1798 in Scotland

Incumbents

• Monarch – George III

  Law officers

• Lord Advocate – Robert Dundas of Arniston
• Solicitor General for Scotland – Robert Blair

  Judiciary

• Lord President of the Court of Session – Lord Succoth
• Lord Justice General – The Duke of Montrose* Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Braxfield

  Events

• 11 March – Dundee Infirmary opened.
• 26 May – Battle of Tara Hill in the Irish Rebellion of 1798: British forces including three companies of the Reay Fencibles drive rebels of the Society of United Irishmen from their position with around 400 of the latter killed and only 26 Reay casualties.
• 14 July – United States Consulate in Edinburgh opens.
• 4 December – British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger announces the introduction of income tax in 1799.
• Highland Park distillery is founded in Kirkwall.
• Tobermory distillery is founded.
• The Merchant Banking Company of Glasgow fails.
• The Ayrshire Regiment of Yeomanry Cavalry is formally adopted into the British Army.

  Births

• 3 February – Daniel Sandford, Greek scholar, professor and Member of parliament for Paisley
• March – David Hay, interior decorator
• 28 April – Duncan Forbes, linguist
• 23 July – James Hyslop, poet
• 24 July – Mark Napier, lawyer, sheriff, biographer and historical author
• 13 October – Robert Crichton Wyllie, physician, businessman and Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Kingdom of Hawaii
• 27 December – Alexander Colquhoun-Stirling-Murray-Dunlop, Member of Parliament for Greenock from 1852 to 1868
• 28 December – Thomas James Henderson, astronomer

  Deaths

• 21 November – Thomas Hardy, minister