Biography

British-born marine botanist and professor of botany at Auckland University College in New Zealand. Born in Alcester, Warwickshire (on Valentine's Day), Valentine Chapman read botany at Cambridge University and gained his PhD in 1935. For this he studied the salt marshes of East Anglia. Following his PhD work he spent a year in the U.S. as Henry Fellow at Harvard. On his return to the U.K. he was appointed lecturer in botany at Victoria University, Manchester, and in 1937 was once again in Cambridge as a research fellow at Gonville and Caius College.

After marrying Phyllis Claire Parks in 1938, Chapman went on a research trip to Jamaica in 1939. The expedition inspired a lifelong interest in mangroves, while his wartime work was to survey seaweeds for the British Ministry of Supply. He also spent a period in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) during the Second World War. After the war he moved to New Zealand, where in 1946 he became the first professor of botany at Auckland University College, and went on to lead the department for more than 34 years.

In his botanical research Chapman was most interested in marine algae, and in the 1960s he founded the university's Leigh Marine Laboratory with zoologist John Morton. He published around 100 papers on algology, mangroves and coastal conservation, as well as six textbooks and other books. A keen promoter of marine conservation, he was instrumental in the passing of New Zealand's Marine Reserves Act in 1971. He sat on the New Zealand Oceanographic Committee (1954-1961), the Hauraki Gulf Maritime Park Board and the New Zealand Nature Conservation Council.

Outside of the university Chapman was active in many other committees. He was a governor of Massey Agricultural College, a member of Auckland City Council's Civic Reform group, sat on the Metropolitan Drainage Board and advocated the Auckland Regional Botanic Garden. He was founder and president of the New Zealand Epilepsy Association and was involved in the establishment of the New Zealand Neurological Foundation. He was also active in the Anglican church and served as deputy president of the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society. Chapman was awarded the OBE in 1974 and the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977.

Sources:
Anon., 1981, "Obituary: Valentine Jackson Chapman", Botanica Marina, 24(4): 165-166
J. Morton, "Chapman, Valentine Jackson 1910-1980", Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, updated 22 June 2007:
http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/.