Reforming politician and Lord Provost of Glasgow. Born in Dalkeith (Midlothian), the son of a tobacco manufacturer, Chisholm began a grocery business in the town. By 1870, he had moved his business to Glasgow. Chisholm had a strong social conscious driven by his religious principles. He was determined to improve the living conditions of the working classes and instituted a programme of house-building in Glasgow. He was also responsible for transport improvements and the building of public libraries, having received a gift of £100,000 for that purpose from philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in 1901. Chisholm was knighted in the same year.
His downfall came with his enthusiasm for temperance and restrictive licensing laws. This was never going to prove popular in Glasgow and the heads of the drinks industry, his political opponents and the populous at large combined to ensure he was voted from office.