1709 in Scotland

Incumbents

• Monarch – Anne
• Secretary of State for Scotland: The Earl of Mar, until 3 February 1709; then The Duke of Queensberry

  Law officers

• Lord Advocate – Sir James Stewart; then Sir David Dalrymple, 1st Baronet
• Solicitor General for Scotland – William Carmichael; then Thomas Kennedy, jointly with Sir James Steuart, Bt.

  Judiciary

• Lord President of the Court of Session – Lord North Berwick
• Lord Justice General – Lord Tarbat
• Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Ormiston

  Events

• 1 or 2 February – marooned Lower Largo-born privateer Alexander Selkirk, the original Robinson Crusoe, is rescued after four years living on the Juan Fernández Islands and begins his return to civilisation.
• 26 April – Act of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland for the provision of public libraries in presbyteries.
• 3 May – Elspeth Rule becomes the last person in Scotland to be tried before the High Court of Justiciary for witchcraft; the judge, sitting at Dumfries, orders her to be burned on the cheek and banished from Scotland for life.
• 1 July – Treason Act 1708 comes into force, harmonising the law of high treason in Scotland with that of England.
• Summer – bad weather causes a poor harvest with consequent distress.
• 5 October – last Scottish coinage issued by a mint in Scotland, at Edinburgh.
• Society in Scotland for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge established by royal charter.
• Appointment of the first Chair of Oriental Languages in the University of Glasgow, Charles Morthland.
• First clout archery competition for the Edinburgh Arrow held by the Royal Company of Archers and won by David Drummond, advocate.

  Births

• Probable date – John Armstrong, physician and poet

  Deaths

• 24 June – Robert Lauder of Beilmouth, lawyer and Clerk of Exchequer