Kinnaird, George Patrick, first Baron Kinnaird d. 1689, was eldest son of Patrick Kinnaird of Inchture, who was member for Perthshire in the conventions of 1625 and 1643. The family descended from Radalphus Rufus, who obtained a charter of the barony of Kinnaird in the Carse of Gowrie, Perthshire, from William the Lion, king of Scotland from 1165 to 1214. To this barony the neighbouring lands of Inchture were united in 1399 by the marriage of Reginald de Kinnaird with Margaret, the heiress of Sir John Kirkaldy of Inchture. During the civil war George Kinnaird espoused the royalist cause, and was an ardent supporter of the claims of Charles II. In 1659 he was on intimate terms with Monck. In the family charter-room at Rossie Priory are preserved two commissions—one dated 10 Oct. 1659 and signed by the noblemen, gentlemen, and heritors of Perthshire, appointing Kinnaird as their representative to treat with Monck at Edinburgh regarding the welfare of the country; the other, dated 3 Dec. 1659, directs Kinnaird to meet Monck for the same purpose at Berwick. Kinnaird actively engaged in bringing about the restoration of Charles II. There is a tradition still current in the Carse of Gowrie that shortly before Monck left Scotland to bring back the exiled monarch in 1660 he was greatly indebted to Kinnaird for provender for his army. Kinnaird was knighted by Charles II in 1661, and from an entry in Lamont's Diary he appears to have been one of the first Scotsmen to receive the honour after the Restoration. He represented Perthshire in the Scottish parliament of 1662-3, and was sworn a privy councillor. On 28 Dec. 1682 he was raised to the peerage by patent, with the title of Baron Kinnaird of Inchture. He died on 29 Dec. 1689. By his marriage with Margaret, daughter of James Crichton of Ruthven, he had six sons, of whom the eldest, Patrick, second lord, and the youngest, George, alone left issue. The elder line became extinct in 1758, and the younger line is now represented by Arthur Fitzgerald, eleventh baron Kinnaird, son of Arthur, tenth baron Kinnaird [qv.].

Sources:
     Douglas's Peerage, ed. Wood
     Hist. MSS. Comm. 5th Rep. p. 621
     Millar's Historical Castles and Mansions of Scotland
     Glamis Book of Record, p. 149.

Contributor: A. H. M. [Alexander Hastie Millar]