1940 In Scotland

Events from the year 1940 in Scotland.

Incumbents

* Secretary of State for Scotland and Keeper of the Great Seal – John Colville until 10 May; vacant until 14 May; then Ernest Brown

Law officers

* Lord Advocate – Thomas Mackay Cooper
* Solicitor General for Scotland – James Reid

Judiciary

* Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General – Lord Normand
* Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Aitchison
* Chairman of the Scottish Land Court – Lord Murray

Events

* 1 January – the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1939 outlawed "irregular" marriages ("marriage by declaration" or "handfasting") from this date, ending the practice of "anvil marriage" at Gretna Green.
* 17 January – World War II: sank SS ''Polzella'' and the neutral Norwegian ship ''Enid'' 10 miles north of Shetland.
* 26 January – World War II: Requisitioned , while being towed to Scapa Flow, was sunk by a mine probably laid by German submarine ''U-57'' off the entrance to Cromarty Firth.
* 9 February – World War II: A German aircraft was forced down on North Berwick Law.
* February – The last mounted charge by a British cavalry regiment was made when the Royal Scots Greys were called to quell Arab rioters in Mandatory Palestine.
* 3– 9 March – made her maiden voyage on delivery from Clydebank to New York.
* 11 March – World War II: Scotland north and west of the Great Glen and Inverness became a restricted area.
* 16 March – World War II: First civilian casualty of bombing in the UK, on Orkney.
* 10 April – World War II: the was sunk at Bergen by British Fleet Air Arm Blackburn Skua dive bombers flying from RNAS Hatston in Orkney.
* 30 April – was sunk by accidental explosion off Greenock.
* May – construction of Churchill Barriers on Orkney began.
* 9 May – Guy Lloyd won the East Renfrewshire by-election for the Unionist Party.
* 29 May – World War II: Requisitioned Clyde steamers '' Queen-Empress'', '' Duchess of Fife'', '' Oriole'' (called ''Eagle'' on the Clyde), ''Marmion'' and '' Waverley'' took part in the Dunkirk evacuation; ''Waverley'' was lost.
* 12 June – World War II: More than 10,000 soldiers of the 51st (Highland) Division under General Victor Fortune surrendered to General Erwin Rommel at Saint-Valery-en-Caux.
* 16 June – World War II: The troopships , , , , and steamed in convoy into the River Clyde and anchored off Gourock with the first large contingent of Australian and New Zealand troops.
* 24 June– 1 July – World War II: Operation Fish – Royal Navy cruiser sailed from Greenock in convoy to Halifax, Nova Scotia, carrying a large part of the gold reserves of the United Kingdom and securities for safe keeping in Canada. Another convoy set sail on 5 July from the Clyde, including HMS ''Batory'', carrying cargo worth $1.7 billion, the largest movement of wealth in history.
* 1 July – World War II: First Luftwaffe daylight bombing raid on mainland Britain at Bank Row, Wick: 15 civilians, 8 of them children, killed.
* 19 July – World War II: First Luftwaffe daylight raid on Glasgow; little damage was caused.
* 20 July – World War II: A Luftwaffe bomb largely destroyed the stand at King's Park F.C.'s Forthbank Park in Stirling, leading to the demise of the club.
* 16 September – World War II: British liner SS ''Aska'' was bombed by a German aircraft south of Gigha whilst carrying French troops from Gambia; 12 crew died but 75 survivors were picked up by trawlers.
* 18 September – World War II: Royal Navy heavy cruiser HMS ''Sussex'' is hit by bombs in Glasgow while undergoing mechanical repairs and is kept out of service until August 1942.
* November – World War II: Building of No. 1 Military Port at Faslane on the Gare Loch and No. 2 Military Port at Cairnryan began. Garelochhead Training Area is also established this year.
* Kilquhanity School near Castle Douglas was founded by John Aitkenhead.

Births

* 6 January – John Byrne, playwright and artist
* 11 January – Sydney Devine, singer (died 2021)
* 18 January – Lindsay L. Cooper, jazz string player (died 2001)
* 24 February – Denis Law, international footballer (died 2025)
* 28 February – Jim Baikie, comics artist (died 2017)
* 2 March – Billy McNeill, Celtic footballer and manager (died 2019)
* 3 March – Patricia Gage, actress (died 2010 in Canada)
* 15 March – Jack Whyte, historical novelist (died 2021 in Canada)
* 19 April – Dougal Haston, mountaineer (killed 1977 in the Swiss Alps)
* 14 May
** Chay Blyth, yachtsman and adventurer
** Sir George Ross Mathewson, businessman
* 23 May – Giles Gordon, author and agent (died 2003)
* 8 June - Stanley Robertson, folk singer, ballad singer and piper (died 2009)
* 23 June
** Derry Irvine, Baron Irvine of Lairg, Lord Chancellor
** Stuart Sutcliffe, pop musician and artist (died 1962 in Hamburg)
* 28 June – Roderick Wright, Bishop of Argyll and the Isles (Catholic) (died 2005 in New Zealand)
* 29 June – Bill Napier, astronomer and science fiction author
* 1 July – Craig Brown, footballer and Scotland national football team manager (died 2023)
* 10 July – Tom Farmer, entrepreneur (died 2025)
* 28 July – Brigit Forsyth, actress, born in Yorkshire (died 2023)
* 4 August – Robin Harper, Green politician
* 20 August – Gus Macdonald, television journalist and Labour politician
* 3 November – Charlie Gallagher, footballer (died 2021)
* 4 November – Sally Baldwin, social sciences professor (died 2003 in Italy)
* 24 November – Donald Macleod, theologian
* 1 December – Mike Denness, international cricketer (died 2013)
* William Barr, Arctic historian
* Peter Kerr, travel writer

Deaths

* 11 February – John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, novelist, historian and Unionist politician (born 1875; died in Canada)
* 18 June – Sir George Andreas Berry, ophthalmologist and Unionist politician (born 1853)
* 19 November – James Cromar Watt, artist, architect and jeweller (born 1862)
* 16 December – William Wallace, classical composer and ophthalmologist (born 1860; died in England)
* Dugald Campbell, doctor from the Isle of Arran, set up the national health service in Hawaii during the 1890s

The arts

* Publication of ''The Golden Treasury of Scottish Poetry'' edited by Hugh MacDiarmid.

See also

* Timeline of Scottish history
* 1940 in Northern Ireland

References

{{Years in Scotland

Years of the 20th century in Scotland
Scotland
1940s in Scotland