Events from the year 1963 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 – Michael Noble

Law officers

* Lord Advocate – Ian Shearer, Lord Avonside * Solicitor General for Scotland – David Colville Anderson

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 Clyde * Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Grant * Chairman of the Scottish Land Court – Lord Gibson

Events

* 1 January – Forth and Clyde Canal officially closed to navigation. * 2 May – Rootes car factory opens at

Linwood, Renfrewshire Linwood () is a town in Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland, west of Glasgow. It is about northeast of Johnstone and west of Paisley, Renfrewshire, Paisley close to the Black Cart Water and the A737 road. Etymology Linwood ...

to produce the Hillman Imp * 3 July – northbound Clyde Tunnel opened to traffic 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 ...

* 31 July – Peerage Act grants Peers of Scotland the same right to sit in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

as Peers of England,

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, ending the election of

Scottish representative peer This is a list of representative peers elected from the Peerage of Scotland to sit in the House of Lords after the Acts of Union 1707 abolished the unicameral Parliament of Scotland, where all Scottish Peers had been entit ...

s; it will also permit

Alec Douglas-Home Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel ( ; 2 July 1903 – 9 October 1995), known as Lord Dunglass from 1918 to 1951 and the Earl of Home from 1951 to 1963, was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative ...

to disclaim his title as 14th Earl of Home later this year * 15 August – Henry John Burnett is hanged for murder in Aberdeen, the last execution carried out in Scotland * 7 November – Kinross and Western Perthshire by-election: Conservatives retain the seat allowing Prime Minister

to enter the House of Commons * 21 November – Dundee West by-election: Labour retains the seat * 12 December – Dumfriesshire by-election: Conservatives retain the seat * Construction of the pioneering Solidac minicomputer is completed at Barr and Stroud for 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 ...

, the first computer built in Scotland * First road access (a forest track) to the railway community at Riccarton Junction.

Births

* 3 January – Stewart Hosie, SNP politician * 13 April – Mo Johnston, international footballer * 25 April – David Moyes, footballer and manager * 27 April –

Brendan O'Hara Brendan O'Hara (born 27 April 1963) is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. He serves as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber since the 2024 United Kingdo ...

, SNP politician * 7 June – Ailsa McKay, economist and academic (died

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

) * 23 June – Colin Montgomerie, golfer * 6 September – Pat Nevin, international footballer * 21 September – Angus Macfadyen, actor * 4 November – Lena Zavaroni, entertainer (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 ...

) * 24 November – Neale Cooper, footballer and manager (died

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

) * 28 November – Armando Iannucci, satirist * 30 November – Alex Rowley, Labour Party politician * 8 December – Brian McClair, international footballer and coach * 22 December – Bryan Gunn, international footballer and coach *

Anya Gallaccio Anya Gallaccio (born 1963) is a Scottish artist, who creates site-specific, minimalist installations and often works with organic matter (including chocolate, sugar, flowers and ice). Her use of organic materials results in natural processe ...

, installation artist * Don Paterson, poet, writer and jazz musician

Deaths

* 3 March – James Stevenson, Lord Stevenson, judge and Unionist Party (Scotland) MP (born 1883) * 22 July – Donald Campbell,

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Archbishop of Glasgow (born 1894) *

16 August Events Pre-1600 *1 BC – Wang Mang consolidates his power in China and is declared marshal of state. Emperor Ai of Han, who died the previous day, had no heirs. * 942 – Start of the four-day Battle of al-Mada'in, between the Hamdani ...

– Joan Eardley, landscape painter (born 1921) * 9 September – Duncan Walker, footballer (born

1899 Events January * January 1 ** Spanish rule formally ends in Cuba with the cession of Spanish sovereignty to the U.S., concluding 400 years of the Spanish Empire in the Americas.''The American Monthly Review of Reviews'' (February 1899), p ...

) * 22 November – Mary Findlater, novelist (born 1865)

The arts

* 2 January – Traverse Theatre opens 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 ...

* 3 January –

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

open their first tour of 1963 with a performance in ElginLive: Two Red Shoes Ballroom, Elgin, Scotland
www.beatlesbible.com, accessed 310 March 2013. * English painter Norman Adams acquires a summer home on Scarp

References

{{Years in Scotland

Years of the 20th century in Scotland 1960s in Scotland