Sinclair, John, 1797-1875

John Sinclair, the son of Sir John Sinclair (1754-1835), was born in 1797. He was educated at Edinburgh University and at Pembroke College, Oxford. In Edinburgh he helped found the Rhetorical Society and at Oxford he promoted a scheme which led to the formation of the Union Society. He was ordained as a deacon in 1819 and then as a priest in 1820. He worked in Sutterby, Lincolnshire, in Hackney, and in Edinburgh, before being appointed Secretary of the National Society in 1839. Sinclair was the mover behind negotiations between the Church and the Government which ended in an agreement in 1850 respecting the allocation of government money to elementary schools. In 1843 he had become Vicar of Kensignton, and in 1844 Archdeacon of Middlesex. Rev. John Sinclair died in Kensington on 22 May 1875.