1823
Shetlopedia - The Shetland Encyclopaedia
- Symbister House, (Whalsay), the most outstanding Georgian mansion in the Northern Isles was built by Robert Bruce (2), sixth Laird Bruce of Symbister, replacing the old hall from 1750, at a cost of £20,000. In 1960 it was converted into a school, and is still used for that purpose today.
- William Arthur Bruce (1), later the seventh Laird Bruce of Symbister, was admitted an advocate at the Scottish Bar.
- In response to characterizations made in 1822, Rev. Walter Traill of Orkney writes Vindication of Orkney, in answer to 'Notes on Orkney,' by Alex. Peterkin.
February
- An unidentified vessel as recorded as having wrecked in the East Voe of Quarff.
July
- 16th
Catherine Spence, author and teacher, born in Lerwick
September
- 4th
Election of the Lerwick Town Council. - 15th
The brig Ann of Belfast, wrecked at the Bay of Quendale
October
- 10th
Captain William Edward Parry arrived Lerwick, returning from an expedition in the Arctic. - 13th or 14th
The Helen Karen, a galliot laden with a cargo of timber, of Akershus, Norway, from Drammen, Norway, for Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland, boarded and purposely beached at an unidentified location on Shetland, after being found drifting derelict and waterlogged with only one mast standing. The cargo was saved, but the fate of the crew is not known. It was intended at the time to abandon the hulk to the sea.
November
- 20th
The wooden hulled sail sloop King George, foundered in a gale, in the vicinity of Fair Isle.
December
- 11th
In the case of Bruce & Grierson regarding division of the commonty of Fitful Head, the Court of Sessions ruled that the division could proceed based on number of merks in lieu of a valuation as stipulated in the Act of 1695.