CHAPMAN, James (1820-1909) — York
Engraver on wood, brass, copper and stone; lithographic & letterpress printer; newspaper proprietor, editor, journalist and publisher. Engraved A map of the country 26 miles round the city of York for “A brief description of places of public interest, in the county of York” 1843. He later published his own “Scarborough, Ancient and Modern” 1899, with plates and a map.
Born in York 20 Jul 1820, the son of Henry Chapman and his wife Mary Swan, who had married in 1814 — his father was variously described as tobacconist, share-broker and animal preserver. He was working in Stockton-on-Tees at the time of his marriage to Elizabeth Hill (1820-1895) at the Catholic chapel at York 29 May 1844 — some years later he testified at a theft trial that he had assisted at the altar there for twenty years. Thereafter he spent some time in Hartlepool, before filing for protection from his creditors in York in 1851. His insolvency hearing took place at York 17 Nov 1851, but by the following year he was advertising for an apprentice. In 1861 Chapman was employing three men and two boys and was the publisher of the “Yorkshire Advertiser”, which commenced publication in 1859 and merged with the “Yorkshire Telegraph” in 1871. His wife was also born in York and his son Augustine was an apprentice printer and compositor at that time. By 1871 he was recorded simply as an editor and publisher, and by 1881 as a journalist, living with his wife and three daughters in Scarborough. Now a widower, he was still working as a reporter in Scarborough at the age of eighty in 1901. He died in 1909.
Stockton-on-Tees — 1844
Hartlepool
30 Penley’s Grove Street, York — 1851
Near the Ferry, Lendal — 1852-1857
3 Little Stonegate, York — 1859-1871
49 Gladstone Road, Scarborough — 1891-1901
BNA. Census 1851-1901.