William Edwin Saunders
William Edwin Saunders was a Canadian naturalist. He contributed to the studies of birds and mammals in Canada. He served as the founding president of the Federation of Ontario Naturalists. He was a brother of the plant breeder Charles E. Saunders.
Born in London, Ontario, to William Saunders senior, a founding director of the Dominion Experimental Farm in Ottawa and Sarah Agnes Robinson, the daughter of a Methodist clergyman, Saunders went to local schools. Saunders then studied chemistry at Trinity College School and graduated from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in 1883. Saunders founded the Mcllwraith Ornithological Club in London in 1890. For a while Saunders headed the chemistry department of the newly created Western University.
Saunders married Emma Lee in 1885 and they had a daughter, Muriel. He donated most of his collections to the National Museum, Ottawa and the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto.
