Elizabeth Townsend Pooke Chads: A Fareham Family at the Heart of the Royal Navy
Elizabeth Townsend Pooke Chads was born in Fareham in 1794, the eldest daughter of John Pook, a local gentleman. In 1815 she married Henry Ducie Chads, a young Royal Navy officer whose career would eventually take him to the rank of admiral and Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath.
Their marriage connected Fareham closely with one of the remarkable naval families of the nineteenth century. Henry had already survived the fierce battle between HMS Java and USS Constitution during the War of 1812, and his later service took him to Burma, India, China and senior naval commands at home. Elizabeth therefore spent much of her married life as the wife of an officer whose career repeatedly drew him overseas.
The couple had several children. Their eldest son, Henry Chads, was born in Fareham on 29 October 1819. He followed his father into the Royal Navy and eventually became Admiral Sir Henry Chads KCB. Another son, William John Chads, pursued a military career and became a major-general.
The younger Henry’s career continued the family’s close involvement with the British Empire and the sea. He served with his father in the East Indies, fought against Malay pirates, was wounded in Sumatra, commanded ships off West Africa and later became Commander-in-Chief at the Nore.
Elizabeth died in 1861, seven years before her husband. Contemporary reference works record that Sir Henry later wished to be buried at Fareham beside her, showing that the family retained a strong connection with the town despite decades of naval service elsewhere.
Her memorial at St Peter & St Paul therefore represents more than the wife of a famous admiral. Elizabeth stood at the centre of a Fareham family that produced senior officers across two generations, linking the parish with the War of 1812, Burma, East Asia, Victorian naval expansion and the Royal Navy’s Portsmouth establishment.
Through the Chads family, a marriage celebrated in Fareham in 1815 developed into a naval dynasty whose story stretched across much of the nineteenth century.
