Jean Albert Gaudry was born on September 15, 1827, in St Germain-en-Laye, Île-de-France, France.

He was a French geologist, paleontologist, and author. He studied at the Collège Stanislas de Paris. In 1852, he made explorations in Cyprus and Greece where he investigated the rich deposit of fossil Vertebrata and brought to light a remarkable mammalian fauna of the Miocene age. He published an account of the geology of the island of Cyprus in Mémoires de la Société géologique de France (1862). In 1853, while still in Cyprus, he became an assistant to Alcide d'Orbigny, a French naturalist, the first to hold the chair of paleontology at the Museum of Natural History in Paris. In 1872, Gaudry succeeded to this important post. In 1882, he was elected member of the French Academy of Sciences. In 1895, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Society of London. Gaudry was one of the first scientists to invent a phylogenetic tree for fossil forms in 1866. In 1900, he presided over the meetings of the 8th International Congress of Geology held in Paris. He was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1900. Because of his spiritual beliefs, he rejected the idea of natural selection and struggle for existence. He was a notable proponent of theistic evolution. In his book "Essai de paléontologie philosophique" (1896), he considered evolution to be a divine plan guided by God.

In 1856, he married Jeanne Elisabeth Hittorf (1832–1889) and in 1893, he married Valérie Adèle Tyrbas de Chamberet (1838–1901). He died on November 27, 1908, in Paris, Île-de-France, France.

Andrew Frederick Gault was born on April 14, 1833, in Strabane, Tyrone County, Northern Ireland.

He was a Canadian merchant, industrialist, and philanthropist known as the Cotton King of Canada. In 1842, his family emigrated to Lower Canada, settling in Montreal, Quebec. His father Leslie Gault (1787-1843), a merchant and shipowner, died soon after and left the family with huge financial losses. After attending the High School of Montreal, Andrew joined the dry-goods firm of Walter MacFarlane, and from 1853 to 1858 he was in partnership with James B. Stevenson as Gault, Stevenson and Co. He then formed a company with his brother Robert Leslie, as Gault Brothers and Company, Andrew being the leading partner. After the initial struggles, the company flourished in the 1870s and branches opened in Manchester, England, Winnipeg, and Victoria. In 1896, it incorporated as Gault Brothers’ Company Limited. Andrew became a prominent member of the Montreal Board of Trade and sat on the boards of directors of insurance companies, banks, and cotton textile firms. He became president of Canada’s three largest cotton textile firms, the Dominion, Canadian, and Montreal. Apart from his business activities, he devoted his energies and his wealth to his family, the Church of England, and the community.

In 1864, he married Louisa Sarah Harman (1847–1937). He died on July 7, 1903, in Georgeville, Quebec.

Born in England, Andrew Hamilton Gault, grew up in Montréal and attended Bishop's University in Lennoxville and McGill University. He left McGill in 1900 to join the Second Canadian Mounted Rifles and fight in the Boer War. After his return to Montréal, he became involved in his family's extensive business and manufacturing activities. A member of the Montreal Board of Trade, 1911-1913, Gault also was the Consul General for Sweden in Canada, 1909-1911. When the First World War began, Gault decided to raise and equip a regiment for service overseas. The regiment was named "The Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry" and Gault, as Colonel, was its commander during the war. After the war he remained in England where he became a Member of Parliament from 1924-1935, and sought to promote closer trade relations within the Empire. Although he spent much of his time in England, Gault still retained close links to Canada and bequeathed his Mont St. Hilaire estate to McGill University in 1958.