John Sinclair (economist)

Sir John Sinclair, 1st Baronet, 1795

Sir John Sinclair, 1st Baronet ( May 10, 1754 - December 21, 1835 ) was a Scottish economist and politician. He was born in Thurso , County Caithness, the eldest son of George Sinclair of Ulbster. After studying at the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow and Trinity College , he was admitted to the bar, but has never practiced the profession.

Sinclair was raised to Baronet of Ulbster in the County of Caithness on February 14, 1780 and was sent several times as a member of the House of Commons : 1780–1784 for the County of Caithness, 1784–1790 for the constituency of Lostwithiel , 1790–1796 again for Caithness, 1797–1802 for Petersfield and from 1802–1806 and 1807–1811 again for Caithness. He was a co-founder and first president of the Board of Agriculture , which later became the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) .

Sinclair was a member of the Royal Society of London and the Royal Society of Edinburgh . In 1797 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . In 1794 he became a foreign and in 1812 honorary member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences . When the Statistical Society of London (today: Royal Statistical Society ) was founded in 1834 , he was its oldest member at the age of 80. In the 21-volume work Statistical Account of Scotland , Sinclair was the first to use the term statistics in its current meaning of collecting and evaluating data.

Publications (selection)

• The Code of Health and Longevity. London 1816.

Web links

• Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen
• Statistical Accounts of Scotland.
• Paintings by Sir John Sinclair from the National Portrait Gallery (London)

predecessor	Office	successor
New title created	Baronet (of Ulbster) 1780-1835	George Sinclair