John Douglas Borthwick was born on June 5, 1831, in Glencorse, Midlothian, Scotland.

He was a clergyman and author. He came to Canada about 1850. He taught school, first in Upper Canada, and then in Montreal. In 1866, he was ordained a clergyman of the Church of England. For twenty-five years he was incumbent of St. Mary's, Hochelaga, and in his later years he was Protestant chaplain of the Montreal prison. In his earlier days, he published several general or reference books, but he is remembered chiefly as the historian of Montreal. He was the author of “Montreal, Its History” (1875), “History of Montreal and Commercial Registrar for 1885” (1885), “History and Biographical Gazetteer of Montreal” (1892), “History of Montreal, Including the Streets of Montreal” (1897), “Authentic History of the Eight Prisons of Montreal” (1907), and “History of the Diocese of Montreal, 1850-1910” (1911).

In 1850, he married Charlotte Helena Simpson (d. 1892). In 1894, he married Emma Nicholson Richey. He died on January 14, 1912, in Montreal, Quebec.