185
CHAMIER—CHAPELL—CHAPMAN.
as First Lieutenant, the Wellesley, bearing the broad pendant at the time of Commodore Sir Jas. John Gordon Bremer. For his services, while in the latter ship, on the coast of China and at the capture of Canton, Mr. Chambers was promoted to the rank of Commander, 8 Oct. 1841.[1] At the time of his last promotion, which took place 9 Nov. 1846, he had been officiating as Second-Captain, since 17 Nov. 1843, of the Albion 90, Capt. Nich. Lockyer, flag-ship at first of Sir David Milne at Devonport, and afterwards employed on various Particular Services.
Capt. Chambers married, 13 Oct. 1842, Eliza Ann, only child of J. W. Hodgetts, Esq., of Hagley, co. Worcester, by whom (who died 11 Oct. 1846) he has issue.
CHAMIER. (Commander, 1826. f-p., 17; h-p., 21.)
Frederic Chamier, born in 1796, is son of the late John Chamier, Esq., Member of Council for the Madras Presidency, by Georgiana Grace, eldest daughter of Admiral the late Sir Wm. Burnaby, Bart., of Broughton Hall, co. Oxford; grand-nephew of Anthony Chamier, Esq., who represented the borough of Tamworth in several Parliaments, and was Under Secretary of State; brother of Henry Chamier, Esq., Secretary to the Government at Madras; and brother-in-law of the late Col. Thos. Duer Broughton.
This officer entered the Navy, 24 June, 1809, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Salsette 36, Capt. Walter Bathurst, with whom he attended the ensuing expedition to Walcheren; and afterwards served, as Midshipman of the Fame 74, on the Mediterranean station, until April, 1811. He then cruized for a few months off the coast of Africa in the Arethusa 38, Capt. Fras. Holmes Coffin; and was next employed for three years and a half in the Menelaus 38, Capts. Sir Peter Parker and Edw. Dix. As Aide-de-Camp to the former of those officers, Mr. Chamier landed, 30 Aug. 1814, with a party of 134 seamen and marines at Bellair, near Baltimore, and assisted in routing a very superior body of Americans – an achievement, however, that cost the British a loss of 14 killed, including Sir Peter Parker, and 27 wounded. On 6 July, 1815, the subject of this sketch, while serving at Portsmouth on board the Caledonia 120, Capt. Sir Arch. Dickson, was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant; after which he appears to have been successively appointed – 18 Sept. 1815, to the Euphrates 36, Capt. Robt. Preston, in the Mediterranean – 7 April, 1818, to the Bulwark 74, Capt. Sam. Warren, lying at Sheerness – 4 Nov. following, to the Arab 18, Capt. Chas. Simeon, on the Cork station – 20 Sept. 1820, to the Lee 20, Capt. Stewart Blacker, employed at Plymouth – and, 20 Sept. 1824, and 3 Aug. 1825, as First, to the Scylla 18, Capt. Geo. Russell, and Lively frigate, Capt. Wm. Elliott, both in the West Indies. He there assumed command, 9 Aug. 1826, of the Britomart sloop; but since the autumn of 1827, when he returned home, has been unemployed.
Commander Chamier, a magistrate for the counties of Essex and Hertford, is the well-known author of ‘Ben Brace,’ the ‘Life of a Sailor,’ and other books of fiction; and, as editor of James’s ‘Naval History,’ has continued that able work from the Algerine era to the year 1827, including, during the period, the details of the Burmese war, and of the battle of Navarin. He married, in June, 1832, Elizabeth, daughter of the late John Soane, Esq., of Chelsea, and grand-daughter of the celebrated Sir John Soane. Agent – Joseph Woodhead.
CHAPELL. (Retired Commander, 1845. f-p., 16; h-p., 33.)
Charles Chapell was born 28 Feb. 1784; and has lost two brothers in the naval service of their country.
