Douglas Kinnaird

The Honourable Douglas James William Kinnaird (26 February 1788 – 12 March 1830) was an English banker, politician, friend of Lord Byron and amateur cricketer. He was a Managing Partner in the banking firm of Ransom & Co. He also briefly served as Member of Parliament for Bishop's Castle from 1819 to 1820.

Early life Kinnaird was the fifth son of George Kinnaird, 7th Lord Kinnaird and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of the banker Griffin Ransom; and younger brother of Charles Kinnaird, 8th Lord Kinnaird (1780–1826). He was educated first at Eton College, and then at Göttingen, where he acquired a knowledge of German and French. He was admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1807. He went to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated M.A. in 1811.

In 1813 Kinnaird travelled with his friend John Cam Hobhouse on the continent, and was present at the battle of Culm. In the autumn of 1814 he travelled home from Paris with William Jerdan After his return to England he took an active share in the business of Ransom & Morland's bank, and on the dissolution of the partnership with Sir Francis Bernard Morland in 1819, assumed the chief management of the new firm. He was consulted by Byron on his business negotiations with John Murray, and with Hobhouse insisted on the destruction of the Byron memoirs, after Byron's death.