William James Chalmers was an American manufacturer.
Background
William James Chalmers was born on July 10, 1852 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. He was the oldest son and fourth of seven children of Thomas S. and Janet (Telfer) Chalmers. The elder Chalmers had learned the machinist's trade in a spinning-machine factory in his native Scotland. In 1843 he and his wife emigrated to America and in 1845 settled in Chicago, where he became associated as machinist with Philetus W. Gates in his machine shop. This later developed into the Eagle Works Manufacturing Company, with Thomas Chalmers, David R. Fraser, and others as partners. In 1872 Chalmers, Fraser, and two other partners sold their interest in the Eagle Works and formed a new partnership under the firm name of Fraser, Chalmers & Company (later Fraser & Chalmers Company), specializing in the building of mining and power machinery.
Education
William James Chalmers was educated in public elementary and high schools in Chicago. At fourteen he left school and was apprenticed to the machinist's trade in the Eagle Works, of which his father was then superintendent.
Career
He remained in the shop four years, after which he spent a year in Europe. In 1872 he began his business career with his father in Fraser, Chalmers & Company. Employed at first as a clerk, he later became cashier and in 1882 was admitted to the partnership. The business was incorporated in 1889 with Thomas Chalmers as president and his son as vice-president and treasurer; young Chalmers became president in 1891. Discoveries of new mines and the replacement of early placer mining by open-pit and underground mining requiring the use of specialized machinery provided the company with steadily expanding markets for its products in the mining areas of the world. In 1889 representatives of the Cecil Rhodes interests in South African diamond and gold mines began discussions with William Chalmers about building a similar plant in England, and as a result Fraser & Chalmers, Ltd. , was established in London in the following year. This firm acquired the shares of the Chicago company, named Chalmers a director, and in 1891 built a new plant at Erith, England. In 1900 Chalmers and Edwin Reynolds, chief engineer and superintendent of the Allis Company, founded by Edward P. Allis of Milwaukee, started discussions with a view to merging several large American firms making similar types of heavy machinery--their own companies and the Bullock Works of Cincinnati, the Gates Iron Works of Chicago, and the Dickson Works of Scranton. Vermilye & Company of New York agreed to finance the undertaking through an underwriting syndicate, and on May 7, 1901, the Allis-Chalmers Company was incorporated under the laws of New Jersey. Meanwhile, Chalmers had arranged with Fraser & Chalmers of London for the sale of the Chicago firm, and on May 13, 1901, the property of the latter was deeded and patents assigned to the Allis-Chalmers Company. Chalmers served the new corporation as treasurer, chairman of the executive committee, and vice-president until the removal of the general offices to Milwaukee in 1905, after which he retired from manufacturing. During and after World War I he worked closely with Herbert Hoover in the collection of funds for Belgian relief.
Achievements
Chalmers was a member of the Chicago Board of Education, 1891-93, a director of the World's Columbian Exposition, and a life trustee of the Field Museum of Natural History.
Membership
Chicago Board of Education
Personality
Of medium height and build, Chalmers had a nervous temperament and spoke with decisiveness.
Interests
He found pleasure in travel, and his business took him to nearly every part of the world where mineral wealth attracted the attention of men.
Connections
On October 21, 1878, at Chicago, he was married to Joan Pinkerton, daughter of Allan Pinkerton, founder of Pinkerton's National Detective Agency. They had two children, Joan and Thomas Stuart.
