Men of Kent and Kentishmen/William James Chaplin
William James Chaplin,
THE HEAD OF THE GREAT FIRM OF CHAPLIN & HORNE,
Was born at Rochester in 1787, and his history affords a remarkable example of a man rising from the humblest ranks, by talents and energy, to a foremost place with the wealthy and influential. Before railways were in operation he succeeded in becoming one of the largest coach-proprietors in the kingdom, possessing sixty-four stage coaches, worked by fifteen hundred horses, and returning yearly more than half a million sterling. This capital he gradually removed into railways in England, France, and Holland; particularly into the London and South Western Railway, of which he became a director and Chairman. In 1845 he was Sheriff of London, and in 1847 was elected M.P. for Salisbury, for which he continued to sit till 1857. He died April 24th, 1859.
[See "Men of the Time," ed. 1856.]