Name
Wilfrid Hubert Chapman
13 December 1979
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
08/07/1915
35
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Captain
Yorkshire Regiment
6th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
AZMAK CEMETERY, SUVLA
Special Memorial 35.
Turkey (including Gallipoli)
Headstone Inscription
FLOREAT ETONA
UK & Other Memorials
Ind. Plaque, St Mary Magdalene Church, Barkway, Memorial Wall, Eton College, Berks Trinity College War Memorial, Cambridge, St Mary's Church, Whitby, N. Yorks, (joint memorial with brother Harold), Chavenage House Roll of Honour, Tetbury, Gloucs
Pre War
Wilfrid Hubert Chapman was born on 13 December 1879 in Goudhurst, Kent, the son of Joseph and Fanny Chapman (née Simpson). He was baptised on 29 February 1880 at St Mary's Church, Goudhurst, Kent. He was one of six children but one died in infancy.
On the 1881 Census the family were living at 'Lidwells' Goudhurst, where his father was recorded as having an 'M.A. from Cambridge and an income from dividends'. (he would later be described as a barrister). Older brothers Edward, Percy, and Harold were also living there, as well as a governess and six domestic servants.
He was was educated at Eton College where he excelled at athletics and rowing, then he studied at Trinity College, Cambridge from 1898. He was a proficient rower and took part in the annual Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge universities on the River Thames, being one of the 'light blues' in the winning Cambridge boat in 1899.
He obtained a commission in the Yorkshire Regiment and served in the South African War, after which he retired in 1905 and married May Campbell at the Church of St Mary Magdalene, Barkway, Hertfordshire on 5 August 1909. The couple had two daughters: Elizabeth Mary, born 22 April 1911 and Annie Wilfrida Sinclair, born 31 December 1913. He then was appointed Assistant to the Bombay Company at Karachi, India.
His parents later lived at St Hilda's Terrace, Whitby, Yorks. and his widow lived in Home Farm, Cromer, Norfolk.
Wartime Service
When war was declared Wilfrid was manager of the Bombay Company in Karachi and joined the Sind Volunteer Field Artillery. The company refused him permission to go to the front so he resigned his appointment and returned to England. He re-joined the Yorkshires as Captain in June 1915 and left Liverpool in early July sailing with the 6th battalion to the Dardanelles for the Gallipoli campaign. They landed first at the island of Lemnos, moving on to Imbros on 20 July.
In the early morning darkness of 7 August 1915, they landed at Suvla Bay, Gallipoli, with Captain Chapman in charge of “D” Coy. He was killed in action as the battalion charged up the hill of Lala Baba He was 35 years of age and is buried in Azmak Cemetery, Suvla, Turkey.
Additional Information
His widow received pay owing of £112 6s 6d. She also obtained probate of his estate in London on 10 October with effects of £9679 4s 2d.
Brother to Harold Chapman who was killed in action on 15 August 1917, aged 39, and who served with the 7th Battalion, Canadian Infantry. He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Vimy Memorial, France.
Cousin to Lt Col. Edward Henry Chapman who served in the same action as Wilfrid, died on the same day and is also buried in Azmak Cemetery, Suvla, Turkey.
N.B. Some records spell his first name as Wilfred with an 'e' but most family records use the spelling with two 'i' s, i.e. Wilfrid.
Acknowledgments
Derry Warners, Brenda Palmer
Paul Johnson, Adrian Pitts, Jonty Wild, www.ww1-yorkshires.org
