Sir Thomas Robert Tighe CHAPMAN ( - )

Individual Events and Attributes

Marriage

Individual Note 1

http://homepage3.nifty.com/yagitani/tpc_en10.htm#tree

Individual Note 2

Sir Thomas Chapman, seventh Baronet of Westmeath in Ireland, had escaped a reportedly tyrannical wife to live with his daughters' governess, Sarah Junner, with whom he had five sons. The couple lived at 2 Polstead Road (now with a blue plaque) in Oxford, under the names of Mr and Mrs Lawrence. Their son Thomas Edward attended the City of Oxford High School for Boys, where one of the four houses is now named "Lawrence" in his honour. In about 1905, Lawrence ran away from home and served for a few weeks as a boy soldier with the Royal Garrison Artillery at St Mawes Castle in Cornwall; he was bought out. Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/collective/A13732779

Individual Note 3

7th Bt. «i»a.k.a«/i» Thomas Robert Tighe Chapman, was born on 6th November 1846. He was the second son of William Chapman (1811-89) and Martha Louisa Vansittart. Lawrence's early knowledge of the Chapman family history seems to have been derived from «i»Debrett«/i». According to the 1918 edition: 'This family was originally settled at Hinckley, in Leicestershire; but John Chapman, and his brother William, through the influence of Sir Walter Raleigh, their cousin-german, received large grants of land in Ireland, and settled in that country. Benjamin, the son of William Chapman, was an officer of cavalry in Cromwell's army, and for his services received the castle and estates of Killua, sometime the seat of the family. The 3rd baronet sat as M.P. for Westmeath . . . 1830-41. Sir Benjamin James, 4th baronet, sat as M.P. for Westmeath . . . 1841-7 and was Lord-Lieutenant of that county. The 5th baronet, Sir Montagu Richard, was High Sheriff of County Westmeath.' («i»Debrett's Illustrated Baronetage«/i», London, 1918, p. 135). The Chapman family motto is curious, both in itself and as a comment on Lawrence's life after the First World War. Translated from the Latin, it reads: 'Virtue thrives under oppression.' Lawrence's father was brought up to the life of a gentleman landowner, at a large manor house called South Hill, near the village of Delvin, County Westmeath. The family also maintained a town house in Dublin. The size of the Chapman fortune should not be judged by the relatively modest South Hill estate (173 acres). When the family land was sold in 1949 it totalled over 1,230 acres, in nine different locations. A better indication of the family's wealth is given by the valuation at probate of the estate of Francis Robert Chapman, Lawrence's uncle, who died in 1915. This amounted to £120,296, equivalent in 1990 to a sum of more than £3 million. All sources show that the Chapman family belonged to the upper tier of the Anglo-Irish landowning class. Through successive generations it had intermarried with families of comparable stature in England and Ireland. Thus Lawrence was a blood relative, on his father's side, of many Englishmen from distinguished backgrounds. For example Robert Vansittart, later Baron Vansittart, was his second cousin. Thomas Chapman was educated at Eton (as were his two brothers). It was expected that he would run the family estates and from 1866-8 he studied at the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester. His elder brother, William, joined the army and served in the 15th Hussars, but in May 1870 he died. Thomas then assumed the position of eldest son, and his younger brother Francis was trained to run the estates. In 1873 Thomas married Edith Sarah Hamilton, from another landowning family in County Westmeath. There were four daughters: Eva Jane Louisa (b. 1874); Rose Isabel (b. 1878); Florence Lina (b.1880) and Mabel Cecele (b. 1881).