He was born in Dumfriesshire to Simon and Elizabeth Kirkpatrick and educated in Glasgow.
After working as an apprentice to his uncle, a tailor, he migrated to New Zealand in 1860, and then mined at the Otago goldfields.
He met little success planting cotton in Fiji, and around 1871 moved to New South Wales, first at Gulgong and then at Coonabarabran, where he established a store and was twice mayor.
He then moved to Gunnedah, where he also served on council and was a director of a co-operative butchery.
In 1891 Kirkpatrick was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Gunnedah, as one of the first group of Labor Party members.