Kinloch Mausoleum

This peculiar-looking edifice sits by a busy road in Scotland’s Perth and Kinross district. Dating to 1861, it is a private 'resting place' for the Kinloch family, which refers to the amassed tombs within. It resembles an English parish church, which is unusual for Scotland.

Buried within lie the remains of George Kinloch, Scottish reformer and MP for Dundee, who, while demanding freedoms for Britons at home, drew profits from slave plantations in Jamaica. Although he claimed to support emancipation of slaves, he was one of those oligarchs who conveniently claimed that the blacks were not yet ready for it, and would we all mind waiting a few years? Perhaps I look at things too simplistically, but releasing his own captives would have been an eloquent gesture when he was demanding that others release theirs.

The great Day will determine whether he was a thoughtful ‘gradualist’, or a conniving hypocrite. Until then, his tomb is rather fine, and may be enjoyed by passers-by.

So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite's hope shall perish. Job 8:13

For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul? Job 27:8

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