John Cowan, Lord Cowan (1798–1878) was a Scottish judge who rose to be a

Senator of the College of Justice The senators of the College of Justice in Scotland are judges of the College of Justice, a set of legal institutions involved in the administration of justice in Scotland. There are three types of senator: Lords of Session (judges of the Court ...

Life

He was born on 6 July 1798. He is thought to be the son of Richard Cowan WS an Edinburgh lawyer working at Drummond Place in the 1820s. He qualified as an advocate in 1822. In 1830 he is operating as an advocate from 30 Drummond Place (possibly his father's office) and from 1840 at 2 North Charlotte Street off

Charlotte Square file:Charlotte Square - geograph.org.uk - 105918.jpg, 300px, Robert Adam's palace-fronted north side Charlotte Square is a garden square in Edinburgh, Scotland, part of the New Town, Edinburgh, New Town, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site ...

in Edinburgh. He was created a Senator in 1851. At this stage he lived at 4 Ainslie Place on the prestigious Moray Estate in western Edinburgh. In later life he lived at Elmbank on Whitehouse Loan in south Edinburgh. He died in Edinburgh on 1 August 1878 aged 80. He is buried with his family in "Lords Row" on the western wall of

Dean Cemetery The Dean Cemetery is a historically important Victorian cemetery north of the Dean Village, west of Edinburgh city centre, in Scotland. It lies between Queensferry Road and the Water of Leith, bounded on its east side by Dean Path and o ...

Family

He was married to Annabella McCartney (1806–1858). They had several daughters.

Artistic Recognition

His early calotype photograph (around 1845) by the pioneer photographers

Hill & Adamson Hill & Adamson was the first photography studio in Scotland, set up by painter David Octavius Hill and engineer Robert Adamson in 1843. During their brief partnership that ended with Adamson's untimely death, Hill & Adamson produced "the first ...

is held by the

Scottish National Portrait Gallery National Galleries Scotland: Portrait is an art museum on Queen Street, Edinburgh. Portrait holds the national collections of portraits, all of which are of, but not necessarily by, Scots. It also holds the Scottish National Photography Collec ...

References

1798 births 1878 deaths Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Senators of the College of Justice Burials at the Dean Cemetery 19th-century Scottish judges {{Scotland-law-bio-stub