Daniel William Kemp was born in 1844 in Wrexham, Denbighshire, Wales.

He was a metal merchant and paint manager. He was educated at the local Grammar school and at Edinburgh Academy. He was interested in business, politics, literature, science, art, antiquities, volunteering, and philanthropy. He was a Fellow of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts. On the formation of the Scottish History Society in 1887, he became its editor. He edited "Pococke's Tours in Scotland, 1747-1760." He was the founder of the Edinburgh Association of Science and Art in 1891. Kemp was for many years a moving spirit in the Sutherland Association (Edinburgh) and was appointed a Justice of the Peace of the Southerland County.

In 1869, he married Ellen Primrose Bell (1849–). He died on February 27, 1922, in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Ellen or Ella Primrose Bell was born in 1848, a daughter of Peter Bell and Mary Mercer Bell, and a niece of Margaret Mercer Dawson. In 1869, she married Daniel William Kemp. They had one son, Charles Norman Kemp.

Penn Kemp was born Patricia Penn Anne Kemp on August 4, 1944, in Strathroy, Ontario.

She is a Canadian poet, novelist, playwright, and sound poet. She graduated from the University of Western Ontario (1968) and taught high school English and literature in Timmins and North York, Toronto, until 1970. Due to her interest in mythology, she has travelled extensively in Europe, North Africa, Mexico, South America, and India. In 1989, she earned an M.Ed. at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education in Toronto. As a poet, performer, and playwright, Kemp has been celebrated as a trailblazer since her first publication of poetry by Coach House (1972). She was Writer-in-Residence at the universities in Buffalo, NY; Findhorn, Scotland; Flesherton, Ontario; Rondonia, Brazil; and Mumbai and Baroda, India. She published over thirty books of poetry, prose and drama, seven plays and ten CDs, and produced several award-winning videopoems. She became London's inaugural Poet Laureate in 2010. In 2012, she was awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for service to the arts.

She lives in London, Ontario.