1742 in Scotland

Incumbents

• Monarch – George II
• Secretary of State for Scotland: vacant until 16 February; then The Marquess of Tweeddale

  Law officers

• Lord Advocate – Charles Erskine, then Robert Craigie
• Solicitor General for Scotland – William Grant of Prestongrange; then Robert Dundas, the younger

  Judiciary

• Lord President of the Court of Session – Lord Culloden
• Lord Justice General – Lord Ilay
• Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Milton

  Events

• February–November – Cambuslang Work, an outbreak of Christian revival at Cambuslang.
• 16 February – the post of Secretary of State for Scotland, vacant since 1725, is revived in favour of John Hay, 4th Marquess of Tweeddale; he holds it until 1746.
• Delftware manufactured in Glasgow.
• Kirkcaldy Beer Duties Act passed.

  Births

• 13 March ? – Anne Hunter, née Home, lyricist
• 28 April – Henry Dundas, statesman
• 29 July – Isabella Graham, née Marshall, teacher and philanthropist
• 26 December – George Chalmers, antiquarian
• John Kay, caricaturist and engraver

  Deaths

• 2 April – James Douglas, royal physician, anatomist and obstetrician