1823 in Scotland

Incumbents

• Monarch – George IV

  Law officers

• Lord Advocate – Sir William Rae, Bt
• Solicitor General for Scotland – John Hope

  Judiciary

• Lord President of the Court of Session – Lord Granton
• Lord Justice General – The Duke of Montrose
• Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Boyle

  Events

• 14 January – the Plinian Society is inaugurated for students of natural history at the University of Edinburgh under the presidency of John Baird.
• 7 February – the Bannatyne Club is inaugurated by Sir Walter Scott and others as a text publication society to print by subscription rare texts relating to the history, literature and traditions of Scotland.
• 17 June – Charles Macintosh patents the waterproof material later used to make Mackintosh coats.
• November – the Highland Society’s Veterinary School, predecessor of the University of Edinburgh's Royal School of Veterinary Studies, organises its first regular classes in Edinburgh under William Dick.
• Excise Act reduces duties on the distillation of whisky, encouraging its commercial production.
• James Smith of Deanston introduces an improved method of land drainage on slopes.
• First Hebrew congregation in Glasgow in modern times established.
• Rev. Dr. Henry Duncan completes reconstruction of the Northumbrian Ruthwell Cross.

  Births

• 13 March – William Mackinnon, shipowner
• 31 March – William Hart, painter of the Hudson River School
• 17 May – Henry Eckford, horticulturist
• 28 May – Henry MacDonald, soldier, Victoria Cross recipient
• 2 July – Hugh Blackburn, mathematician
• 11 July – John Stuart McCaig of Muckairn and Soroba, creator of McCaig's Tower, Oban
• 26 September – Robert Boog Watson, malacologist and Free Church minister
• 28 October – William Simpson, war artist
• Thomas Bantock, businessman

  Deaths

• 28 March – Ilay Campbell, judge
• 29 March – William Taylor, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and Principal of the University of Glasgow
• 16 June – Archibald Elliot, architect
• 8 July – Sir Henry Raeburn, portrait painter
• 29 September – George Beattie, poet
• George Finlayson, naturalist

  The arts

• February – a monument to poet Robert Burns, designed by Thomas Hamilton, is opened in Alloway.
• Thomas Campbell's poem is published.
• John Galt's novels The Entail, or The Lairds of Grippy, The Gathering of the West, Ringan Gilhaize, or The Covenanters and The Spaewife: a Tale of the Scottish Chronicles are published.
• Sir Walter Scott's novels Peveril of the Peak, Quentin Durward and St. Ronan's Well are published anonymously.
• William Tennant's poetic drama Cardinal Beaton is published.
• John Wilson's novel The Trials of Margaret Lyndsay is published.