Philip Michael Matthew Scott VanKoughnet

Philip Michael Matthew Scott VanKoughnet, (January 21, 1822 – November 7, 1869), was a Canadian politician, lawyer and judge who held the positions of President of the Executive Council of the Province of Canada; Commissioner of Agriculture; Commissioner of Crown Lands and Chancellor of Upper Canada. Early life Born at Cornwall, Upper Canada, he was the son of Colonel The Hon. Philip VanKoughnet and Harriet, daughter of Matthew Scott, of Carrick-on-Suir, who was a first cousin of Thomas Scott, 2nd Earl of Clonmell. VanKoughnet's immediate family were prominent in the political affairs of early Ontario. His brother, Salter, married a daughter of Senator Benjamin Seymour, and another brother, Matthew, married the sister of Sir James Buchanan Macaulay and John Simcoe Macaulay. They were first cousins of Mrs Alexander Morris and Brock Anderson who was married to Amelia Johnson, granddaughter of Sir John Johnson, 2nd Baronet. Another first cousin, Louisa Anderson, married Alexander MacDonald, uncle of Prime Minister John Sandfield Macdonald and Governor Donald Alexander Macdonald. VanKoughnet's nieces included Lady MacDonald, Lady van Straubenzee and Mrs Meredith. His mother had planned for him to become a minister in the Church of England, but after serving in his father's battalion during the Upper Canada Rebellion, he went on to study law with George Stephen Benjamin Jarvis at Cornwall and then with another firm at Toronto. VanKoughnet was called to the Upper Canada bar in 1843, and in partnership with his brother, Matthew, they went on to acquire the largest legal practice in Upper Canada. He lectured in law at the University of Trinity College and also served on its council. He became a Queen's Counsel in 1850.