Kingston University London is a public research university located within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, in South West London, England. Its roots go back to the Kingston Technical Institute, founded in 1899. It received university status in 1992, before which the institution was known as Kingston Polytechnic.
Sir John Macdonald Kinneir (3 February 1782 – 11 June 1830) was a Scottish army officer of the East India Company, diplomat and traveller. He was born at Carnden, Linlithgow, on 3 February 1782, and Kinneir was attached to Sir John Malcolm's mission in Persia in 1808–9. From 1813 Kinneir was for some years town-major of Fort St George, Madras, and in 1824 was appointed envoy to Persia, for the East India Company where he remained as envoy until his death at Tabriz on 11 June 1830.