1996 in Scotland

Events from the year 1996 in Scotland.

Incumbents

 * Secretary of State for Scotland and Keeper of the Great Seal – Michael Forsyth

Law officers

 * Lord Advocate – Lord Mackay of Drumadoon
 * Solicitor General for Scotland – Paul Cullen

Judiciary

 * Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General – Lord Hope until 1 October; then Lord Rodger of Earlsferry
 * Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Ross
 * Chairman of the Scottish Land Court – Lord Philip, then Lord McGhie

Events

 * 13 March – Dunblane school massacre – a gunman kills sixteen children, their teacher and himself at a primary school in Dunblane, Stirling. The killer, who wounded thirteen other children and another teacher, is quickly identified as 43-year-old former scout leader Thomas Watt Hamilton.
 * 1 April – The Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 takes effect with 32 unitary councils replacing the 9 Regional Councils, 53 District Councils and 3 unitary authorities that had been established under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.
 * 18 May – Rangers F.C., who have already won the Scottish Football League title, complete the Scottish double by beating Hearts 5–1 in the Scottish Cup final.
 * 5 July – Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to have been successfully cloned from an adult cell, is born at The Roslin Institute in Midlothian.
 * October – The Shetland Times and The Shetland News become involved in a landmark legal case over alleged copyright infringement and deep linking in their websites.
 * 9 November – Irvine, North Ayrshire, is designated a New Town, the last of the five created in Scotland.
 * 30 November (St. Andrew's Day) – The Stone of Scone is installed in Edinburgh Castle 700 years after it was removed from Scotland by King Edward I of England.
 * Edinburgh Old Town and New Town become the first World Heritage Site in mainland Scotland.
 * First of the Maggie's Centres for drop-in cancer care in the UK opens in Edinburgh.

Births

 * 13 January – Craig Storie, footballer
 * 8 February – Jaison McGrath, footballer
 * 1 March – Lizzie Arnot, footballer
 * 15 March – Seonaid McIntosh, sport shooter
 * 19 March – Kaiya Jones, actress
 * 9 May – Grace Reid, diver
 * 3 August – Robert MacIntyre, golfer
 * 10 August – Lauren Tait, netball player
 * 7 October – Lewis Capaldi, singer-songwriter

Deaths

 * 23 January – Norman MacCaig, poet (born 1910)
 * 6 March – Stanley Booth-Clibborn, retired bishop of Manchester (born 1924 in London)
 * 19 March – W. H. Murray, mountaineer and writer (born 1913)
 * 13 April – George Mackay Brown, poet (born 1921)
 * 14 April – David Brand, Lord Brand, advocate, sheriff and Senator of the College of Justice (born 1923)
 * 16 August – Eric Cullen, actor famous for playing "Wee Burnie" in Rab C. Nesbitt (born 1965)
 * 25 August – Caroline Glachan, murder victim (born 1982)
 * 24 November – Sorley MacLean, poet (born 1911)

The arts

 * January – Indie pop band Belle and Sebastian is formed in Glasgow; on 6 June their debut album Tigermilk is released.
 * James MacMillan's first opera Inés de Castro is premièred by Scottish Opera in Glasgow.
 * Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow opens.