1828 in Scotland

Events from the year 1828 in Scotland.

Law officers

 * Lord Advocate – Sir William Rae, Bt
 * Solicitor General for Scotland – John Hope

Judiciary

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

Events

 * 7 January – Rev. Henry Duncan describes his discovery of the fossil footmarks of quadrupeds (Chelichnus duncani) in Permian red sandstone at Cornockle Muir, near Lochmaben in Dumfriesshire, the first scientific report of a fossil track, in a paper read to the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
 * 9 March – an English gang make off with £28,350 after holding up the Glasgow branch of the Greenock Bank.
 * April – David Stow opens his Drygate model school in Glasgow.
 * 15 June – 28 people are killed when the north gallery of the Old Kirk, Kirkcaldy, collapses during a sermon by popular preacher Edward Irving.
 * 8 August – the Ballochney Railway (near Airdrie, horse worked) is completed throughout.
 * 10 September – first public demonstration of Rev. Patrick Bell's reaping machine on his family's farm.
 * 17–24 December – Burke and Hare murders trial in Edinburgh: William Burke is sentenced to hang for his part in the murder of 17 victims (up to 31 October) to provide bodies for dissection by anatomist Robert Knox; his accomplice William Hare is released having turned King's evidence.
 * Inhabitants of the island of Muck emigrate to Nova Scotia.
 * St Stephen's Church, Edinburgh, is completed to the design of William Henry Playfair.
 * Caird & Company established by John Caird in Greenock as marine engineers.
 * James Beaumont Neilson patents the hot blast process for ironmaking.
 * A steam road coach constructed by James and George Naysmith runs between Leith and Queensferry.
 * Glasgow Co-operative Society established.

Births

 * 4 April – Mrs. Oliphant, born Margaret Wilson, novelist and historical writer (died 1897 in London)
 * 16 August – John Waddell, railway contractor (died 1888)
 * 30 September – John Simpson Knox, soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross (died 1897 in England)
 * 5 October – Alexander Gunn, grocery wholesaler (died 1907 in Canada)
 * 1 November – Balfour Stewart, physicist (died 1887 in Ireland)
 * 13 December – Alexander Shand, 1st Baron Shand, judge (died 1904)
 * Alexander Crum, textile printer and Liberal politician (died 1893)
 * Robert Doull, merchant and politician (died 1906 in Canada)
 * John Small, librarian and scholar (died 1886)

Deaths

 * 29 February – John Ainslie, cartographer (born 1745)
 * 11 June – Dugald Stewart, Enlightenment philosopher (born 1753)
 * 5 July – Andrew Duncan, physician (born 1744)
 * 20 December – Archibald Fletcher, reforming lawyer (born 1746)
 * Robert Blair, astronomer (born 1748)
 * William Drummond of Logiealmond, diplomat and philosopher (born c.1770)

The arts

 * The Maitland Club is founded in Glasgow to edit and publish early Scottish texts.
 * The Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell is published.
 * Sir Walter Scott's novel The Fair Maid of Perth (or St. Valentine's Day; Chronicles of the Canongate, 2nd series) is published.