Colonial Despatches

Philip Michael Matthew Scott VanKoughnet was born at Cornwall, Upper Canada, on 21 January 1822. He served in the rebellion of 1837-38, then studied law. In 1856, VanKoughnet became president of the Executive Council and minister of agriculture for the Canadian government, becoming commissioner of crown lands in 1858 and chief superintendent of Indian affairs in 1860.1

An expansionist, he advocated the transfer of territory in the northwest from the Hudson's Bay Company to Canada and the development of railways across the country. In March 1862, he became chancellor of the Court of Chancery of Upper Canada, becoming chancellor of Ontario in 1867. VanKoughnet died on 7 November 1869.2

• 1. W. L. Morton, Vankoughnet, Philip Michael Matthew Scott, Dictionary of Canadian Biography.
• 2. Ibid.