Eighteenth Century Scotland Chronology of Key Events

• 1700 Scots population of Ulster now about 100,000. Less than 14 per cent of land of Ireland owned by Catholics
• 1700 second expedition flees Darien
• 1701 New English war with France begins
• 1701 James VII dies
• 1702  William of Orange dies, to be succeeded by Queen Anne
• 1702 King William dies
• 1702 First discussions between commissioners about union begin
• 1702 King William of Orange dies. Mary's sister Anne becomes Queen
• 1703 Talks collapse. Anne calls for fresh Scottish elections
• 1703 New Scottish parliament meets
• 1703 Scots parliament passes Act of Security
• 1705 English pass the Alien Act
• 1705 Scots parliament agrees Queen Anne can appoint its commissioners to negotiate for union
• 1706 Negotiations between commissioners start
• 1706 Estates meet to discuss deal drawn up by commissioners
• 1706 Riots break out in the town as a protest against merger with England
• 1707 Power moves from Edinburgh to Westminster after Treaty of Union
• 1707 Act of Union
• 1707 Estates pass act agreeing to Articles of Union
• 1707 Estates adjourned
• 1707 Act of Union passed
• 1707 Act of Union comes into effect
• 1708 Scottish Privy Council abolished. First Jacobite invasion beaten off
• 1712 Rob Roy runs off with Montrose's money and becomes an outlaw
• 1712 Patronage Act introduced
• 1713 English malt tax forces Scottish boycott of parliament. Lords vote to dissolve the union narrowly fails
• 1714 Queen Anne dies
• 1715 Earl of Mar raises standard of the Stewart Pretender, James VIII and III, and quickly seizes Perth
• 1715 battle of Sheriffmuir
• 1715 James lands at Peterhead
• 1715 He takes part in the battle of Sheriffmuir, ostensibly on the Jacobite side
• 1716 James leaves again for France
• 1719 Alexander Monro, appointed Professor of Anatomy at Edinburgh University
• 1720 Prince Charles Edward Stewart born in Rome
• 1722 Argyll brings about a reconciliation between Rob Roy and Montrose
• 1726 Rob Roy pardoned while in Newgate Prison awaiting transportation to Barbados
• 1726 Wade appointed Commander in Chief of Scotland with orders to pacify the Highlands
• 1726 Plans for new Edinburgh Royal Infirmary drawn up
• 1733 Original secession
• 1734 Rob Roy dies
• 1739 Wade's major road building programme in the Highlands completed
• 1740 War between Britain and France begins
• 1744 Proposed French invasion of Scotland called off
• 1745 Charles arrives in Scotland to start his campaign
• 1745 the Jacobites take Perth and Edinburgh
• 1745 Carlisle falls, followed by Lancaster, Preston and Manchester
• 1745 6 December 1745: Prince begins retreat from Derby
• 1745 25 December: Jacobites enter Glasgow
• 1745 Prince reaches Derby
• 1745 Charles wins the Battle of Prestonpans
• 1745 Charles's standard raised at Glenfinnan
• 1746 3 January 1746: Charles and his army leave Glasgow
• 1746 18 February: Jacobites take Inverness
• 1746 14 April: Cumberland arrives at Nairn
• 1746 April 1746 - Battle of Culloden
• 1746 September 1746 - Charles catches a boat to France
• 1746 June 1746 - Flora MacDonald smuggles Charles to Skye
• 1746 Defeat of the Jacobites at Culloden
• 1746 End of last Jacobite rebellion
• 1746 16 April: Battle of Culloden
• 1746 5 March: Fort Augustus falls to the Prince
• 1746 17 January: Battle of Falkirk
• 1748 Wade dies and is buried in Westminster Abbey
• 1750 Charles secretly returns to London
• 1752 Plans for a New Town are drawn up
• 1753 his daughter Charlotte born to Clementina Walkenshaw
• 1755 first Scottish census completed
• 1759 Nor' Loch drained
• 1759 Robert Burns born in Alloway
• 1760 Beginning of introduction of sheep to the Highlands
• 1760 Carron ironworks begins operation
• 1761 Second secession
• 1765 James Watt invents the separate condenser steam engine
• 1766 Charles's father, the Old Pretender, dies
• 1766 Burns family move to Mount Oliphant
• 1767 Work on New Town begun
• 1768 First Encyclopaedia Britannica published
• 1769 Ascent of Ben More. Ben More, Crianlarich, was climbed in 1769 by a group of astronomers, seeking to observe a transit of the planet Venus.
• 1769 Ascent of Ben More. Ben More, Crianlarich, was climbed in 1769 by a group of astronomers, seeking to observe a transit of the planet Venus.
• 1770 Height of tobacco trade with America
• 1770 1770s - Demand for wool increases
• 1771 Walter Scott born in Edinburgh
• 1771 Early Ascents of Ben Nevis. In 1771, the first recorded ascent of Ben Nevis was made, by the botanist James Robertson, then collecting specimens. He was followed three years later by John Williams, who was on the lookout for commercial mineral deposits. In 1787, a third recorded ascent was made by a Lieutenant Walker and party. This ascent seems to have had no other purpose other than curiosity, and what is interesting is that it seems likely that in the three years between these two latter ascents, many had made the laborious climb to the summit for pleasure, as some 30 small cairns were found by Walker on the summit plateau.
• 1772 Charles marries Louisa, Princess of Stolberg
• 1772 North Bridge completed
• 1774 Flora MacDonald emigrates to America
• 1774 Schiehallion use to ?weigh? the Earth. The Astronomer Royal, the Rev. Nevil Maskelyne (so unflatteringly portrayed in the recent television adaptation of ?Longitude?), spends four months on Schiehallion making observations relating to the density of the earth.
• 1775 American Revolution begins
• 1776 Adam Smith publishes Wealth of Nations
• 1777 Family move again to Lochlea
• 1777 Returns from a childhood in the Borders
• 1780 Founds bachelors Club in Tarbolton
• 1780 Glasgow's population reaches more than 40,000
• 1783 Robert and his brother lease farm at Mossgiel
• 1783 Emigration begins after American War of Independence
• 1784 Robert's father dies
• 1786 Robert changes the spelling of his surname from Burness to Burns
• 1786 Apprenticed to his father's law fi
• 1786 Kilmarnock Edition of his work published
• 1787 Consolidates his position in Edinburgh society and publishes Edinburgh Edition
• 1788 Charles dies in Rome
• 1788 Marries Jean Armour, moves to Ellisland and joins Excise Service
• 1790 Death of Flora MacDonald
• 1791 Robert Adam designs Charlotte Square
• 1791 Gives up Ellisland and moves to Dumfries
• 1791 Ordnance Survey founded. Following the second ill-fated Jacobite rebellion in 1745, Cumberland?s Deputy Quartermaster General, Lieutenant-General Watson, decided that a map of the Highlands was required. An infantry detachment, under the direction of William Roy, was posted to Fort Augustus in 1747,where they spent the next eight years on this mammoth task. It was largely due to him that the Ordnance Survey was founded in 1791. The principal project for the next 33 years was the production of a one-inch to the mile map of Great Britain. In 1810, their triangulations reached Scotland. The Director-General, from 1820 to 1846 was Thomas Colby.
• 1792 Ross rebellion against importation of sheep takes place
• 1794 Appointed excise supervisor
• 1796 Appointed excise supervisor
• 1797 Marries Charlotte Carpenter
• 1799 Appointed Sheriff-Depute of Selkirkshire