Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 09.djvu/444

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Chalkley
438
Challis

badoes. According to Allen (American Dict. of Biog.), in 1705 Chalkley attempted to convert an Indian tribe, but his diary gives no record of this. In 1707 he had a narrow escape of being shipwrecked on the coast of Ireland, and during this year and the next he visited Scotland and England, and afterwards Holland and Germany, not leaving for America till 1710, having attended upwards of a thousand meetings and travelled more than fourteen thousand miles. On his arrival in Philadelphia he was accused of having gained wealth by his preaching, whereas he affirms that he had had to borrow money to pay his passage home. Soon after his return his wife died, and in 1714 he married a widow named Martha Brown. He made various preaching expeditions between 1712 and 1718. In 1724 he was much reduced in circumstances by unexpected losses, and about the same time he had a dangerous illness, and afterwards had an accident which injured his eyesight. In 1725 he lost about 2,000l., but was not reduced to poverty. During the next two years he was chiefly engaged in business and in farming, but he found time for preaching excursions and for voyages to Barbadoes. He was shot at, in 1735, for advocating kindness to slaves in Barbadoes, but refused to prosecute his assailant. After this time he confined his exertions to North America and the West Indies, and chiefly resided at Frankfort, near Philadelphia. In the autumn of 1741 he went to Tortola, one of the Virgin Islands, where he was seized with fever and died after a few days' illness, only one of his twelve children, a girl, surviving him. Chalkley was probably the most influential quaker minister in America during the eighteenth century. His position seems to have been nearly analogous to that of a modern missionary bishop. The narrow escapes he had are very numerous, and in nearly every instance he insinuates that he was saved by a miracle. His 'Journal,' from its quaint simplicity, is still intensely interesting; its popularity among the Friends is shown by its having been reprinted at least a dozen times in England, the last being in 1842. His chief works were: 1. 'A Loving Invitation to Young and Old in Holland and elsewhere,' 1709. 2. 'Youth persuaded to Obedience, Gratitude, and Honour to God and their Parents,' 1730. 3. 'Free Thoughts communicated to Free Thinkers,' 1735. His works were published in 1749 under the title of 'A Collection of the Works of Thomas Chalkley,' and republished in 1751 and 1790.

[Allen's Dictionary of American Biography; Smith's Catalogue of Friends' Books; Chalkley's Journal, &c., 1766; Bowden's History of the Friends in America.]

A. C. B.


CHALLICE, JOHN (1815–1863), physician, was born at Horsham, Sussex, in 1815. He became a physician in London, and besides attaining some eminence in his profession was an active liberal politician, and an intimate friend of Sir W. Molesworth, Admiral Sir Charles Napier, and other representatives of Southwark. He was one of the first medical officers of health for Bermondsey, in which capacity he published various reports in 1856 and subsequent years. He also wrote 'Should the Cholera come, what ought to be done?' (1848); a cheap tract 'How to avoid the Cholera,' of which many thousands were sold; 'Medical Advice to Mothers' (1851); 'Letter to Lord Palmerston on Sanitary Reform' (1854); and 'How do People hasten Death?' (1851). He was M.D. and F.R.C.P. Edin. He died suddenly, 11 May 1863.

His wife, Annie Emma Challice, whose maiden name was Armstrong, was born in London in 1821, and died there in 1875. She was remarkable for wit and graceful manners, and was the author of: 1. 'The Village School Fête,' 1847. 2. 'The Laurel and the Palm,' 1852. 3. 'The Sister of Charity,' 1857. 4. 'The Wife's Temptation,' 1859. 5. 'The Secret History of the Court of France under Louis XV,' 1861 (anonymous). 6. 'Heroes, Philosophers, and Courtiers of the time of Louis XVI,' 1863. 7. 'French Authors at Home,' 1864. 8. 'Memories of French Palaces,' 1871. 9. 'Illustrious Women of France,' 1873. She also edited 'Recollections of Society in France and England,' by Lady Clementina Davies, in 1873.

[Information from Mr. W. B. Challice.]


CHALLIS, JAMES (1803–1882), astronomer, fourth son of John Challis, was born at Braintree, Essex, 12 Dec. 1803. From Mill Hill School he, in October 1821, entered Trinity College, Cambridge, as a sizar. Elected a scholar in 1824, he graduated in the following year as senior wrangler and first Smith's prizeman, and became fellow in 1826. Ordained in 1830 he held the college living of Papworth Everard until 1852, vacating, however, his fellowship by his marriage in 1831 with the second daughter of Samuel Chandler of Tyringham, Buckinghamshire, and widow of Daniel Copsey of Braintree. On Airy's appointment as astronomer royal,