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Durand then partnered with architect John M. Moore. In 1888, a legal dispute between Durand and Moore dissolved their partnership.

George F. Durand was born in 1850 to James Durand, a building and contracting business owner in London, Ontario. Noticing his son’s artistic ability, James Durand wrote to sculptor and drawing teacher J.R. Peel in 1964 arranging for his son to enroll at Peel’s school. In the late 1860s, Durand articled for architect William Robinson where he met his friend and future partner Thomas Tracy. After his apprenticeship, he was hired by Thomas Fuller to work on the New York State Capital building in Albany, New York. The project became embroiled in scandal when the cost of the building ballooned to well over the original projected cost. As a result of the controversy, Fuller was dismissed which led to Durand leaving the project as well. His experience in New York lasted from 1870 to 1876.
Durand returned to London and formed a partnership with Robinson and Tracy in 1878. In 1880, Robinson left and Tracy and Durand worked as partners. This partnership lasted until Tracy became city engineer and Durand then partnered with architect John M. Moore. In 1888, a legal dispute between Durand and Moore dissolved their partnership. In 1889, Durand began to take large lengths of time off work due to illness and on December 20th of that year he passed away.

Jan (Ian) Eisenhardt was born April 24th, 1906 in Hjørring, Denmark. After attending schools in Denmark and France, Eisenhardt received a scholarship to study at the University of British Columbia’s School of Commerce in 1928. From 1929-1930, Eisenhardt worked as a Playground Attendant for the City of Vancouver before returning to France to play professional football (soccer) for the Olympique de Marseille football club. In 1932, Eisenhardt returned to Vancouver and became the Playground Supervisor for Vancouver. In 1933, Eisenhardt became a Canadian citizen.

In 1934, as the Director of Physical Education for the Province of BC, Eisenhardt developed and led the Provincial Recreation program, popularly known as Pro Rec. In this role and as the Chairman of a federal committee on Youth Welfare, Eisenhardt developed recreation and fitness programs for the unemployed during the Depression. At the outbreak of World War II, Eisenhardt enlisted in the Canadian Army, rising to the rank of Major and becoming the director of the Canadian Army Sports Program in 1943. In 1944, he was named National Director of Physical Fitness for Canada and appointed chair of the National Council on Physical Fitness where he participated in drafting the National Physical Fitness Act. After the war, Eisenhardt became the Director of Staff Activities for the United Nations in New York in 1947 and was later assigned to UNESCO in Paris.

In February of 1950, Eisenhardt became the Supervisor of Physical Education and Recreation for the Indian Affairs branch of the Department of Citizenship and Immigration. In this role, he toured and drafted a physical education programme for residential schools and established the Tom Longboat Awards. By November of 1951, dissatisfied with the lack of support for the physical education program, Eisenhardt resigned from his position effective December 1951. In January 1952, shortly after beginning his job as the Director of Canadair Employees’ Recreation Association in Montreal, he was fired from this position after having allegedly been ‘blacklisted’ by the Canadian government. Eisenhardt later spent years working to clear his name and made a claim for compensation from the government.

In Quebec, Eisenhardt worked for the Community Club in La Tuque in 1953 and was hired by the Dominion Life Assurance Company in Montreal in 1954. Eisenhardt was active in the Danish community in Canada, serving as President of the Danish Club in Montreal from 1960-1965. In the 1970s, Eisenhardt worked as a lecturer of Scandinavian literature and Campus Administrator for John Abbott College where he organized tours of Denmark and East Germany for students. Eisenhardt continued to promote fitness and recreation initiatives, including crossing the Øresund Bridge from Denmark to Sweden in 2000 and Walk for Health, where he visited elementary schools to promote staying active. As a resident of Dorval, Eisenhardt ran for Alderman in 1992 and Mayor in 1998.

Later in life, Eisenhardt received many accolades for his contributions to sport and recreation in Canada including a Canadian Sports Lifetime Achievement Award, a Queen’s Jubilee Medal, and was a member of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame and the Order of Canada. He received an honorary Doctorate of Laws from Malaspina University College (now Vancouver Island University) in 2004. Jan Eisenhardt married Barbara Ferdon in 1949 and had four children. Barbara died in 1995 and Jan Eisenhardt died on December 26, 2004 at the age of 98.

