Timeline of events covered in The Scotsman 1800-2005

Scotsman launched Strathnaver Clearances Burke and Hare Catholic Emancipation Bill Death of Sir Walter Scott The Disruption Siege of Sebastopol Battle of Gettysburg Assassination of President Lincoln Wallace Monument inaugurated in Stirling First international rugby match Tay Bridge disaster Opening of the Forth Bridge

20th Century 19th Century

25th January 1817: The Scotsman launched

In Edinburgh, on Robert Burns's birthday in 1817, William Ritchie, a solicitor, and Charles Maclaren, a customs official, produced the first edition of their liberal newspaper pledged to ''impartiality, firmness and independence'' in response to the ''unblushing subserviency'' of other publications to the establishment. The eight-page, quarto Saturday journal, called The Scotsman, then as now, provoked strong responses.
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25th December 1819: Strathnaver Clearances

Strathnaver, in Sutherland, at its most populous contained a dozen or so settlements. Over the five years from 1814 to 1819 the valley was brutally cleared of its inhabitants to make way for sheep. The Duke of Sutherland employed his estate factor, Patrick Sellar, to persuade the inhabitants to leave by burning settlements to the ground.
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31st January 1829: Burke and Hare trial

William Burke and William Hare are Scotland's most notorious murderers, killing 16 victims and selling the corpses to anatomy students. Their downfall came when lodgers found a body under a bed. Hare did a deal with the police and testified against his partner in crime, who was hanged on 28 January, 1829.
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4th April 1829: Catholic Emancipation Bill

In 1829, amid much controversy, Robert Peel, Home Secretary in the Duke of Wellington's government, performed a considerable u-turn and introduced a bill allowing Catholics to sit as MPs and making them eligible for most public offices.
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29th September 1832: Death of Sir Walter Scott

Sir Walter Scott, one of the great novelists and poets of his time, died in 1832 at age 61. Born and educated in Edinburgh, Scott helped define much of the romantic image of Scotland. He is credited with the creation of the historical novel genre, best portrayed by his Waverley novels that included Ivanhoe. Declared bankrupt in 1826, he wrote his way back to financial health before his death six years later. Scott was laid to rest in a quiet site by the River Tweed at Dryburgh Abbey, in the Borders region of southern Scotland.
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20th May 1843: The Disruption

Schisms between Church of Scotland "moderates" and "evangelicals" over how much influence the State had in appointing ministers came to a head with the split known as "The Disruption". Under the leadership of Dr Thomas Chalmers, the evangelical wing, comprising around a third of the Church congregation, split off to form the Free Church of Scotland.
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3rd January 1855: Siege of Sebastopol

In one of the final battles of the Crimean war, Allied troops landed in the Crimea and besieged the city of Sebastopol, home of the Tsar's Black Sea fleet and a threat of future Russian penetration into the Mediterranean. The Russians had to scuttle their ships and used the naval cannons as additional artillery, and the ships' crews as marines. Admiral Nakhimov was mortally wounded in the head by a sniper shot, and died on June 30, 1855. The city was finally captured in September 1855.
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16th July 1863: Battle of Gettysburg

The turning point of the American Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg prevented the Confederate general Robert E Lee's marching north after his victory at the Chancellorville. At Gettysburg, the Union forces used the high ground to organise effective defences against constant Confederate attacks. After three days of battle, the Confederates gambled on one final major attack, immortalised as "Pickett's Charge". The result was carnage on a major scale as the Union forces were able to repulse the assault. On the 5th of July, the Confederate forces finally retreated.
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27th April 1865: Assassination of President Lincoln

Hated by the South, who had recently lost the bloody American Civil War, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, a well-known actor from Virginia, who shot the president in the head while he watched a play. Booth jumped onto the stage and managed to escape even though his leg was broken. Lincoln was taken to a house opposite the theatre where he died early the following morning.
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13th September 1869: Wallace Monument inaugurated in Stirling

At a time when Scotland was in danger of disappearing as a nation, William Wallace fought back against the English invaders and kept the cause of independence alive. Exactly 572 years to the day after his most famous victory, at the Battle of Stirling Bridge, a 220 feet high monument to Wallace was inaugurated on top of the Abbey Craig just north of Stirling.
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28th March 1871: First international rugby match

The leading Scottish clubs had grouped early in 1871 in issuing a challenge to their English counterparts, which led to the first ever rugby international. The match, which took place at the Edinburgh Academy cricket ground on the 27th March 1871, was won by the home side by a single goal. Inspired by this, English players took on Scots, Irish and Welsh in a 20-a-side game in Calcutta the following year – which gave birth to the Calcutta Cup, now contested by Scotland and England each season.
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29th December 1879: Tay Bridge disaster

The two-mile bridge over the River Tay to Dundee – at the time of construction in 1878 the longest in the world – collapsed during a storm on the night of 28 December 1879, having been open for just 19 months. A train crossing the bridge crashed into the water with the loss of 75 lives. The bridge was poorly designed and constructed, but the lessons learned from the disaster led to the famous engineering of the Forth Bridge – and famously bad poetry of William McGonagall.
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4th March 1890: The opening of the Forth Bridge

