1848 in Scotland

Incumbents

• Monarch – Victoria

  Law officers

• Lord Advocate – Andrew Rutherfurd
• Solicitor General for Scotland – Thomas Maitland

  Judiciary

• Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General – Lord Boyle
• Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Hope

  Events

• 15 February – the Caledonian Railway is opened throughout between Edinburgh, Carstairs and Carlisle, completing a through rail route from London by the West Coast Main Line and providing the first service of through carriages between Scotland and England.
• March – the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway completes its Ballochmyle Viaduct, designed by John Miller. The main arch of span, carrying the rails above the River Ayr, is the world's longest masonry span. This section of line is opened to traffic on 9 August.
• 23 March – Scottish settlers on the John Wickliffe, captained by Edinburgh-born William Cargill, arrive at what will become Port Chalmers in the Otago region of New Zealand. Dunedin is established by the Lay Association of the Free Church of Scotland through the Otago Association.
• 22 May – the Scottish Central Railway opens to Perth, including the Moncrieff Tunnel on the southern approach to Perth.
• 19 August – Moray Firth fishing disaster: 100 fishermen lose their lives in a severe storm off the east coast.
• 8 September – Queen Victoria and Albert, Prince Consort, first visit Balmoral Castle.
• Road bridge at Ashiestiel over the River Tweed, built by J. & T. Smith of Darnick, is completed. The arch, a semi-ellipse with a rise of, is the longest rubble masonry span at this date.
• Threipmuir Reservoir completed to serve Edinburgh.
• Dalmellington iron works opened.
• Scottish Building Society established as the Edinburgh Property Investment Company.
• Third cholera pandemic in Scotland, first breaking out in Edinburgh.
• Approximate date – The island of Handa is depopulated.

  Births

• 7 April – Randall Davidson, Archbishop of Canterbury
• 10 May – Thomas Lipton, tea merchant and yachtsman
• 25 July – Arthur Balfour, Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• 30 September – Robert Walker Macbeth, painter
• 28 October – Thomas Millie Dow, painter
• 17 November – Cathcart Wason, estate owner and member of parliament in both New Zealand and Britain
• 2 December – Mary Slessor, missionary
• James Porteous, agricultural engineer

  Deaths

• 14 January – Robert Adamson, photographer
• 14 February – William Tennant, scholar and poet

  The arts

• 5 August–31 October – Polish pianist-composer Frédéric Chopin visits Scotland at the invitation of Jane Stirling, his last ever solo public performance being on 4 October in Edinburgh.
• William Edmondstoune Aytoun's poetry collection Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers is published in Edinburgh.
• Robert Davidson's poetry collection Leaves from a Peasant's Cottage Drawer is published in Edinburgh by James Hogg.