The Ermatinger family is well-known in the history of pre-Confederation Canada; members of several generations of the Ermatinger family were involved with the fur trade, and others achieved notoriety as politicians, lawyers, and public servants. The first Ermatinger known to have settled in North America was Lawrence Ermatinger (b. ca. 1736 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland), a merchant who settled in Montreal in the early 1760s. Ermatinger supplied goods to North American and British buyers, including fur traders and the British army. Lawrence Ermatinger married Jemima Oakes and had eight children. Two of the Ermatinger sons were particularly prominent in North America. Frederick William Ermatinger (1769-1827) served as Sheriff of Montreal and was one of the Bank of Montreal’s first directors. Charles Oakes Ermatinger (1776-1833) was a fur trader, initially working for the North West Company and then independently. Another Ermatinger son, Lawrence Edward Ermatinger, moved from Montreal to Italy, Spain, and England. Lawrence Edward Ermatinger is the father of Edward and Francis Ermatinger, brothers who came to North America as clerks for the Hudson’s Bay Company. Records from many members of the Ermatinger family survive in libraries and archives throughout Canada. The Ermatinger Old Stone House in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario (built 1814) and the Francis Ermatinger House in Oregon City, Oregon (built 1845) are today museums dedicated to providing insight into North American pioneer life.

John E. Evans was a postcard distributer and photographer (c1913-1954) and working from Port Rowan and Walsingham. In his business he went by J.E. Evans and also worked from 1935 to 1939 in joint venture as Evans & Bowman but ended in bankruptcy. His initial business was distributing lithograph postcards he had printed in Germany and continued this practice post World War 1 (mostly printed 1922-1935). He began taking photographs of communities or interesting sites so could produce photographic postcards and distribute for sale in those communities. He restarted the postcard business in 1941. He produced images of Ontario and other provinces.

John was born on September 1, 1877 in Cayuga, Haldimand County to John E. Evans and Sarah Michener. He resided for over 50 years in Walsingham, Norfolk County and retired in July 1954. He died on September 4, 1958. An employee, William "Duke" Vela, purchased the business and continued to run until his retirement in 1975.

Elizabeth Gale was born c. 1801 in England. It is unknown when Gale immigrated to Canada. She settled in London, Ontario and worked as a milliner. In the 1883 City Directory, Gale’s residence and business are listed at 264 Dundas Street. Her business was categorized as millinery and fancy goods. On November 14, 1882, the county sheriff seized the inventory of stock of her business. Gale was accused of absconding debtors. On June 4, 1884, Elizabeth Gale did not appear at the Court of the County of Middlesex for her hearing. She was required to pay $248.57 plus $20.01 in taxes to John D. Ivey and Co. The inventory seized by the county sheriff was sold to pay this debt. In 1884, Gale is listed as a widow and a boarder with Alfrid Avery at 8 Horton Street.

Charles Hansen Gillin was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in February of 1911 to Hugh Clement Gillin and Margaret Hansen. After Hugh’s death, Margaret married Patrick J.Malloy. Gillin had one sister, Marnie Hubbs-Gillin; four half-brothers, Alexander Molloy, Patrick Malloy, Peter Malloy and John (Jack) Malloy and a foster brother, Gerald Giba. He attended Kelvin Technical High School in Winnipeg and later graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Manitoba in 1936. Gillin began his career as an architect with Green, Blankstein, Russel and Ham and eventually moved to Ottawa where he met his wife Madeleine Belanger. In 1943 he joined the Royal Canadian Engineers and trained as an officer, but did not serve overseas. In 1946 he moved to London, Ontario and began working for the engineering firm, M.M. Dillon and Co. In 1948 he opened his own office, Charles H. Gillin Architect, BArch MRAIC, at 389 Queens Avenue in London. As an architect in London, Gillin worked on several projects for the Separate School Board taking a role in the design and building of many of London’s Catholic schools including Catholic Central High School. Gillin also designed private residences, including the heritage listed Ginsberg residence in London; public buildings, including the Southwest Middlesex Health Centre in Mount Brydges and the club house at the Highland Country Club in London. His advocacy of the contemporary modernist style of architecture can be seen in all of these projects. Gillin and his wife had five children and lived in a house on Cathcart Street in London, which Gillinde signed himself. He was a member of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, the Ontario Association of Architects and the London Society of Architects. Gillin was also a member of the Knights of Columbus and the Highland Golf Club. He died on September 23, 1980 at St. Joseph’s Hospital in London, Ontario.

