1812 in Scotland

Events from the year 1812 in Scotland.

Law officers

 * Lord Advocate – Archibald Colquhoun
 * Solicitor General for Scotland – David Monypenny

Judiciary

 * Lord President of the Court of Session – Lord Granton
 * Lord Justice General – The Duke of Montrose
 * Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Boyle

Events

 * 1 January – Tron riot in Edinburgh concludes.
 * March – meeting in Edinburgh to discuss formation of the Scottish Widows Fund and Life Assurance Society.
 * 6 July – the Kilmarnock and Troon Railway becomes the first public railway line to open in Scotland. It begins life as a 9.5-mile (16-kilometre), horse-drawn waggonway to carry coal from Kilmarnock to Troon harbour. On 27 June the horse-drawn passenger coach Caledonia began running over the line between Troon and Gargieston, near Kilmarnock.
 * 12 July (The Twelfth) – first Protestant Orange march in Scotland held in Glasgow, attracting hostile Catholic crowds.
 * August – Henry Bell's PS Comet begins a passenger service on the River Clyde between Glasgow and Greenock, the first commercially successful steamboat service in Europe.
 * November – first bridge at Bonar Bridge completed in cast iron to the design of Thomas Telford.
 * Ongoing – Highland Clearances.
 * Nelson's Tower completed in Forres as a monument to Lord Nelson.
 * Brackla distillery built by Captain William Fraser of Brackla House on the estate of Cawdor Castle.
 * Glasgow Bible Society established.
 * Gaelic chapel opens in London.

Births

 * 3 February – William Fraser Tolmie, scientist and politician in Canada (died 1886 in Canada)
 * 29 February – James Milne Wilson, Premier of Tasmania (died 29 February 1880 in Tasmania)
 * 26 March (probable date) – Charles Mackay, writer (died 1889)
 * 4 April – George Grub, church historian (died 1892)
 * 27 May – Robert Stirling Newall, engineer and astronomer (died 1889)
 * 3 June – Norman Macleod, Church of Scotland minister (died 1872)
 * 2 September – Kirkpatrick Macmillan, inventor of the bicycle (died 1878)
 * 23 December – Samuel Smiles, author and reformer (died 1904)

Deaths

 * 23 January – Robert Craufurd, general (mortally wounded during Peninsular War) (born 1764)
 * 14 May – Duncan Ban MacIntyre, Gaelic poet (born 1724)

The arts

 * William Tennant's ottava rima mock-heroic poem Anster Fair is published, the first use of this Italian style in Britain.