Edmund Ritchie was a prominent community member in Hamilton, Ontario. In August of 1837, Ritchie was appointed to the board of directors of Gore Bank of Hamilton. Between the 1830s and 1870s, he was the Hamilton Postmaster. He also owned an insurance and commission agency, E.L. Ritchie & Co that was active in the 1860s.

Born in Prague as René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke, Rainer Maria Rilke was a poet and writer whose best known works include the Duino Elegies and the Sonnets to Orpheus.