James "Jim" Harvey Chaplin (16 September 1924 – 31 March 1967) was a British meteorologist, archaeologist, and anthropologist who primarily studied weather, culture, and rock art in East and Central Africa.
Career Chaplin's major scientific contributions include:
performing ethnographic research on iron and copper smelting that was useful in describing metalworking traditions from the Iron Age rapidly organizing an excavation to collect evidence of 15th-century trading relations involving Monomatapa, the Zambian plateau, and the coast undertaking foundational work on rock art in Zambia and East Africa serving as "the first executive officer of the Monuments Commission" in Uganda making "significant contributions to the study of Zambia's past"
Job positions
[ – 1945]: served as a seaman and meteorologist in the Royal Navy in the latter part of World War II, during which he visited Cape Town and Durban 1952 – c. 1957: member of the Meteorological Department of the Northern Rhodesian Government 1957–1962: Inspector of Monuments on the Commission for the Preservation of Natural and Historical Monuments and Relics, in close association with the Rhodes-Livingstone Museum c. 1964: Director of Antiquities in Uganda 1965–1967: Inspector of Monuments at the Department of Antiquities; Director of Ancient Monuments of the Uganda Ministry of Culture; Curator of Monuments for Uganda
Activities and affiliations
"had been a keen Boy Scout" 1949–1951: participated in the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS), at Admiralty Bay, South Shetlands (Base G; 63° S, 58° W), where he observed snow crystals between 1949 February 6 and November 30, and Port Lockroy, Graham Land (Base A; 65° S, 63° W), 1950 February 3 – 1951 January 25 (present 1950 January 24 – 1951 February 10; serving as a meteorologist and the leader of the station), in Antarctica Published in: (Note: The actual photograph is included in 10.1002/j.1477-8696.1953.tb02580.x.) 1950 May 17: elected as a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society 1951 December 17: elected for Fellowship with the Royal Geographical Society 1957 December: became a member of the South African Archaeological Society Note: the name is listed here as "Chaplin, H. C., Esq.", but the address given, "P. O. Box 124, Livingstone, N. Rhodesia", matches: ; ; and . 1957 December – 1958 January: accompanied an International Geophysical Year expedition to climb Mount Kenya with 13 other people to survey its glaciers, serving as one of two meteorologists c. 1960: became an Associate of Current Anthropology c. 1963: received a minor grant for research on East Africa from the Emslie Horniman Anthropological Scholarship Fund 1964: joined two research expeditions with Merrick Posnansky to Lolui Island, finding rock gongs and rock art c. 1965: became a Life Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland c. 1966 – 1967: assisted in the editing of the Uganda Society's the Uganda Journal
Education
c. 1947–1948: University College London "did not have a university education" and progressed his career through work experience instead 1962 – 1964 June: Post-graduate Diploma in Prehistoric Archaeology from the University of London's Institute of Archaeology c. 1964 – 1966: M.A. from the African Studies Program at the Makerere University College of the University of East Africa, studying the symbolism of Central African rock art, supervised by Professor Merrick Posnansky
Publications Chaplin's publications include academic articles and letters, poetry, and more: Published in: (Note: The actual photograph is included in 10.1002/j.1477-8696.1953.tb02580.x.)
Part I corrected in:
Reproduced in "Notes and correspondence RE: analysis of cotton fabrics found at Ingombe Illede, Gurembe Valley, N. Rhodesia", AR3/1/2, FM:137453, at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Corrections in:
Reproduced as:
Reproduced in part in:
"The Next Morning" and "Slum Day" are reproduced in:
Life Chaplin was born on 16 September 1924 (in Harrow, London), to Harvey Hopper Chaplin (an exporter) and Evelyn Bessie Chaplin (née Orchard"Evelyn B Orchard" and "Harvey H Chaplin". General index: Marriages registered in (England and Wales in the months of) April, May and June, 1923, pp. 155, 159. Ancestry.com collection "England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005", records 60748109 and 60669336, citing "General Register Office; United Kingdom; Volume: 1a; Page: 1361". Registration District: Hampstead.), and baptized 2 November 1924 in the Parish of Greenhill in the County of Middlesex. He grew up in London.
Jim Chaplin has a son also named James Harvey Chaplin.
Chaplin first visited Africa in 1943. He was Christian and regularly donated a tithe to charity. His interests included mountaineering. He was homosexual, and some people may have discriminated against him as a result. He was friendly with Africans, and supported African nationalism through UNIP, which could be another reason why others may have disregarded him.
Chaplin was killed in a hit and run car crash (while either standing on the curb or crossing the street) on 30 March in Kampala, and died 31 March 1967 at New Mulago Hospital. He was buried at Kampala European Cemetery.Gravestone in Kampala European Cemetery, photographed and transcribed at: In his will, he gave a bequest to the Royal Anthropological Institute of £600 "for the improvement or extension of the Institutes library facilities", which they spent mostly on books about primitive art. He also gave a bequest of £100 to the Scott Polar Research Institute, which used it to buy a book about Greenland and a set of books about "the study of the seas" "Reprinted from Cambridge University Reporter, Vol 102, Special No 18, 15 August 1972, p 74-82."
References
External links
J. Chaplin | Semantic Scholar Scopus author IDs 56966938800 and 57190097265 Ancestry tree 209687664 "Pratt Family Tree", person 182758453586
Photographs
Archived research notes
"The larger part of Chaplin's slide collection relating to East and Southern Africa is held in the Photograph Collection of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA) in Cambridge, inventory ref: C795/, accession no. 2014.48. Listing and digitisation of the MAA collection is in progress as of 2025."