William Chalmers

William Chalmers was born in Gothenburg, Sweden in a Scottish merchant family. By working for the Swedish East India Company Chalmers spent ten years in Canton and Macao where he served as a director (supercargoer) of the company. After 1793 he returned to Sweden. He served as director of the Swedish East India Company which became the largest trading company in Sweden during the 18th century, and became a manager of Trollhätte Kanalverk, a canal that runs through Trollhättan. Chalmers left half of his wealth to the Sahlgrenska Hospital and half to the future establishment of an industrial school for poor children that developed into today's Chalmers University of Technology.