In response to the recent thread begun by Alan (http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/SCT-WIGTOWNSHIRE/2010-07/1280064333), Ian McClumpha has kindly offered his home-grown Scottish chronology. Many thanks, Ian. A Scottish Chronology (1500 - 1900) 1514: The recording of testaments began. 1553: First surviving Old Parish Register. (Errol) 1560: Protestantism established in Scotland. (Reformation) 1563: Commissary Courts set up by Queen Mary. 1592: Presbyterian Church of Scotland formally established. 1600: Scotland changed from using the Julian to the Gregorian Calendar. (Julian ran from 25th to 24th March) 1599 only had nine months, 1600 began on 1st Jan. 1603: James VI of Scotland became 1st of England. (Union of the Crowns) 1608: Plantation of Ulster. The Province of Ulster was sold to nine chief 'undertakers' who undertook to cultivate the land.. By 1640 there were 40,000 Scots working in Northern Ireland. 1617: King James VI (on his only return to Scotland) lectured on the "Superiority of English Civilisation". He also established the Register of Sasines, and presented Dumfries with the 'Siller Gun'. 1618: King James imposes Bishops on the Presbyterian Church of Scotland in an attempt to integrate it with the Church of England. This move was very unpopular with the Scots. 1625: King Charles I succeeded his father. Although born in Scotland, harles had no interest in the Country and dealt with Scottish affairs with even less tact than his father, causing much discontent. 1638: Charles regarded protests against the Prayerbook as treason, forcing Scots to choose between their Church and their King. A Covenant to resist these changes was signed in Greyfriars Church in Edinburgh. Hundreds of thousands of Scots signed the 'Covenant'. 1639: The Scottish Bishops were abolished. 1640: Scots march on Newcastle. 1640: An estimated 5% of Scottish churches were keeping records. 1641: A truce negotiated at Ripon. 1642: Civil war breaks out in England. The Scottish Covenanters side with the English rebels who take power. The Earl of Montrose had sided with King Charles 1 so civil strife spilled into Scotland. 1645: Militia raised in Scottish Counties. Scottish Population estimated at 420,000 1646: Many Scots fought for King Charles1. Considerable movement of population. 1649: Execution of King Charles1. 1651: Cromwell transported Scottish prisoners to America. 1661: Episcopacy was re-established under Charles II. 1682: founding of the National Library of Scotland. 1684/5: The height of the 'Killing times'. 1690: Restoration of the Presbyterian Church. 1691: Hearth Tax. 1692: Massacre of Glencoe. 1693: Poll tax (until 1699) 1695: Bank of Scotland founded. 1696: First Education act. 1698/9: Darien expeditions 1702: Accession of Queen Ann. 1707: Act of Union is passed; Scotland formally united with England to form Great Britain. In so doing, the Scottish Parliament voted itself out of existence. 1709: Founding of the "Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge" 1715: First Jacobite rebellion. 1723: Founding of the "Honourable Society of Improvers in the Knowledge of Agriculture in Scotland" 1726-37: Roads built in the Highlands encourages population movement Southwards 1730: Beginning of emigration from Scotland to America. 1733: First secession from the Church of Scotland. 1741: Glasgow merchants importing 8 million lbs of tobacco per year. 1744: World's first Golf Club founded (The Hon. Company of Edinburgh Golfers) 1745: Second Jacobite Rebellion begins. 900 Scots banished to America and West Indies. 1746: Battle of Culloden (Jacobites defeated) 1747: Secession Church split over 'Burgess Oath'. 1748: Window tax instituted until 1798. 1751: Hudson Bay co. began recruiting Scots to work in Canada (until 1870) 1755: Webster's census gives Scottish population as 1,265,400. 1759: Birth of Robert Burns; Carron Ironworks at Falkirk founded, new employment opportunities. 1768: First edition of Encyclopaedia Brittanica published in Edinburgh. 1770: River Clyde deepened. Increased shipping. 1771: Birth of Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) Tobacco trade peaks at 47.3 million lbs per year. 1772: Collapse of the Douglas-Heron bank. Many Dumfriesshire families ruined. 1774: Foundation stone of Old Register House laid. (NAS) 1775: Linen trade peaks at production of 12.1 million yards. 1777: Male servant tax instituted until 1798. 1778: Inhabited house tax instituted until 1798. 1779: Industrial Revolution affecting Scotland, Cotton Mills in Glasgow and Paisley gradually brought about the decline of Home Weaving. 1780-1800: Many leaders of the Lancashire Cotton industry came from around Kirkcudbright and took Scottish Families to work with them in Manchester and Liverpool. ighland clearances cause movement south, and abroad. 1782: Famine in South Scotland. Many Dumfries families moved south. 1783: Tax on every entry in the Old parish Registers, resulting in a mass refusal to register. 1784: Completion of the Forth and Clyde Canal. 1785: Retail shop tax (until 1789) Female Servant tax (until 1792) 1791: Sinclair's 1st Statistical Account. 1793: Collapse of the Glasgow Arms bank. 1796: Death of Robert Burns. 1796-1815 Napoleonic wars. 1799-1800 War and bad harvests cause famine (corn riots) 1797: Farm horse tax (for one year) - Militia (Scotland) act. 1822: King George IV visits Scotland (first Monarch to visit for 171 years) 1826: Scotland's first Railway (between Edinburgh and Dalkeith) 1832: Burgh Reform act. 1836/7: Partial failure of the potato crop. 1839: 193 Cotton Mills in Scotland- 98 around Glasgow. 1841: First census to name 'names'. 1843: Second Statistical account. 1843: The Disruption; Foundation of the Free Church of Scotland. 1845: Poor Law Act- takes the maintenance of the Poor out of 'Parish control'. Workhouses established. 1848: Large migration to New Zealand 1851: Large migration to Australia. 1853-56: Crimean war. 1855: Statutory registration of births, deaths and marriages. 1872: Education act. Creation of School Boards. 1899-1902: Boer War