Stephen Leacock, humourist and professor of economics at McGill, was born in England, but emigrated in 1876 to Ontario. After graduating B.A. from University of Toronto in 1891, he taught at his old school, Upper Canada College, until 1899. At the University of Chicago, he pursued doctoral studies in economics and political science, and received his Ph.D. in 1903. Leacock taught economics at McGill from 1901 until his retirement in 1936, serving as department chairman from 1908 onwards. Leacock's scholarly writings on economics, political science, sociology, history and literature total more than a hundred articles and two dozen books. Moreover, he was a talented and popular lecturer. His fame, however, is based on his humorous writings; of his more than thirty books, the most famous are Literary Lapses (1910), Nonsense Novels (1911), Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich (1914), and especially Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town (1912).

Edward Lear (12 or 13 May 1812 in Holloway, Middlesex, England-29 January 1888 in Sanremo, Liguria, Italy) was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, and is known now mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limericks. He also composed and published twelve musical settings of Tennyson's poetry.

Joseph Bowles Learmont was born on May 15, 1839, in Montreal, Quebec.

He was a businessman, the head of the firm of Caverhill, Learmont & Co, wholesale hardware merchants, Montreal (est. 1854). As a very cultured man, he frequently lectured on literary and historical subjects. He was a collector of rare books and manuscripts, etchings, engravings, autograph letters, etc. He was an early member of the Numismatic and Antiques Society. He served on the Committee of Management of Montreal General Hospital and the Montreal Board of Trade. He was a governor of the Victorian Order of Nurses (Montreal Branch), director of the Charity Organization Society, member of the Executive committee of the Lord’s Day Alliance, treasurer of the Montreal Art Association, councillor, and treasurer of the Archaeological Institute of America. Learmont was the author of a paper on “Folk-lore” including Canadian folklore, and “The Canadian Indian.”

In 1873, he married Amelia Jane Holton (1849–1875), and in 1882, he remarried Charlotte Smithers (1845–1934). He died on March 12, 1914, in Montreal, Quebec.