This officer entered the Navy, 9 Sept. 1798, as A.B., on board the Seagull 18, Capts. Henry Wray, Thos. Lavie, John Wainwright, and Henry Burke, in which he attained the rating of Midshipman, 14 April, 1799, and served on the Home station, latterly as Master’s Mate, until May, 1803. He next joined the Foudroyant 80, Capt. Peter Spicer, lying in Hamoaze; and, in Aug. following, removed to the Childers 14, Capt. Sir Wm. Bolton, in the Mediterranean. While in the latter vessel he captured, we presume in her boats, a French xebec, laden with wines, and mounting 4 guns; and likewise carried a battery, armed with 2 heavy guns, both of which were disabled and the magazine blown up. On his subsequent transference, in June, 1805, to the Guerrier 74, bearing the flag of Sir John Knight at Gibraltar, Mr. Chapell came into repeated collision with the Spanish gun-boats hovering about that port; after which he joined Lord Nelson in the Victory 100, in time to participate in the memorable action off Trafalgar, on which occasion, although accidentally omitted in the official return of the wounded, he received an injury in the face of which he has never recovered the effects. After a brief attachment to the Queen and Dreadnought 98’s, flag-ships respectively of Lords Collingwood and Northesk, he obtained, 11 June, 1806, a Master’s Mateship in the Chiffonne 36, Capt. John Wainwright; under whom, on 2 Jan. 1807, he aided in capturing a xebec laden with naval stores, from under the protection of a body of troops assembled on the coast of Morocco. On 15 of the following Aug. we further discover him, in command of a boat under the Chiffonne’s First-Lieutenant, the late Sir Robt. Hall, cutting out, from beneath the fire of some batteries, a Spanish brig and schooner, in face of an opposition which, though it cost the enemy a loss of 20 men, occasioned the British a casualty still more severe. Mr. Chapell was subsequently promoted, 18 Feb. 1808, to the rank of Lieutenant in the Achates 18, Capt. Hugh Cameron, on the West India station, where, on 18 Nov. 1808, and 8 June, 1809, he removed to the Vimiera 16, Capt. Edw. Scobell, and Jason 32, Capts. Chas. Napier and Hon. Jas. Wm. King. In the latter frigate he also served for some time off Newfoundland, whence he returned to England in Jan. 1813. His next appointment was, 24 Nov. in the same year, to the Duncan 74, in which ship, under Rear-Admiral Sir John Poo Beresford and various Captains, he served on the Mediterranean and Brazilian stations until Aug. 1815. Commander Chapell, who has been ever since on half-pay, accepted his present rank 18 Jan. 1845.
He is married, and has issue four children.
CHAPMAN. (Lieut., 1814. f-p., 27; h-p., 14.)
Charles Matthew Chapman entered the Navy, 26 June, 1806, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Alcmene 38, Capt. Jas. Brisbane, with whom he continued to serve, in the same ship, the Belle-Poule 38, and Pembroke 74, on the Home and Mediterranean stations, as Midshipman and Master’s Mate, until Aug. 1813. During that period he aided, besides contributing to the capture of many smaller armed vessels, at the taking, by the Belle Poule, of Le Var, of 26 guns, laden with corn for the relief of the French garrison at Corfu, 15 Feb. 1809; was also present, in 1809-10, at the reduction of the islands of Zante, Cephalonia, and Sta. Maura; and witnessed the destruction, 5 May, 1811, in spite of a fierce opposition from the enemy, of a French 18-gun brig, lying moored in the harbour of Parenza.[2] On leaving the Pembroke, Mr. Chapman proceeded to Rio de Janeiro in the Akbar 50, Capt. Sir Archibald Collingwood Dickson. He then joined the Indefatigable 44, Capt. John Fyffe; and, on his return to England as Acting-Lieutenant of the Aquilon 32, Capt. Jas. Boxer, was confirmed, 19 July, 1814, into the Leven 24, Capt. Buckland Stirling Black, engaged, during the war of 100, days, in co-operating with the French Royalists in La Vendée. After nearly
