Events from the year 1923 in
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
.
Incumbents
*
Secretary for Scotland
The secretary of state for Scotland (; ), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Scotland Office. The incum ...
and
Keeper of the Great Seal –
The Viscount Novar
Law officers
*
Lord Advocate
His Majesty's Advocate, known as the Lord Advocate (), is the principal legal adviser of both the Scottish Government and the Crown in Scotland for civil and criminal matters that fall within the devolution, devolved powers of the Scottish P ...
–
William Watson
*
Solicitor General for Scotland
His Majesty's Solicitor General for Scotland () is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, and the deputy of the Lord Advocate, whose duty is to advise the Scottish Government on Scots Law. They are also responsible for the Crown Office and P ...
–
David Fleming; then
Frederick Thomson
Judiciary
*
Lord President of the Court of Session
The Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General () is the most senior judge in Scotland, the head of the judiciary, and the presiding judge of the College of Justice, the Court of Session, and the High Court of Justiciary. ...
and
Lord Justice General
Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...
–
Lord Clyde
*
Lord Justice Clerk
The Lord Justice Clerk is the second most senior judge in Scotland, after the Lord President of the Court of Session. The current Lord Justice Clerk is Lord Beckett, who was appointed to the position on 4 February 2025, succeeding Lady Dorr ...
–
Lord Alness
*
Chairman of the Scottish Land Court
The Scottish Land Court () is a Scottish court of law based in Edinburgh with subject-matter jurisdiction covering disputes between landlords and tenants relating to agricultural tenancies, and matters related to crofts and crofters. The S ...
–
Lord St Vigeans
Events
*
1 January
January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in the Gregorian Calendar; 364 days remain until the end of the year (365 in leap years). This day is also known as New Year's Day since the day marks the beginning of the year. __TOC__
Events ...
–
Grouping of virtually all British
railway
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
companies. The
Caledonian (from 1 July),
Highland
Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally, ''upland'' refers to a range of hills, typically from up to , while ''highland'' is usually reserved for range ...
and
Glasgow and South Western Railway
The Glasgow and South Western Railway (G&SWR) was the third biggest of the five major Scottish railway companies prior to the 1923 Grouping. It served a triangular area of south-west Scotland between Glasgow, Stranraer and Carlisle, Cumbria, Ca ...
s are merged into the
London, Midland and Scottish Railway
The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with London and North Eastern Railway, LNER, Great Western Railway, GWR and Southern Railway (UK), SR. The London, Midland an ...
; and the
North British and
Great North of Scotland Railways into the
London and North Eastern Railway
The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after London, Midland and Scottish Railway, LMS) of the "Big Four (British railway companies), Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It ope ...
.
*
6 March – First
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
radio broadcast from
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 ...
(station 5SC).
*
19 March
Events Pre-1600
* 1277 – The Byzantine–Venetian treaty of 1277 is concluded, stipulating a two-year truce and renewing Venetian commercial privileges in the Byzantine Empire.
* 1279 – A Mongol victory at the Battle of Yamen en ...
– First BBC radio outside broadcast in Scotland, from the Coliseum Theatre, Glasgow.
[
* 23 March – Cutty Sark whisky blended.
* ]29 May
Events Pre-1600
* 363 – The Roman emperor Julian defeats the Sasanian army in the Battle of Ctesiphon, under the walls of the Sasanian capital, but is unable to take the city.
* 1108 – Battle of Uclés: Almoravid troops under ...
— The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the sovereign and highest court of the Church of Scotland, and is thus the Church's governing body.''An Introduction to Practice and Procedure in the Church of Scotland'' by A. Gordon McGillivray, ...
calls for curbs on the immigration of Irish Catholics
Irish Catholics () are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland, defined by their adherence to Catholic Christianity and their shared Irish ethnic, linguistic, and cultural heritage.The term distinguishes Catholics of Irish descent, particul ...
following a Report laid before it earlier that same month.
