[1] He was the brother of Lieutenant-colonel John Cowell Chads, who died, President of the British Virgin Islands at Tortola on 28 February 1854, aged 60.

[4] Chads entered the Royal Naval Academy in Portsmouth as a 12-year-old on 25 October 1800, and in 1803 embarked aboard the 74-gun ship of the line HMS Excellent,[4] sharing in the defence of Gaeta and the capture of Capri.

In 1823, he was prominent in the expedition against Rangoon, as a result of which he was made post-captain on 25 July 1825, created a Companion of the Bath, and received the thanks of the Government of India, and praise in the British House of Commons.

He was next engaged in forcing the passage of the Bocca Tigris prior to the First Opium War in September 1834, aboard HMS Andromache, which he commanded from 1834 to 1837.

He was promoted to rear-admiral on 12 January 1854 and, flying his flag in HMS Edinburgh, was third in command of the fleet sent to the Baltic under Sir Charles Napier, who claimed that Chads 'knew more about gunnery than any man in the service'.