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Hereward Kirby Cockin (1854-1917) was a poet and journalist. He came to Canada in 1877 and for a time was associate editor of the Week in Toronto. He later moved to Guelph and joined the staff of the Guelph Mercury, contributing a weekly column under the penname of "The Blacksmith." He published numerous poems, including “Gentleman Dick O’ The Greys, And Other Poems” (1889) and The Happy Family; or, Deacon Brown’s Dream, and ‘The Lord Mayor of York and His Brother Ned’” (18--). He died in Guelph on June 22, 1917.

Cockshutt Farm Equipment Limited originated in Brantford, Ontario in 1877 when James George Cockshutt (1851-1885) founded a small plow manufacturing company called The Brantford Plow Works. In 1882, the company was renamed the Cockshutt Plow Company, and it was incorporated in 1911 as Cockshutt Plow Company Limited, then under the management of James’ brother Henry Cockshutt (1868-1944). With the J.G.C. Sulky riding plow, which was influential in opening up the Canadian West, as well as their scientific iron plow beam and the diamond point cultivator, Cockshutt became a leader in tillage tools and played an important role in developing the agricultural industry in Canada.

Beginning in the 1920s, Cockshutt began selling Allis Chalmers’ and Oliver Hart-Parr-built tractors. In the 1930s and 1940s, the company made everything from disc plows, seeders, and swathers to automobile bodies and aircraft parts. During the Second World War, the company also made bomber fuselages, artillery trailers and shells, as well as mechanical transport trailers and military ambulances.

In 1946, Cockshutt began designing and building their own tractor, the Cockshutt 30, which became Canada’s first widely used tractor. It was also the originator of the Live Power Take Off (LPTO) system, which revolutionized the industry. The company, which was renamed Cockshutt Farm Equipment Limited in 1951, subsequently sold its farm machinery division to The White Motor Company in 1962 and became The White Farm Equipment Company, which discontinued operations in the 1980s.

Harry Colebourn was born in Birmingham, England on April 12, 1887. Colebourn was a Canadian veterinarian and soldier with the Royal Canadian Army Veterinary Corps. He is best known for donating a bear cub named Winnie to the London Zoo. Winnie would later inspire A. A. Milne to create the famous children’s book character Winnie-the-Pooh.

Colebourn emigrated to Canada in 1905 when he was 18. He would attend the Ontario Veterinary College, which at the time was located in Toronto, Ontario. Upon receiving his degree in veterinary surgery in 1911, he moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba where he accepted a position with Manitoba’s Department of Agriculture. Later in the same year, Colebourn joined the Mounted Rifles as a militia officer, and later became an officer with the 34th regiment of cavalry, Fort Garry Horse.

In 1914, when the war broke out, Colebourn enlisted and prepared to ship out to Europe. While heading across Canada by train to the training camp at Valcartier, Quebec, he came across a hunter in White River, Ontario who had a female black bear cub for sale. Colebourn purchased her for $20, and named her “Winnie” after Winnipeg. Winnie travelled with Colebourn across the Atlantic, keeping her at the London Zoo, where she was eventually donated. It was at the London Zoo that A. A. Milne and his son Christopher Robin Milne first encountered Winnie.

After the war, Colebourn did post-graduate work at the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in London, England, and returned to Canada in 1920. Back in Canada he started a private practice in Winnipeg. Colebourn retired in 1945, and died on September 24, 1947. He is buried in Brookside Cemetery in Winnipeg.

Originally from Bideford, Devon, England, Fanny Colwill Calvert (1848-1936), was the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Ann Fry(e). She married William Colwill In 1867 and they had three children: Fanny Elizabeth Colwill (b. 1869), William Frye Colwill (1871-1928), and Thomas John Colwill (b. 1874). Fanny, who ran a school for young ladies, was widowed by 1881. She and her family immigrated to Canada in 1890. On the trip over she met Herbert Calvert, who she married later that year. They lived in Hamilton for a short time before settling in Guelph, Ontario. Fanny was a needleworker and stone carver, and did some work with her son, Guelph architect William Frye Colwill (1871-1928). She died in Guelph in 1936.

William Frye Colwill (1871-1928) was a prominent architect in Guelph and area. He worked on many buildings and residences in Guelph, including Torrance Public School (St. James Ward School), Guelph Carnegie Library, Palmerston Carnegie Library, renovations to the Trader's Bank, and the Galt Carnegie Library. Colwill first went into business with Brampton architect John A. Trimble. Together they operated “Trimble & Colwill, Architects, Architectural Engineers, Designers, Draughtsmen” from 1897 to 1898. When Trimble moved to Alberta, Colwill continued on his own as William F. Colwill from 1899 to 1911. From 1912 to 1914, Colwill went into partnership with W. T. Tanner as Colwill & Tanner, and from 1915 to 1918 with C. Boothe. In 1918, Colwill moved to Muskoka and operated a sawmill and a tourist hotel called Clovelly Inn at Bala Park on Lake Muskoka. He died there in 1928.

The Commonwealth Veterinary Association (CVA) was founded in 1967. Membership to the association is open to National Veterinary Associations of Commonwealth member countries. There are currently 54 full CVA members, with each member association being represented on a Regional Council by a Councillor elected by the member association. There are six regions representing Asia, Australasia/Oceania, Canada/Caribbean, East, Central, and SouthernAfrica, West Africa and UK/Mediterranean. Each Regional Council elects for a four-year term, a Regional Representative becomes a member of the Executive Committee. In addition to the Regional Representatives, there are also a Past-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Programme Director, and an Editor.

John Robert Connon (1862-1931), the son of Thomas Connon (1832-1899) and Jean Keith (1825-1909), was, together with his father, a professional photographer in Elora, Wellington County, Ontario. Apart from spending a year in New York City in 1890-1891, Connon lived his whole life in Elora. In 1887, he invented the panoramic camera, also known as a “full-circle camera”, which allowed the photographer to take a succession of exposures as the camera revolved horizontally on a turntable at a speed equal to that of the film. Connon was also a well-known local historian, and began working on his book, Early History of Elora, Ontario and Vicinity in 1906, which was published in 1930.

Thomas Connon (1832-1899), born in Aberdeen, Scotland, was a professional photographer in Elora, Wellington County, Ontario between 1859 and 1899. Immigrating to Canada in 1853, Connon first went to Hamilton before working as a clerk in Beamsville, Ontario. He came to Elora in the spring of 1853 to manage the store of James Philip, operator of the Elora Distillery. He married Jean Keith (1825-1909) in 1854 and, in 1855, left Philip to manage Sem Wissler’s store in Salem. He then worked in Streetsville (Mississauga) for a time before moving back to Elora in 1858 where he opened a general store.

As an artist and experimental photographer hobbyist, Connon decided to begin a professional photograph business in 1859. In 1860, he opened the Elora Art Studio. In 1867, Connon sold his general store and supported himself fully as a photographer. Until his retirement in 1885, Connon photographed extensively the sites and people of Wellington County. He is credited with designing what was later called a roll-holder in 1881, a device for putting gelatin emulsion onto a strip of film rather than onto glass plates. Connon’s son, John Robert Connon (1862-1931), also joined the business.