Henry Grafton Chapman Jr.

Henry Grafton Chapman Jr. (1833 – March 14, 1883) was an American banker who served as the president of the New York Stock Exchange.

[2] His maternal grandparents, Captain Warren Richard Weston and Anne (née Bates) Weston, were not wealthy, but were well connected and his mother spent several years of her youth living with family in England, where she received a robust education.

[3] Chapman began his banking career with the banking house of Baring Brothers & Co., where his relative, Joshua Bates, the American international financier who divided his life between the United States and the United Kingdom, was senior partner.

He later traveled to South America, China and other countries before coming to New York and becoming a member of the banking firm Ward, Campbell & Co., which was closely aligned with Baring Brothers.

In Spring 1882, after a severe illness, Ward, Campbell & Co. was dissolved, and Chapman was advised by his physicians to take a long sea voyage.