# Legislative Council of Upper Canada

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The Legislative Council of Upper Canada was the upper house governing the province of Upper Canada. Modelled after the British House of Lords, it was created by the Constitutional Act of 1791. It was specified that the council should consist of at least seven members. Members were appointed for life but could be dropped for non-attendance. The first nine members of the council were appointed on 12 July 1792. The speaker was usually the Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench. The Legislative Council was dissolved on 10 February 1841 when Upper and Lower Canada were united into the Province of Canada. Some members were reappointed to the Legislative Council of the united Province.
Unlike the other three provinces that would initially make up the Dominion of Canada, a provincial Legislative Council was not re-established for Ontario when the province entered Confederation in 1867.

## List of Members of the Legislative Council

| Member | Town | From | To | Notes |
| James Baby | Sandwich | 1792 (12 July) | 1833 (19 February) | Died in office |
| Richard Cartwright | Kingston | 1792 (12 July) | 1815 (27 July) | Died in office |
| Richard Duncan | Williamsburgh | 1792 (12 July) | 1805 | Dropped due to non-attendance; returned to the United States and died in Schenectady, New York in 1819 |
| Alexander Grant, Sr. | York | 1792 (12 July) | 1813 (May) | Died in office |
| Robert Hamilton | Niagara | 1792 (12 July) | 1809 (8 March) | Died in office |
| John Munro | Eastern District | 1792 (12 July) | 1800 (October) | Died in office |
| William Osgoode | York | 1792 (12 July) | 1794 (24 February) | Became Chief Justice of Lower Canada 1794–1801; retired and died in London, Ontario |
| William Robertson | Sandwich | 1792 (12 July) | 1792 (4 November) | Resigned and left for Montreal in 1797; moved to London, England 1800 and died there in 1806 |
| Peter Russell | York | 1792 (12 July) | 1808 (30 September) | Died in office |
| Æneas Shaw | York | 1794 (19 June) | 1814 (6 February) | Died in office |
| Jacob Mountain$^1$ (1 December 1749–16 June 1825) | Quebec City | 1794 (1 July) | 1825 (25 June) | Anglican Bishop of Quebec and founder of the Church of England in the Canadas; died in office |
| John Elmsley, Sr. | York | 1796 (10 December) | 1802 (13 October) | Became Chief Justice of Lower Canada after William Osgoode; died in Montreal, April 1805 |
| John McGill | York | 1797 (10 June) | 1834 (31 December) | Died in office |
| Henry Allcock | York | 1803 (4 January) | 1805 (1 July) | Moved to Lower Canada as member of the Executive Council of Lower Canada and later as Speaker of the Legislative Council of Lower Canada; died in office at Quebec City in 1808 |
| Thomas Scott | York | 1806 (7 August) | 1824 (29 July) | Died in office |
| Thomas Talbot | Port Talbot | 1809 (September) | 1841 (10 February) | Died in London, Ontario in 1853 |
| William Claus (8 September 1765–11 November 1826) | Niagara | 1812 (1 February) | 1826 (11 November) | Died of cancer while in office; Indian Department official, Justice of the Peace |
| Thomas Clark | Chippawa | 1815 (16 November) | 1835 (13 October) | Died in office |
| William Dickson | Niagara | 1815 (16 November) | 1841 (10 February) | Retired to Niagara and died there in 1846 |
| Thomas Fraser | Ernestown | 1815 (16 November) | 1819 | Status unknown after 1819; died in South Dundas, Ontario in 1821 |
| Neil McLean | Cornwall | 1815 (16 November) | Not applicable | Never attended |
| William Dummer Powell | York | 1816 (21 March) | 1834 (6 September) | Died in office |
| John Strachan | York | 1820 (10 July) | 1841 (10 February) | Resigned office due to the Act of Union 1840, but remained an active member of the Family Compact |
| Angus McIntosh $^2$ | Sandwich | 1820 (11 July) | 1833 (24 July) | Died in office |
| Joseph Wells | York | 1820 (12 July) | 1841 (10 February) | Bursar of King's College |
| Duncan Cameron | York | 1820 (12 July) | 1838 (9 September) | Died in office |
| George Herchmer Markland | York | 1820 (14 July) | 1838 | Resigned |
| George Crookshank (23 July 1773–21 July 1859) | York | 1821 (1 January) | 1841 (10 February) | Commissariat of supplies for Fort York; Assistant Commissary General 1814–1819, Receiver General of Public Accounts (1819–1820); Director of the Bank of Upper Canada 1822–1827 |
| John Henry Dunn | York | 1822 (1 March) | 1841 (10 February) | Became Receiver General for the Province of Canada in 1841, and elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada 1841–1843 for Toronto |
| Thomas Ridout | York | 1825 (11 October) | 1829 (8 February) | Died in office |
| William Allan | York | 1825 (12 October) | 1841 (10 February) | Retired from politics after the Act of Union of 1840, and died in 1853 |
| William Campbell | York | 1826 (10 October) | 1834 (18 January) | Died in office |
| Peter Robinson | York | 1829 (6 January) | 1838 (8 July) | Died in office |
| Charles Jones | Brockville | 1829 (7 January) | 1840 (21 August) | Died in office |
| James Gordon $^3$ | Amherstburg | 1829 (8 January) | 1841 (10 February) | Re-appointed |
