1830.] 



Biographical Memoirs of Eminent Persons. 



357 



debt, and that statesmen had misconceived 

 its operations by confounding the nature of 

 a public with that of a private engagement. 

 . With many other men of warm and 

 generous temperaments, the genuine En- 

 glish love of liberty animating their bosoms, 

 Mr. Peel, at the commencement of the 

 French Revolution, hailed the change 

 with unfeigned satisfaction. But his eyes 

 were soon opened ; he became one of the 

 warmest adherents of Mr. Pitt, through- 

 out the war of the French republic ; and, 

 in 1802, when a feeble attempt was made 

 to impeach that distinguished statesman, 

 he made so forcible an appeal to the feel- 

 ings and recollections of the House of 

 Commons, and thereby to those of the 

 country, that, on the following day, a sub- 

 scription was opened in the city, and he was 

 himself one of the most liberal subscribers, 

 to erect a statue of Mr. Pitt, expressive of 

 the lively sense entertained of his services, 

 and to convey to the world a lasting mark 

 of the gratitude of the nation. 

 - In l?07j the period of the voluntary con- 

 tributions, Mr. Peel and his partner sub 

 scribed the sum of 10,000/. ; and, had other 

 individuals of the community, equally com- 

 petent, been equally liberal, the sum would 

 have been raised to 45,OOOJ. In 1798, Mr. 

 Peel also contributed largely to the forma- 

 tion and support of the Lancashire Fencibles, 

 and the Tamworth Armed Association ; and 

 he raised, mostly from his own artificers, 

 six companies called the Bury Loyal Volun- 

 teers, at the head of which he was placed as 

 Lieutenant-Colonel. 



For services such as these, the king was 

 graciously pleased, on the 29th of November, 

 1800, to create him a baronet, designated 

 of Drayton Park, in the county of Stafford. 

 . Sir Robert Peel frequently spoke in Par- 

 liament on commercial and manufacturing 

 subjects, with which no man was more 

 intimately conversant. He was also a 

 strenuous advocate for the Union with 

 Ireland, a very able speech on which, he 

 published in the year 1799. One of his 

 most distinguished public acts, was his 

 introduction of a bill, in 1 802, to " Ame- 

 liorate the condition of Apprentices in the 

 Cotton and Woollen Trade." In his own 

 factories, where he is said to have employed 

 at one time no fewer than 15,000 persons, 

 every thing was done to contribute to their 

 health and comfort, and also for the general 

 moral and religious instruction of the chil- 

 dren. 



. Sir Robert Peel was one of the governors 

 of Christ's Hospital, and one of the presi- 

 dents of the Literary Fund ; and he was 

 connected with several other benevolent in- 

 stitutions. Of his general kindness and 

 liberality, generosity and benevolence, a 

 hundred anecdotes might be related. Let 

 one suffice. Many years since, a house of 

 first-rate consequence in the cotton trade, 

 was brought, by imprudently extending its 

 speculations beyond its capital, to the verge 



of bankruptcy. Informed of their pressing 

 exigency, and convinced of the honour and 

 integrity of the firm, Sir Robert Peel promptly 

 rescued them from their impending calamity 

 by a loan of 14,OOOJ. This loan, be it re- 

 membered, was advanced to a rival esta- 

 blishment, obstinate and formidable in its 

 character. 



Two years ago, on the anniversary of his 

 seventy-eighth birth-day, Sir Robert Peel 

 presented a silver medal to each of his 

 children and grandchildren then present, 

 amounting to fifty. 



Sir Robert died somewhat suddenly, at 

 Drayton Park, on the 2d of May, 1830. 

 On the 21st of the same month, his will 

 was proved in Doctors' Commons, and his 

 property sworn to exceed 1,000,000/. sterl- 

 ing, a sum which bears the highest probate 

 duty (15,000^.). He is said, however, to 

 have died worth 2,500,000/. 



THE HON. DOUGLAS KINNAIRD. 



The Hon. Douglas Kinnaird was brother 

 of the late, and uncle of the present peer. 

 " Uniting," as we have before incidentally 

 observed, " the accomplishments of a scho- 

 lar, with the habits of a man of the world, 

 no individual was more qualified to enjoy, 

 or to gratify the extensive circ e of friends, 

 distinguished by rank and talent, to whose 

 intercourse he was entitled equally by his 

 birth, his fortune, and his acquirements." 



The family of Kinnaird is traced back to 

 a very remote period. Its name is derived 

 from the lands and barony of Kinnaird, in 

 Perthshire. Rodolphus, who flourished in 

 the reign of King William the Lion, in 

 1165, obtained a charter of those lands 

 from that monarch. His great grandson, 

 Richardus was one of the Scotch barons 

 who swore allegiance to King Edward I., 

 in 1296. The second son of his great 

 grandson (Reginald Kinnaird, of Inchture) 

 was ancestor to the lamented subject of 

 this brief memoir. He obtained the lands 

 and barony of Inchture, in Perthshire, by 

 marrying Marjory, daughter and heiress of 

 Sir John Kirkaldy, about the year 1399. 

 George Kinnaird, the ninth in descent from 

 this Reginald, having been a steady friend 

 to the royal family, was, after the restora- 

 tion, first knighted by King Charles II. 

 in 1661, afterwards appointed of the Privy 

 Council, and lastly, raised to the peerage, by 

 the title of Lord Kinnaird, of Inchture, by 

 patent, in 1682. George, the seventh 

 baron, married Elizabeth, daughter and 

 sole heiress of Griffin Ransom, Esq., of 

 New Palace-yard, Westminster, by whom 

 his two sons were Charles, his successor, 

 and Douglas James William, the gentle, 

 man of whom we are writing. 



Mr. Kinnaird was born on the 16th of 

 February 1788. The early part of his edu- 

 cation he received at Eton, after which he 

 passed some time at Gottingen, where he 

 acquired a thorough knowledge of the 

 French and German languages, particularly 



