Events from the 1650s in the

Kingdom of Scotland The Kingdom of Scotland was a sovereign state in northwest Europe, traditionally said to have been founded in 843. Its territories expanded and shrank, but it came to occupy the northern third of the island of Great Britain, sharing a Anglo-Sc ...

Incumbents

Monarch A monarch () is a head of stateWebster's II New College Dictionary. "Monarch". Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest ...

– Charles II (until his disposition in 1651) *

Commonwealth of England The Commonwealth of England was the political structure during the period from 1649 to 1660 when Kingdom of England, England and Wales, later along with Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland and Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, were governed as a republi ...

from 1651 until the Restoration in 1660 which reinstates Charles II.

Events

* 1650: ** 21 May –

James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose (1612 – 21 May 1650) was a Scottish nobleman, poet, soldier and later viceroy and captain general of Scotland. Montrose initially joined the Covenanters in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, but subsequ ...

executed in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

after his defeat at the

Battle of Carbisdale The Battle of Carbisdale (also known as Invercarron) took place close to the village of Culrain, Sutherland, Scotland on 27 April 1650 and was part of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It was fought by the Royalist leader James Graham, 1st Marque ...

. ** 29 June – "the Lord General Cromwell went out of London towards the North: and the news of him marching Northward much startled the Scots".

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

leads the

New Model Army The New Model Army or New Modelled Army was a standing army formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians during the First English Civil War, then disbanded after the Stuart Restoration in 1660. It differed from other armies employed in the 1639 t ...

to Edinburgh. ** 3 September – Battle of Dunbar takes place between Cromwell's Army and the Scottish Covenanters. Cromwell's army wins and the battle results in southern Scotland surrendering to England; it is administered from

Dalkeith Dalkeith ( ; , ) is a town in Midlothian, Scotland, on the River Esk. It was granted a burgh of barony in 1401 and a burgh of regality in 1541. The settlement of Dalkeith grew southwestwards from its 12th-century castle (now Dalkeith Pala ...

. * 1651: ** 1 January – Charles II crowned King of Scotland at

Scone Palace Scone Palace is a Category A- listed historic house near the village of Scone and the city of Perth, Scotland. Ancestral seat of Earls of Mansfield, built in red sandstone with a castellated roof, it is an example of the Gothic Revival style ...

. ** 20 July –

Battle of Inverkeithing The Battle of Inverkeithing was fought on 20 July 1651 between an English army under John Lambert and a Scottish army led by James Holborne as part of an English invasion of Scotland. The battle was fought near the isthmus of the Ferry ...

: The English Parliamentarian

, under Major-General John Lambert, defeats a Scottish

Covenanter Covenanters were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. It originated in disputes with James VI and his son C ...

army acting on behalf of Charles II, led by Sir John Brown of Fordell. ** 1 September –

Siege of Dundee The siege of Dundee, 23 August to 1 September 1651, took place during the 1650 to 1652 Anglo-Scottish war. After a two-day artillery bombardment, a Covenanter garrison under Robert Lumsden surrendered to Commonwealth of England forces comm ...

ends with the English Parliamentarian army, under

General Monck George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle (6 December 1608 3 January 1670) was an English military officer and politician who fought on both sides during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A prominent military figure under the Commonwealth, his support ...

, decisively defeating Covenanters in the last battle of the

Wars of the Three Kingdoms The Wars of the Three Kingdoms were a series of conflicts fought between 1639 and 1653 in the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland, then separate entities in a personal union un ...

in Scotland. ** 3 September –

Battle of Worcester The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651 in and around the city of Worcester, England and was the last major battle of the 1642 to 1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A Parliamentarian army of around 28,000 under Oliver Cromwell def ...

takes place after Charles II has raised an army (largely from Scotland) and invaded England. It results in his defeat by Cromwell and the king escaping abroad. * 1652: 17 June – A large fire breaks out in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, which destroys around a third of the city and leaves approximately 1,000 families homeless. * 1653: 16 December – Cromwell is made

Lord Protector Lord Protector (plural: ''Lords Protector'') is a title that has been used in British constitutional law for the head of state. It was also a particular title for the British heads of state in respect to the established church. It was sometime ...

of England, Scotland and Ireland. * 1654: **12 April – Cromwell creates a union between England and Scotland, with Scottish representation in the

Parliament of England The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the Great Council of England, great council of Lords Spi ...

. **5 May –

Cromwell's Act of Grace Cromwell's Act of Grace, or more formally the Act of Pardon and Grace to the People of Scotland, was an Act of the Parliament of England that declared that the people of Scotland (with certain exceptions) were pardoned for any crimes they migh ...

, which

pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...

s the people of Scotland for any crimes they may have committed during the

, is proclaimed in Edinburgh. * 1658: 3 September – Cromwell dies and the title of Lord Protector passes to his son,

Richard Cromwell Richard Cromwell (4 October 162612 July 1712) was an English statesman who served as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland from 1658 to 1659. He was the son of Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell. Following his father ...

