Hugh Chapman

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The Rev Hugh Boswell Chapman (5 November 1853 – 1 April 1933) was a British Liberal politician and Anglican priest. He was a Progressive member of the London County Council from 1889 to 1892.

The Rev
Hugh Boswell Chapman
Born5 November 1853
Died1 April 1933
EducationTonbridge School

Early life[edit]

Chapman was born in London in 1853,[1] the son of Henry Chapman and his wife Priscilla (née Wakefield). Gen Sir Edward Chapman (1840-1926) and Sir Arthur Wakefield Chapman (1849-1926) were older brothers. He was the grandson of the philanthropist and statistician Edward Wakefield and great-grandson of the Quaker philanthropist Priscilla Wakefield.

He was educated at Tonbridge School[2] and Keble College, Oxford (BA, 1875).[3]

Clerical career[edit]

He was ordained deacon in 1878 and priest in 1881.[3] He served his title under the Rev the Hon Adelbert Anson (subsequently a bishop in Canada) at St Mary Magdalene, Woolwich (1878-1880) and then at St Paul's, Newington (also known as St Paul's, Lorrimore Square) (1881-1885),[3] arriving at the latter shortly after the Bishop of Rochester, Dr Thorold, had imposed an Evangelical Vicar on the extreme Anglo-Catholic parish, prompting the mass exodus of the congregation to the nearby St Agnes, Kennington Park.[4][5] During his time at Lorrimore Square he was Chaplain to the Forces in Egypt during the Anglo-Egyptian War of 1882.[3] He was Vicar of St Luke's, Camberwell (1885-1909) and then Chaplain at the Savoy Chapel (1909-1933).[3]

Chapman was a proponent of the Normyl treatment for alcoholism.[6] He was an active supporter of Father Damien's leper hospital in Hawaii.[7] He established a "Hugh Boswell" Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at St Luke's; the Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Edward Talbot was initiated as a member in 1901.[8] St Luke's had a notable reputation under Chapman: Princess Mary, the Duchess of Teck (the mother of Queen Mary) was a regular visitor, and he was responsible for decorations being installed by John Ruskin's Century Guild of Artists, Herbert Horne, Frederic Shields, Selwyn Image, and Edward Burne-Jones.[9] (The church was bombed in 1941, and rebuilt.)[9]

The Savoy Chapel was widely known during Chapman's incumbency as a location where divorced persons were permitted to marry or to have their civil marriages blessed.[10] Notable weddings included that of Consuelo, Duchess of Marlborough and Lt Col Jacques Balsan in 1921[11] and Edith Stuyvesant Vanderbilt and Senator Peter Goelet Gerry in 1925.[12] A condition of such 'benedictory' services was that there be no publicity.[13] Nevertheless, in 1926 Chapman refused to marry Lord Sholto Douglas and Mrs Mendelssohn Pickles, on the basis they were the guilty parties in their respective divorces.[14] Chapman's successor as Chaplain, the Rev Cyril Cresswell, immediately brought an end to the marriage of divorced persons in the Chapel.[15]

London County Council[edit]

Chapman was elected to the newly-formed London County Council for Camberwell North (in which St Luke's was situated) in 1889 as a Progressive.[2] He did not seek re-election in 1892. His brother, Cecil Maurice Chapman, was a Moderate Party member for Chelsea from 1895 to 1898.[2]

Works[edit]

Chapman was the author of a number of books.

  • The Seven Last Words of Love (1885: Griffith Farran & Co)
  • Sermons in Symbols (1888: Swan Sonnenschein, Lowrey & Co)
  • Where is Christ? (1890: Swan Sonnenschein & Co)
  • Steps to the Higher Life (1897: Swan Sonnenschein & Co)
  • Proverbs in Practice (1909: F. H. Morland)
  • At the Back of Things (1911: Duckworth & Co)
  • The soul of women’s suffrage (1912: Corrigan & Wilson)
  • Home Truths about the War (1917: G. Allen & Unwin)

Personal life[edit]

Chapman was unmarried.[10] During his incumbency at the Savoy Chapel, he lived at the National Club, at 12 Queen Anne’s Gate.[16][10] He died in a nursing home in 1933, aged 79.[17]

References[edit]

  1. ^ West Ham Registry Office, December quarter 1853, Vol 4A, page 29.
  2. ^ a b c Hughes-Hughes, WO, The Register of Tonbridge School from 1820 to 1893, (1893: Richard Bentley) p 141.
  3. ^ a b c d e Crockford's Clerical Directory, 1932, p 223.
  4. ^ "Spectator: "The parishioners of St. Paul's, Lorrimore Square, Walworth, are not in a very happy frame of mind", 4 December 1880". Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  5. ^ "St Agnes, Kennington Park: Our History". Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  6. ^ "CAN DRUNKENNESS BE CURED?". Jerilderie Herald and Urana Advertiser. Vol. XI, no. 1136. New South Wales, Australia. 9 March 1906. p. 3. Retrieved 29 March 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ^ "THE LEPER HOSPITAL". South Australian Register. Vol. LIII, no. 13, 129. South Australia. 11 December 1888. p. 5. Retrieved 29 March 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ "Church Times, 1 March 1901, p 250". Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  9. ^ a b "Church Times: "HM Queen Mary's Mother's Church", 20 March 1953, p 219". Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  10. ^ a b c "NOTED CHAPLAIN". Glen Innes Examiner. Vol. 8, no. 1165. New South Wales, Australia. 15 August 1933. p. 6. Retrieved 31 March 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. ^ "Gisborne Times, Volume LV, Issue 6175, 5 September 1921, Page 5". Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  12. ^ "Waikato Times, Volume 99, Issue 16681, 23 December 1925, Page 4 (Supplement)". Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  13. ^ "Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLIII, Issue 6944, 18 September 1922, Page 7". Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  14. ^ "PARTIES IN DIVORCE". The Labor Daily. No. 838. New South Wales, Australia. 8 October 1926. p. 1. Retrieved 29 March 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  15. ^ "Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19604, 26 September 1933, Page 9". Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  16. ^ "London Gazette, 23 May 1933, p 3503". Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  17. ^ "Church Times: "Clerical Obituary", 7 April 1933, p 418". Retrieved 29 March 2022.
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