Benjamin Riley was born c. 1866 in Halifax, Yorkshire, England.

He was a British Labour politician and bookbinder. The son of a stonemason, he was apprenticed to the bookbinding trade at the age of nine. He served as a journeyman in Bath, Brighton and London, eventually starting his own bookbinding business in Huddersfield in 1896. During World War I, Riley was the Chair of the Huddersfield Belgian Relief Fund, helping Belgian refugees. He was also a lecturer at the Land Restoration League, visiting agricultural labourers in various counties. Riley was a founding member of the Independent Labour Party. He was elected to Huddersfield School Board in 1896 and Huddersfield Town Council in 1904. At the 1922 general election, Riley was elected a Member of the Parliament for the Dewsbury constituency, and he held the seat in 1922-1923, 1924-1931, and from 1935 until he retired in 1945. He was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Noel Buxton, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, in the Labour Government of 1929-1931.

In 1889, he married Lucy Rushworth (1857–). He died on January 6, 1946, in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England.

Alan Ridge was born in Brighton and took an honours degree in history from University College, London, in 1947. In the following year he earned the diploma of the School of Archives Administration. Ridge worked as assistant archivist for the London County Council from 1948 to 1958, and for the National Coal Board from 1958 to 1962. In 1962 he became McGill's first University Archivist and in 1968 was appointed Provincial Archivist of Alberta.