Events from the year 1930 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 of State 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 –
William Adamson
William Adamson (2 April 1863 – 23 February 1936) was a Scottish trade unionist and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician. He was Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1917 to 1921 and was Secretary of State for Scotland in ...
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 ...
–
Craigie Mason Aitchison
*
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 ...
–
John Charles Watson
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
*
10 April –
Shetland
Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway, marking the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...
ferry runs aground on
Mousa
Mousa ( "moss island") is a small island in Shetland, Scotland, uninhabited since the nineteenth century. The island is known for the Broch of Mousa, an Iron Age Broch, round tower, and is designated as a Special Protection Area for storm-petr ...
and is lost.
*
30 April – first section of the 132
kV AC National Grid, the Central Scotland Electricity Scheme, is switched on 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 ...
.
*
16 May
Events Pre-1600
* 946 – Emperor Suzaku abdicates the throne in favor of his brother Murakami who becomes the 62nd emperor of Japan.
* 1204 – Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders is crowned as the first Emperor of the Latin Empire.
*13 ...
–
Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929
The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 ( 19 & 20 Geo. 5. c. 25) reorganised local government in Scotland from 1930, introducing joint county councils, large and small burghs and district councils. The Act also abolished the Scottish poor law s ...
comes into effect. Parish councils and
Commissioners of Supply
Commissioners of Supply were local administrative bodies in Scotland from 1667 to 1930. Originally established in each sheriffdom to collect tax, they later took on much of the responsibility for the local government of the counties of Scotland. ...
are dissolved and other local government units reconstituted, merged or abolished. In policy matters, the counties of
Perthshire
Perthshire (Scottish English, locally: ; ), officially the County of Perth, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore, Angus and Perth & Kinross, Strathmore ...
and
Kinross-shire
The County of Kinross or Kinross-shire is a historic county and registration county in eastern Scotland, administered as part of Perth and Kinross since 1975. Surrounding its largest settlement and county town of Kinross, the county borders Per ...
, and of
Moray
Moray ( ; or ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland. Its council is based in Elgin, the area' ...
and
Nairnshire
The County of Nairn, or Nairnshire, () is a Shires of Scotland, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. The county was named after Nairn, its only town. The county was used for local government until 1975 when the ...
, are to act jointly.
*
11 June –
transatlantic liner RMS ''Empress of Britain'' is launched at
John Brown & Company
John Brown and Company of Clydebank was a Scottish Naval architecture, marine engineering and shipbuilding firm. It built many notable and world-famous ships including , , , , , and ''Queen Elizabeth 2 (ship), Queen Elizabeth 2''.
At its heig ...
's shipyard at
Clydebank
Clydebank () is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Bowling and Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Milton beyond) to the w ...
for the
Canadian Pacific Steamship Company.
*
8 July – first official demonstration of the
Bennie Railplane at
Milngavie
Milngavie ( ; ) is a town in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland and a suburb of Glasgow. It is on the Allander Water, at the northwestern edge of Greater Glasgow, and about from Glasgow city centre. It neighbours Bearsden. Milngavie is a commuter t ...
.
*
29 August – remaining inhabitants of
Hirta in the
St Kilda archipelago are voluntarily evacuated to
Morvern on the mainland.
Boreray sheep are left to become
feral animals.
* Formation of the
Scottish Party by members of the
Unionist Party favouring establishment of a
Dominion
A dominion was any of several largely self-governance, self-governing countries of the British Empire, once known collectively as the ''British Commonwealth of Nations''. Progressing from colonies, their degrees of self-governing colony, colon ...
Scottish Parliament.
*
Rosemary Bank is discovered approximately 120 km west of Scotland by survey vessel HMS ''Rosemary''.
*
Dysart, Fife
Dysart ( ; (IPA: �tʲiːʃəɾʃt̪) is a town and former royal burgh located on the south-east coast between Kirkcaldy and West Wemyss in Fife, Scotland. Dysart was once part of a wider estate owned by the St Clair or Sinclair family. They ...
, amalgamated into
Kirkcaldy
Kirkcaldy ( ; ; ) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, making it Fife's second-largest s ...
.
Births
*
4 January –
Iain Cuthbertson, actor (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 ...
)
*
27 January
Events Pre-1600
* 98 – Trajan succeeds his adoptive father Nerva as Roman emperor.
* 945 – The co-emperors Stephen and Constantine are overthrown and forced to become monks by Constantine VII, who becomes sole emperor of the ...
–
John Higgins, footballer (died
2017
2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly.
Events January
* January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...
)
*
16 February –
John Cairney
John Cairney (16 February 1930 – 6 September 2023) was a Scottish stage, film and television actor who found fame through his one-man shows on Robert Burns, Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Service, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and William McGo ...
, actor
*
3 March –
John Howard Wilson, rugby union player (died
2015
2015 was designated by the United Nations as:
* International Year of Light
* International Year of Soil __TOC__
Events
January
* January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
)
*
5 March
Events Pre-1600
* 363 – Roman emperor Julian leaves Antioch with an army of 90,000 to attack the Sasanian Empire, in a campaign which would bring about his own death.
* 1046 – Nasir Khusraw begins the seven-year Middle Eastern ...
–
Isla Cameron, actress and folk singer (died
1980
Events January
* January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission.
* January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...
)
*
10 March
Events Pre-1600
*241 BC – First Punic War: Battle of the Aegates: The Romans sink the Carthaginian fleet bringing the First Punic War to an end.
* 298 – Roman Emperor Maximian concludes his campaign in North Africa and makes a t ...
–
Jimmie Macgregor, folk singer
*
18 April –
Angus Lennie
Angus Wilson Lennie (18 April 1930 – 14 September 2014) was a Scottish film, television and theatre actor with a 50-year career. His numerous credits include the character of Flying Officer Archibald Ives in '' The Great Escape'', and Shugh ...
