William Chambers, of the publishing firm and Lord Provost of Edinburgh died on May 20th 1883.
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. William was educated locally, but well, being trained in the Classics.
During his childhood William Chambers was an avid reader of books from a circulating library in Peebles. He moved with his family to Edinburgh where he started an apprenticeship with John Sutherland, Bookseller. He set up on his own in 1818 and taught himself bookbinding and type-setting before venturing into publishing.
William worked with his wee brother, Robert, to launch a successful weekly paper, ‘Edinburgh Journal‘, in 1832 and produce a gazetteer of Scotland the following year. They founded W and R Chambers, publishers of school text-books, People’s Editions of literary works and the famous Chamber’s encyclopaedia and Chamber’s English dictionary.
William Chambers was elected Lord Provost of Edinburgh in 1865 and worked to improve sanitary conditions in the city as well as the restoration of St Giles Cathedral. Other major town planning exercises, including the creation of Jeffrey Street, St Marys Street and Blackfriars Street. These streets were all created under the City Improvement Act of 1866
Chambers Street is named after him. His statue stands outside the National Museum of Scotland there, as seen in the pics I took a few weeks ago.
William Chambers, printer and publisher, died on 20th May 1883, aged 83 years, he is interred at the family plot in Peebles.
