Sir Collingwood Schreiber was born on December 14, 1831, in Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex, England.

He was a surveyor, engineer, and civil servant. Educated in England, he immigrated to Canada with his family in 1852. He began to work as a railway engineer with the Toronto, Hamilton, and Buffalo Railway. After working on several private railways, he received the first government appointment in 1864. Schreiber was involved in the construction and completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway. In 1880, he was appointed the Engineer-in-Chief of all government railways in operation. He oversaw financing and conducted repeated inspection tours, often with Sir William Cornelius Van Horne, who was appointed CPR president in 1881. In 1887, he helped found the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers, and in 1892, he became the deputy minister of the federal Department of Railways and Canals. In 1893, he was made a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George and was knighted for his public services in 1916. In 1905, he served as a consulting engineer on the western or Grand Trunk Pacific division of the National Transcontinental Railway. The township of Schreiber, Ontario, is named after him and contains a plaque commemorating his life and achievements.

In 1856, he married Carolina MacLean (1833–1892), and in 1898, he married Lady Julia Maude Gwynne (1861–1937). He died on March 23, 1918, in Ottawa, Ontario.