1698 in Scotland

Events from the year 1698 in the Kingdom of Scotland.

Incumbents

• Monarch – William II
• Secretary of State – John Murray, Earl of Tullibardine (until 31 March 1698), jointly with James Ogilvy, 1st Earl of Seafield

Law officers

• Lord Advocate – Sir James Stewart
• Solicitor General for Scotland – Sir Patrick Hume

Judiciary

• Lord President of the Court of Session – vacant?? until 17 March, then Lord North Berwick
• Lord Justice General – Lord Lothian
• Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Ormiston

Events

• Famine in the Borders leads to continued Scottish Presbyterian migration from Scotland to Ulster.
• 14 July – first expedition sets sail as part of the Darien scheme.
• November – colony of New Caledonia established on the Isthmus of Panama.

Births

• February – Colin Maclaurin, mathematician (died 1746)
• 11 July – George Turnbull, philosopher, theologian, teacher and writer (died 1748)

date unknown

• Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair, Gaelic poet (died 1770)
• Charles Douglas, 3rd Duke of Queensberry, landowner, Privy Counsellor and Vice Admiral of Scotland (died 1778)
• John Gow, pirate (executed in London 1725)

Deaths

• John Leslie, 10th Earl of Rothes, Army officer (died 1767)

See also

• Timeline of Scottish history

References