1839
Shetlopedia - The Shetland Encyclopaedia
- The Hagdale Quarry on Unst, at that time the largest chromite deposit worked in Britain, was opened.
- Edward Standen, based in Oxford, begins to promote Shetland Knitwear
- Christian Pløyen embarked on a fact-finding mission for ideas to benefit the Faeroes. His observations Erindringer fra en reise til Shetlandsøerne, Ørkenøerne og Skotland i sommeren 1839 would appear in translation in 1894 as Reminiscences of a Voyage to Shetland, Orkney & Scotland in the Summer of 1839 (reprinted 1896).
April
12th
A boat from Stenness at the handline was lost with five men, James Jameson and James Thomson of Stenness, Laurence Cheyne, Arthur Cheyne and Richard Pearson, of Hogaland, The empty boat was found three days later by Braehoulland men at the back of the Vellins.
October
- Author John Spence was born.
December
- 28th
The Iho, a brig, in ballast, of and for Riga, Russia (now Latvia), from London, England foundered in the West Bight of Skaw, Unst. All of the crew were saved.
