[2] By the time of his father's death in 1780, Innes was the sole surviving son, and inherited the family estate of Stow, near Lauder in the Scottish Borders.

In 1793, Innes was one of the jury on the trial of Thomas Muir of Huntershill on the charge of sedition (campaigning for parliamentary reform).

His proposers were John Walker, Sir James Hall, 4th Baronet and Thomas Charles Hope.

He had a fine singing voice and was a chorister with the Edinburgh Music Society based at St Cecilia's Hall .

[6] In 1820, he purchased rights to work coal in southern Edinburgh around the Drum Estate, later to become the Seafield Mine.

[12] His illegitimate daughter, Elizabeth Burnet Innes, married his junior colleague, John Dewar FRSE.