Sir Archibald Gordon Kinloch, 7th Baronet
The entirety of his baronetcy was spent either in prison or under house arrest, neither being a barrier to his legal rights to the title of Baronet.
He served as an Ensign in the 65th Regiment in Ireland in 1767 and there befriended the much older Major John MacKay who remained a lifelong friend.
In 1785 MacKay met him again, also meeting his father Sir David Kinloch and ill-fated brother, Francis, all on a visit to a Mr and Mrs Dalrymple of North Berwick for an evening of whist.
Dr William Farquharson attended him and visited him for two months as he recovered, describing him as "deranged", but seemingly gaining some degree of friendship or empathy.
[5] In the summer of 1790 Kinloch left Gilmerton House in the middle of the night and travelled to Greenock on the west coast of Scotland to track down his friend, Major MacKay, who was much surprised to see him.
He was dressed in black to mourn the recent death of his eldest brother, Cpt David Kinloch (mentioned in few genealogies but the original heir-apparent to the baronetcy).
His father, Sir David died at Gilmerton House (in the presence of all his children) on 18 February 1795 precipitating a bizarre series of events.
On 1 April Kinloch was greeted at his Edinburgh lodgings in the Black Bull Tavern on Leith Street, by Dr James Home.
They ate at Hunters on Writers Court (near St Giles Cathedral) together with his younger brother, Alexander Kinloch.
He was seen again in Mrs Fairbairn's restaurant in Haddington but appeared (and declared himself) very ill. Kinloch returned to Gilmerton with the two men (including Dr George Somner) he had met in the restaurant (each in their own chaise), but a mile from Gilmerton the carriages paused for the men to urinate and Kinloch began walking back to Haddington.
[10] On the evening of 14 April 1795 Sir Francis Kinloch travelled from his home at Athelstaneford (near Haddington) to visit Archibald at Gilmerton House, recently inherited from their father.
Dr Benjamin Bell arrived from Edinburgh at some point during the day and extracted the bullet whilst Francis was still alive.
[12] Sir Francis had a slow and painful death, dying at 11 pm on the evening of 16 April some 44 hours after the shooting.
On 18 April three doctors confirmed and certified the death: Benjamin Bell and James Home of Edinburgh and Dr George Somner of Haddington (presumably Sir Francis' personal physician).
Archibald was arrested on 30 May and placed in the Tolbooth Prison on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, adjacent to the Scottish High Courts.
Robert Blair (later Lord Avontoun) was Solicitor General, John Burnet was Advocate and Hugh Warrender was Agent.
Curiously, contrary to standard client-lawyer privileges, Charles Hay WS, Sir Francis Kinloch's lawyer, was asked to disclose private conversations both as a friend and in his professional capacity.
He intimated that Sir Francis had gone through his father's papers (after he died) with lawyers, to separate the important from the unimportant, but on burning the latter, was accused by Archibald of prejudicing the younger members of the family (including himself).
[18] A large amount of the evidence circled around financial matters between Sir Gordon and other parties and of little if any relevance to the murder.
[23] Dr William Farquharson approached Lord Braxfield on 17 July and successfully secured Kinloch's release into his own care.
[25] Farquharson disappears from the Edinburgh Post Office Directory soon thereafter, presumably choosing a less urban environment for this onerous task of caring for Kinloch.