Lorraine Greaves was chair of the board of directors and co-founder of the London Battered Women's Advocacy Clinic, an organization founded by the Women's Educational and Research Foundation of Ontario with the purpose of providing comprehensive counselling, legal and information services to battered women in the community. The clinic evolved from preliminary research conducted by Constance Backhouse, law professor at The University of Western Ontario, and research conducted by her students in 1979-1980. Funded with a demonstration grant from Health and Welfare Canada, the Clinic opened on February 14, 1983. Providing individual and group counselling to women who had suffered physical assault, sexual abuse, financial deprivation ormental abuse, the Clinic also operated public and professional education programs, provided information on available resources, and conducted research to demonstrate the effects of family violence on women and to identify gaps in services to abused women. Since 2001, the Clinic has operated as the London Abused Women's Centre.

George Hammond was born November 16, 1853 in Delaware, Ontario. His father, Randal Carling Hammond, was from Dover, England and his mother, Charlotte Johnson, was from Ontario. They were early settlers near Delaware, where they owned a farm.
George also became a farmer. He was married first to Jane “Lucy” DeBlagniere in 1882, then to Mary (maiden name unknown) after Lucy’s death. He continued to work as a farmer until he was 85, when his last day of work was recorded on October 19, 1939. He died on October 25, 1939.

John Harris was ordered into the British Royal Navy in 1803, after a brief service in the merchant marine. During his time in the navy, Harris rose to the rank of Master where he was responsible for maintaining, outfitting and navigating the ship and was required to note features of coastlines that had not been recorded. Harris was ordered to assist with the survey of the Great Lakes, under Commodore Edward Owen, in 1814. One of his first assignment was to survey the north shore of Lake Erie for a ship building site. John Harris retired on half-pay from the Navy in 1817 and moved to a farm near Long Point with his wife, Amelia Harris.
Harris was appointed to Treasurer of the London District in 1821. As Treasurer, Harris was responsible for tax collecting, overseeing public expenditure, issuing and receiving receipts for the sale of land, and other financial matters for the London District. Following the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837, Harris was appointed as a members of the Rebellion Losses Claims Commission. The Commission was established to review claims for losses suffered during the 1837 Rebellion in the London District and determine the compensation to be allotted.
John Harris remained active in the London political sphere until his death in 1850.

Henry G. Hines (Harry) was a professional photographer working out of the Hines Studio in London Ontario from 1906 to 1929. He was born in the United States in 1875 and worked as a bartender in St. Louis, Missouri before moving to London, Ontario in 1899 with his wife Gertrude and son William. Upon arriving in London, Hines worked briefly as a bicycle repairman and a street railway conductor. Hines opened his professional photography studio on the East side of London in 1906 and advertised himself as a commercial photographer. Two years later, his son, William Henry (Bill) Hines joined him as a full partner. Although he took private client portraits, he was mainly commissioned by East London businesses and the City of London. The Hines Studiio closed permanently in 1929.

From 1915, the group formed at Western University had gone by the name The Student Body and in 1921 officially accepted the new name The Hippocratic Society. The society arranged scientific meetings as well as taking on the role of supporting other student organizations and initiatives such as the Gazette, the Honour Society and the U.W.O Medical Journal.

Alice Ruth was born August 22, 1900 and was the daughter of Thomas Frazer Kingsmill Jr. and Kate Isabel (Ford) Kingsmill. She was sister of Thomas Ford Kingsmill and George Frederick Kingsmill.

She married Dr. Emerson Leroy Hodgins (April 28, 1878 -August 26, 1971) on September 26, 1926. They had two children: Thomas Emerson and Arthur Frazer.

Isabel Huggan (nee Howey) was born in Kitchener, Ontario on September 21, 1943, to Catherine Innis MacLennan and Cecil Ronald Howey. Huggan was one of two children, including a younger sister, Ruth. Shortly before Isabel was born, her father changed the spelling of the family name from Hooey to Howey. After completing her primary and secondary education in Elmira, Ontario, Huggan studied English and Philosophy at the University of Western Ontario, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1965. Following graduation, she moved to Toronto where she worked for the Macmillan Publishing Company, leaving after a year to travel Europe. Returning to Canada in 1967, Huggan began teaching English, Creative Writing and Theatre in Ontario High Schools (Oakville, Timmins, Clarkson, and Scarborough).

