Key People
Sir John Sinclair (1754–1835)
John Sinclair was a politician, agriculturalist and author from Ulbster in the Scottish Highlands.
One of Sinclair’s greatest achievements was the compilation of the ‘Statistical Account of Scotland’ (1791-99), a survey of the geography, economy and society of every parish in Scotland, which covered topics as diverse as agriculture and manners.
The state of the nation
Sinclair believed in the importance of a proper understanding of the state of a nation for government. He hoped that the detailed information assembled in the Statistical Account of Scotland would enable the government to support economic growth and the welfare of the population.
In addition to his work on the Statistical Account, Sinclair was an active member of the Highland Society of London, and wrote on many topics, including Scotticisms.
In 1782 he published a book called ‘Observations on the Scottish dialect’.
