Allan MacNab
Sir Allan Napier MacNab, 1st Baronet (19 February 1798 – 8 August 1862) was a Canadian political leader, politician, land speculator and property investor/builder, lawyer, soldier, and militia commander who served in the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada twice (representing a different county - Wentworth and Hamilton - each time), the Legislative Assembly for the Province of Canada once, and served as joint Premier of the Province of Canada from 1854 to 1856. MacNab was "likely the largest land speculator in Upper Canada during his time" as mentioned both in his official biography in retrospect and in 1842 by Sir Charles Bagot.
Allan Napier MacNab | |
|---|---|
Portrait in 1853 by Théophile Hamel | |
| Joint Premier of the Province of Canada | |
| In office 11 September 1854 – 24 May 1856 | |
| Monarch | Victoria |
| Governor General | Sir Edmund Walker Head |
| Preceded by | Francis Hincks |
| Succeeded by | John A. Macdonald |
| Member of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada for Wentworth County | |
| In office 1830–1834 | |
| Monarch | William IV |
| Lieutenant Governor | Sir John Colborne |
| Member of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada for Hamilton | |
| In office 1834–1841 | |
| Monarchs | William IV (1830–1837) Victoria (1837–1901) |
| Lieutenant Governor | Sir John Colborne (1828–1836) Sir Francis Bond Head (1836–1838) Sir George Arthur (1838–1839) Lord Sydenham (1839-1841) |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Member of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada for Hamilton | |
| In office 1841–1857 | |
| Monarch | Victoria |
| Governors General | Lord Sydenham (1841) Sir Charles Bagot (1842–1843) Sir Charles Metcalfe (1843–1845) Lord Cathcart (1845–1847) Lord Elgin (1847–1854) Sir Edmund Walker Head (1854–1861) |
| Preceded by | New position |
| Succeeded by | Isaac Buchanan |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 19 February 1798 Newark (now Niagara-on-the-Lake), Upper Canada |
| Died | 8 August 1862 (aged 64) Hamilton, Canada West |
| Political party | Tory |
| Profession | Lawyer and businessman |
MacNab is perhaps best known either for his relation to Queen Camilla, the current Queen of Canada (one of MacNab's grandchildren married Alice Keppel, great-grandmother of Camilla) or for the construction of an extremely opulent and influential neoclassical mansion in Hamilton, Ontario called Dundurn Castle. MacNab was both the castle's first and only baronet, and Queen Camilla is the current Royal Patron of her extended antecedent's "castle" currently.
MacNab was an "Elite Member" of the Family Compact in Upper Canada. He briefly shared a military regiment (the 49th Regiment of Foot) with another elite member (James FitzGibbon) in the War of 1812. MacNab would be left out of the regiment following regimental cuts after the War of 1812, and would find employment in the law office of another Family Compact members grandfather - George D'Arcy Boulton (aka D'Arcy Boulton Sr.)