On December 31, 1970, she married journalist Robert David Huggan. In 1972, they moved to Bellville, Ontario, where she worked as a reporter and photographer for the local newspaper for three years. It was after the birth of her daughter, Abbey, in 1977, that Huggan decided focus on her writing career. By this point, she had already published various poems and short stories in Canadian literary magazines, and her short story "Celia Behind Me" won first prize in a National Film Board contest for women scriptwriters in 1976. Following the success of "Celia Behind Me", Huggan wrote more stories about its main character, Elizabeth Kessler. The Elizabeth Stories, published in 1984 by Oberon Press, chronicled the upbringing of Elizabeth over a ten-year period.

Moving to Ottawa in 1980, Huggan taught for several years at the University of Ottawa and for the Ottawa High School Board until Robert was offered a position in Kenya, which saw them move from Canada in 1987. That position lasted three years and led to postings in France (1990-1993) and the Philippines (1993-1998). The family returned to France in 1998 following the end of Robert's position in the Philippines.

While living abroad, Huggan held positions as editor, writer, and teacher at a variety of organizations; using her skills for writing in a monthly column for the Ottawa Citizen, facilitating writing workshops, and participating in speaking engagements. In 1993, Huggan published her second collection of stories entitled, "You Never Know". However, it was her third collection that caused the most buzz, with "Belonging: Home Away From Home" (2003), a book Huggan describes as a ‘memoir and fiction,’ winning the Charles Taylor Literary Non-Fiction Prize in 2004.

James Worrall was born in Bury, Lancashire, England in 1914 and immigrated to Canada in 1922. He graduated from McGill University and from MacDonald College in Montreal in 1935 and taught at Upper Canada College in Toronto before entering Osgoode Hall Law School. He was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1941. After three years service in the Royal Canadian Air Force he returned to private legal practice in 1945. He continued to practice law, largely in civil litigation and criminal law, until 1976. He acted as counsel on two Federal Royal Commissions and served as an officer and director of several private companies, the Metropolitan Toronto Licensing Commission (as chairman for five years), the Land Compensation Board of Ontario, and the Ontario Municipal Board.

A high-school track and field award recipient, Worrall competed in track and field and water polo for McGill and held several inter-collegiate athletics records. He represented Canada at the 1934 British Empire Games in London and was a silver medalist in the hurdles. His connection with the Olympics dates from 1936 when he competed at the Berlin Summer Games in the 110m and 400m hurdles and where he was selected as the Canadian flag bearer for the opening ceremony. He qualified for the 1938 British Empire Games but withdrew in order to attend law school.

After World War Two Worrall re-established the Ontario Track and Field Committee of the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada (AAUC) and served as its chair for several years. In 1947 he became a member of the AAUC Olympic Committee and was appointed Assistant Chef de Mission to the Canadian Team at the Olympic Games in London the following year. He became a charter member and later vice-president of the reorganized and independent Canadian Olympic Association (COA) in 1948 and served as Assistant Chef de Mission in Helsinki in 1952 and Chef de Mission in Melbourne and Rome in 1956 and 1960 respectively. He was elected President of the COA in 1961, serving in that capacity until 1968. He also served as Commissioner General of Olympic House at Expo 67 in Montreal. He was appointed Honorary Life President of the COA in 1989.

Worrall was appointed as a Canadian representative to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1967. In 1974 he served on the IOC Commission on Rhodesia and was elected to the Executive Board of the IOC, the first Canadian to be so recognized. He also chaired the Commission of the Revision of the Charter, a special commission that reviewed the Olympic Charter and associated rules and by-laws, the recommendations of which were adopted in 1990. In 1980 he ran unsuccessfully for the IOC Presidency. He retired as a voting member of the IOC in 1989 and was made an Honorary Member for life the same year.

