Anthony Van Egmond

He eventually became a supporter of William Lyon Mackenzie and led a force of armed rebels in their unsuccessful skirmish at Montgomery's Tavern near Toronto on 7 December 1837, during the Upper Canada Rebellion.

Alleged criminal activity forced him to flee around 1795 to Germany, where he assumed another identity, which included adoption of a false claim of descent from the Van Egmonds, an aristocratic family of the Netherlands.

Van Egmond was also charged with establishing a series of inns to be positioned at twenty mile (32 km) intervals along the Huron Road, which were to act as nightly stopping and resupplying points for the arriving settlers.

Van Egmond began to voice his concerns by corresponding with William Lyon Mackenzie, a radical reformer who published a newspaper, the Colonial Advocate, in Upper Canada's capital York.

Its purpose was primarily to agitate for changes to Canada Company's policies and business practices in the Huron District, however their stated aims also included demands for a more responsible government in the province, where control of public revenues would be in the hands of elected, rather than appointed officials.

Frustrated by what he saw as a failure to address important issues on the part of both the Canada Company and the so-called Family Compact he began a period of much more involvement with William Lyon Mackenzie and participation in more extreme forms of politics.

Subsequent to his death, Van Egmond's substantial real estate holdings, apart from the original family farm, were seized by the colonial government, purportedly as punishment for his participation in the uprising.