The Rev John Sinclair

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

(20 August 1797 - 22 May 1875) was a religious author and amateur biologist, He served as

Archdeacon of Middlesex The Archdeacon of Middlesex is a senior cleric in the Church of England, co-responsible for the Archdeaconry of "Middlesex", which mirrors the "Kensington" episcopal area of the Diocese of London — the other person responsible being the Bish ...

from 1844 until his death.

Life

Old St Paul's Episcopal Church, Jeffrey Street, Edinburgh - geograph

He was the son of

Sir John Sinclair, 1st Baronet Sir John Sinclair of Ulbster, 1st Baronet, (10 May 1754 – 21 December 1835), was a British politician, a writer on both finance and agriculture, and was one of the first people to use the word '' statistics'' in the English language, in ...

Ulbster Ulbster is a scattered crofting hamlet on the eastern coast of Caithness, within the parish of Wick, Caithness, Wick, in the Scottish Highlands, within the Highland Council area. The town of Wick is located seven miles north of the village along t ...

, and his second wife, Diana Macdonald, daughter of

Alexander Macdonald, 1st Baron Macdonald Alexander Macdonald, 1st Baron Macdonald (c. 1745 – 12 September 1795), was a Scottish nobleman and Chief of Clan MacDonald of Sleat. Macdonald was the younger son of Sir Alexander Macdonald, 7th Baronet, and his wife Lady Margaret (née Montg ...

. He was born at 9

Charlotte Square 300px, Robert Adam's palace-fronted north side Charlotte Square is a garden square in Edinburgh, Scotland, part of the New Town, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The square is located at the west end of George Street and was intend ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

but the family moved to 6 Charlotte Square around 1810. He studied Divinity at

Pembroke College, Oxford Pembroke College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford, is located at Pembroke Square, Oxford. The college was founded in 1624 by King James I of England, using in part the endowment of merchant Thomas Tesdale, and was named after ...

, graduating BA in 1819. There he was one of the founders of the Rhetorical Society. He was made a Deacon in 1820 and

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

as a priest in 1821 and spent one year at Sutterby in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

. In 1822 he joined his parents in

and took a post of

Incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an official, office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seek ...

at Old St Paul's Church on Jeffrey Street. In 1829 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

(for his contributions to biology). His proposer was Archibald Alison. In 1839 he left Old St Paul's to be Secretary of the National Bible Society of Scotland. In Edinburgh he lived at his late father's house at 133 George Street. He was appointed

Vicar A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

in 1842, a post he held while also

archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that o ...

. His private secretary in later life was George Charles Silk (b. 1822), a close friend of

Alfred Russel Wallace Alfred Russel Wallace (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. He is best known for independently conceiving the theory of evolution through natural se ...

. He died in

on 22 May 1875.

Family

He was unmarried and had no children His sister was the author Catherine Sinclair.

Publications

*''Dissertation Vindicating the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

'' (1836) *''The Life and Times of the Right Hon John Sinclair'' (1837) a biography of his father

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinclair, John 1797 births Alumni of Pembroke College, Oxford Archdeacons of Middlesex Younger sons of baronets 1875 deaths