| John Beverley Robinson | York | 1830 (1 January) | 1841 (10 February) | Provincial Secretary 1817–1838, became a Baron in 1854, and died in 1863 |
| John Kirby | Kingston | 1831 | 1841 (10 February) | Not re-appointed to the Council after the union; died in Kingston in 1846 |
| Augustus Warren Baldwin | York | 1831 (26 January) | 1841 (10 February) | Re-appointed |
| Zacheus Burnham | Cobourg | 1831 (26 January) | 1841 (10 February) | Not re-appointed after the Act of Union, and died in Cobourg in 1857 |
| John Elmsley, Jr. (19 May 1801–8 May 1863) | York | 1831 (26 January) | 1841 (10 February) | Royal Navy Captain, entrepreneur, and philanthropist; supported Catholic education in York/Toronto; son of the second Chief Justice of Upper Canada John Elmsley. |
| Alexander Macdonell | Eastern District | 1831 (27 January) | 1841 (?) | |
| Walter Boswell | Cobourg | 1831 (29 January) | 1841 (10 February) | Royal Navy Captain, church warden of St. Peter's Anglican Church in Cobourg |
| John Hamilton | Queenston | 1831 (29 January) | 1841 (10 February) | Re-appointed |
| Peter Adamson | Esquesing | 1831 (2 February) | 1841 (10 February) | Peninsular War veteran, general, and mill owner |
| James Kerby (1785–20 June 1854) | Kingston | 1831 (2 March) | 1841 (10 February) | Militia captain (Incorporated Militia), businessman, justice of the peace, and mill owner |
| James Crooks | West Flamborough | 1831 (16 March) | 1841 (10 February) | Re-appointed |
| Alexander Macdonell | Kingston | 1831 (12 October) | 1840 (14 January) | Chaplain of the Glengarry Fencibles; Auxiliary Bishop of Quebec; Bishop of Kingston; founder of Regiopolis College, Kingston. Died in office |
| Alexander Grant, Jr.$^4$ | Brockville | 1831 (19 November) | 1841 (10 February) | Excused |
| Arthur Lloyd | March | 1831 (6 December) | 1841 (10 February) | Colonel, Napoleonic War veteran |
| Abraham Nelles$^4$ | Grimsby | 1832 (5 January) | 1841 (10 February) | Land surveyor, Militia officer, Township Council member. Died in office 1839 |
| Thomas Alexander Stewart (10 June 1786–6 September 1847) | Peterborough | 1833 (20 November) | 1841 (10 February) | Settler, justice of the peace, and mill owner |
| William Morris | Perth | 1836 (22 January) | 1841 (10 February) | Re-appointed |
| George Hamilton | Hamilton | 1836 (23 January) | 1836 (20 February) | Died in office |
| John Macaulay | Kingston | 1836 (23 January) | 1841 (10 February) | Re-appointed |
| Archibald McLean | Cornwall | 1836 (23 January) | 1841 (10 February) | Not re-appointed; later served as in the Court of Common Pleas 1850–1862, Chief Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench for Upper Canada 1862–1863 and judge of the Court of Error and Appeal 1863–1865; he died in Toronto in 1865 |
| Philip VanKoughnet | Cornwall | 1836 (23 January) | 1841 (10 February) | Not re-appointed; later chairman of the Canadian Board of Government Arbitrators 1870–1873 |
| John Simcoe Macaulay | Toronto | 1839 (9 February) | 1841 (10 February) | Not re-appointed; served on Toronto City Council 1841–1842; retired to England in 1845 and died there in 1855. |
| Jonas Jones (19 May 1791–30 July 1848) | Toronto | 1839 (27 February) | 1841 (10 February) | Barrister and judge (Prescott and Russell, Leeds and Grenville and Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry) |
| Adam Fergusson | Gore District | 1839 (27 February) | 1841 (10 February) | Re-appointed |
| Thomas Radcliff (17 April 1794–6 June 1841) | Adelaide | 1839 (27 February) | 1841 (10 February) | Peninsular War veteran and militia officer; later as magistrate and customs collector (died June 1841 before assuming post) |
| Robert Baldwin Sullivan | Toronto | 1839 (27 February) | 1841 (10 February) | Provincial Secretary 1838–1841; not re-appointed to the Council after the Union; appointed to the Queen's Bench in 1848 |
| Robert Charles Wilkins | Prince Edward | 1839 (14 March) | 1841 (10 February) | Owner of mercantile firm Shuter and Wilkins |
| John McDonald | Gananoque | 1839 (20 March) | 1841 (10 February) | Appointed to the Council after the Union in 1841, but removed for non-attendance in 1848 |
| Henry Graham | Bathurst District | 1839 (19 April) | Not applicable | Never attended |
| Isaac Fraser | Ernestown | 1839 (16 July) | 1841 (10 February) | Colonel of the Addington Militia, and justice of the peace |
| Peter Boyle de Blaquière | Woodstock | 1839 (3 December) | 1841 (10 February) | Re-appointed |
| Alexander Fraser | Eastern District | 1839 (3 December) | 1841 (10 February) | Re-appointed |
| John McGillivray | Williamstown | 1839 (3 December) | 1841 (10 February) | Not re-appointed; served as a justice of the peace; died near Williamstown (South Glengarry, Ontario) in 1855 |
| John Willson | Gore District | 1839 (3 December) | 1841 (10 February) | Not re-appointed; died in Saltfleet Township in 1860 |
Notes:
* Jacob Mountain was the Anglican Bishop of Quebec; he never attended a session but was not dropped.
* Angus McIntosh never attended a session but was not dropped; he returned to Scotland in 1831.
* James Gordon was re-appointed to the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada in October 1845.
* Alexander Grant, Jr. and Abraham Nelles did not attend after 1832.

