Sir John Sinclair

Sinclair was a lawyer, politician and agrictultural reformer but he is included in these biographers because he was the first to use the word Statistics in the sense that we mean today.

Sinclair was the first President of the Board of Agriculture in the administration of William Pitt, the Younger. In this capacity he essential founded the Department of Agriculture. The word "statistics" had been coined by German political scientists, most notably in a series of lectures by Hermann Conning in the 17th century. However, these political scientists thought of "statistics" as encompassing the study of "states." Sinclair's vision was to create a profile of his native Scotland that included natural resources, economic activities and social characteristics. The result was the massive 21 volume Statistical Accounting of Scotland, the forerunner of the modern census.

Sinclair was the oldest founding member of the Royal Statistical Society in 1834. It should be noted, however, that Sinclair's approach to "statistics" was broader than numerical tabulations. Indeed, in the same year the Royal Society was founded Sinclair presented a paper to the British Association for the Advancement of Science that was found to "lack facts that can be stated numerically."

Born: 10 May 1754, Thurso Castle, Cathiness, Scotland
Died: 21 Decmeber 1835, Edinburgh, Scotland