Alexander Denton Steele was born on June 26, 1841, in Elland, England.

He was an important architect active in Montreal, Quebec. He arrived in Canada in late 1871 and was employed as a draftsman by Alexander C. Hutchison. In 1875, they formed a partnership that lasted until 1890. The firm was remarkably successful, producing plans for nearly 100 institutional, ecclesiastical, commercial, and residential works. Much of that success can be attributed to Steele who was, according to an account in 1890 “possessed of eminently distinguished artistic tastes and much practical ability”. He won the competition for the new Y.M.C.A. building and the elegant High Victorian design was completed in 1872. He also lectured at the Art Association Rooms in Montreal on the subject of “Domestic Architecture”.

He died on November 16, 1890, in Elland, England.

Henry Wickham Steed was born on October 10, 1971, in Long Melford, Suffolk, England.

He was a British journalist, editor, and publicist. He was educated at Sudbury Grammar School and the universities of Jena, Berlin, and Paris (1893). While in Europe, he demonstrated an early interest in social democracy and met with a range of left-wing figures, including Friedrich Engels, Wilhelm Liebknecht, and August Bebel. Appointed by Joseph Pulitzer as Paris correspondent for the New York World, Steed joined The Times in 1896 as a foreign correspondent, working briefly out of Berlin before transferring to Rome (1897-1902) and then Vienna (1902-1913). During his time in Vienna, he acquired a deep contempt for Austria-Hungary. In 1913, he became head of the foreign department of The Times. Seen as a leading expert on Eastern Europe, Steed's views influenced the decision-makers such as high-level bureaucrats and Cabinet politicians in the First World War and its aftermath. In 1919, Steed became editor of The Times and, in 1923, editor of Review of Reviews (1923–1930). In the early 1930s, he was one of the first English speakers to express alarm about the new German dictatorial chancellor, Adolf Hitler. In 1934, he caused a sensation with an article claiming to have evidence of secret German experiments in airborne biological warfare. Steed received honorary doctorates from the universities of Cluj and Strasbourg and was a lecturer in Central European History at King's College London.

In 1937, he married Violet Sybille Mason (1896–1970). He died on January 13, 1956, in Wootton, England.

Robert Edwards Carter Stearns was born on February 1, 1827, in Boston, Massachusetts.

He was an American conchologist, editor, and author. A lover of nature since childhood, Stearns concentrated on conchology, mostly mollusks of the West Coast. In 1858, he went to California to become a partner in the large printing establishment of his wife's brother-in-law in San Francisco. They published the Pacific Methodist, a weekly religious paper, and Stern became its editor. In the late 1860s, he participated in the exploration of the invertebrate fauna of southwestern Florida, during which large collections were made for the Smithsonian Institution. He became Secretary of the University of California at Berkeley (1874–1882) and a researcher for the U.S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries (1882-1884). He also served as Assistant Curator of Molluscs at the National Museum of Natural History (1885–1892) and a Paleontologist for the U.S. Geological Survey (1884-1892). He was a member of numerous scientific societies at home and abroad and the Sons of the Revolution.

In 1850, he married Mary Libby (1828–1879). He died on July 27, 1909, in Los Angeles, California.

Rosalyne Stearn was born Rosalynde Osborne is considered Canada's foremost puppet theatre director. Before becoming director and producer of the King Cob Puppets, Stearn trained as a puppeteer with Lilian Owen, the assistant to German-American puppeteer Tony Sarg (1880-1942). Stearn's early work in the 1920s was with hand-puppets but in 1930 she turned to the string marionettes and produced variety shows with Muriel Heddle (Mrs. E. D. Scott). The Toronto Art Gallery in 1935 and the Montreal Museum of Fine Art in 1942 both recognised the artistic quality of her work by holding exhibitions of her puppets and arranging performances of her puppet plays. In 1938 her King Cob Company produced a puppet version of the 'Clouds' of Aristophanes which won the approval of the Professor of Classics at McMaster University and the Classical Club of Toronto; and the following year Stearn organised the first Canadian Puppet Conference at Hamilton. A historian of puppetry as well, by 1952 Stearn had brought a library on the puppet theatre as well as a collection of puppets characteristic of different times and countries.