Henry James Chapman

Gillian Massiah recently sent me more information and some photos of this family, her relatives.

Chapman family c.1911. Photograph kindly supplied by Gillian Massiah (2015).

As described here, Oakwood Lodge, west of Houghton on the Hexham Road, in 1911 was the home of Henry James Chapman (49) working as Head Gardener. Sharing the lodge was his wife, Elizabeth (46), and six sons. He had been employed for his experience in propagation and cultivation of orchids, a passion of Norman Charles Cookson (Tyneside Industrialist, 1841-1909) at Oakwood House. One of the greenhouses still exists today and is to be restored by its current owners.

From Left to Right Standing:
William Henry Chapman (b.1893; colliery clerk);  Harold Thomas Chapman (b.1896; school); Wallace Chapman (b.1900, school); George Lewis Chapman (b.1894, teacher)
Seated:
Henry James Chapman (b.1862, gardener): Frederick Charles Chapman (b.1905, school); Elizabeth Chapman (nee Lewis; b.1865, married 20 years)
Standing:
Albert Edward Chapman (b.1903, school).
The dog is either Digger or Trencher.

Two Calanthes hybrids raised by Norman Cookson. Facing p.76, Watson & Chapman (1902).

Odontoglossum ardentissimum 'Norman Cookson'. Shown by Mrs N C Cookson, Oakwood House, Wylam. Awarded RHS Award of Merit (1909), later raised to First Class Certificate. Photo by Mr H J Chapman. The Gardener's Chronicle April 16th 1910 p.242.

The family moved north somewhere between 1901 and 1902 [Albert Edward was probably born at Oakwood Lodge in 1903 - the 1911 Census has Wylam crossed out as his birth-place, and corrected to Heddon]. The 1901 Census shows the family living in London.

Henry James himself was born in Devonshire [Holne Chase, Ashburton] and I think that he was apprenticed or worked at the famous Veitch Nursery in Surrey. Legend has it that Henry James actually served his time as a gardener at Sandringham and that's where he met Elizabeth who was a ladies maid to one of the guests who stayed there.

When Henry James was working at Oakwood there were about 20 or 30 gardeners under him, all engaged in orchid cultivation. Orchids used to be sent to the RHS London shows by train   packed in spagnum moss in large pine chests with carrying handles at either end. It was a rich man's hobby and the Cooksons were very wealthy at that time. However I gather the First World War brought an end to the indulgence of orchid growing, at least in the UK.

From memory the family left Oakwood Lodge about 1920. They went to live in a house called Mornington in South Wylam. Henry James died in 1931 but Elizabeth lived on at Mornington until 1942 when she was killed in an accident at Wylam Station. Elizabeth's eyesight was failing  and she was hit by a train as she was crossing the tracks on the pedestrian crossing.

Henry James Chapman was the editor of the third and most comprehensive edition of William Watson and Henry James Chapman's 'Orchids their Culture and Management', published in 1902. This was the standard work on orchid cultivation of it's day and is still in print. The blurb describes HJC as 'one of the most able Orchid Growers and Hybridists in the country'. He was awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal by The Royal Horticultural Society in 1910 for services to orchid growing and frequently judged at RHS shows as well as exhibing himself.

In 1904  HJC was awarded two RHS First Class Certificates: the first on 22nd March for Odontoglossum ardentissimum cooksonae and the second on 5 April for Odontoglossum xanthotes  cooksoniae. His youngest son Frederick Charles born on 12th April 1904 was named so that his initials commemorated this splendid  double. The commemoration lived  for another 97 !years!

Henry James Chapman with orchid buttonhole c.1910. Photograph kindly supplied by Gillian Massiah (2015).

Above photograph (left) of Henry James Chapman with the orchid buttonhole was taken in Newcastle so must have been taken after 1901/2, perhaps in 1910 when he was awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal.  I also discovered that before HJC was employed by Norman Cookson he was employed by R. H. Measures of Camberwell who was also a keen orchid grower.  R. H. Measures was a director of Measures Brothers Ltd. of Southwark Street, London, who were in the iron trade as suppliers of cast iron pillars, mouldings etc. used in the building trade.

Last remaining orchid greenhouse near Oakwood House. Photo A Curtis (2014).

In February 1905 the great philanthropist and celebrated orchid grower, Sir Jeremiah Coleman of the Coleman's Mustard family, invited HJC to lecture on orchids and their cultivation at his newly founded Coleman Institute in Reigate, near his home at Gatton Park in Surrey. He was presented with an inkwell as a token of Coleman's appreciation.

Coleman's own orchid collection was vast, totalling some 30,000 orchids and another 20,000 seedlings. It was given to the Cambridge University Botanical Garden in the 1930s.

Inkwell presented to H J Chapman by Jeremiah Coleman in appreciation of his lecture at the Coleman Institute, February 28th 1905. Photograph kindly supplied by Gillian Massiah (2015).

Obituary of H J Chapman in The Orchid Review, March 1931 p.96. Photo courtesy of Gillian Massiah (2015).

The youngest son Frederick Charles Chapman became a colliery manager with the Mickley Coal Company and was Manager at Acomb Pit from 1937-45. From there he joined the Lambton, Hetton and Joicey Colliery Company being Manager for the Beamish Mary group of pits until 1953 when he moved to Silksworth Colliery near Sunderland. He was in charge of the  modernisation of  both Beamish Mary pit and Silksworth Colliery, changing them from steam power to electric power. The Silksworth modernisation was a major £5million project in 1953/4 (about £500.million in today's terms). He was awarded an M.B.E for services to the coal insustry in 1953. He died aged 97 in 2000.

Harold Thomas Chapman in his WW1 Royal Flying Corps uniform with his brother George Lewis Chapman. Photo supplied by Gillian Massiah (2015)

Harold Thomas Chapman in 1957. Photograph kindly supplied by Gillian Massiah (2015).

Harold Thomas Chapman conducting Winston Churchill round the Armstrong Siddeley Works after the blitz on Coventry. Photo supplied by Gillian Massiah (2015).

Another of Henry's sons, Harold Thomas Chapman (4th August 1896 - 4th May 1985; above), went on to become a leading aeronautical engineer and was accorded the lead obituary in the Times. He was managing director of Armstrong Siddeley playing a leading part in keeping production going in WWII.

Photo (above left) is of Harold Thomas Chapman as Managing Director of Armstrong Siddeley Motors and a Hawker Siddeley Group Director in 1957 at the height of his powers. On the right above is a photograph of him conducting Winston Churchill round the Armstrong Siddley Works after the blitz on Coventry in 1940. He invited Churchill to visit the factory to raise morale.

He was responsible for the introduction of the Sapphire jet engine for which work he was awarded a C.B.E. in 1951. He was subsequently a director of the Hawker Siddeley Group and Chief Executive of the Industrial Division which he established. He was also deputy chairman of Bristol Siddeley and a friend and colleague of the aviator Sir Thomas Sopwith who was the grandson of the mining engineer.

Obituary of Harold Thomas Chapman in The Times.

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Dorian Pritchard, the current owner of Oakwood Lodge, told me that the building was completed in January 1903, because he found a 'time-capsule' in the form of a Newcastle newspaper nailed under the floorboards of the main room that was so dated. He was told by his father, who was a builder in his early adult life, that this would usually be done just before they completed the floor.