Eighteenth Century
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Eighteenth Century
- 1700
Scots population of Ulster now about 100,000. Less than 14 per cent of land of Ireland owned by Catholics
- 1700
second expedition flees Darien
- 1701
New English war with France begins
- 1701
James VII dies
- 1702
William of Orange dies, to be succeeded by Queen Anne
- 1702
King William dies
- 1702
First discussions between commissioners about union begin
- 1702
King William of Orange dies. Mary's sister Anne becomes Queen
- 1703
Talks collapse. Anne calls for fresh Scottish elections
- 1703
New Scottish parliament meets
- 1703
Scots parliament passes Act of Security
- 1705
English pass the Alien Act
- 1705
Scots parliament agrees Queen Anne can appoint its commissioners to negotiate for union
- 1706
Negotiations between commissioners start
- 1706
Estates meet to discuss deal drawn up by commissioners
- 1706
Riots break out in the town as a protest against merger with England
- 1707
Power moves from Edinburgh to Westminster after Treaty of Union
- 1707
Act of Union
- 1707
Estates pass act agreeing to Articles of Union
- 1707
Estates adjourned
- 1707
Act of Union passed
- 1707
Act of Union comes into effect
- 1708
Scottish Privy Council abolished. First Jacobite invasion beaten off
- 1712
Rob Roy runs off with Montrose's money and becomes an outlaw
- 1712
Patronage Act introduced
- 1713
English malt tax forces Scottish boycott of parliament. Lords vote to dissolve the union narrowly fails
- 1714
Queen Anne dies
- 1715
Earl of Mar raises standard of the Stewart Pretender, James VIII and III, and quickly seizes Perth
- 1715
battle of Sheriffmuir
- 1715
James lands at Peterhead
- 1715
He takes part in the battle of Sheriffmuir, ostensibly on the Jacobite side
- 1716
James leaves again for France
- 1719
Alexander Monro, appointed Professor of Anatomy at Edinburgh University
- 1720
Prince Charles Edward Stewart born in Rome
- 1722
Argyll brings about a reconciliation between Rob Roy and Montrose
- 1726
Rob Roy pardoned while in Newgate Prison awaiting transportation to Barbados
- 1726
Wade appointed Commander in Chief of Scotland with orders to pacify the Highlands
- 1726
Plans for new Edinburgh Royal Infirmary drawn up
- 1733
Original secession
- 1734
Rob Roy dies
- 1739
Wade's major road building programme in the Highlands completed
- 1740
War between Britain and France begins
- 1744
Proposed French invasion of Scotland called off
- 1745
Charles arrives in Scotland to start his campaign
- 1745
the Jacobites take Perth and Edinburgh
- 1745
Carlisle falls, followed by Lancaster, Preston and Manchester
- 1745
6 December 1745: Prince begins retreat from Derby
- 1745
25 December: Jacobites enter Glasgow
- 1745
Prince reaches Derby
- 1745
Charles wins the Battle of Prestonpans
- 1745
Charles's standard raised at Glenfinnan
- 1746
3 January 1746: Charles and his army leave Glasgow
- 1746
18 February: Jacobites take Inverness
- 1746
14 April: Cumberland arrives at Nairn
- 1746
April 1746 - Battle of Culloden
- 1746
September 1746 - Charles catches a boat to France
- 1746
June 1746 - Flora MacDonald smuggles Charles to Skye
- 1746
Defeat of the Jacobites at Culloden
- 1746
End of last Jacobite rebellion
- 1746
16 April: Battle of Culloden
- 1746
5 March: Fort Augustus falls to the Prince
- 1746
17 January: Battle of Falkirk
- 1748
Wade dies and is buried in Westminster Abbey
- 1750
Charles secretly returns to London
- 1752
Plans for a New Town are drawn up
- 1753
his daughter Charlotte born to Clementina Walkenshaw
- 1755
first Scottish census completed
- 1759
Nor' Loch drained
- 1759
Robert Burns born in Alloway
- 1760
Beginning of introduction of sheep to the Highlands
- 1760
Carron ironworks begins operation
- 1761
Second secession
- 1765
James Watt invents the separate condenser steam engine
- 1766
Charles's father, the Old Pretender, dies
- 1766
Burns family move to Mount Oliphant
1767 Work on New Town begun
- 1768
First Encyclopaedia Britannica published
- 1769
Ascent of Ben More. Ben More, Crianlarich, was climbed in 1769 by a group of astronomers, seeking to observe a transit of the planet Venus.
- 1769
Ascent of Ben More. Ben More, Crianlarich, was climbed in 1769 by a group of astronomers, seeking to observe a transit of the planet Venus.
- 1770
Height of tobacco trade with America
1770 1770s - Demand for wool increases
- 1771
Walter Scott born in Edinburgh
- 1771
Early Ascents of Ben Nevis. In 1771, the first recorded ascent of Ben Nevis was made, by the botanist James Robertson, then collecting specimens. He was followed three years later by John Williams, who was on the lookout for commercial mineral deposits. In 1787, a third recorded ascent was made by a Lieutenant Walker and party. This ascent seems to have had no other purpose other than curiosity, and what is interesting is that it seems likely that in the three years between these two latter ascents, many had made the laborious climb to the summit for pleasure, as some 30 small cairns were found by Walker on the summit plateau.
- 1772
Charles marries Louisa, Princess of Stolberg
- 1772
North Bridge completed
- 1774
Flora MacDonald emigrates to America
- 1774
Schiehallion use to ?weigh? the Earth. The Astronomer Royal, the Rev. Nevil Maskelyne (so unflatteringly portrayed in the recent television adaptation of ?Longitude?), spends four months on Schiehallion making observations relating to the density of the earth.
- 1775
American Revolution begins
- 1776
Adam Smith publishes Wealth of Nations
- 1777
Family move again to Lochlea
- 1777
Returns from a childhood in the Borders
- 1780
Founds bachelors Club in Tarbolton
- 1780
Glasgow's population reaches more than 40,000
- 1783
Robert and his brother lease farm at Mossgiel
- 1783
Emigration begins after American War of Independence
- 1784
Robert's father dies
- 1786
Robert changes the spelling of his surname from Burness to Burns
- 1786
Apprenticed to his father's law fi
- 1786
Kilmarnock Edition of his work published
- 1787
Consolidates his position in Edinburgh society and publishes Edinburgh Edition
- 1788
Charles dies in Rome
- 1788
Marries Jean Armour, moves to Ellisland and joins Excise Service
- 1790
Death of Flora MacDonald
- 1791
Robert Adam designs Charlotte Square
- 1791
Gives up Ellisland and moves to Dumfries
- 1791
Ordnance Survey founded. Following the second ill-fated Jacobite rebellion in 1745, Cumberland?s Deputy Quartermaster General, Lieutenant-General Watson, decided that a map of the Highlands was required. An infantry detachment, under the direction of William Roy, was posted to Fort Augustus in 1747,where they spent the next eight years on this mammoth task. It was largely due to him that the Ordnance Survey was founded in 1791. The principal project for the next 33 years was the production of a one-inch to the mile map of Great Britain. In 1810, their triangulations reached Scotland. The Director-General, from 1820 to 1846 was Thomas Colby.
- 1792
Ross rebellion against importation of sheep takes place
- 1794
Appointed excise supervisor
- 1796
Appointed excise supervisor
- 1797
Marries Charlotte Carpenter
- 1799
Appointed Sheriff-Depute of Selkirkshire
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