Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 10.djvu/27

  

CHAMBERS, JOHN (1780–1839), biographer and topographer, was born in London in March 1780. After receiving a good preliminary education he was placed in the office of an architect, where he remained for some time, but having come into possession of an ample fortune by the death of his father, he determined to devote himself to the cultivation of art and literature solely as an amateur. In 1806 he became a member of the Society of Arts, and from 1809 to 1811 acted as a chairman of the committee of polite arts. Chambers married, on 29 Sept. 1814, Mary, the daughter of Peter Le Neve Foster of Wymondham in Norfolk. The year after his marriage he quitted London for Worcester, and here planned and wrote most of his works. He remained at Worcester for nearly eight years, then removed to his wife's home at Wymondham, and, after staying there for about two years, finally fixed himself at Norwich that his sons might attend the grammar school. Chambers died in Dean's Square, Norwich, on 28 July 1839, leaving issue two sons and a daughter. The eldest son, well known as a theological writer, was vicar of St. Mary's and warden of the House of Charity, Soho, from 1856 until his death in 1874 [see ]; the youngest son, Oswald Lyttleton, also entered into orders, and became in 1863 vicar of Hook, Yorkshire, where he died in 1883. Besides occasional contributions to the ‘Gentleman's Magazine’ and other periodicals, including a ‘Life’ of Inigo Jones to Arnold's ‘Magazine of the Fine Arts,’ Chambers was the author of the following useful works:
 * 1) ‘A General History of Malvern,’ 8vo, Worcester, 1817. Another edition, 8vo, Worcester, 1820.
 * 2) ‘A General History of Worcester,’ 8vo, Worcester, 1819.
 * 3) ‘Biographical Illustrations of Worcestershire; including Lives of Persons, Natives or Residents, eminent either for Piety or Talent, to which is added a List of Living Authors of the County,’ 8vo, Worcester, 1820.
 * 4) ‘A General History of the County of Norfolk, intended to convey all the information of a Norfolk Tour, with the more extended details of antiquarian, statistical, pictorial, architectural, and miscellaneous information; including biographical notices, original and selected,’ 2 vols. 8vo, Norwich, 1829. This was published anonymously, Chambers having received the assistance of contributors, resident in the county.



CHAMBERS, JOHN CHARLES (1817–1874), warden of ‘the House of Charity,’ London, was born at the Tything, Worcester, on 23 Nov. 1817. When not quite seven years old he was sent to the grammar school at Norwich, to which place his parents had removed; he was the last head-boy who, according to ancient custom, made a Latin speech from the top step of the school to the mayor and aldermen, and who was taken in the mayor's coach to the Guild dinner. After reading for a year or two with a tutor, Chambers entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he gained distinction in Hebrew and classical studies, and took his degree of B.A. in 1840, and of M.A. in 1843. While still an undergraduate he founded the first Sunday schools in Cambridge. In 1842 he was ordained deacon, and became curate of Sedbergh, Yorkshire, where he helped to build a district church. He was ordained priest in 1846, and about this time proceeded to Perth and founded the work of the church there. When, in 1855, the statutes and appointments of St. Ninian's Cathedral, of which he was the founder, had been settled, he retired from Perth and became vicar of St. Mary Magdalene's at Harlow. This vicarage he exchanged in 1856 for a London living, the perpetual curacy of St. Mary's, Crown Street, Soho, a benefice which he held until his death, together with the wardenship of the House of Charity, Soho, to which he was appointed in November 1856. Here, in the Soho district, Chambers spent many years of earnest labour and useful organisation. His religious views were those of the ‘ritualist’ school. On coming to Crown Street, Chambers found the church of St. Mary attended only by a scanty congregation, and the parish provided with an insignificant day-school. The benefice was worth 70l. per annum, but by his exertions it was raised to 300l., and became a vicarage. Under his auspices new schools were built in place of hired rooms, and the number of children under efficient instruction was raised to nearly one thousand. A large clergy house was established, and the church was practically rebuilt. Chambers got together a large staff of volunteer workers to help in the ragged schools and elsewhere, and his was the first parish in which church guilds and dinners for sick children and invalids were set on foot. The House of Charity, founded in 1846, originally occupied a hired house in