He rowed in the Oxford University eight that won the Grand Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta in 1850 when there was no Boat Race on the Tideway.

[2] He repeated his success in the Grand Challenge Cup, and in the Silver Goblets in 1851 partnering James Aitken in the latter to beat John Erskine Clarke and C L Vaughan in the final.

"Chitty entered Lincoln's Inn in 1851, was called to the bar in 1856, and made a Queen's Counsel in 1874, electing to practise as such in the court of Sir George Jessel, Master of the Rolls.

His parliamentary career was short, for in 1881 the Judicature Act required that the Master of the Rolls should cease to sit regularly as a judge of first instance, and Chitty was selected to fill the vacancy thus created in the Chancery Division.

In 1858, he married Clara Jessie, daughter of Chief Baron Pollock, leaving children who could claim descent from two of the best-known English legal families of the 19th century.

[3] Grandchildren included Letitia Chitty (1897 – 1982) a structural analytical engineer who became the first female fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.