1940 in Scotland

none January 2015 July 2026 1940 Events from the year 1940 in Scotland. Incumbents Politics of Scotland Order of precedence in Scotland Secretary of State for Scotland and Keeper of the Great Seal – John Colville until 10 May; vacant until 14 May; then Ernest Brown Law officers Lord Advocate – Thomas Mackay Cooper Solicitor General for Scotland – James Reid Judiciary Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General – Lord Normand Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Aitchison Chairman of the Scottish Land Court – Lord Murray Events 1 January – the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1939 outlawed "irregular" marriages ("marriage by declaration" or "handfasting") from this date, ending the practice of "anvil marriage" at Gretna Green.Anvil Weddings Outlawed http://www.gretnagreen.com/anvil-weddings-outlawed-a749 https://web.archive.org/web/20120916175011/http://www.gretnagreen.com/anvil-weddings-outlawed-a749 dead 16 September 2012 Gretna Green since 1754 Gretna Green Ltd 2014-05-08 17 January – World War II: U-25 1936 6 sank SS Polzella and the neutral Norwegian ship Enid 10 miles north of Shetland. 26 January – World War II: Requisitioned Durham Castle, while being towed to Scapa Flow, was sunk by a mine probably laid by German submarine U-57 off the entrance to Cromarty Firth.2018-12-10 Durham Castle https://www.scottishshipwrecks.com/durham-castle/ 2025-01-01 Scottish Shipwrecks 9 February – World War II: A German aircraft was forced down on North Berwick Law. February – The last mounted charge by a British cavalry regiment was made when the Royal Scots Greys were called to quell Arab rioters in Mandatory Palestine.Charles Grant Royal Scots Greys Reading Osprey 1972 0850450594 33 3–9 March – Queen Elizabeth made her maiden voyage on delivery from Clydebank to New York. 11 March – World War II: Scotland north and west of the Great Glen and Inverness became a restricted area. 16 March – World War II: First civilian casualty of bombing in the UK, on Orkney.Peter Doyle ARP and Civil Defence in the Second World War Oxford Shire Publications 2010 978-0-7478-0765-0 9 10 April – World War II: the German cruiser Königsberg was sunk at Bergen by British Fleet Air Arm Blackburn Skua dive bombers flying from RNAS Hatston in Orkney. 30 April – French destroyer Maillé Brézé 1931 6 was sunk by accidental explosion off Greenock. May – construction of Churchill Barriers on Orkney began. 9 May – Guy Lloyd won the East Renfrewshire by-election for the Unionist Party. 29 May – World War II: Requisitioned Clyde steamers Queen-Empress, Duchess of Fife, Oriole (called Eagle on the Clyde), Marmion and Waverley took part in the Dunkirk evacuation; Waverley was lost.A. J. Mullay Clyde Steamers to the Rescue at Dunkirk History Scotland May–June 2010 50–54 10 3 12 June – World War II: More than 10,000 soldiers of the 51st (Highland) Division under General Victor Fortune surrendered to General Erwin Rommel at Saint-Valery-en-Caux.Surrender at St. Valéry http://51hd.co.uk/history/valery_1940 51st Highland Division 2014-07-17 16 June – World War II: The troopships Andes 1939 2, Aquitania 2, Empress of Britain 1931 2, Empress of Canada 1922 2, Mauretania 1938 2 and Queen Mary 2 steamed in convoy into the River Clyde and anchored off Gourock with the first large contingent of Australian and New Zealand troops. Across the Sea to War: Australian and New Zealand Troop Convoys 1 Peter Plowman 2003 9781877058066 https://books.google.com/books?id=FHG2TTT0XdQC&q=%22Queen+Mary%22+%22Aquitania%22+%22Empress+of+Canada%22+%22Empress+of+Britain%22+June+1940&pg=PA143 24 June–1 July – World War II: Operation Fish – Royal Navy cruiser Emerald D66 6 sailed from Greenock in convoy to Halifax, Nova Scotia, carrying a large part of the gold reserves of the United Kingdom and securities for safe keeping in Canada. Another convoy set sail on 5 July from the Clyde, including HMS Batory,Draper Alfred Operation Fish: The Fight to Save the Gold of Britain, France and Norway from the Nazis 1979 General Publishing Don Mills 9780773600683 carrying cargo worth $1.7 billion, the largest movement of wealth in history.Breuer William B. William Breuer Top Secret Tales of World War II 2008 Book Sales 9780785819516 62 1 July – World War II: First Luftwaffe daylight bombing raid on mainland Britain at Bank Row, Wick: 15 civilians, 8 of them children, killed.http://www.caithness.org/history/bankrowbombing/bankrowbombing.htm The Bank Row Bombing 1989 Cathness.Org 2020-06-27 19 July – World War II: First Luftwaffe daylight raid on Glasgow; little damage was caused.Notable Dates in History http://www.scotsindependent.org/dates1-g.htm The Flag in the Wind The Scots Independent 2014-07-17 