Biographical dictionary

There are many references to Chant in Stephens (1828-). He was a friend of Samouelle and of Bentley, and with the latter published an 'Entomological Tour in south Devon' in Ent. Mag., 1, 1833, 180-185. In his obituary of Chant in Ent., 4, 1868, 106-107, Edward Newman recorded: ‘Mr Chant and his colleague Mr Bentley were among my first entomological acquaintances; and all the older entomologists now living may be reckoned to have made their entomological debut under these auspices of these veterans of our science... [I] was a weekly visitor at their Thursday evening reunions for many years... Mr Chant became a contributor to my ‘Entomological Magazine' about the same period, 1832-36, but his communications were few in number and were soon altogether discontinued... Mr Chant died in September 1867, but I cannot be certain of his exact age: he devoted his spare time of later years to re-setting insects for the British Museum and for Mr Saunders: his collections, consisting of three small cabinets of British Lepidoptera, were sold by Mr Stevens on the 24 April last’. (MD 3/02)

Published 'A History of Lundy Island', with a note on the Coleoptera, in Rep. Devons. Ass. Adv. Sci., 4(2), 1871, 553-611. (MD 3/02)

Published a note with M.A. Hafeez on the external sexual characters of Latheticus oryzae (Waterhouse) in EMM, 99, 1963, 141-144. At the time he was attached to Queen Elizabeth College, University of London. (MD 3/02)

Published 'Notes on the biology of Hylesinus fraxini (Pz.) in EMM, 94, 1958, 245-246. At the time he was working in the Biological Research Institute of the University of Ghana. (MD 3/02)

Born at Nottingham but quickly moved to Glasgow where he gave up a career in medicine to become a businessman. Remained there for forty years until ill health forced his retirement early in 1879 when he moved to Burghill, Hereford to join his son Thomas Algernon (see below). It was here that he died.

Chapman was one of the best known Scottish entomologists of his day, and often acted as host to visitors from the south. Most of his work was on the Lepidoptera (including, later in his career, the fauna of the West coast of Africa), but he did take an interest in beetles too and published two notes on dark forms of Cicindela campestris (Zool., 14, 1858, 6286, and EMM, 3, 1867, 251 (with E.C. Rye)).

The beetles collected by Chapman labelled Kent, 1858 in the Hall collection at Oldham Museum may be referable to this Thomas Chapman. Chapman was an active member and at one time Vice-President of the Glasgow Natural History Society. There are obituaries in Ent, 12, 1879, 299-300 (by J.T. Carrington); EMM, 16, 1879,138; Scottish Naturalist, 5, 1880, 236; and Zool. Anz., 2, 1879, 600. (MD 3/02)

Born in Glasgow the son of Algernon Chapman (see above). Took a degree in medicine at Glasgow University. Worked as a demonstrator for Lord Lister for one year before moving to Abergavenny. Subsequently pursued his medical career there, and at Hereford where he was Superintendent of the Burghill Lunatic Asylum. Wishing to be nearer to London so as to be able to attend the meetings of the various societies of which he was a member, Chapman retired in the early 1890s to Reigate where he lived for almost thirty years before his death in 1921.

Chapman's enthusiasm for entomology was undoubtedly stimulated originally by his father. In 1861 Thomas senior reported in the EWI that his son was catching butterflies in the Isle of Wight, and Thomas junior's first article, on Diptera, in the EMM, 3, 1866, 94-95, was written with his father. His first article to concern beetles 'Note on the habits of Hylesinus' was published in EMM, 5, 1868, 20.

The habits and biology of insects were subsequently to become Chapman’s main interests. His friend H.J. Turner wrote in his obituary: 'his chief pleasure was the investigation of details in insect life histories, and whether of Lepidoptera, Diptera, Coleoptera or Hymenoptera, it was always to discover an intricate relationship, to investigate some curious habit, some hitherto evasive economy. In this way he strongly urged the importance of the study of ancillary appendages... For many years he noted examples of teratology in insects'. (ERJV., 34, 1922, 58-60).

In so far as these interests concerned beetles Chapman's most interesting work was perhaps on the parasitic activities of Rhipiphorus, about which he published various articles over several years including 'Some facts towards a life-history of Rhipiphorus paradoxus', 1870.

Smith (1986) lists Chapman’s insect material in the HDO (without mentioning beetles specifically) and also some MSS: Letters to J.O. Westwood 1868 and 1870; drawings by Westwood including a few for Chapman’s 1870 Rhipiphorus publication; letters from J.Hellins, 1870 and correspondence with Poulton, 1890-1912. She also mentions that Westwood’s notes labelled Aptera, 1865, are relevant. Pederson (2002) records ms and other material in the RESL most of which appears to be related to Lepidoptera. J.J. Pino, an entomologist in Galicia, Northern Spain, wrote to me in December 2002 saying that he was doing research into the journey of Chapman and G.C.Champion to that area in 1906.

Jon Cooter tells me that 'he gave a collection of sorts to Hereford Museum, but it is almost entirely without data and consisting of Lepidoptera. I'm not sure where his 'proper' collection ended up' (2/14) (MD 1/22)

There are other obituaries in Ent. News, 33, 1922, 127-128; EMM, 58, 1922, 40-41 (by G.C.Champion, includes portrait); and Ent., 55, 1922, 44-48 (by W.G. Sheldon). FES, FLS, FZS, and a member of the City of London, and South London Entomological Societies. (MD 3/02)

Mechanic in Sir Joseph Whitworth's works at Manchester where he lived most of his life. It is not known when he first acquired his interest in entomology b ut this must have been some time before 1865 when he published his first articles, on Lepidoptera and on Cryptocephalus bipustulatus in the EMM.. In preparing the latter he was helped by E.C. Rye. These were the first of some twenty six or so articles on the Lepidoptera and Coleoptera mainly of the Manchester district. Chappell's activities were severely restricted by the amputation of a leg in about 1884. During the 1887 Jubilee exhibition in Manchester he was given charge of the living silk moths display.

According to J.Harold Bailey's obituary in the EMM, 32, 1896, 262, Chappell's extensive collections were purchased by C.H. Schill of Cheadle. By 1958 17,000 British Coleoptera had passed to Mrs A. Stevenson of Edinburgh, who sold them to the RSM for £25. This collection (no. 1958.74) has now been amalgamated into the general collection. Chappell was well known to be a generous distributor of duplicates and I have seen other beetles collected by him in the foreign collection of J.W. Ellis at Liverpool Museum and in the Blatch collection at Manchester Museum.

Apart from the obituary mentioned above there are others in Ent, 29, 1896, 376, and in Proc. ESL., 1896, xcv. Chappell is mentioned by Sharp (1908), 12-13, who described him as 'an indefatiquable field naturalist, more especially an entomologist, [who] explored the mosses round Manchester, and for many species of Coleoptera his are the only local records we possess'. (MD 3/02)