William Chambers (publisher)
This article possibly contains original research. (December 2022) |
Chambers Street, Edinburgh. | |
---|---|
Lord Provost of Edinburgh | |
In office 1865–1869 | |
Monarch | Queen Victoria |
Preceded by | Charles Lawson of Borthwick Hall |
Succeeded by | William Law |
Personal details | |
Born | Peebles, Scotland | 16 April 1800
Died | 20 May 1883 | (aged 83)
William Chambers of Glenormiston
Biography
Chambers was born in Peebles the son of James Chambers a cotton mill owner, said to have 100 looms in his factory, and his wife, Jean Gibson.[2] William was educated locally, but well, being trained in the Classics.[3]
The family moved to Edinburgh in 1814 to work in the book-selling trade. William was apprenticed to a John Sutherland, a bookseller with a circulating library based a 9 Calton Street at the base of Calton Hill. William was paid 4/- per week from which he paid 1/6 per week for lodgings at Boak's Land off the West Port at the west end of the Grassmarket.[3][4]
William opened his own bookshop in 1819 on Broughton Street, an ancient sloping and winding street absorbed by Edinburgh's
Their publishing business prospered, and in 1849 William purchased the Glemormiston estate near his home town of Peebles, and in 1859 Chambers founded a museum and art gallery in Peebles. The brothers collaborated on the publication of Chambers Encyclopaedia between 1860 and 1868. The Chambers Dictionary in 1872 was one of the first generally affordable dictionaries, allowing its use as a standard school text book.
William was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1860, his proposer was John Shank More.[7] His address was then given as 13 Chester Street, a large townhouse in Edinburgh's west end.[8]
As
In 1868 he built a new printworks immediately west of the City Chambers (demolished in the 1930s).[9]
In 1872
Chambers died at home at 13 Chester Street[11] in Edinburgh's West End on 20 May 1883 and was buried in the family plot in Peebles Cemetery.[7] His memorial is placed on the eastern flank of the central tower.
Greyfriars Bobby
In 1867, in his capacity as
Memorials
A memorial stained glass window was erected in the centre of the north aisle of
In 1891 a statue of Chambers, by local sculptor John Rhind[14] was placed in the centre of Chambers Street. This has low-relief copper panels on the base by William Shirreffs.[15] The statue was relocated in 2020 as part of a relancaping exercise on Chambers Street, increasing paved area outside the National Museum of Scotland.
W. & R. Chambers
In the beginning of 1832 William Chambers started a weekly publication under the title of
In the mid-19th century they moved to a large premises at 339 High Street on the Royal Mile.[19] It lay between Warriston Close and Roxburgh Close.[20] Their premises was acquired in the 1930s by the City Chambers to build an extension to the chambers.[21]
The firm would eventually become part of
Among the other numerous works of which Robert was in whole or in part the author, the Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen (4 vols., Glasgow, 1832–1835), the Cyclopædia of English Literature (1844), the Life and Works of Robert Burns (4 vols., 1851), Ancient Sea Margins (1848), the Domestic Annals of Scotland (1859–1861) and the Book of Days (2 vols., 1862–1864) were the most important.[17]
In culture
He was played by Christopher Lee in the 2005 feature film The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby.
Publications
- Chamber’s Miscellany of Useful and Entertaining Tracts (20 vols., 10 tomes, 1844-1847)
- Chambers's Papers for the People Vol. 1 (1850).
- A history of Peeblesshire. (1864). archive.org
- Chambers's etymological dictionary of the English language. (1871) archive.org
- Chambers Dictionary (1872)
- Memoir of William and Robert Chambers. (1883). archive.org
Family
In 1833 he was married to Harriet Seddon Clark (b.1801).[2]
See also
- Chambers Harrap Publishers
- Chambers Institution, Peebles, Scottish Borders, an arts centre, museum and library which bears W. Chambers' name.
References
- ^ Chisholm 1911, p. 821.
- ^ a b "William Chambers of Glenormiston". geni_family_tree. 16 April 1800. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
- ^ a b Grant's Old and New Edinburgh vol.2 p.224
- ^ Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1819
- ^ "Edinburgh Post Office annual directory, 1832-1833". National Library of Scotland. p. 35. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
- ^ Fyfe, Aileen (2012) Steam-Powered Knowledge: William Chambers and the Business of Publishing, 1820-1860 Chicago: University of Chicago Press
- ^ a b "Biographical Index of Fellows" (PDF). Royal Society of Edinburgh. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
- ^ "List of the Ordinary Fellows of the Society". Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 1870. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
- ^ Grant's Old and New Edinburgh vol.2 p.223
- ^ Grant's Old and New Edinburgh vol.2 p.225
- ^ Edinburgh Post Office Directrory 1883
- ^ Education Scotland website "Greyfriars Bobby - Making of industrial and urban Scotland - Scotlands History". Archived from the original on 21 February 2013. Retrieved 11 February 2013. (11 February 2013).
- ^ Edinburgh Museums and Galleries website [1] (11 February 2013).
- ^ Mcwilliam, Colin. Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh.
- ^ Gardner, Tim. "William Shirreffs (1846-1902), sculptor, a biography". www.glasgowsculpture.com. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
- ^ "sale offering of, bound collection". Retrieved 9 March 2009.
as of the accessdate, this site was selling a bound collected as a hardcopy of 1856's "Chambers Journal of Literature, Science and Arts" (no "Apostrophy-S")
- ^ a b public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Chambers, Robert". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 820–821. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ^ Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1835
- ^ Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1855
- ^ 1877 Ordnance Survey
- ^ Edinburgh and District: Ward Lock Travel Guide 1940
Further reading
- Fyfe, Aileen (2012). Steam-Powered Knowledge: William Chambers and the Business of Publishing, 1820-1860. Chicago, London: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-27651-9.
External links
Media related to William Chambers (publisher) at Wikimedia Commons
- Works by William Chambers at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about William Chambers at Internet Archive
- Works by William Chambers at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)