Frederick Daniel Chattaway (9 November 1860 – 27 January 1944) was an English organic chemist who trained in Germany. He served as a professor of chemistry at

Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault, queen of England. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassi ...

, where he pioneered research in organic chemistry. He was also interested in nitrogen halides, anilides, and amides.

Life and work

Chattaway was born at

Foleshill Foleshill ( ) is a suburb in the north of Coventry, in the county of the West Midlands, England. Longford, Courthouse Green and Rowley Green are to its north and Keresley is to its west. The population of the Ward at the 2021 census was 22, ...

, Warwickshire to ribbon and trimmings manufacturer Daniel Clarke and Eliza Anne Adcock. His father's family business in Coventry collapsed after the 1870 treaty with France and Chattaway depended on scholarships for his education. He was privately tutored by Rev. J.S. Withers after which he went to

Mason College Mason Science College was a university college in Birmingham, England, and a predecessor college of the University of Birmingham. Founded in 1875 by industrialist and philanthropist Sir Josiah Mason, the college was incorporated into the Univer ...

where he studied chemistry under Sir William Tilden. He then went to the School of Mines in London and considered studying medicine but was unable to bear the sight of dissections. He shifted to chemistry and went to University College, Aberystwyth studying under Henry Lloyd Snape. Two years later went to

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

under A. G. Vernon Harcourt. He passed first class in natural sciences in 1891 and then went to Germany to work under

Adolf von Baeyer Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf von Baeyer (; 31 October 1835 – 20 August 1917) was a German chemist who synthesised indigo dye, indigo and developed a Von Baeyer nomenclature, nomenclature for cyclic compounds (that was subsequently extended a ...

and

Eugen Bamberger Eugen Bamberger (19 July 1857 – 10 December 1932) was a German chemist and discoverer of the Bamberger rearrangement. Life and achievements Bamberger started studying medicine in 1875 at the University of Berlin, but changed subjects and unive ...

at Munich. He received a PhD from Munich

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

in 1893. He also received a DSc from London. He returned to work at St Bartholomew's Hospital from 1893, lecturing in chemistry under W. J. Russell after whose retirement he served as head of chemistry. In 1905 he moved to Heidelberg to study under George Bredig and then went to Utrecht working under

Ernst Cohen Ernst Julius Cohen ForMemRS (7 March 1869 – 6 March 1944) was a Dutch Jewish chemist known for his work on the allotropy of metals. Cohen studied chemistry under Svante Arrhenius in Stockholm, Henri Moissan at Paris, and Jacobus van't Hof ...

. He synthesized

chloramine-T Chloramine-T is the organic compound with the formula CH3C6H4SO2NClNa. Both the anhydrous salt and its trihydrate are known. Both are white powders. Chloramine-T is used as a reagent in organic synthesis. It is commonly used as cyclizing agent in ...

in 1905, studied reactions involving acetylation, halides and nitrogenous organic compounds. He was elected to Fellow of the Royal Society in 1907. From 1908 he worked at Queen's College Laboratory under Cecil Cronshaw, succeeding him in 1910. He conducted organic chemistry research and was the only such laboratory at Oxford until 1912. His eyesight began to fail leading to his retirement. Chattaway married Elizabeth Bettany of Handsworth in 1894 and they had a daughter Mary Margaret (1899–1997) who became a botanist and a son who was killed in 1916 while serving with the Cheshire Regiment at Thiepval. He died at a nursing home in Torquay.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chattaway, Frederick Daniel 1860 births 1944 deaths Academics of the University of Oxford Alumni of Aberystwyth University Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford English chemists Fellows of the Royal Society People from Coventry