Law officers edit

• Lord Advocate – Henry Dundas;
• Solicitor General for Scotland – Alexander Murray

Judiciary edit

• Lord President of the Court of Session – Lord Arniston, the younger
• Lord Justice General – The Viscount Stormont
• Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Barskimming

• Construction of The Mound in Edinburgh begins.
• Montrose Lunatic Asylum, Infirmary & Dispensary, predecessor of Sunnyside Royal Hospital, founded by Susan Carnegie.
• John Howie begins publication of the 2nd edition of his Biographia Scoticana (Scots Worthies): A Brief Historical Account of the Lives, Characters, and Memorable Transactions of the Most Eminent Scots Worthies.

• March (probable) – John Burnet, engraver and painter (died 1868)
• 16 March – William Mitchell, entrepreneur (died 1854)
• 19 March – John Henry Wishart, surgeon (died 1834)
• 12 June (probable) – Christian Isobel Johnstone, journalist and novelist (died 1857)
• 12 September – John Grieve, poet (died 1836)
• 14 September – James Walker, civil engineer (died 1862)
• 18 September – Allan Burns, surgeon (died 1813)
• 30 November – Alexander Berry, adventurer and Australian pioneer (died 1873 in Australia)
• 11 December – David Brewster, physicist (died 1868)

• 31 March – Robert Watson, historian (born c. 1730)
• 2 July – John Maule, MP (born 1706)

• 4 July – Robert Burns joins the Freemasons at Tarbolton.^[1]
• 12 October – first bagpipes competition in the Masonic Arms, Falkirk.

• Timeline of Scottish history