. * 1659: ** 25 May – Richard Cromwell forced to resign as Lord Protector. **

Heriot's Hospital George Heriot's School is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private primary education, primary and secondary education, secondary day school on Lauriston Place in the Lauriston area of Edinburgh, Scotland. In the early 21st century, it has ...

opens in Edinburgh.

Publications

*1655 – ''History of the Church and State of Scotland'' by

John Spottiswoode John Spottiswoode (Spottiswood, Spotiswood, Spotiswoode or Spotswood) (1565 – 26 November 1639) was an Archbishop of St Andrews, Primate of All Scotland, Lord Chancellor, and historian of Scotland. Life He was born in 1565 at Greenbank in ...

Births

*1650: ** Sir James Dalrymple, 1st Baronet, writer and

Principal Clerk of Session The Principal Clerk of Session and Justiciary is the clerk of court responsible for the administration of the Supreme Courts of Scotland and their associated staff. The Keeper of the Signet grants a commission to the Principal Clerk of Session ...

(d.

1719 Events January–March * January 8 – Carolean Death March begins: A catastrophic retreat by a largely-Finnish Swedish- Carolean army under the command of Carl Gustaf Armfeldt across the Tydalen mountains in a blizzard kills aroun ...

) **

George Brown George Brown may refer to: Arts and entertainment * George Loring Brown (1814–1889), American landscape painter * George Douglas Brown (1869–1902), Scottish novelist * George Williams Brown (1894–1963), Canadian historian and editor * Ge ...

, inventor and arithmetician (d.

1730 Events January–March * January 30 (January 19 O.S.) – At dawn, Emperor Peter II of Russia dies of smallpox, aged 14 in Moscow, on the eve of his projected marriage. * February 26 (February 15 O.S.) – Anna of Russia ( ...

) **

Henry Erskine, 3rd Lord Cardross Henry Erskine, third Lord Cardross (1650 – 1693), was a Scottish peer and covenanter. Background Erskine was the eldest son of David Erskine, 2nd Lord Cardross, by his first wife, Anne, who was fifth daughter of Sir Thomas Hope, 1st Baronet, ...

(d.

1693 Events January–March * January 11 – The Mount Etna volcano erupts in Italy, causing a devastating earthquake that kills 60,000 people in Sicily and Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Sout ...

) * 1654: 23 November – George Watson, accountant (d.

1733 Events January–March * January 13 – Borommarachathirat V becomes King of Siam (now Thailand) upon the death of King Sanphet IX. * January 27 – George Frideric Handel's classic opera, ''Orlando'' is performed for the ...

) * 1658: 11 April –

James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton Lieutenant-General James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton and 1st Duke of Brandon (11 April 1658 – 15 November 1712), was a Scottish nobleman, soldier and politician. Hamilton was a major investor in the failed Darien scheme, which cost many of ...

, nobleman (d.

1712 In the Swedish calendar it began as a leap year starting on Monday and remained so until Thursday, February 29. By adding a second leap day, Friday, February 30, Sweden reverted to the Julian calendar and the rest of the year (from Saturday, M ...

) * 1659 ** 1 January –

Margaret Wemyss, 3rd Countess of Wemyss Margaret Wemyss, 3rd Countess of Wemyss and Countess of Cromarty (1 January 165911 March 1705) was a Scottish peer. Margaret was the daughter of David Wemyss, 2nd Earl of Wemyss and Margaret Leslie, daughter of John Leslie, 6th Earl of Rothes. ...

, noble (d. 1705) ** 3 June – David Gregory, mathematician and astronomer (d. 1708 in England) ** 13 September –

Claud Hamilton, 4th Earl of Abercorn Claud Hamilton, 4th Earl of Abercorn PC (Ire) (1659–1691) was a Scottish and Irish peer who fought for the Jacobites in the Williamite War. He went with King James to Derry in 1689 and tried to negotiate the surrender of the town with Adam ...

, Scottish and Irish peer (d. 1691)

Deaths

*1650: ** 21 May –

(b.

1612 Events January–March * January 6 – Axel Oxenstierna becomes Lord High Chancellor of Sweden. He persuades the Riksdag of the Estates to grant the Swedish nobility the right and privilege to hold all higher offices of governme ...

) ** 29 October –

David Calderwood David Calderwood (157529 October 1650) was a Scottish minister of religion and historian. Calderwood was banished for his nonconformity. He found a home in the Low Countries, where he wrote his great work, the ''Altare Damascenum'' which was a ...

divine Divinity (from Latin ) refers to the quality, presence, or nature of that which is divine—a term that, before the rise of monotheism, evoked a broad and dynamic field of sacred power. In the ancient world, divinity was not limited to a singl ...

and

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

(b.

1575 Year 1575 ( MDLXXV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Events January–March * January 21 – Queen Elizabeth I of England grants a monopoly on producing printed sheet music, to Thomas Tallis and Will ...

) *1654: Alexander Ross, writer (b. c.1590)

References

{{Years in Scotland 1650 in Scotland