Ogle Robert Gowan

Who was Ogle Robert Gowan?

Ogle Robert Gowan was a farmer, Orangeman, journalist and political figure in Upper Canada and Canada West.

He was born in County Wexford, Ireland in 1803, the son of Hunter Gowan, an Orangeman and small landowner and godson of George Ogle, a grand master of the Irish Orange Order. Hunter Gowan led a yeomanry corps known as the "Black Mob" which was accused of committing atrocities against Catholic civilians before and after the outbreak of the Wexford Rebellion; he remains a hate-figure in local nationalist tradition. In 1825, when the Irish Orange lodges were dissolved, Ogle Gowan became assistant secretary for Sir Harcourt Lees' Benevolent and Loyal Orange Institution of Ireland. He arrived in Leeds County, Upper Canada in 1829 and settled in Brockville. In 1830, he called a meeting which formed the Grand Orange Lodge of British North America; Gowan became its deputy grand master and later became Canadian grand master.

Gowan was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada for Leeds in 1834 and 1835 but was unseated due to violence at the polls by his Orange supporters. In 1836, he was elected in Leeds; despite his innate distrust of Roman Catholics, he had formed an alliance with Catholic voters to help bolster his support at the polls. In the same year, he founded the Brockville Statesman.