• Secretary of State for Scotland: vacant

Law officers edit

• Lord Advocate – Duncan Forbes
• Solicitor General for Scotland – John Sinclair, jointly with Charles Erskine

Judiciary edit

• Lord President of the Court of Session – Lord North Berwick
• Lord Justice General – Lord Ilay
• Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Grange

• Cumbernauld House, to designs by William Adam, is built.
• Publication in Edinburgh of The Poor Man's Physician, or The receipts of the famous John Moncrief of Tippermalloch; being a choice collection of simple and easy remedies for most distempers, very useful for all persons, especially those of a poorer condition ... To which is added The method of curing the small pox and scurvy, by the eminent Dr. Archibald Pitcairn (3rd edition).^[1]

• 1 July – Adam Duncan, admiral, victor of the Battle of Camperdown (died 1804 in Northumberland)
• date unknown – William Aiton, botanist (died 1793)

• 28 April – Robert Gordon, merchant and philanthropist (born 1668)
• 6 November – James Smith, architect (b. c.1645)

• Timeline of Scottish history