WAlexander Craig "Alec" Aitken was one of New Zealand's most eminent mathematicians. In a 1935 paper he introduced the concept of generalized least squares, along with now standard vector/matrix notation for the linear regression model. Another influential paper co-authored with his student Harold Silverstone established the lower bound on the variance of an estimator, now known as Cramér–Rao bound. He was elected to the Royal Society of Literature for his World War I memoir, Gallipoli to the Somme.
WRobert Michael Ballantyne was a Scottish author of juvenile fiction who wrote more than 100 books. He was also an accomplished artist, and exhibited some of his water-colours at the Royal Scottish Academy.
WAndrew Kennedy Hutchison Boyd, miscellaneous writer, son of Rev. Dr. Boyd of Glasgow, was originally intended for the English Bar but entered the Church of Scotland, and was minister latterly at St. Andrews.
WHenry Thomas Cockburn of Bonaly, Lord Cockburn was a Scottish lawyer, judge and literary figure. He served as Solicitor General for Scotland between 1830 and 1834.
WSir William Connolly, is a retired Scottish stand-up comedian, musician, presenter, actor, and artist. He is sometimes known, especially in his homeland, by the Scots nickname The Big Yin. Known for his idiosyncratic and often off-the-cuff observational comedy, which frequently includes the use of profanity, Connolly is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential stand-up comedians of all time, having topped multiple polls conducted in the United Kingdom.
WAlan Cumming is a Scottish-American actor, comedian, singer, writer, filmmaker, and activist who has acted in numerous films, television shows, and plays. His London stage appearances include Hamlet, the Maniac in Accidental Death of an Anarchist, the lead in Bent, and The National Theatre of Scotland's The Bacchae. On Broadway, he has appeared in The Threepenny Opera, as the master of ceremonies in Cabaret, Design for Living and a one-man adaptation of Macbeth. His best-known film roles include his performances in Emma, GoldenEye, the Spy Kids trilogy, Son of the Mask, and X2. Cumming also introduces Masterpiece Mystery! for PBS and appeared on The Good Wife, for which he has been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and a Satellite Award. A filming of his Las Vegas cabaret show, Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs, aired on PBS stations in November 2016.
WMagdalene Lady De Lancey wrote A Week in Waterloo, her account of the days surrounding the Battle of Waterloo, during which her husband Colonel Sir William Howe De Lancey died of his wounds.
WSir William Forbes, 6th Baronet of Monymusk and Pitsligo (1739–1806) was a Scottish banker. He was known also as an improving landlord, philanthropist and writer.
WAminatta Forna, OBE is a Scottish and Sierra Leonean writer. She is the author of a memoir, The Devil That Danced on the Water, and four novels: Ancestor Stones (2006), The Memory of Love (2010), The Hired Man (2013) and Happiness (2018). Her novel The Memory of Love was awarded the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for "Best Book" in 2011, and was also shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction. Forna is Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University and was, until recently, Sterling Brown Distinguished Visiting Professor at Williams College in Massachusetts. She is currently Lannan Visiting Chair of Poetics at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.
WRobert Kerr "Rikki" Fulton, OBE was a Scottish comedian and actor best remembered for writing and performing in the long-running BBC Scotland sketch show, Scotch and Wry. He was also known for his appearances as one half of the double act, Francie and Josie, alongside Jack Milroy. Suffering from Alzheimer's disease in his later years, Fulton died in 2004, aged 79.
WThomas Gildard was a 19th-century Scottish architect and author. In a short career as a private architect alongside Robert Macfarlane, before entering public service as deputy to Glasgow`s Master of Works, buildings designed by him and his professional partner are : the Clyde Thread Works, also known as Clyde Thread Mills; Belgrave Terrace on the southside of Great Western Road, Glasgow; Ardenvhor fronting the Gareloch; and in 1857/58 an Italianate warehouse in the Trongate, Glasgow for Archibald Blair, two floors of which opened on 25 December 1859 as the Britannia Music Hall.
WDr James Dalgleish Hamilton Jamieson FRSE FDSE was a Scottish dentist and author.
WPhyllida Ann Law is a Scottish actress, known for her numerous roles in film and television.
WCatherine Theodora, Lady Macartney (1877-1949). Catherine was born in Bexley, Kent, England. She was the second daughter of James Borland born 1836 in Castle Douglas, Scotland. In 1898, she married Sir George Macartney, the British Consul in Kashgar. Catherine's father had studied in Scotland with George Macartney's father, Halliday Macartney.
WChristopher Murray Grieve, best known by his pen name Hugh MacDiarmid, was a Scottish poet, journalist, essayist and political figure. He is considered one of the principal forces behind the Scottish Renaissance and has had a lasting impact on Scottish culture and politics.
WSarah Broom Macnaughtan was a Scottish novelist. With the outbreak of the First World War, she volunteered with the Red Cross Society and was sent to Russia and eventually Armenia. She wrote extensively about the plight of the Armenian refugees of the Armenian Genocide. She died due to an illness she contracted while abroad.
WViva Seton Montgomerie was a British socialite and minor author, daughter of the Hon. Seton Montolieu Montgomerie and his wife, Nina Janet Bronwen Peers Williams, daughter of Lt.-Col. Thomas Peers Williams.
WGeorge Outram was a humorous poet, Scottish advocate, friend of Professor John Wilson, and for some time editor of The Herald in Glasgow.
WElizabeth Ness MacBean Ross was a Scottish physician who worked in Persia among the Bakhtiari people. With training and a post-graduate qualification in tropical medicine, she responded to an appeal for doctors by the Serbian government in 1915 and treated Serbian casualties, most of whom were victims of typhus. Ross's life and work is commemorated by a plaque in her home town of Tain and her death anniversary is commemorated by ceremonies in Serbia, on 14 February.
WSir James Turner (1615-c.1686) was a Scottish professional soldier of the 17th century.
WMary Weir, known as Molly Weir, was a Scottish actress. She appeared as the character Hazel the McWitch in the BBC TV series Rentaghost.
WPeter Williamson, also known as "Indian Peter", was a Scottish memoirist who was part-showman, part-entrepreneur and inventor. Born in a croft in Aberdeenshire, he was forcibly taken to North America at an early age, but succeeded in returning to Scotland where he eventually became a well-known character in 18th century Edinburgh. He adopted the pseudonym "Indian Peter" due to his time spent with native Americans and his self-exploitation of this in an autobiography and by touring Scotland and England in the guise of a "Red Indian".