* 24 June – Edinburgh Corporation Tramways
Edinburgh Corporation Tramways was a Scottish tram network that formerly served the City of Edinburgh, Scotland. The city used four-wheeled double-decked trams painted dark red ( madder) and white – a livery still used by Lothian Buses and ...
completes conversion from cable
Cable may refer to:
Mechanical
* Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof
* Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...
to electric traction.
* 13 July — Margaret Kidd becomes the first female member of the Scottish bar.
* 12 August– 8 November – Eallabus on Islay
Islay ( ; , ) is the southernmost island of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Known as "The Queen of the Hebrides", it lies in Argyll and Bute just south west of Jura, Scotland, Jura and around north of the Northern Irish coast. The island's cap ...
records 89 successive rain-days, a British record.
* 25 September – 40 coal miners are killed when the pit at Redding, Falkirk
Redding is a village within the Falkirk council area in Central Scotland. The village is southeast of Falkirk, south-southwest of Grangemouth and west of Polmont.
At the time of the 2001 census, Redding had a population of 1,954 residents ...
floods.
* 10 October
** First BBC radio broadcast from Aberdeen
Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...
(station 2BD).[
** Susan Newell (born 1893) undergoes judicial ]hanging
Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...
at Duke Street Prison, Glasgow, for infanticide
Infanticide (or infant homicide) is the intentional killing of infants or offspring. Infanticide was a widespread practice throughout human history that was mainly used to dispose of unwanted children, its main purpose being the prevention of re ...
, the last woman to suffer capital punishment
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...
in Scotland (and the first for 70 years in Glasgow).
* 2 December – First BBC radio broadcast in Gaelic
Gaelic (pronounced for Irish Gaelic and for Scots Gaelic) is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". It may refer to:
Languages
* Gaelic languages or Goidelic languages, a linguistic group that is one of the two branches of the Insul ...
, a religious address from Aberdeen.[
* 6 December – ]United Kingdom general election
United Kingdom general elections (elections for the House of Commons) have occurred in the United Kingdom since the first in 1802. The members of the 1801–1802 Parliament had been elected to the former Parliament of Great Britain and Parliame ...
. Katharine Stewart-Murray, Duchess of Atholl
Katharine Marjory Stewart-Murray, Duchess of Atholl, DBE (''née'' Ramsay; 6 November 1874 – 21 October 1960), known as the Marchioness of Tullibardine from 1899 to 1917, was a Scottish noblewoman and Scottish Unionist Party politician. S ...
, is elected as Unionist Party MP for Kinross and Western Perthshire.
Births
* 15 January
** John Christopher Bartholomew, cartographer and geographer (died 2008
2008 was designated as:
*International Year of Languages
*International Year of Planet Earth
*International Year of the Potato
*International Year of Sanitation
The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
)
** Ivor Cutler
Ivor Cutler (born Isadore Cutler, 15 January 1923 – 3 March 2006) was a Scottish poet, singer, musician, songwriter, artist and humorist. He became known for his regular performances on BBC radio, and in particular his numerous sessions recor ...
, poet, songwriter and humorist (died 2006
2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification.
Events
January
* January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute.
* January 12 – A stampede during t ...
)
* 19 March
Events Pre-1600
* 1277 – The Byzantine–Venetian treaty of 1277 is concluded, stipulating a two-year truce and renewing Venetian commercial privileges in the Byzantine Empire.
* 1279 – A Mongol victory at the Battle of Yamen en ...
– Bobby Brown
Robert Barisford Brown Sr. (born February 5, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and dancer. Alongside frequent collaborator Teddy Riley, he is recognized as a pioneer of new jack swing: a fusion of hip-hop and Contemporary R&B, R ...
, international football goalkeeper and manager (died 2020
The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...
)
* 23 March – Roddy McMillan, actor and playwright (died 1979
Events
January
* January 1
** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
)
* 24 April – Cordelia Oliver, journalist, painter and art critic (died 2009
2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
)
* 15 May
Events Pre-1600
* 221 – Liu Bei, Chinese warlord, proclaims himself emperor of Shu Han, the successor of the Han dynasty.
