William Chambers was born on April 17, 1800, in Peebles, Scotland.

He was a publisher and politician. As an avid reader, he started an apprenticeship with a bookseller in Edinburgh in 1814. He taught himself bookbinding and typesetting before venturing into publishing in 1818. He worked with his brother Robert Chambers (1802–1871) and in 1832, he founded the publishing firm of W. & R. Chambers Publishers. The same year they launched a successful weekly paper Edinburgh Journal and produced a Gazetteer of Scotland in 1833. He was a keen advocate of popular education and his firm pioneered the use of industrial technologies of publishing to make print available cheaply. They published school textbooks, People’s Editions of literary works, the famous Chamber’s encyclopaedia (1865-1869), and Chamber’s English dictionary. William Chambers was elected Lord Provost of Edinburgh in 1865 and worked to improve sanitary conditions in the city as well as the restoration of St. Giles Cathedral. He was also a director of the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Chambers Street is named after him and his statue stands outside the National Museum of Scotland.

In 1833, he married Harriet S. Clark (1801–1885). He died on May 20, 1883, in Edinburgh, Scotland.

François de Champflour est issu de la branche parisienne d'une famille de l'Auvergnat. Il fût nommé gouverneur de Trois-Rivières en 1639 et démontra un excellent sens de la diplomatie en réussissant à repousser une attaque iroquoise en 1641. D'août 1642 à décembre 1643, Champflour fut commandant du Fort Richelieu jusqu'au moment où il retourna à son poste de Trois-Rivières; en 1645 il joua un rôle important dans les négociations de paix avec les Iroquois. Il rentra à Paris cette année là avec l'espoir de revenir en Nouvelle France; mais ce rêve ne se matérialisa jamais et en 1649 il vendit le fief qu'il avait reçu de la Compagnie des Cent-Associés.

The first railway built in Canada was the Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad, constructed in 1836 in Lower Canada between La Prairie and St-Jean. The C&SL was financed by Montreal brewery owner John Molson. By 1851 the line was extended from St-Jean to Rouses Point, New York, and in 1852 from St-Jean to St. Lambert. The C&SL merged with the Montreal and New York Railroad in 1857 (then known as the Montreal and Lachine Railroad). The newly-formed company was named the Montreal and Champlain Railroad. In 1864 the line was leased to the Grand Trunk Railway.