1955 in Scotland

Centuries:	18th; 19th; 20th; 21st; ;
Decades:	1930s; 1940s; 1950s; 1960s; 1970s;
See also:	List of years in Scotland; Timeline of Scottish history; 1955 in: The UK • Wales • Elsewhere; Scottish football: 1954–55 • 1955–56; 1955 in Scottish television

Events from the year 1955 in Scotland.

Incumbents

Secretary of State for Scotland and Keeper of the Great Seal – James Stuart

Law officers

Lord Advocate – James Latham Clyde until January; then William Rankine Milligan
Solicitor General for Scotland – William Rankine Milligan until January; then William Grant

Judiciary

Events

1955 – Dounreay Nuclear Power Development Establishment founded with the primary aim to develop Dounreay as the site for testing previously untried fast breeder reactor technology.^[1]^[2]
24 February – a big freeze across the UK results in many roads being blocked with snow; Caithness is practically cut off. The Royal Air Force works to deliver food and medical supplies to the worst affected areas.^[3]
21 March – American evangelist Billy Graham begins a seven-week Scottish crusade at the Kelvin Hall, Glasgow.^[4]
1 April – the South of Scotland Electricity Board is formed by merger.
23 April – the Scottish Cup Final is broadcast live on television for the first time. Clyde F.C. draw 1-1 with Celtic, winning the replay 1-0.^[4]
19 May – Greenock Coin Hoard found.
27 May – United Kingdom general election: In Scotland, as throughout the UK as a whole, the Conservatives have a majority of seats.
25 June – the Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer STOL transport aircraft, built at Prestwick, first flies.
30 June – two Hawker Sea Hawk jet fighters flying from RNAS Lossiemouth independently crash into the North Sea; one pilot is killed.^[5]
25–27 July – 'Operation Sandcastle': The first load of deteriorating captured Nazi German bombs filled with Tabun (nerve agent) is shipped from Cairnryan on the SS Empire Claire for scuttling in the Atlantic Ocean.
30 September – first electricity supply to the isolated railway community at Riccarton Junction.^[6]
10 November – a major fire in Edinburgh destroys the footwear warehouse of C. W. Carr Aitkman in Jeffrey Street.^[4]
11 November – a second major fire in Edinburgh largely destroys the C&A fashion store in Princes Street.^[4]
9 December – Cumbernauld is designated a New town.^[7]
14 December – RMS Carinthia is launched at John Brown & Company's shipyard on Clydebank for the Cunard Line's Canadian service.
The collection of the world's first Museum of Childhood is established on Edinburgh's Royal Mile (initially at Lady Stair’s House) by optician Patrick Murray.
Archaeological excavations on St Ninian's Isle begin.

Births

18 January – Robin Wales, Labour politician, mayor of the London Borough of Newham
3 February – Kirsty Wark, television presenter
19 March – John Burnside, writer
31 March – Angus Young, rock musician
23 April – Allan Forsyth, footballer
2 May – Willie Miller, footballer
5 May – John Stroyan, Anglican bishop
14 May – Alasdair Fraser, fiddler
4 June – Val McDermid, crime novelist
13 June – Alan Hansen, footballer and television presenter
1 July – Candia McWilliam, fiction writer
8 July – Douglas Flint, banker
12 July – Robin Robertson, poet, novelist and editor
25 August – John McGeoch guitarist (died 2004 in England)
11 October – Sally Magnusson, journalist and broadcast presenter
12 October – Aggie MacKenzie, television presenter
28 October – Jeff Stewart, actor
12 November – Les McKeown, pop-rock singer (died 2021)
22 November – Mary Macmaster, harpist
2 December – Janice Galloway, writer
6 December – Anne Begg, Labour politician
23 December – Carol Ann Duffy, poet

Deaths

21 February – Sir Henry Wade, surgeon (born 1876)
26 February – Agnes Mure Mackenzie, writer and historian (born 1891)
3 March – Lewis Spence, writer and folklorist (born 1874)
11 March – Sir Alexander Fleming, bacteriologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (born 1881; died in London)
22 April – Herbert MacNair, artist (born 1868)
11 October – Hector McNeil, politician (born 1907)
Mary Newbery Sturrock, artist and designer (born 1890)
Salvador Ysart, glassblower (born 1878 in Barcelona)

The arts

Robin Jenkins's novel The Cone Gatherers is published.
Sandy MacMillan, Thomas Limond and Ross Taylor's Scots language nursery rhyme collection Bairnsangs is published, as by Sandy Thomas Ross.
Edith Anne Robertson's Scots language poetry collections Voices frae the city o trees; and ither voices frae nearbye and Poems Frae the Suddron O Walter De La Mare Made Ower Intil Scots are published.

References

^ Munn, Andy. "UKAEA – The First Fifty Years". Caithness.Org. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
^ Robin McKie, Science Editor, Guardian, 25 May 2008
^ "Britain's big freeze". On This Day. BBC News. 24 February 1955. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Notable Dates in History". The Flag in the Wind. The Scots Independent. Archived from the original on 23 May 2014. Retrieved 16 July 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^ "Two Sea Hawks Down". The Times. No. 53261. London. 1 July 1955. p. 10.
^ The Railway Magazine October 1955.
^ "Cumbernauld Town Centre". Retrieved 7 April 2013.

[1] Munn, Andy. "UKAEA – The First Fifty Years". Caithness.Org. Retrieved 5 February 2011.

[2] Robin McKie, Science Editor, Guardian, 25 May 2008

[3] "Britain's big freeze". On This Day. BBC News. 24 February 1955. Retrieved 8 March 2016.

[Notable_Dates-4] "Notable Dates in History". The Flag in the Wind. The Scots Independent. Archived from the original on 23 May 2014. Retrieved 16 July 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)

[5] "Two Sea Hawks Down". The Times. No. 53261. London. 1 July 1955. p. 10.

[6] The Railway Magazine October 1955.

[7] "Cumbernauld Town Centre". Retrieved 7 April 2013.

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v t e Years in Scotland (843–present)
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21st century	2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025

Incumbents

Law officers

Judiciary

Events

Births

Deaths

The arts

See also

References