, actor (died 2014 in England)
*
1 May –
Una McLean, actress
*
4 May –
Lois de Banzie, actress (died 2021 in the United States)
*
10 June –
Hastie Weir, goalkeeper (died
1999
1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons.
Events January
* January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers.
* January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...
)
*
26 June –
Jimmy Deuchar,
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
trumpeter
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...
(died
1993
The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as:
* International Year for the World's Indigenous People
The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...
)
*
3 July
Events Pre-1600
* 324 – Battle of Adrianople: Constantine I defeats Licinius, who flees to Byzantium.
* 987 – Hugh Capet is crowned King of France, the first of the Capetian dynasty that would rule France until the French Rev ...
–
Robert Robertson, actor (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 ...
)
*
7 July –
Hamish MacInnes, mountaineer,
mountain search and rescuer, author and advisor (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 ...
)
*
8 July –
Bob Crampsey, historian, author and broadcaster (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 ...
)
*
9 July –
Richard Demarco artist and promoter of the visual and performing arts
*
25 July –
Annie Ross, born Annabelle Allan Short, jazz singer (born in London; died
2020 in the United States)
*
27 July –
Andy White, session drummer (died
2015 in the United States)
*
12 August –
Stan Greig, pianist, drummer and bandleader (died 2012 in London)
*
21 August –
Princess Margaret
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. She was the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II.
...
(died
2002
The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...
)
*
25 August –
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery (25 August 1930 – 31 October 2020) was a Scottish actor. He was the first actor to Portrayal of James Bond in film, portray the fictional British secret agent James Bond (literary character), James Bond in motion pic ...
, film actor (died 2020 in The Bahamas)
*
13 November –
Helena Carroll, actress (died
2013 in the United States)
*
13 November –
Adrienne Corri, actress (died 2016 in London)
*
4 December –
Ronnie Corbett
Ronald Balfour Corbett (4 December 1930 – 31 March 2016) was a Scottish actor, broadcaster, comedian and writer. He had a long association with Ronnie Barker in the BBC television comedy sketch show ''The Two Ronnies''. He achieved promine ...
, comic actor (died 2016 in England)
*
Mardi Barrie, artist and teacher, (died
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
)
*
James Kennedy, security guard, posthumously awarded the
George Cross
The George Cross (GC) is the highest award bestowed by the British government for non-operational Courage, gallantry or gallantry not in the presence of an enemy. In the British honours system, the George Cross, since its introduction in 1940, ...
(killed
1973
Events January
* January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union.
* January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...
)
Deaths
*
8 January –
Hughie Ferguson, footballer, by suicide (born
1895
Events January
* January 5 – Dreyfus affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his army rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island (off French Guiana) on what is much later admitted to be a false charge of tr ...
)
*
24 March –
Henry Faulds, physician, missionary and scientist noted for the development of
fingerprint
A fingerprint is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. The recovery of partial fingerprints from a crime scene is an important method of forensic science. Moisture and grease on a finger result in fingerprints on surfa ...
ing (born
1843
Events January–March
* January 3 – The '' Illustrated Treatise on the Maritime Kingdoms'' (海國圖志, ''Hǎiguó Túzhì'') compiled by Wei Yuan and others, the first significant Chinese work on the West, is published in China.
* J ...
)
*
30 March –
James Hoey Craigie, architect, (born
1870
Events
January
* January 1
** The first edition of ''The Northern Echo'' newspaper is published in Priestgate, Darlington, England.
** Plans for the Brooklyn Bridge are completed.
* January 3 – Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge be ...
)
*
28 April –
Murdoch Cameron,
Regius Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the
University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...
from 1894 to 1926 (born
1847)
*
12 May –
John Wheatley, socialist politician (born
1869 in Ireland)
*
7 July –
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author, in England (born
1859)
*
6 September –
James Guthrie, painter (born
1859)
*
13 October –
Sydney Mitchell, architect (born
1856
Events
January–March
* January 8 – Borax deposits are discovered in large quantities by John Veatch in California.
* January 23 – The American sidewheel steamer SS ''Pacific'' leaves Liverpool (England) for a transatl ...
)
*
22 November –
Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, singer, composer and music teacher (born
1857
Events January–March
* January 1 – The biggest Estonian newspaper, '' Postimees'', is established by Johann Voldemar Jannsen.
* January 7 – The partly French-owned London General Omnibus Company begins operating.
* Ja ...
)
*
4 December –
Thomas Ross, architect (born
1839
Events
January–March
* January 2 – The first photograph of the Moon is taken, by French photographer Louis Daguerre.
* January 6 – Night of the Big Wind: Ireland is struck by the most damaging cyclone in 300 years.
* January 9 – ...
)
*
19 December –
William Crozier, landscape painter (born
1893)
*
22 December –
Neil Munro, writer (born
1863
Events
January
* January 1 – Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation during the third year of the American Civil War, making the abolition of slavery in the Confederate States of America an official war goal. The signing ...
)
The arts
*
11 September – English
detective fiction
Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an criminal investigation, investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around ...
writer
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving ...
marries her second husband, archaeologist
Max Mallowan, in Edinburgh.
*
Catherine Carswell's ''The Life of Robert Burns'' is published, attracting criticism for its frank portrayal of the poet's life.
*
Erik Chisholm's Piano Concerto No. 1, ''Piobaireachd'', is composed.
*
Nan Shepherd's novel ''The Weatherhouse'' is published.
*
Hugh MacDiarmid's ''To Circumjack Cencrastus'' is published.
See also
*
Timeline of Scottish history
*
1930 in Northern Ireland
References
{{Year in Europe, 1930
Years of the 20th century in Scotland
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 ...
1930s in Scotland