Dr. John "Gentle" Martland was a master at Upper Canada College in the 19th century.

British Liberal politician Thomas Martineau, began his career as a lawyer, articling with Arthur Ryland, then joining him as a partner in the firm Ryland and Martineau. He became an alderman of Birmingham in 1883 and mayor from 1884 to 1887, the second of what were to be five generations of his family as Birmingham mayors. He succeeded in his efforts to have Birmingham become an assize town. He was also instrumental in the passage of the Welsh Water Bill. Among his other duties was that of president of the Birmingham Municipal School of Art. A Unitarian himself, he came from a notable of Birmingham family descended from French Huguenot exiles who settled in Norwich in the seventeenth century. He was a friend of Queen Victoria who knighted him in 1887. His nephew, Neville Chamberlain, became prime minister.

Gloriana Jeanne Martineau was born on May 29, 1898, in Alfred, Prescott, Ontario.

She worked with the French Missions in Ontario and wrote many essays on the topic of French Canadians and the church. In 1947, she earned her M.A. in English from McGill University, where she completed a thesis titled "La survivance française dans les comtés de Prescott et Russell." McGill University offers the Glorianna Martineau Fellowship, established in 1988 by the estate of the late Glorianna Martineau.

She died in 1986 and is buried in Caledon, Peel Regional Municipality, Ontario.