| William Chambers Born: 16-Apr-1800
Birthplace: Peebles, Tweeddale, Scotland
Died: 20-May-1883
Location of death: Edinburgh, Scotland
Cause of death: unspecified
Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Occupation: Publisher, Author Nationality: Scotland
Executive summary: W. & R. Chambers, Ltd. English publisher and author, the brother of Robert Chambers, was born at Peebles on the 16th of April 1800. He was the financial genius of the publishing firm. He laid the city of Edinburgh under the greatest obligations by his public spirit and munificence. As lord provost he procured the passing in 1867 of the Improvement Act, which led to the reconstruction of a great part of the Old Town, and at a later date he proposed and carried out, largely at his own expense, the restoration of the noble and then neglected church of St. Giles, making it in a sense "the Westminster Abbey of Scotland." This service was fitly acknowledged by the offer of a baronetcy, which he did not live to receive, dying on the 20th of May 1883, three days before the reopening of the church. He was the author of a history of St Giless, of a memoir of himself and his brother (1872), and of many other useful publications. On his death in 1883 Robert Chambers (1832-1888), son of Robert Chambers, succeeded as head of the firm, and edited the Journal until his death. His eldest son, Charles Edward Stuart Chambers (b. 1859), became editor of the Journal and chairman of W. & R. Chambers, Limited.
Brother: Robert Chambers (author, b. 1802, d. 1871)
Author of books:
Book of Scotland
Stories of Remarkable Persons
Stories of Old Families
Historical Sketch of St. Giles' Cathedral (1879)
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