Chapman, Thomas (1717-1760), Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge

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Chapman, Thomas (1717-1760), Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge

1717-1760

Master of Magdalene College, 1746-1760

Born at Billingham, Durham in 1717 the son of Thomas Chapman
School - Richmond

Admitted pensioner at the age of 17 at Christ's College on 17 May 1734
Matriculated in 1734
Scholar, 1734
B.A. 1737-8; M.A. 1741;
LL.D. from Magdalene, 1748; D.D. 1749 (Lit. Reg.)

Fellow of Christ's, 1741-46
Ordained priest (Lincoln), 23 Sept. 1744

Master of Magdalene, 1746-60
Vice-Chancellor, 1748-49

A History of Magdalene College, 1428-1988 describes him as follows
"Even by the easy-going standards of the 18th century Chapman was a shameless jobber, with all the delicacy of feeling of a hog: nevertheless his entry into a College which he know to have resisted his appointment can hardly have been comfortable".

"Chapman's Mastership came to gruesome but entirely fitting end on Mon 9 June 1760, when he died in the Master's Lodge, apparently as a result of his own gluttony".
"He is gone to his grave with five fine mackerel (large and full of roe) in his belly. He ate them all at one dinner; but his fate was a turbot on Trinity Sunday, of which after his sixth fish he never held up his head more, and a violent looseness carried him off. They say he made a very good end". This may have been an exaggeration and he made have died of a fever which he caught on the Friday.

Chaplain to the King
Rector of Kirkby-Overblow, Yorks., 1749-60
Prebendary of Durham, 1750

Died 9 June 1760
Buried in Magdalene Chapel