David Quidnunc on 10 Nov 2003  •  Link

"A provision merchant"

And once an assistant to Sir Denis Gauden, a victualler to the navy.

-- L&M Companion volume

Terry Foreman on 17 Oct 2015  •  Link

Francis Chaplin, provision merchant and navy victualer, whom Pepys had known in his Exchequer days, became Sheriff and Alderman in 1668, Lord Mayor in 1677, and a knight in 1679. (L&M footnote, 1666/01/26)

San Diego Sarah on 29 Jun 2023  •  Link

Sir Francis Chaplin was described as a clothier of Thames Street, St. Botolph, Billingsgate, London, and he was an alderman of London from 1668 until his death in 1680, a Sheriff of London in 1669 and also Lord Mayor of London 1677–1678. Sir Francis became a prosperous London merchant.

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Entry from THE CITY OF LONDON & THE SLAVE TRADE -- PART 6
https://reclaimec1.wordpress.com/…

Sir Francis Chaplin (1628-1680).
Elected to the Court of Aldermen 1668.
Father of John Chaplin (ancestor of the Chaplins of Blankney, now represented by the Right Hon. Henry Chaplin) and of Sir Robert Chaplin, Bart.
Pepys (Diary, January 22, 1668) describes him as ‘a pretty humoured little man, and the MS. account of the Aldermen of 1672 speaks of him as ‘a person truly loyall’ and ‘active in businesse, but too quick and open sometimes in declaring his opinion.’
He was alderman for Vintry, Sheriff of London in 1668 and lord mayor in 1677.
He belonged to the Clothworkers’ Company and was its master in 1668.
He was knighted in 1669 or 1670.
Woodhead records him as having ‘£14,390 RAC stock £1,000 of original stock’, as well as land in Jamaica among other places.
He has a biography on Marine Lives that can be read at http://www.marinelives.org/wiki/H… .

In 2021 Wikipedia didn’t have an entry for Sir Francis Chaplin, although there is an entry for his son Sir Robert Chaplin that states the son was expelled from the House of Commons as a result of scandals surrounding his directorship at the slave trading South Sea Company.
https://www.historyofparliamenton…

Wikipedia also has an entry for the Chaplin baronets, the disgraced MP Sir Robert Chaplin – son of lord mayor Sir Francis Chaplin – was the 1st baronet.