1816 in Scotland

Events from the year 1816 in Scotland.

Law officers

 * Lord Advocate – Archibald Colquhoun; then Alexander Maconochie
 * Solicitor General for Scotland – Alexander Maconochie; then James Wedderburn

Judiciary

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

Events

 * April – Highland Clearances: Factor Patrick Sellar is tried but acquitted at Inverness of culpable homicide during the mass expulsion of crofting tenants from Strathnaver in 1814.
 * 21 May – Highland Society of London (established 1778) incorporated by Act of Parliament.
 * 18 June – causeway, bridge and sluice across Loch Fleet at The Mound, designed by Thomas Telford, completed.
 * 13 August – an earthquake in Inverness is the strongest ever in Scotland.
 * 1 September – the Northern Lighthouse Board's new light on the Isle of May, designed by Robert Stevenson, is completed.
 * The Nelson Monument, Edinburgh, on Calton Hill, is completed.
 * Logie Bridge at Ferness completed to a design by Telford; as also is the bridge at Contin and the harbour at Portmahomack.
 * Suspension footbridge erected over the Gala Water in Galashiels and upper arch bridge at Rumbling Bridge completed.
 * David Brewster discovers stress birefringence.
 * Rev. Robert Stirling obtains a U.K. patent for the Stirling hot air engine.
 * Lagavulin distillery established on Islay.
 * St Andrew's Cathedral, Glasgow, is completed as the city's first post-Reformation Roman Catholic church (architect: James Gillespie Graham).
 * First Jewish community in Edinburgh in modern times established.
 * The Edinburgh Races and Caledonian Hunt are held for the first time at Musselburgh Racecourse rather than on the sands of Leith.

Births

 * 5 January
 * James Brunlees, civil engineer (died 1892)
 * Daniel Wilson, archaeologist and academic (died 1892 in Canada)
 * 11 January – Henry Robertson, railway promoter (died 1888 in Wales)
 * 3 February – Archibald McKellar, politician in Ontario (died 1894 in Canada)
 * 14 February – James Morison, evangelical (died 1893)
 * 13 June – Charles Alexander, merchant and politician in Quebec (died 1905 in Canada)
 * 1 September – James Drummond, historical painter and curator (died 1877)
 * 16 September – Theodore Martin, writer (died 1909)
 * 30 September – Archibald Sturrock, steam locomotive engineer (died 1909)
 * 12 October – Alexander Bryson, scientist (died 1866)

Deaths

 * 22 February – Adam Ferguson, philosopher and historian (born 1723)
 * 28 February – Archibald Bruce, theologian (born 1746)
 * 14 June – Allan Maconochie, jurist (born 1748)
 * 25 December – Hercules Ross, merchant in Jamaica (born 1745)

The arts

 * Walter Scott's novels The Antiquary, The Black Dwarf and Old Mortality are published.
 * The Elgin Marbles are purchased by the British government from Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, for the British Museum in London.