Scotland.

Incumbents

Law officers

• Lord Advocate – Andrew Rutherfurd
• Solicitor General for Scotland – James Ivory; then Thomas Maitland

Judiciary

• Lord Justice General – Lord Granton
• Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Boyle

Events

• Uniform Fourpenny Post of 1839. From 6 May, the Penny Black, the world's first postage stamp, becomes valid for prepayment of postage. Advocates of the scheme include Robert Wallace (MP for Greenock) and James Chalmers
  .
• 14 January – the first known baptisms by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Scotland take place in the River Clyde at Bishopton when Samuel Mulliner, a Scot who joined the church in Canada, baptizes Alexander and Jessie Hay. In May, Orson Pratt preaches from Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh.^[1]
• July – last known great auk in the British Isles caught and later killed on the islet of Stac an Armin, St Kilda, Scotland.^[2][3][4]
• Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the first steam transatlantic passenger mail service. Scottish marine engineer Robert Napier is a major partner in the venture and has supplied the ship's engine.^[5]
• 21 July – first burial at the Southern Necropolis in Glasgow
  .
• Glasgow Bridge Street railway station and Ayr,^[6]
  the first inter-urban railway in Scotland.
• 15 August – foundation stone of the Scott Monument in Edinburgh is laid.^[7]
• 31 August – the Slamannan Railway
  is opened.
• Approximate date – Forglen House, designed by John Smith, is completed.^[8]

Births

• 1 January – Dugald Drummond
  , steam locomotive engineer (died 1912 in England)
• Bishop of Argyll and the Isles (Catholic) (died 1918
  )
• 5 February
  • Charlotte Carmichael, pioneer of higher education for women (died 1929 in England)
  • John Boyd Dunlop, inventor (died 1921 in Ireland)
• 3 March – Hugh Smellie, steam locomotive engineer (died 1891
  )
• 22 April – Thomas Clouston, psychiatrist (died 1915
  )
• Indian Civil Service (British India)
  (died 1900 in England)
• 29 November – James Crichton-Browne, psychiatrist (died 1938
  )
• J. M. Brydon, architect (died 1901 in England)

Deaths

• 9 March – George Gleig, Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church (born 1753
  )
• 10 April – Alexander Nasmyth, painter (born 1758
  )

• 1840 in Ireland

References