BART

See also:

• SIR

SIR

See also:

• JOHN
• JOHN (1167–1216)
• JOHN (1290-c. 1320)
• JOHN (1296-1346)
• JOHN (1371–1419)
• JOHN (1468-1532)
• JOHN (1801-1873)
• JOHN (Heb. llni')
• JOHN (ZAPOLYA) (1487-1540)
• JOHN, 4TH MARQUESS OF TWEEDDALE (c. 1695-1762)
• JOHN, DON (1545-1578)
• JOHN, DON (1629–1679)
• JOHN, GOSPEL OF ST
• JOHN, THE APOSTLE
• JOHN, THE EPISTLES OF
• JOHN, or HAYS (1513–1571)

JOHN

See also:

• SINCLAIR
• BART SIR JOHN SINCLAIR

SINCLAIR  . (1754-1835), Scottish writer on finance and agriculture, was the eldest son of George Sinclair of Ulbster, a member of the family of the earls of Caithness, and was born at Thurso Castle on the loth of May 1754 . After studying at Edinburgh, Glasgow and Trinity College, Oxford, he was admitted to the faculty of advocates in Scotland, and called to the English bar, but never practised . In 178o he was returned to parliament for Caithness, and subsequently represented several English constituencies, his parliamentary career extending, with few interruptions, until 1811 . He established at Edinburgh a society for the improvement of British wool, and was mainly instrumental in the creation of the Board of Agriculture, of which he was the first president . His reputation as a financier and economist had been established by the publication, in 1784, of his History of the Public Revenue of the British Empire; in 1793 widespread ruin was prevented by the adoption of his plan for the issue of exchequer bills; and it was on his advice that, in 1797, Pitt issued the " loyalty loan " of eighteen millions for the prosecution of the war . His services to scientific agriculture were no less conspicuous . He supervised the compilation of the valuable Statistical Account of Scotland (21 vols., 1791-1799), and also that of the General Report of Scotland, issued by the Board of Agriculture; and from the reports compiled by this society he published in 1819 his Code of Agriculture . He was a member of most of the continental agricultural societies, a fellow of the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh, as well as of the Antiquarian Society of London, and president of the Highland Society in London . Originally a thorough supporter of Pitt's war policy, he later on joined the party of " armed neutrality." In 1805 he was appointed by Pitt a commissioner for the construction of roads and bridges in the N. of Scotland, in ,8,o he was made a member of the privy council and, next year, received the lucrative sinecure office of commissioner of excise . He died on the 21st of December 1835 . Sir John Sinclair, who was created a baronet in 178o, was twice married, first to a daughter of Alexander Maitland, by whom he had two daughters, and secondly to Diana, daughter of the first lord Macdonald, by whom he had thirteen children .

His eldest son, Sir George Sinclair (179o-1868) was a writer and a member of parliament, representing Caithness at intervals from 1811 till 1841 . His son, Sir John George

Tollemache Sinclair, the 3rd baronet, was member for the same constituency from 1869 to 1885 . The first baronet's third son, John (1797-1875), became archdeacon of Middlesex; the fifth son, William (1804-1878), was prebendary of Chichester and was the father of William Macdonald Sinclair (b . 1850), who in 1889 became archdeacon of London; the fourth daughter, Catherine (1800-1864), at one time enjoyed some vogue as an author . See Correspondence of the Right Hon . Sir John Sinclair, Bart., with Reminiscences of Distinguished Characters (2 vols., London, 1831); and Memoirs of the Life and Works of the Right Hon . Sir John Sinclair (2 vols., Edinburgh, 1839) .