* 392 – Emperor Valentinian II is assassinated while advancing into Gaul against the Frankish usurper ...
– James Gilbert, television producer (died 2016)
* 18 May
Events Pre-1600
* 332 – Emperor Constantine the Great announces free distributions of food to the citizens in Constantinople.
* 872 – Louis II of Italy is crowned for the second time as Holy Roman Emperor at Rome, at the age of ...
– Willie McRae, Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...
politician and lawyer (died 1985
The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...
)
* May – Pat Smythe, jazz pianist (died 1983 in London)
* 25 August – Dorothy Dunnett
Dorothy, Lady Dunnett (née Halliday, 25 August 1923 – 9 November 2001) was a Scottish novelist best known for her historical fiction. Dunnett is most famous for her six novel series set during the 16th century, which concern the fictiti ...
, historical novelist (died 2001
The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...
)
* 9 September – Mitchell Downie, footballer (died 2001
The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...
)
* 18 October
Events Pre-1600
* 33 – Heartbroken by the deaths of her sons Nero and Drusus, and banished to the island of Pandateria by Tiberius, Agrippina the Elder dies of self-inflicted starvation.
* 320 – Pappus of Alexandria, Greek philo ...
– James Gowan, architect known for his post-modernist designs (died 2015 in London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
)
* 21 October – David Brand, Lord Brand, advocate, sheriff and Senator of the College of Justice (died 1996
1996 was designated as:
* International Year for the Eradication of Poverty
Events January
* January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...
)
* 25 October
Events Pre-1600
* 285 or 286 – Execution of Saints Crispin and Crispinian during the reign of Diocletian, now the patron saints of leather workers, curriers, and shoemakers.
* 473 – Emperor Leo I acclaims his grandson Leo II a ...
– Bobby Thomson, professional baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
player (died 2010 in Savannah, Georgia
Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Brita ...
)
* 26 October – Norman Wylie, Lord Wylie, politician (died 2005
2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...
)
* 14 December – Janet Brown, actress, comedienne and impressionist, famous for impersonations of Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...
(died 2011 in Hove
Hove ( ) is a seaside resort in East Sussex, England. Alongside Brighton, it is one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove.
Originally a fishing village surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th century in respon ...
)
* 19 December – Gordon Jackson, screen actor (died 1990
Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...
)
Deaths
* 27 March – James Dewar, chemist and physicist (born 1842 in Scotland, 1842)
* 4 May – William Robertson Nicoll, Free Church minister, journalist, editor and man of letters (born 1851 in Scotland, 1851)
* 4 June – Hume Nisbet, writer and artist (born 1849 in Scotland, 1849)
* 25 June – John Annan Bryce, businessman and Liberal politician (born 1841 in Scotland, 1841)
* 29 June – Sir James Reid, 1st Baronet, physician (born 1849)
* 17 July – William Paton Ker, scholar and essayist (born 1855 in Scotland, 1855)
* 26 September – Sir Mark MacTaggart-Stewart, Conservative politician (born 1834 in Scotland, 1834)
* 28 September – William York Macgregor, landscape painter (born 1855 in Scotland, 1855)
* 30 November – John Maclean (Scottish socialist), John Maclean, Marxist (born 1879 in Scotland, 1879)
* 26 December – James Stout Angus, Shetland writer (born 1830 in Scotland, 1830)
* William Robertson (manufacturer), William Robertson, industrialist (born 1856 in Scotland, 1856)
The arts
* 28 November — The Royal Scottish Country Dance Society is founded by Jean Milligan and Ysobel Stewart.
* John Buchan's novel ''Midwinter (novel), Midwinter'' is published.
See also
* Timeline of Scottish history
* 1923 in Northern Ireland
References
{{Year in Europe, 1923
1923 in Scotland,
1920s in Scotland
1923 in the United Kingdom, Scotland
Years of the 20th century in Scotland