[1] He was elected fellow of Oriel College on 1 April 1842, just when the question of John Henry Newman's relation to the Anglican church was at its acutest phase, he retained his fellowship till his death, sixty years afterwards.
Chase therefore advised the university commissioners of 1877 to merge, on his death, St. Mary Hall in Oriel College, with which it was connected both locally and personally.
This suggestion was embodied in the Commissioners' Statutes in 1881, and accordingly, on Chase's death in 1902, St. Mary Hall ceased, after an independent existence of nearly six hundred years.
[1] On his death, Chase was described with the following words in The Times obituary: "conservative in all academic matters, he never allowed differences of opinion to influence personal relations.
Shrewd and witty in conversation, keenly appreciative of humour, full of anecdote and reminiscence, seasoning all with a genial if somewhat cynical flavour, the soul of hospitality, he was most popular in Oxford society.