John Cunningham (before 1761 – after 1785) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

-born office-holder and political figure in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. He represented Londonderry Township in the

Legislative Assembly of Nova Scotia The Nova Scotia House of Assembly (french: Assemblée législative de la Nouvelle-Écosse; gd, Taigh Seanaidh Alba Nuadh), or Legislative Assembly, is the deliberative assembly of the General Assembly of Nova Scotia of the province of Nova Scotia ...

from 1779 to 1785. He came to Halifax around 1761. In 1763, he married Elizabeth Rust. Cunningham served as commissioner of Indian Affairs from 1769 to 1774 and in 1783 became superintendent of Indian Affairs. He was named a magistrate in 1776 and a judge in the Inferior Court of Common Pleas in 1778. He was elected to the

assembly Assembly may refer to: Organisations and meetings * Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions * General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...

in a 1779 by-election held after John Morrison left the province, and took his seat June 7, 1779. In 1783, he was named receiver-general of Quit Rents. His brother

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...

also served in the assembly.

References

* Year of death missing Nova Scotia pre-Confederation MLAs Year of birth uncertain Colony of Nova Scotia judges {{NovaScotia-MLA-stub