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.