McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Person
McKeagney, James Charles, 1815-1879
1815-1879
James Charles McKeagney was born in 1815 in Tyrone County, Ireland.
He was a lawyer, politician, and judge. His family moved to Nova Scotia in 1822. He was educated in Baddeck, Cape Breton Island, and at McQueen’s Academy, Halifax. He was called to the bar of Nova Scotia in 1838 and appointed a Q.C. in 1866. He was first elected to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly for Richmond County in 1840 but his election was overturned on a technicality. McKeagney represented Inverness County from 1843 to 1847 and then Sydney Township from 1848 to 1851 and again from 1855 to 1859. In 1857, he was named inspector of mines and minerals. In 1867, he was elected to the House of Commons of Canada for the Nova Scotia riding of Cape Breton as a member of the Anti-Confederation Party. He was defeated in 1872. In 1872, he was appointed a puisne judge of the Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba serving from 1873 to 1874. In 1876, he became acting lieutenant governor of Manitoba and the North-West Territories.
In 1842, he married Eliza Henry (-1851) and in 1857, he married Eliza Hearne. He died on September 14, 1879, in St. Andrews, New Brunswick.