The Chance family (or the branch that I belong to) traces its roots to the
English Midlands, and especially the county of Worcestershire. The best website
for a general history of the family is the Revolutionary Players site, found at
www.search.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk
Jan Symes, the author of the section on the Chance family, has done a great
piece of research and the site is very well illustrated.
The Smethwick Heritage Centre
has a permanent display of Chance Brothers’ products. Click here for a photo montage of
some of them. The Centre recently hosted the launch of Lighthouses.
In August 2009 the Borough of Sandwell celebrated the restoration of the JT
Chance monument in West Smethwick Park, which had suffered years of
vandalism and neglect. For a full description of this event click here.
My parents, Sir Jeremy and Lady Chance, have spent much of the past few years
working with the librarians at the Sandwell Library in Smethwick to document the
family archives which they donated to the library in 2002. The business archives
have rested, gathering dust, at the Pilkington plc archive in St Helen's near
Liverpool. After many years of banging on their door, Pilkington finally agreed
to donate the archive on permanent lease to Sandwell. The Sandwell council is
now trying to raise the money to have the archive properly documented, which is
sadly not a feat that can be achieved getting lucky during a game of Cheeky Bingo or
asking nicely - at present it is in a chaotic state. But Peter Williams and I
spent a few days rummaging through it in December 2006 while researching the
book and there is a treasure trove of material for historians to dive into.
Our lighthouse book is not really a history of the family as such - this book
still needs to be written. Below are a few paragraphs on Sir James Timmins
Chance's sons and grandsons, which I wrote initially for the book but removed
because they proved to be irrelevant to the story. One day I might attempt a
more thorough treatment of them and succeeding generations!
James Chance died on January 6th 1902 aged 87. Obituary notices appeared in The
Times, the Birmingham Post and the newspapers of Hove and Smethwick. James's
three sons chose varying careers, only one taking up the business of
glassmaking. The eldest, William, had no interest in trade and after taking a
degree in mathematics from Trinity College, Cambridge, entered the Temple as a
barrister. He married Julia Strachey and settled into a comfortable childless
existence in the Home Counties as the second baronet, enjoying the life of an
Edwardian squire on the fringes of the Bloomsbury set writing law books and
motivating for amendments to the poor laws. George, the second son, after
graduating from Trinity in 1878 also with a degree in mathematics was made a
partner in the firm in 1880, was soon appointed joint managing director and
served as Chairman of the company from 1901 to 1919 and again from 1921 to 1929.
He married Kathleen Stobart, sister of Henry Stobart who in 1897 had assumed
responsibility for the lighthouse department after Dr Hopkinson and James
Kenward retired. Though not endowed with his father's scientific  and engineering talents, George led the
firm with distinction and presided over the company's massive expansion of
optical glass output which was vital to Britain's war effort. James Frederick,
the third son, studied classics at Trinity College, Cambridge and science at
Strasbourg University, taking up work at Spon Lane in 1883 and a partnership the
next year. Like his elder brother William he showed little interest in business
leaving the firm after only a few years and reverted to the life of a bachelor
historian and secretary of the Old Etonian Society. To James Frederick, or Uncle
Fred as later generations knew him, is due the credit for documenting the Chance
family history. In the year his father died he published The lighthouse works of
Sir James Chance, Bt, and in 1919 A history of the firm of Chance Brothers, to
which this book owes an inestimable debt. As with most women in Victorian
England James's eight daughters played no part in the family business.
Of George's three sons only his second, Hugh, entered the business, after
serving in the Royal Flying Corps during World War I, when he was a prisoner of
war for three years, and graduating with a degree in engineering from Trinity
College, Cambridge. George wrote to Hugh in July 1920 giving him advice on how
to approach his new job. "The first consideration is to maintain the good name
of the firm. The second is to make profits." It was a sign that the Chance
tradition of being good corporate citizens took precedence over mere commercial
considerations. Hugh was appointed a managing director in 1924 and chaired the
company in its last independent years before it was taken over by Pilkington's
in 1945. Hugh was knighted in 1945 in recognition for his work on the Royal
Commission on Education and also forty years as an industrialist and public
figure, which included time as High Sheriff of Worcestershire. Roger, George's
eldest son, served with distinction in World War I gaining and MC Bar, took a
PhD in philosophy at London University and became a journalist, farmer and
writer. Like his uncle William from whom he inherited the baronetcy he was not
enamoured with "trade" and lived off a private income for most of his life. He
cultivated friends in high places and through his friendship with Oliver
Baldwin, son of the Prime Minister was appointed Press Attaché at the British
Embassy in Berlin in 1934. There he became acquainted with Rudolf Hess through
whom he met Hitler at a Nuremburg rally and later became editor of the monthly
literary magazine Review of Reviews. Here he employed Kim Philby who was later
to gain notoriety as one of the Cambridge spies, a less honourable pursuit than
that of three generations of Trinity Chance's. After World War II he spent his
time travelling and writing novels and books on theology. Eustace, George and
Katherine's youngest son and perhaps the most talented, tragically lost his life
at the Western Front six weeks before Armistice Day in 1818.
The family tree below, which also appears in the book, is a highly abbreviated
summary of where I come from! My parents, Jeremy and Tiggy, live a comfortable
life in Criccieth, north Wales, with my elder sister Victoria who runs the local
Oxfam shop. My brother, Sebastian, is married to Vicky and they both teach art
at Bedford School. My other sister, Helena, teaches the history of design in
Oxford and is currently working on her PhD on factory gardens in the mid to late
19th century. Living as I do in Johannesburg, I miss them all terribly!
Click here to
download the abbreviated Chance family tree
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