In his youth he was an officer in the army, but he retired from the service early, and devoted himself to the pursuits of a country gentleman and to literature.
He occupied the Castle of Colinton having inherited lands there and mills nearby.
He married a Mary Wightman and had sons, James and Henry, and a daughter, Elizabeth.
He in 1781 contributed to the 'Transactions of the Antiquarian Society of Scotland' a dissertation on the origin of the Scots, based on the ancient Celtic language.
He also left among his papers for posthumous publication memoranda of a series of investigations into the origin of the ancient names of places in Scotland.