Sir John, Baronet, was born at Thurso Castle, in the county of Caithness, on the 10th of May 1754. He received his education successively at Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Oxford. Having completed his preliminary studies, he became a member of the Scottish Society of Advocates, and was subsequently called to the English bar. He began his parliamentary career in 1780, when he was chosen member for his native county. He continued a member of the British Parliament for more than thirty years, during which time the country passed through a very eventful era. His reputation was soon fixed as a patron and promoter of Scottish agriculture, and as an enthusiastic student of politics, statistics, and medicine. The opinions of Sinclair on finance were highly esteemed by the prime minister Pitt, and he was before long elevated to the baronetage mainly through the influence of that statesman. He continued with amazing industry to organize societies for manufacturing and agricultural purposes, and exerted himself in an extraordinary manner to promote the general welfare of the Scottish people. His patriotic efforts in no degree fell short of his zeal for the material good of the country. He raised battalions of 1000 men each in the counties of Ross and Cromarty, which formed the first fencible regiments whose services were extended beyond the kingdom. His philanthropic pen was ever busy in suggesting "plans," "hints," and "observations," &c., for the amelioration of some national or social evil. Sir John Sinclair was the author of eighteen distinct works, of which the most extensive was his History of the Public Revenue of the British Empire, 3 vols., 1784. He was the author, either by suggestion or by endorsement, of 367 books and pamphlets, of which the largest was the Statistical Account of Scotland, drawn up from the communications of the Ministers of the different parishes, 1791-94, 21 vols. Sinclair was a man of talent rather than a man of genius, but what he wanted in native vigour of mind, he tried to make up by indomitable perseverance. He died on the 21st December 1835. (See Memoirs of the Life and Works of Sir John Sinclair, Bart., by his son, the Rev. John Sinclair, 2 vols., 1837.)