Hereford-born Lady Elizabeth Gwillim (née Symonds) was an artist whose watercolors of Indian birds preceded John James Audubon’s bird paintings by about twenty years and are equally detailed and natural. Married in 1784 to lawyer Henry Gwillim, who was knighted in 1801, she accompanied her husband to Madras, India (modern-day Chennai) that same year, together with her younger sister, Mary Symonds. Following the defeat of Tipu Sultan in 1799, which secured South India for the ‘Company Raj’, Henry took the position of Puisne Judge in the Madras High Court. Elizabeth and Mary were prolific letter writers and their correspondence with family and friends in England (now in the British Library MSS Eur C240) includes descriptions of Indian culture and British life in India. During her six years in India, Elizabeth painted some 200 works, many life-sized. As well as birds, she also painted botanical subjects. Elizabeth Gwillim’s drawings of birds have been compared to those of her near contemporary John James Audubon (1). Her botanical drawings were also praised in Curtis’ Botanical Magazine (Sims 1804), which noted the ‘unusual elegance and accuracy’ of her work. Elizabeth Gwillim studied botany with the eminent Madras botanist Dr Johann Rottler (1749-1836), who named a magnolia after her, Gwillimia. She used her garden as an experimental farm, testing delicate northern plants like parsley, mint, thyme and strawberries (the quintessential English fruit) in the damp heat of Madras, and collecting seeds of the local flora for commercial nurseries in Fulham and Brompton. She was hailed as ‘the patroness of the science in that Presidency’ (Sims, Botanical Magazine, 1807), an acknowledgement of her role in an enterprise whose study has to date focused on male botanists like Roxburgh and Heyne. Gwillim died in India at the age of 44 of unknown causes.

Peter John Gzowski was born on July 13, 1934, in Toronto, Ontario.

He was a Canadian broadcaster, writer, and reporter. He attended Ridley College, St. Catharines, and the University of Toronto but left to work for the Timmins Daily Press. In 1957, he became city editor of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald in Saskatchewan. He worked for Maclean's magazine (1958), Toronto Star, and The Star Weekly in the 1960s. From 1969 until 1970, he broadcast his first regular radio show, "Radio Free Friday," and in 1971, he became the radio host of the CBC's "This Country in the Morning." From 1976 until 1978, he hosted the CBC television show "90 Minutes Live". In 1982, he returned to his former morning radio program, now renamed "Morningside," where he remained until 1997. In 1986, Gzowski held the first fundraising golf tournament for literacy. The Peter Gzowski Award is an award given annually by the Peter Gzowski Invitational golf tournament to recognize contributions to adult literacy in Canada. He received honorary degrees from the University of New Brunswick (D.Litt., 1984) and Trent University (LL.D., 1988) and became a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1998. In 1999, he was appointed Chancellor of Trent University, a position he held until his death.

He died on January 24, 2002, in Toronto, Ontario.

H. & A. Allan Company was a Montreal-based shipping firm. Hugh Allan (1810-1882) was a commission merchant and partner in Edmonstone, Allan & Co. since the early 1830s. In 1863, his brother Andrew Allan (1822-1901) joined the company, and it became known as H. & A. Allan, a part of Allan's family empire. In 1897, Andrew Allan amalgamated the various branches of the Allan shipping empire under one company, Allan Line Steamship Company Ltd., of Glasgow.

Horace Billings, & Co. was a merchant company based in Brockville, Ontario, that operated a general store. They also published several titles including "The American juvenile keepsake" (1835) and the "Encyclopædia Americana" (1834-1847). The company was bankrupt by 1838.