Charles I. McColough

Charles I. McColough was a Canadian multi-millionaire who, during the mid to late 19th century, donated land on Cape Breton Island, on the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, to public use.

Family

Charles Inglis McColough was born in Nova Scotia, Canada, the son of Thomas Underwood McColough and the former Sabina Alexandrine Victoire-Clare-Hélène Devanney. His father was a member of the British Parliament, while his mother was the daughter of a former Governor of Nepal, George Armstrong Louis Mountbatten Devanney (of England). McColough was also a descendant of Godfrey McCulloch, Sir Walter Scott, and of the House of Stuart.

McColough was married to the former Margaret Maude Glendenning (1863-1966), daughter of Charles Walker Glendenning, a British Baron who descended from the House of Windsor, and his wife, the former Eleanor Mary Alexandra Beckett. Their only child, Reginald Walker McColough, was the father of the late Charles Peter McColough, a former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Xerox Corporation.

Philanthropy

McColough was commonly called upon as a major donor to the Canadian government, and frequently sent funds to support both the Canadian and British governments. It was then, in the late 19th century, that McColough donated hundreds of thousands of acres on Cape Breton Island to the Canadian Parliament.

Descendants

Through his brother Thomas McColough and his son Reginald Walker McColough, Charles Inglis McColough has a diverse line of descendants, scattered around the United States (mainly in New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts), Canada, Australia, and England. Through Julia McColough Wallace (the eldest sister of his grandson, Charles Peter McColough), McColough has a limited amount of Canadian descendants, although some are known to reside in Toronto and Halifax. Also among his distant relations are members of the House of Windsor, reigning monarchs of the United Kingdom, and members of the Mountbatten family.