Born in Ireland, Richard P.D. Graham graduated from Oxford with a B.A. in chemistry and mineralogy. For a short time he taught mineralogy at Oxford, but accepted an appointment as Assistant Professor at McGill in 1905. He later was awarded an M.Sc. and D.Sc. In 1926 he was appointed full Professor and continued teaching mineralogy and petrology until 1950, when he retired as Professor Emeritus. Between 1909 and 1913, Graham undertook pioneering work investigating the islands along the west coast of British Columbia. After his retirement from McGill, he served as technical editor for the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy until 1962.

The Grand Junction Railway was an early railway company in the UK, which existed between 1833 and 1846. It was authorized by Parliament on May 6, 1833, and designed by George Stephenson and Joseph Locke. The line built by the company was one of the first railway lines to be built in England, and the world's first long-distance railway with steam traction. It ran from the Warrington and Newton at Warrington to Birmingham, 78 miles. It was not only the most ambitious railway scheme up to that time, but it was designed to interlink Liverpool, Manchester and Preston with Birmingham, and thence, by the London and Birmingham with the Metropolis. In 1841, the company appointed Captain Mark Huish as the secretary of the railway. He was ruthless in the development of the business and contributed significantly to the company's success. In 1846, the company was amalgamated with other railways to form the London and North Western Railway.