## Speakers

The Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench was usually the Speaker of the Council:
* William Osgoode 1792–1794
* Peter Russell 1795–1796
* John Elmsley 1796–1802
* Henry Allcock 1803–1806
* Thomas Scott 1806–1816
* William Dummer Powell 1816–1825
* William Campbell (jurist) 1825–1829
* Sir John Beverley Robinson, 1st Baronet, of Toronto 1829–1840
* Jonas Jones April 1839–June 1840 (interim)

## Buildings housing the Legislative Council

The Legislative Council sat in the same building as the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada:
* Navy Hall at Newark (1792)
* first (1793–1813) and second (1820–1824) Parliament Buildings of Upper Canada at York
* residence of the Chief Justice of Upper Canada (1813–1820)
* old York County Court House on King between Toronto and Church Streets (1829–1832)
* ballroom of York Hotel at York - one session 1813
* York General Hospital (1824–1829)
* third Parliament Buildings of Upper Canada (1832–1840)

## Meeting Places

* St. George's Church, Kingston - July 1792; Church demolished 1825 (replaced with St. George's Cathedral), site now Kingston Market Square across from Kingston Custom House (294 King Street East)
* In a tent and later at Navy Hall or Freemasons Hall in Newark - September 1792 – 1796
* Various buildings that housed Parliament at York - 1797-1841