1985 in Scotland

Incumbents

• Monarch – Elizabeth II
• Secretary of State for Scotland and Keeper of the Great Seal – George Younger

  Law officers

• Lord Advocate – Lord Cameron of Lochbroom
• Solicitor General for Scotland – Peter Fraser

  Judiciary

• Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General – Lord Emslie
• Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Wheatley, then Lord Ross
• Chairman of the Scottish Land Court – Lord Elliott

  Events

• 1 June – Scottish Bus Group reorganised into new regional companies.
• 6 September – the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre opens in Glasgow.
• 10 September – Scotland national football team manager Jock Stein, 62, collapses and dies from a heart attack at the end of his team's 1–1 draw with Wales at Ninian Park, Cardiff, which secures Scotland's place in the World Cup qualification playoff.
• 20 November – the Scotland national football team, managed on an interim basis by Aberdeen boss Alex Ferguson, beats Australia 2–0 in the World Cup qualifying play-off first leg at Hampden Park with goals from Davie Cooper and the debutant Frank McAvennie.
• Mossmorran NGL fractionation plant at Cowdenbeath opens.

  Births

• 16 January – Amy Manson, television actress
• 10 February – Cath Rae, field hockey goalkeeper
• 23 November – Scott Brash, showjumper

  Deaths

• 27 January – Robert McLellan, playwright
• 29 January – Chic Murray, comedian
• 7 April – Willie McRae, Scottish National Party politician and lawyer
• 10 September – Jock Stein, football player and manager
• 7 November – Alexander Thom, aerodynamicist and archaeoastronomer
• 24 December – Erich Schaedler, football player, by suicide

  The arts

• 10 May – first performance of Peter Maxwell Davies' orchestral piece An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise.
• 11 August – a memorial to Hugh MacDiarmid is unveiled near his home at Langholm.
• The Scots Language Society publishes a set of consensus guidelines for spelling Modern Scots, Recommendations for Writers in Scots.
• Deacon Blue form in Glasgow.