John Boyd Kinnear


John Boyd Kinnear was a Scottish lawyer, writer and radical Liberal politician.

Biography

Kinnear was the son of Christian Boyd Greenshields and her husband, Charles Kinnear of Kinloch. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh and the University of St Andrews. He became a Scottish Advocate in 1850 and from 1852 to 1856 was political secretary to the Lord Advocate of Scotland James Moncreiff. In 1855 he was called to the bar at Inner Temple and was a J.P. He was an extensive writer on jurisprudence and other topics including religion and women's rights.
In the 1885 general election, he was elected Member of Parliament for East Fife. However, in 1886 he stood as a Liberal Unionist and was defeated by future prime minister H. H. Asquith.
He died at the age of 92.

Family

Kinnear married Sarah Harriet Frith in 1852. She died in 1866 and he married Teresa Bassano of Venice in 1868.
His brother was the eminent Scottish architect Charles Kinnear of Peddie & Kinnear.

Publications