1874 in Scotland

Events from the year 1874 in Scotland.

Law officers

 * Lord Advocate – George Young until February; then Edward Strathearn Gordon
 * Solicitor General for Scotland – Andrew Rutherfurd-Clark; then John Millar; then William Watson

Judiciary

 * Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General – Lord Glencorse
 * Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Moncreiff

Events

 * 17 January – Victoria Swing Bridge in Leith completed, the longest swing bridge in Britain at this date.
 * 27 January – Bo'ness Junction rail crash near Falkirk on the North British Railway: 16 killed in a collision.
 * 27 February – four crew of Stonehaven life-boat lost on service.
 * 5 March – in the general election, former Scottish coal miner Alexander Macdonald (Lib–Lab) is elected for the English seat of Stafford, among the first Members of Parliament from a working class background.
 * 21 March – the first ever final of the Scottish Cup is won by Queen's Park F.C. who beat Clydesdale 2–0.
 * 21 May – foundation stone of St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh (Episcopal) laid by Walter Montagu Douglas Scott, Duke of Buccleuch.
 * 28 July – the Sutherland and Caithness Railway is opened through to Wick and Thurso, completing the Highland Railway system to the far north and causing cessation of Britain's last mail coach.
 * 7 August – Church Patronage (Scotland) Act 1874 abolishes patronage in the appointment of ministers to the Church of Scotland.
 * Bernera Riot: Islanders of Great Bernera successfully resist Clearances.
 * Coulburn Lobnitz & Company establish the shipbuilding business that will become known as Lobnitz in Renfrew.
 * Joseph Russell, Anderson Rodger and William Lithgow establish the shipbuilding business that will become Lithgows in Port Glasgow.
 * W. B. Thompson establishes the business that will become the Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Company in Dundee.
 * Broomhall Castle built.
 * Association football teams Heart of Midlothian F.C. (in Edinburgh), Greenock Morton F.C. and Hamilton Academical F.C. are founded.

Births

 * 20 February – Mary Garden, operatic soprano (died 1967)
 * 23 February – Hugh S. Roberton, choirmaster (died 1952)
 * 9 March – John Duncan Fergusson, artist (died 1961)
 * 9 June – Launceston Elliot, weightlifter, first British Olympic champion, born in British India (died 1930 in Australia)
 * 6 November – Katharine Stewart-Murray, Duchess of Atholl, née Ramsay, "Red Duchess", politician and humanitarian (died 1960)
 * 25 November – Lewis Spence, writer and folklorist (died 1955)

Deaths

 * 24 January – Adam Black, publisher (born 1784)
 * 31 July – Cosmo Innes, lawyer and antiquary (born 1798)
 * 6 August – Patrick Fairbairn, minister and theologian (born 1805)

The arts

 * 11 August – Stirling Smith Museum and Art Gallery opens as The Smith Institute in Stirling under the bequest of painter Thomas Stuart Smith (died 1869).
 * Sveinbjörn Sveinbjörnsson, resident in New Town, Edinburgh, writes the tune that becomes the national anthem of Iceland, "Lofsöngur".