[1] He joined the British Army and, after being decommissioned, settled in Toronto in 1829 and ran a provision store on Market Street where he supplied sailing vessels and steamers passing through the city's port.

[1] He was appointed High Constable in 1835, was succeeded by James Stitt in 1836 and was then re-appointed to the position in 1837.

[2] Kingsmill was a member of the Orange Order and he recruited his constables from the Order's ranks, a practice later found by a provincial commission of inquiry to have led the police to take a highly sectarian character.

[3] This was a period of sectarian conflict in Toronto between the Protestant majority and the largely Irish Catholic minority and the police often supported their fellow Orangemen during anti-Catholic rioting.

[4] and in the years following the 1837 Rebellion also were used by incumbent Tory politicians to break up meetings of Reformers.