John William Dunscomb (February 23, 1804 – December 16, 1891) was a merchant and political figure in Canada East. He represented Beauharnois in the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from 1841 to 1842 as a Conservative. Dunscomb was born in 1804 in

St. John's, Newfoundland St. John's is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. The city spans and is the easternmost city in North America ...

, the son of John Dunscombe, but his business was based in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec an ...

. He married Caroline Birch Dumford, with whom he had one daughter. Dunscomb served on the municipal council for Montreal from 1840 to 1841, when he resigned from the council. In 1841, the

Act of Union 1840 The ''British North America Act, 1840'' (3 & 4 Victoria, c.35), also known as the ''Act of Union 1840'', (the ''Act'') was approved by Parliament in July 1840 and proclaimed February 10, 1841, in Montreal. It abolished the legislatures of Lower ...

came into force, uniting Lower Canada with

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of th ...

in the new

Province of Canada The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report on th ...

. Dunscombe stood for election in the riding of Beauharnois, and was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the new Parliament. He was a Château Clique Tory, who supported the union of Lower Canada and Upper Canada into a single province, and generally supported the British governor. On July 15, 1842, Dunscombe was appointed Warden of Trinity House in Montreal. He resigned his seat in the Assembly on October 8, 1842.J.O. Côté, Political Appointments and Elections in the Province of Canada, 1841 to 1860 (Quebec: St. Michel and Darveau, 1860), p. 59, note (1).
/ref> He later served as customs collector at

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...

and as Customs Commissioner for the

. He was the author of ''Provincial Laws of the Customs'' and ''Canadian Custom House Guide'', both published in 1844. Dunscomb died in

at the age of 87.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunscomb, John William 1804 births 1891 deaths Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from Canada East Anglophone Quebec people Newfoundland Colony people