1836 in Scotland

Events from the year 1836 in Scotland.

Law officers

 * Lord Advocate – John Murray
 * Solicitor General for Scotland – John Cunninghame

Judiciary

 * Lord President of the Court of Session – Lord Granton
 * Lord Justice General – The Duke of Montrose until 30 December (separate office abolished on his death)
 * Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Boyle

Events

 * 17 May – Arbroath and Forfar Railway authorised.
 * 19 May – Dundee and Arbroath Railway authorised.
 * June – 17 miniature coffins of unknown provenance are found in a cave on Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh.
 * 1 July – North of Scotland Bank (a constituent of Clydesdale Bank) established in Aberdeen by Alexander Anderson and others.
 * 16 July – the brig Mariner leaves Loch Eriboll on the north coast for Cape Breton Island and Quebec in British North America with 154 emigrants, mostly from the nearby Reay district.
 * 30 July – Savings Bank of Glasgow established.
 * 7 August – St Andrew's Cathedral, Dundee (Roman Catholic) opened.
 * 13 August – Edinburgh, Leith and Newhaven Railway authorised.
 * Botanical Society of Scotland established as the Botanical Society of Edinburgh.
 * Glasgow and Ship Bank established by merger of the Glasgow Banking Company and the Ship Bank.
 * Robert Napier launches the paddle sloop Berenice for the East India Company, the first steam warship built in Scotland, the (wooden) hull being subscontracted to John Wood of Port Glasgow.
 * Construction of Granton harbour begun
 * Construction of modern Inverness Castle.
 * Former windmill at Maxwelltown opens as converted into an astronomical observatory and the world's oldest working camera obscura, basis of the modern-day Dumfries Museum.
 * Wellington School, Ayr, established for "young ladies of quality" by Mrs Gross.
 * John MacCulloch's geological map of Scotland is published posthumously.

Births

 * 13 January – Alexander Whyte, minister of the Free Church of Scotland and theologian (died 1921)
 * 12 February – John Gerard Anderson, educationalist in Queensland (died 1911 in Australia)
 * 21 February – Alexander Dickson, botanist (died 1887)
 * 18 March – James Laidlaw Maxwell, Presbyterian missionary in Taiwan (died 1921)
 * 31 March – William Dingwall Fordyce, Liberal politician (died 1875)
 * 5 April – John Scott, botanist (died 1880)
 * 24 May – William Mortimer Clark, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (died 1915)
 * 9 June – Thomas McCall Anderson, physician (died 1908)
 * 26 June – Aeneas Chisholm (Bishop of Aberdeen), Roman Catholic priest (died 1918)
 * 3 August – Colin Scott-Moncrieff, irrigation engineer in India and Egypt and Under-Secretary for Scotland (died 1916 in England)
 * 11 August – Hugh Gilzean-Reid, journalist and Liberal politician (died 1911 in London)
 * 7 September – Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1908 in 10 Downing Street, London)
 * 23 September – Samuel Chisholm, Liberal politician and Lord Provost of Glasgow (died 1923)
 * 28 October – James Edward Tierney Aitchison, surgeon and botanist (died 1898)
 * 16 November – David Binning Monro, classical scholar (died 1905)
 * 4 December (probable date) – Duncan MacGregor Crerar, poet (died 1916)
 * John Gregorson Campbell, minister of the church and folklorist (died 1891)
 * William Baxter Collier Fyfe, genre and portrait painter (died 1882 in London)
 * Jessie Seymour Irvine, psalmist (died 1887)
 * William Angus Knight, philosopher and literary scholar (died 1916)
 * John Rhind, architect (died 1889)
 * Andrew Strath, golfer (died 1868)

Deaths

 * 15 February – John Gillies, Historiographer Royal for Scotland (born 1747)
 * 24 February – Henry Liston, minister of the church and inventor (born 1771)
 * 4 April – John Grieve, poet (born 1781)
 * 23 June – James Mill, historian, economist, political theorist and philosopher (born 1773; died in London)
 * August – Sir John Hope, British Army officer (born 1765)
 * 21 October – Donald Gregory, antiquarian (born 1803)
 * 26 November – John Loudon McAdam, civil engineer and road-builder (born 1756)
 * 30 December – James Graham, 3rd Duke of Montrose, nobleman, politician and Lord Justice General (born 1755)
 * John Heaviside Clark, artist (born c.1771)

The arts

 * Painter David Wilkie is granted a knighthood.
 * 5 March – George Brodie appointed Historiographer Royal