John Boyd Kinnear

John Boyd Kinnear (1828 – 10 November 1920) was a Scottish lawyer, writer and radical Liberal politician.

Biography

Kinnear was the son of Charles Kinnear of Kinloch and his wife Christian Boyd Greenshields. He was educated at Edinburgh University and St Andrews University. 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 (MP) for East Fife. However, in 1886 he stood as a Liberal Unionist and was defeated by future prime minister Herbert Henry Asquith.

Kinnear died at the age of 92.

Family

Kinnear married Sarah Harriet Frith in 1852. She died in 1866 and he married secondly in 1868, Teresa Bassano of Venice.

His brother was the eminent Scottish architect Charles Kinnear of Peddie & Kinnear.

Publications

• A comparison of the bankruptcy systems of England and Scotland W. Maxwell, 1858
• Suggestions relative to the improvement of Court of Session procedure Bell and Bradfute, 1863
• Digest of House of Lords cases decided on appeal from Scotland, 1709 to 1864 Bell & Bradfute, 1865
• The right of women to labour F. Bell, 1873
• Principles of property in land Smith, Elder, 1880
• Principles of Civil Government Smith, Elder & Co., 1887
• The education of women Women's Emancipation Union, 1892
• The foundations of religion Smith, Elder & Co., 1905
• "Principles of Property" Smith, Elder & Co., 1914