James Robert Gowan

Sir James Robert Gowan, KCMG, KC (December 22, 1815 – March 18, 1909) was a Canadian lawyer, judge, and senator.

The Honourable Sir James Robert Gowan KCMG KC
Senator for Barrie, Ontario
In office January 29, 1885 – February 1907
Appointed by	John A. Macdonald
Personal details
Born	(1815-12-22)December 22, 1815 Cahore, County Wexford, Ireland
Died	March 18, 1909(1909-03-18) (aged 93) Barrie, Ontario
Political party	Liberal-Conservative
Residence(s)	Island in Lake Muskoka. Gowan was taken from the owner, Sir James Robert Gowan, and Eilean is the Gaelic word for island. Many people assume that the island is named after the owner’s daughter, but he and his wife had no children.

Born in Cahore, County Wexford, Ireland, the son of Henry Hatton Gowan and Elizabeth Burkitt, he was educated privately in Dublin. In 1832, he emigrated to Canada and settled outside of Toronto. In 1833, he became a student in the law office of James Edward Small and later practised law there. He married Anne Ardagh in 1854. They had no children. In 1843, he was appointed judge of the newly created Simcoe District, the largest jurisdiction in Upper Canada.^[1] He was the youngest judge ever commissioned in the British empire at the time. In 1873, he was a member of the royal commission which inquired into the Pacific Scandal. He retired in 1883. In 1885, he was appointed a Senator on the advice of John Alexander Macdonald representing the senatorial division of Barrie, Ontario.

Gowan was one of the Conservative Party's chief advisors on legal matters during his time in the Senate. He was particularly opposed to the appointment of Samuel Henry Strong as the third Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, writing Justice Minister John Sparrow David Thompson to delay the appointment due to Strong's perceived poor work ethic and interpersonal skills.^[2]

A Liberal-Conservative, he served for twenty-two years, until resigning in 1907. He was created a C.M.G. in 1893 and knighted in 1905.

He was related to Ogle Robert Gowan, Emily Gowan Murphy née Ferguson, and Thomas Roberts Ferguson.

Archives

There is a James Robert Gowan fonds at Library and Archives Canada.^[3] There is also a Gowan family fonds at the Archives of Ontario.^[4]