List of Scots

Scotland, part of the United Kingdom, seems to have more than its fair share of famous and influential men and women for its size and population. The following is a list of some of the best known.

Actors

• Robbie Coltrane, (born 1950)
• Sean Connery, (born 1930)
• Billy Connolly (born 1942)
• Tom Conti, (born 1941)
• Brian Cox[?]
• James Robertson Justice[?]
• Deborah Kerr, (born 1921)
• Ewan McGregor, (born 1971)
• Alastair Sim, (1900-1976)

Artists

• Margaret MacDonald, (1865-1933), wife of Charles Rennie Mackintosh
• Robert MacBryde[?]
• Robert Colquhoun[?]
• Dugald MacColl[?]
• James MacGillivray[?] -- sculptor
• Charles Rennie Mackintosh, (1868-1928), husband of Margaret MacDonald
• Alexander Nasmyth, (1758-1840), landscape painter
• Patrick Nasmyth[?], (1787-1831), landscape painter, son of Alexander

Business

• David Buick[?] -- Founded the Buick car company
• Andrew Carnegie, (1835-1919), Ruthless steel magnate and death-bed philanthropist

Composers

• Hamish MacCunn[?]
• James Macmillan[?]

Engineers and Inventors

• Alexander Graham Bell, (1847-1922), Telephone, National Geographic, Hydrofoil
• John Boyd Dunlop[?] -- Inventor of the modern rubber tyre
• John McAdam[?] inventor of modern road construction
• Charles Macintosh, (1766-1843), patented waterproofing
• James Nasmyth, (1802-1890), inventor, Steam Hammer
• Thomas Telford, (1757-1834)
• James Watt, (1736-1819)

Musicians

• Ali Bain[?] fiddler
• Phil Cunningham[?] accordionist
• Donovan, (born 1946)
• Sheena Easton[?]
• Roddy Frame[?] songwriter Aztec Camera[?]
• Hamish Henderson[?] folk song collector and writer
• Annie Lennox, (born 1954)
• Harry Lauder[?]
• Michael Marra[?] songwriter
• Dougie MacLean[?] contemporary folk songwriter
• Ewan MacColl, (1915-1989), folk-singer/songwriter
• Kenneth McKellar[?]
• Jimmy Shand[?]

Philosophers

• David Hume, (1711-1776), Inspired Immanuel Kant
• James McCosh, (1811-1894)

Rulers, Politicians

• Tony Blair, (born 1953), UK Prime Minister
• Robert Cunninghame-Graham[?] ('Don Roberto') aristocrat socialist
• Jo Grimond, (1913-1993), Liberal Party leader from 1956 to 1967
• James VI of Scotland and I of England, (1603-1625)
• Gordon Brown, (born 1951), Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer
• Jimmy Maxton - leader of the Independent Labour Party
• Jim Sillars - founder of Scottish Labour Party, MP
• Tom Johnston[?] aka Tam Johnston, post WW2 Secretary of State for Scotland
• Mary I of Scotland, (1542-1587), also known as Mary, Queen of Scots
• Macbeth -- King on the receiving end of a bad press
• John MacCormick - Nationalist
• Alex Salmond - Nationalist (SNP leader 1990-2000)
• Margo MacDonald[?] -- Nationalist
• Ramsay Macdonald[?], (1866-1937), UK Prime minister
• Robert the Bruce -- Robert 1 of Scotland
• Malcolm Macdonald[?]
• William Wallace, (c. 1270-1305), a.k.a. Braveheart

Scientists

• James Dewar, (1842-1923), Low temperature physicist, invented the vacuum flask
• Alexander Fleming, (1881-1955), biologist
• Joseph Lister, (1827-1912), surgeon, pioneered antisepsis techniques
• James Hutton, (1726-1797), Put geology on a scientific basis
• James Clerk Maxwell, (1831-1879), thermodynamics and electromagnetic theorist
• John Napier, (1550-1617), mathematician (see logarithms)
• Mary Fairfax Sommerville[?] -- mathematician and astronomer
• Robert Watson-Watt, (1892-1973), invented radar
• Paraffin Young[?] a.k.a. James Young[?], James (Paraffin) Young

Sportsmen and -women

• Ken Buchanan, (born 1945), world champion boxer
• Jimmy Clark[?] Formula 1 driver
• David Coulthard, (born 1971), Formula 1 driver
• Kenny Dalglish, (born 1951), footballer
• Alex Ferguson footballer and manager of Manchester United F.C.
• Dougal Haston[?] mountaineer
• Benny Lynch, (1913-1946), boxer
• Hamish MacInnes[?] mountaineer
• Colin MacRae[?] world champion rally driver
• Graham Obree[?] broke world hour record (on a home-made bike)
• Jackie Stewart[?] world champion Formula 1 driver

Theologians

• John Knox
• Thomas McCrie[?]

Writers

• Margot Asquith[?] -- writer and wit
• James Matthew Barrie, (1860-1937), creator of Peter Pan
• Iain Banks, (born 1954), aka Iain M. Banks
• James Boswell, (1740-1795)
• John Buchan, (1875-1940)
• Robert Burns, (1759-1796)
• A.J.Cronin[?]
• Arthur Conan Doyle, (1859-1930)
• Alasdair Gray[?]
• Kenneth Grahame, (1859-1932)
• Andrew Lang, (1844-1912)
• Norman MacCaig[?] -- poet
• Hugh MacDiarmid[?], (1892-1978), poet
• George Macdonald, (1824-1905), poet, novelist
• Duncan McIntyre[?] -- Gaelic poet, aka Duncan Ban McIntyre
• John Mackail[?] -- classical scholar and writer
• Sorley MacLean, (1911-1996), Scottish Gaelic poet
• William Topaz McGonagall -- poet, novelist
• Alistair MacLean
• A.A. Milne -- creator of Winnie the Pooh
• Carolina Oliphant[?] -- 18th century composer and songwriter
• Ian Rankin[?] -- creator of Inspector Rebus crime novels
• Sir Walter Scott, (1771-1832)
• Robert Louis Stevenson, (1850-1894)

Others

• Ian Anderson
• Alison Balfour[?] -- a "notorious witch"
• David Byrne, (born 1952)
• Helen Duncan[?] -- "Hellish Nell", the last woman to be tried under the witchcraft act
• Thomas Graham
• Elsie Inglis[?] -- medical reformer and suffragette
• John Paul Jones, (1747-1792), Admiral of the Russian and American Navies
• Captain Kidd, (1645-1701), Pirate
• David Livingstone, (1813-1873), Explorer, Missionary
• Flora Macdonald -- Jacobite and Empire Loyalist
• Rob Roy MacGregor[?] -- Romantic outlaw
• John James Richard Macleod, (1876-1935)
• John Muir, (1838-1914), 19th century environmentalist
• Robert Noble[?]
• Allan Pinkerton
• Sir William Ramsay
• John Charles Walsham Reith, (1889-1971), aka Lord Reith, first Director General of BBC
• James Clark Ross, (1800-1862), Explorer
• Alexander Selkirk, (1676-1723), inspiration for Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe
• Christian Shaw[?] -- the woman who started the Paisley thread industry
• Moira Shearer[?]
• Mary Slessor[?] -- missionary and advocate for women's rights
• Adam Smith, (1723-1790), Economist, free trade, laisser-faire, division of labour
• Elizabeth, Countess of Sutherland[?] -- enthusiastic contributor to the Highland Clearances[?]
• Josephine Tey, (1896-1952)
• Robert William Thomson[?]

See also: List of people by nationality, List of Kings of the Picts