IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0103 MS ADD 235
Held at: University College London
Title: Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland
Date(s): 1792
Level of description: Collection (fonds)
Extent: 1 volume
Name of creator(s): Sinclair | Sir | John | 1754-1835 | 1st Baronet | politician and agriculturalist
Riddell | Robert | d 1794 | antiquary
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
John Sinclair was born on 10 May 1754 at Thurso Castle in Caithness, Scotland. He was educated in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Oxford. He read law but had no intention of practising. At the age of sixteen he inherited, by his father's death, extensive estates in Caithness. In 1780 Sinclair became a Member of Parliament for Caithness. In 1785 his first wife died and he abandoned public life for a time and started on a foreign tour. In 1786 he received a baronetcy from Pitt. He started to devote much energy to the collection of statistics and became one of the earliest statisticians. In 1790 he designed a 'Statistical Account of Scotland', asking all the parish ministers of Scotland for information on the natural history, population and productions of their parishes. The results were published at various periods during the next ten years. Sinclair also devoted a lot of time to improvement of his estates in Caithness. He persuaded Pitt to establish a Board of Agriculture and in 1793 he was appointed President of it. He attempted an account of England by parishes but this was abandoned mainly due to opposition. Sinclair died on 21 December 1835.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Incomplete copy of 'Statistical Account of Scotland', vol. 2, part 2. Interleaved copy with manuscript addenda by Robert Riddell of Glenriddell.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
Conditions governing access:
Open.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Normal copyright restrictions apply.
Physical characteristics:
Finding aids:
Collection level description.
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
Accruals:
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
Unknown.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
Existence and location of copies:
Related material:
Publication note:
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Date(s) of descriptions: 1999