Events from the year 1809 in Scotland. Incumbents Law officers Lord Advocate – Archibald Colquhoun Solicitor General for Scotland – David Boyle Judiciary Lord President of the Court of Session – Lord Avontoun Lord Justice General – The Duke of Montrose Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Granton Events – the General Association of Operative Weavers is formed. May – a construction railway at the site of Bell Rock Lighthouse is completed. August – Crinan Canal declared "finally complete". 16 August – Meikle Ferry disaster: An overloaded ferry crossing the Dornoch Firth to Tain market sinks, drowning 99. November – Thomas Telford certifies completion of his Dunkeld-Birnam bridge. His bridges at Ballater and Conon Bridge are also completed this year. 11 November – the North British and Mercantile Insurance company commences business as a fire insurance office in Edinburgh. 9 December – the Dumfries Courier is established as a weekly newspaper in Annan by Rev. Dr. Henry Duncan as The Dumfries and Galloway Courier. Highland Clearances – first commissioner for clearance of the Leveson-Gower family estates in Scotland for sheep farming, William Young, is appointed. The Tally Toor, a Martello tower, is erected off Leith. A bridge over the River Cart is washed away in a flood. Blackie and Son, publishers, are established in Glasgow by John Blackie as Blackie, Fullarton and Company. The Scottish Bible Society is established as the Edinburgh Bible Society, a missionary organization, by Christopher Anderson. The Caledonian Horticultural Society is established in Edinburgh. Arthur Edmondston's A View of the Ancient and Present State of the Zetland Islands is published. Births 16 February – John Laing, bibliographer and Free Church minister (died 1880) 20 April – James David Forbes, physicist, glaciologist and seismologist (died 1868 in Bristol) 7 June – William Forbes Skene, historian (died 1892) 22 August – John Hill Burton, historian (died 1881) 27 August – John West, pioneer of food canning (died 1888 in the United States) 8 September – Robert Reid Kalley, physician and Presbyterian missionary to the lusophone countries (died 1888) 21 October – John Stenhouse, chemist (died 1880 in London) 24 October – John Barr, poet (died 1889 in New Zealand) 29 December – William Ewart Gladstone, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born in Liverpool; died 1898 in Wales) Alexander Allan, locomotive engineer (died 1891 in England) Archibald Campbell, born Douglas, laird (died 1868) Deaths 14 January – Robert Anstruther,