Sir Herbert Brown Ames was born on June 27, 1863, in Montreal, Quebec.

He was a Canadian businessman, philanthropist, and politician. He was educated at Amherst College, Massachusetts (B.A., 1885). He engaged in business in Montréal with the firm of Ames, Holden and Co. from 1885-1893 and later became a director of this and several other corporations. He became a Member of Parliament in 1904 as a member of the Conservative Party of Canada and served until 1920. Ames was a Montréal alderman from 1898 to 1906 and chairman of the Board of Health from 1900 to 1904. In these capacities, he helped to bring about important civic reforms. He also represented Montréal-St. Antoine district as a Conservative in the Canadian House of Commons from 1904 to 1920. From 1919 to 1926, he served as financial director of the Secretariat of the League of Nations in Geneva and was Canadian delegate to the Assembly of the League in 1926. Ames was knighted in 1915. He is best known for his book “The City Below the Hill: A Sociological Study of a portion of the city of Montreal, Canada,” which originally appeared as newspaper articles in the Montreal Star in 1897.

In 1890, he married Louisa Marion Kennedy (1869-1956). He died on March 31, 1954, in Montreal, Quebec.