John Ratcliffe Chapman
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

John Ratcliffe Chapman (1815 – February 4, 1899) was an eminent British engineer and the son of another eminent British engineer, William Chapman, inventor of the Steam Elephant. John Ratcliffe Chapman brought his wife, Mary Pollitt Chapman to America in 1842 on HMS Britannia with the great author
Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
aboard. Dickens mentions Chapman briefly as follows in Chapter II of "
American Notes ''American Notes for General Circulation'' is a travelogue by Charles Dickens detailing his trip to North America from January to June 1842. While there he acted as a critical observer of North American society, almost as if returning a status r ...
, ". . . and that the gentleman carried more guns with him than Robinson Crusoe, wore a shooting-coat, and had two great dogs on board." Chapman, a man of considerable wealth for the time, purchased several hundred acres along the south shore of
Oneida Lake Oneida Lake is the largest lake entirely within New York state, with a surface area of . The lake is located northeast of Syracuse and near the Great Lakes. It feeds the Oneida River, a tributary of the Oswego River, which flows into Lake Ontari ...
, in
Madison County, New York Madison County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 68,016. Its county seat is Wampsville. The county is named after James Madison, the fourth president of the United States, and was fir ...
, where he, his wife and their nine sons established many local farms and businesses, including a cheese factory. Chapman invented, designed and manufactured the telescopic rifle sight. He also invented and patented a four-barrel revolving rifle. It is in the possession of a family member living near
Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...
, NY. In his book ''The Improved American Rifle'', Chapman documented the first
telescopic sight A telescopic sight, commonly called a scope informally, is an optical sighting device based on a refracting telescope. It is equipped with some form of a referencing pattern – known as a '' reticle'' – mounted in a focally appropriate ...
s he showed Morgan James how to make. Together they manufactured the Chapman-James sight. Chapman also showed James how to make the most accurate rifles of the day. Several of these rifles are currently on display at the Army Museum at West Point. Chapman's book was published in New York, NY by D. Appleton &. Co. 1848. This work has been reprinted as recently as 1976.


Bibliography

* John Ratcliffe Chapman, "Instructions to Young Marksmen in all that relates to the General Construction, Practical Manipulation, etc., etc., as exhibited in the Improved American Rifle," New York, D. Appleton &. Co. 1848. * Out of Nowhere: A History of the Military Sniper (Pegler 2004)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chapman, John Ratcliffe Firearm designers 1815 births 1899 deaths