As President of the COA and as an IOC member Worrall was involved with several applications by Canadian cities to host Pan American Games (Winnipeg 1967), Olympic Winter Games (Calgary 1964 and 1966; Vancouver 1970) and Olympic Summer Games (Montreal 1972 and 1976). He was a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the organizing committees for the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal and the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary. He was also a director of the Toronto Ontario Olympic Council (TOOC) during its unsuccessful bid for the 1996 Summer Games.

Worrall received many prestigious awards, including the IOC Medal of the Olympic Order in 1990, the Canadian Olympic Order in Gold in 1994, and the Order of Merit from the Association of National Olympic Committees, also in 1994. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1976, was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame as a builder and administrator in 1987, and was elected to the Winter Olympic Hall of Fame in 1991. Worrall published his autobiography, 'My Olympic Journey: Sixty Years with Canadian Sport and the Olympic Games', in 2000.

Worrall died at age 97 in October, 2011.

John Harris and Amelia Ryerse met and married, moving to London, Ontario in 1834 to built Eldon House as John became Treasurer of the London District until his death in 1850. The Harris's were prominent in London elite and the social scene. Other family members include the Ronalds, Robertson and others as the Harris daughters got married.

Penn Kemp is a London, Ontario based poet, playwright, performer, editor, and educator.

Penn Kemp was born Patricia Penn Anne Kemp in Strathroy, Ontario on August 4, 1944. Raised in London, Ontario by parents, artist James (Jim) Kemp and Anne Kemp, Penn Kemp went on to complete a BA (Hon.) in English Language and Literature at the University of Western Ontario in 1966 and an Ontario Teacher’s Certificate at Althouse College in 1967. After graduating, Kemp taught English at high schools in Timmins and North York until 1970 when she began performing, giving readings, and leading creativity workshops. In 1988, Kemp completed a M.Ed. at the University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education with a thesis entitled "Invenio: The Source of a Biography in Mythology." After living in Toronto for many years, Kemp returned to London, Ontario in 2001 where she has since been active in the local literary community. In 2010, Kemp became the inaugural Poet Laureate for London.

Kemp has published over 30 volumes of poetry and drama both through her own company, Pendas Productions, and other publishers. A frequent collaborator, Kemp has also produced plays, CDs, videopoems, participatory performances, and "Sound Operas." Kemp has travelled to Europe, North Africa, Mexico, South America and India giving readings, performances, and workshops, with tours in India and Brazil through the Association of Canadian Studies with supported by Canada Council for the Arts. She served as The University of Western Ontario’s Writer-in-Residence for 2009-10 and has been the writer-in-residence in many communities in North America, India, and Scotland.

Kemp was awarded the League of Canadian Poets’ Life Membership Award in 2012 and the Sheri-D Wilson Golden Beret Award for excellence and innovation in spoken word poetry in 2015. Kemp was also awarded a QEII Diamond Jubilee medal for service to arts and culture in London.

Kemp runs Pendas Productions with husband, Gavin Stairs. She has two children, Amanda and Jake Chalmers.

Thomas Frazer Kingsmill Jr. was born September 1, 1865. He was the son of Thomas Frazer Kingsmill and Anne Ardagh Burris Kingsmill. He married Kate Isobel Ford (1861-1940) of England on June 18, 1890 in a double wedding along with his sister Alice Maud and her husband Edgar Bray. It was the last wedding at St Jerome's Church, Old London. The reception was held at Bellevue Farm. Together, they had three children: Thomas Ford, George Frederick and Alice Ruth.

Thomas Frazer Kingsmill Jr. started working at Kingsmill's in 1878 and ran the company from 1915 - 1939. He rebuilt the store from the ground up twice, after fires in 1911 and 1932. He was a life member of St. John's Lodge 209A of the Masonic Order, and Mocha Temple. He was also active in the local Anglican community at St. George's Church and St. Paul's Cathedral, and was an ordained Anglican Minister.

He died suddenly of a heart attack in 1939 at the age of 74.

Arthur Kingsmill was born in 1870 and died 1898. Son of Thomas Frazer Kingsmill and Anne (Ardagh) (Burris) Kingsmill. He married Jane “Jennie” King on July 1, 1891. Together they had three children: Arthur King, Jack Ardagh and Marjorie.
Arthur ran a second Kingsmill's location on King Street in Chatham, across from the market. Arthur died tragically young at the age of 28 from blood poisoning and the Chatham Kingsmill's location closed for good.