Life and Times - Scotland and the World in the late 1800s
1851: James Young sets up the world's first oil refinery in Bathgate.
1852: John Brown Shipbuilding and Engineering is formed in Glasgow. The company moves to Clydebank in 1872.
20 September 1854: Arctic explorer Dr John Rae sails from Canada for England with news of the fate of the missing expedition of Sir John Franklin.
24 December 1856: The death of geologist and writer, Hugh Miller.
9 September 1858: Fisherman's wife May Moar saves the crew of a fishing boat off the island of Yell.
14 October 1859: The new water supply to Glasgow from Loch Katrine is opened.
26 January 1861: The One O'Clock Gun is fired at Edinburgh Castle for the first time.
14 December 1861 : The death of Queen Victoria's Consort, Prince Albert.
9 July 1867: Scotland's first football club, Queen's Park, is formed.
27th February, 1868: The death of Arthur Anderson, native of Shetland and founder of P&O.
22 November 1869: The clipper "Cutty Sark" is launched at Dumbarton on the River Clyde.
28 November 1872 : The scientist, mathematician and writer, Mary Somerville dies in Italy.
30 November 1872: The world's first football international is held between Scotland and England, ending in a goalless draw.
1 May 1873: Death of David Livingstone, one of the most famous of the European missionaries and explorers.
1872: The Education Act provides for schooling of all children aged between 5 and 13.
14 February 1876 : Alexander Graham Bell's lawyers file a patent application for the telephone with the US Patent Office.
7 May 1876 : The death of David Bryce, the leading Scottish architect in the Victorian era.
5 August 1876: The missionary Mary Slessor sets sail for Nigeria.
1877: An explosion in the Blantyre High Number 1 Pit kills 207 miners.
1 June 1878: The Tay Railway Bridge opens linking Dundee with Fife.
5 November 1879: The death of James Clerk Maxwell, one of greatest scientists of any era.
28 December 1879: The Tay Railway Bridge collapses while being crossed by a train.
5 February 1881: The death of essayist, satirist, and historian, Thomas Carlyle.
21 July 1881: 58 fishermen dorwn off the island of Yell in the Gloup Disaster.
14 October 1881: 189 fishermen, including 129 from Eyemouth are killed when 20 boats are lost in a storm.
17 April 1882: The "Battle of the Braes" takes place on the Isle of Skye over the crofters' refusal to pay their rents until the landowner return traditional grazing rights. Attempts to serve eviction notices by 50 police are met with violent resistance.
27 March 1883 : The death at Windsor Castle of John Brown, servant, friend and possibly second husband of Queen Victoria.
3 July 1883: The steamer "Daphne" sinks with the loss of 124 lives on the Clyde during its maiden voyage.
1 July 1884 : Allan Pinkerton, the founder of the Pinkerton Detective Agency and the US Secret Service, dies in Chicago.
1885: The Scottish Office is created as part of the Whitehall government, and with it the post of Secretary of State for Scotland.
24 June 1886: The Crofters Holding Act, sometimes called the "Magna Carta of Gaeldom", is passed, protecting the tenure of crofters.
20 June 1887: The rebuilt Tay Railway Bridge opens.
25 June 1887: The Wallace Monument is opened near Stirling.
1888: The Scottish Liberal Association votes for home rule for Scotland.
1888: The Scottish Labour Party is formed by Keir Hardie.
4 March 1890: The Forth Rail Bridge is officially opened, six weeks after the first train crosses the bridge on January 24.
