1852 in Scotland

Events from the year 1852 in Scotland.

Law officers

 * Lord Advocate – James Moncreiff until February; then Adam Anderson until May; then John Inglis until December; then James Moncreiff
 * Solicitor General for Scotland – George Deas; then John Inglis; then Charles Neaves

Judiciary

 * Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General – Lord Boyle until 5 May; then from 14 May Lord Colonsay
 * Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Glencorse

Events

 * 7–31 July – United Kingdom general election results in Conservative Party defeat in Scotland but victory across the UK as a whole.
 * 1 October – Patent Law Amendment Act comes into effect, merging the English, Scottish and Irish patent systems.
 * 28 December – Edinburgh-born George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen, becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, leading a Whig-Peelite coalition.
 * Kelvingrove Park laid out as West End Park in Glasgow.
 * Two boatloads of emigrants leave the island of Raasay for Australia.
 * Polled Herd Book established for Aberdeen Angus and Galloway cattle.
 * Kirkcaldy High School established as Kirkcaldy Burgh School.
 * The School of Arts of Edinburgh, predecessor of Heriot-Watt University, changes its name to the Watt Institution and School of Arts.
 * George Hay Forbes founds Pitsligo Press.

Births

 * 24 May – R. B. Cunninghame Graham, radical socialist politician and writer (died 1936 in Argentina)
 * 2 September - Durward Lely, opera singer and actor, (died 1944)
 * 11 September – James Mackay, 1st Earl of Inchcape, businessman and colonial administrator in India (died 1932 in Monte Carlo)
 * 2 October – William Ramsay, chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1904 (died 1916)
 * John Kerr, businessman and politician
 * Approximate date – Murdo Stewart MacDonald, merchant mariner (died 1938 in Mauritius)

Deaths

 * 5 May – William Henry Murray, actor-manager (born 1790 in England)
 * 2 July – Thomas Thomson, chemist (born 1773)
 * 22 July – John Smith, architect (born 1781)
 * 25 July – Thomas Grainger, civil engineer and surveyor (born 1794)
 * 4 September – William MacGillivray, naturalist (born 1796)