usurped https://web.archive.org/web/20140523225830/http://www.scotsindependent.org/dates1-g.htm 23 May 2014 Radio Caledonia, ostensibly a nationalist anti-government station of a Scottish Peace Front but in fact a black propaganda operation of the Nazi Büro Concordia, begins broadcasting to Scotland, presented by Donald Grant. It continues nightly broadcasts intermittently until 24 July 1942, although with poor reception.Graham Smyth Radio Caledonia: Scottish Nationalism and Nazi Radio Propaganda, 1940–1942 Journal of Scottish Historical Studies https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/10.3366/jshs.2024.0376 44 2024 47–71 2024-10-11 20 July – World War II: A Luftwaffe bomb largely destroyed the stand at King's Park F.C.'s Forthbank Park in Stirling, leading to the demise of the club. 16 September – World War II: British liner SS Aska was bombed by a German aircraft south of Gigha whilst carrying French troops from Gambia; 12 crew died but 75 survivors were picked up by trawlers. 18 September – World War II: Royal Navy heavy cruiser HMS Sussex is hit by bombs in Glasgow while undergoing mechanical repairs and is kept out of service until August 1942. November – World War II: Building of No. 1 Military Port at Faslane on the Gare LochGare Loch, Faslane http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/90282/details/gare+loch+faslane+royal+navy+clyde+submarine+base/ Canmore Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland 2014-11-14 and No. 2 Military Port at Cairnryan began.Richard Holme Cairnryan Military Port, 1940–1996 Wigtown GC 1997 978-1872350226 Garelochhead Training Area is also established this year. Kilquhanity School near Castle Douglas was founded by John Aitkenhead. Births 6 January – John Byrne, playwright and artist 11 January – Sydney Devine, singer (died 2021) 18 January – Lindsay L. Cooper, jazz string player (died 2001) 24 February – Denis Law, international footballer (died 2025) 28 February – Jim Baikie, comics artist (died 2017)Obituary: Jim Baikie, Orkney-born artist who conquered world of comics https://www.scotsman.com/news/obituary-jim-baikie-orkney-born-artist-who-conquered-world-comics-1433886 www.scotsman.com 20 October 2021 en 2 March – Billy McNeill, Celtic footballer and manager (died 2019) 3 March – Patricia Gage, actress (died 2010 in Canada) 15 March – Jack Whyte, historical novelist (died 2021 in Canada) 19 April – Dougal Haston, mountaineer (killed 1977 in the Swiss Alps) 14 May Chay Blyth, yachtsman and adventurer Sir George Ross Mathewson, businessman 15 May – Lena Martell, born Helen Thomson, singer (died 2026)) 23 May – Giles Gordon, author and agent (died 2003) 8 June - Stanley Robertson, folk singer, ballad singer and piper (died 2009) 23 June Derry Irvine, Baron Irvine of Lairg, Lord Chancellor Stuart Sutcliffe, pop musician and artist (died 1962 in Hamburg) 28 June – Roderick Wright, Bishop of Argyll and the Isles (Catholic) (died 2005 in New Zealand) 29 June – Bill Napier, astronomer and science fiction author 1 July – Craig Brown, footballer and Scotland national football team manager (died 2023) 10 July – Tom Farmer, entrepreneur (died 2025) 28 July – Brigit Forsyth, actress, born in Yorkshire (died 2023) 4 August – Robin Harper, Green politician 20 August – Gus Macdonald, television journalist and Labour politician 3 November – Charlie Gallagher, footballer (died 2021) 4 November – Sally Baldwin, social sciences professor (died 2003 in Italy)Bradshaw Jonathan Obituary: Sally Baldwin https://www.theguardian.com/society/2003/oct/31/socialcare.obituaries The Guardian 5 November 2020 en 31 October 2003 24 November – Donald Macleod, theologian 1 December – Mike Denness, international cricketer (died 2013)Obituary: Mike Denness OBE, cricketer https://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-mike-denness-obe-cricketer-1578561 www.scotsman.com 27 October 2021 en William Barr, Arctic historian Peter Kerr, travel writer Deaths 11 February – John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, novelist, historian and Unionist politician (born 1875; died in Canada) 18 June – Sir George Andreas Berry, ophthalmologist and Unionist politician (born 1853) 19 November – James Cromar Watt, artist, architect and jeweller (born 1862) 16 December – William Wallace, classical composer and ophthalmologist (born 1860; died in England) Dugald Campbell, doctor from the Isle of Arran, set up the national health service in Hawaii during the 1890s The arts Publication of The Golden Treasury of Scottish Poetry edited by Hugh MacDiarmid. See also Timeline of Scottish history 1940 in Northern Ireland References Category:Years of the 20th century in Scotland Scotland Category:1940s in Scotland Scotland