The Prince of Wales led a group of dignitaries in opening the Forth Bridge, a great architectural achievement linking the Lothians and Fife by rail across the Firth of Forth. The group boarded the Royal train in London and travelled north through York, Berwick, Edinburgh and finally to Dalmeny. The excursion featured great fanfare at each stop along the route, and the Prince affixed the last girder into the bridge as part of the opening ceremony.
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24th January 1901: Scottish Reaction to Victoria's Death

Great Britain's longest reigning monarch died after 63 years on the throne. Greatly loved and admired by her subjects, she oversaw the rise of Britain as the leader of the world's greatest empire with almost 40% of the globe under her command. The future queen was born on 24th May 1819 and succeeded to the throne after the death of William IV in 1837. The queen herself was succeeded by her eldest son who would be crowned as Edward VII.
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20th April 1906: San Francisco Earthquake

Disaster struck the Western American city of San Francisco in the early hours of April 18th 1906 as a huge earthquake caused widespread devastation. Worse was to follow as fire rampaged through the stricken area, destroying almost the entire city. The fire services were left powerless as the force of the initial quake wrecked the water supply.
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17th April 1912: Titanic

One of the most famous and tragic maritime disasters of history occured when the mighty White Star liner collided with an iceberg in the north Atlantic. Labelled 'unsinkable', the Titanic was the most technically advanced vessel of her time, yet she sank only a few hours after the collision. The disaster was compounded by the fact that only a small proportion of the passengers had lifeboats provided for them, leading to over 1,500 people losing their lives.
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31st December 1914: Christmas Truce

The first Christmas of World War I saw one of the most remarkable happenings of the war. On Christmas day, the guns fell silent for a few hours and the opposing troops emerged from their trenches to exchange greetings and small presents in eerie silence, before the killing started again.
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12th November 1918: WWI - Ending

After more then four years of bloodshed, the Great War came to an end at 11am, on 11November, 1918. Germany signed the armistice that signalled the cessation of hostilities and troops of the allied armies stood fast on their final positions before preparations were made for them to advance and occupy the territories that had been under German control since 1914. Many British troops found themselves in the Mons area of Belgium where they had fought their first battle with the German Army in August 1914.
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19th July 1924: Eric Liddell winning the 400m in the Olympics

One of the most celebrated British athletes ever; Eric Liddell was an international rugby player for Scotland and the 1924 Olympic 400m champion. A devout Christian, he refused to run in his best event, the 100m sprint, as it was held on a Sunday. He switched to the 400m and ran a superb race to win ahead of the American, Horatio Fitch. Liddell later became a missionary in China and was held in an internment camp when the country was invaded by the Japanese. He died in captivity in 1943.
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27th January 1925: Prohibition

America took a radical step on the 16th of January 1920 as the 18th Amendment went into effect, intended to outlaw the sale and consumption of alcohol in the US. The government soon found out that it was almost impossible to stop people drinking if they wished to, and since official sources of supply were supposed to have ceased, the drink demand was often met by criminals who had few scruples in selling low-quality alcohol to the thirsty masses. Despite good intentions, prohibition's greatest achievement appears to have been the making of organised crime groups such as the Mafia.
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10th May 1926: General Strike

The Trades Union Council called a general strike in May 1926 in support of mineworkers threatened with pay cuts. The strike affected many key industries, including the docks, railways and general utilities. Here, five days into the strike, The Scotsman describes the effects of the stoppages in Glasgow, the centre of the strike in Scotland.
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24th October 1929: Wall Street crash

Following a massive boom in speculation in the US stock market, shares rose to artificially high levels, with rising prices encouraging more and more people to invest larger sums that were often borrowed from banks. On October 24, 1929, this bubble finally burst and panic selling set in, leading to economic disaster and eventually, the Great Depression, which had a worldwide economic effect ruining numerous businesses and throwing thousands of people out of work.
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9th November 1933: End of prohibition

The champagne corks were no doubt popping upon the ratification of the 21st amendment of the United States constitution, which ended the 13-year nationwide ban on the selling of alcohol. The attempt to make the US dry was largely a failure, given the vast amount of "liquor" consumed during prohibition and the enormous opportunities it offered to organised crime.
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11th December 1936: Abdication

Edward VII famously chose a woman over being King of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Emperor of India. He could not marry Wallis Simpson while he was monarch as she was a divocée with a controversial past. His abdication broadcast, when he told his subjects: "I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as king as I would wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love," shocked the nation.
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28th April 1937: Guernica

The attack on the town of Guernica during Spanish Civil War gave the world a taste of the horrors of Fascism. Bombers from the Condor Legion of the German Luftwaffe focused on civilian targets, with the result that three-quarters of the town was destroyed and at least 1,600 people were killed. The atrocity inspired Picasso to create his famous painting named after the town.
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4th September 1939: Outbreak of war reported in the House of Commons

Outbreak of war reported in the House of Commons
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4th June 1940: Dunkirk

Dunkirk
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8th December 1941: Pearl Harbour

Pearl Harbour
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7th June 1944: D Day reporting

D Day
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9th May 1945: The war in Europe is over

The war in Europe is over
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9th August 1945: Hiroshima

Hiroshima
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22nd September 1945: Auschwitz trial

Auschwitz trial
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10th June 1946: Hysteria about Communist activities in US

Hysteria about Communist activities in US
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