He was born on 11 January 1796. His father was Charles Kinnear, an agriculturalist in
Fife. His grandfather Thomas Kinnear was also a banker and founded T. Kinnear and Sons in 1748. Kinnear’s was one of the few Scottish banks to survive the
crisis of 1772. His company had premises at 9 Royal Exchange in
Edinburgh. He was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1820, his proposer being
Thomas Allan. He died on 20 October 1830. He is buried at a south facing wall of the lower terrace of
St John's churchyard on
Princes Street. After his death his widow is listed as living at 44 Melville Street in Edinburgh’s West End. The
National Archives in Kew hold a copy of his will, dated 21 February 1831. After his death his firm amalgamated with Donald Smith and Son to form Kinnear, Smith and Company (1831). Smith had been
Lord Provost of Edinburgh 1807-08. Due to mismanagement of funds this company failed disastrously in 1833/4, leaving debts of £320,000. ==Family==