Peter Magowan (Macgowan) was born circa 1763, most likely in Ireland. As a young lawyer, he left London for Prince Edward Island in 1789 where he was immediately admitted an attorney by the Supreme Court. The following year he was elected to the House of Assembly as a member from King's County. He aslo acted as agent for John Cambridge. Many of his first legal clients were persons critical of the administration but after 1795 he moved closer to the administration and in 1797 served as clerk of the Committee which reported on the state of the proprietors' lots and petitioned the crown for the institution of a court of escheat. In 1798 he was helping to draw up complaints of malfeasance against Attorney General Aplin and when Aplin was relieved of this post became acting attorney general for a brief period. He gained the post permanently in 1800. By 1806 he had become an outspoken critic of Lieutenant Governor DesBarres and a new political association known as the Loyal Electors which had been organized with the assistance of James Bardin Palmer. Magowan died unexpectedly in 1810.

For more complete information see The Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Vol. V, p. 568-569