[1] He was born in Edinburgh, the son of John Gardiner Kinnear FRSE,[2] a businessman and founder of John G. Kinnear & Co, commission merchants based at 17 St Vincent Place in the city centre.

[5] All were descended from the Edinburgh banking firm of Thomas Kinnear and Sons.

For some years he acted as a law reporter, but in 1878 he was chosen leading counsel in the Court of Session for the liquidators in the case arising out of the failure of the City of Glasgow Bank, and henceforward his rise was rapid.

He was a member of the commission of 1904 for settling the question of the division of Scottish church property.

[7] Baron Kinnear, of Spurness in the County of Orkney, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.