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)