CHAPMAN, Samuel Belcher
Samuel Belcher Chapman was born at Eastbourne, Sussex in 1800. His partnership with Henry Biddell at Artillery Court, Chiswell Street, London as 'hard confectioners' was dissolved on 7 June 1830 when 'of Ipswich'. In October 1831, Chapman was granted a Certificate of Qualification at Apothecaries Hall, and he became a chemist & druggist on Cornhill, Tavern Street, Ipswich. He married at St Mary-le-Tower Church, Ipswich on 6 January 1824, Frances Elizabeth Mendham (21 March 1801-February 1869). A member of the Ipswich Society of Professional & Amateur Artists from 1835, where he was tutored by Henry Davy. A generous philanthropist, in 1857 founding his Girl's Industrial Home in Black Horse Lane, Ipswich, a reformatory for up to twenty girls sentenced by the courts to detention for up to five years, and as well as supporting the Home financially, acted as its manager until his death. Chapman Street, Ipswich at the back of the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich, was named after him. He retired from his Cornhill business in 1851, and in that year's census, a 51-year-old general practitioner & Licentiate of the Apothecaries Society, living at Berners Street, Ipswich with his 50-year-old wife Frances, and two daughters, Frances Agatha 22 and Laura 17, he also had a further daughter and four sons. His wife Frances was buried in Ipswich Cemetery on 12 February 1869, aged 67, and in 1871 Samuel was living at 12 Tower Terrace, Tower Street, Ipswich. Samuel Belcher Chapman died at Tower Lodge, Ipswich on 28 June 1880, aged 80, and was buried in Ipswich Cemetery on 1 July 1880.