Edgar Chapman

James Chapman, a tailor and draper of Kent, England, emigrated to South Australia with his wife Mary and their seven children aboard Rajah, arriving at Adelaide in April 1850.

In 1878, on the eve of the departure of Mr. and Mrs Chapman and their daughters Clara, Emily Fannie and Lily for a European holiday, he was presented by a throng of prominent citizens with a pair of diamond studs valued at £250 (perhaps $50,000 today), the work of J. M.

[5] While on holiday he booked various acts for Australia, but with James Alison also leased Drury Lane for an Australian production of Henry V starring George Rignold,[6] perhaps doing something to refute criticisms by the Christian Colonist.

His brother Arthur took over management of his estate, which included the Theatre Royal in Hindley Street, though he was acting for Edgar as early as 1883,[12] In January 1885 he had joined Rignold and Allison as lessee and in December they withdrew from the partnership, leaving Chapman as sole manager[13] until Wybert Reeve became lessee in 1887.

He had a passable singing voice, and "trod the boards" on occasion: In 1880 he played "King Artexomines" in Rhodes's Bombastes Furioso.