Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Chads, Henry
CHADS, Sir HENRY (1819–1906), admiral, born at Fareham, Hampshire, on 29 Oct. 1819, was son of Admiral Sir Henry Ducie Chads [q. v.] by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of John Pook of Fareham. Major-general William John Chads, C.B., is his younger brother. After two years at the Royal Naval College at Portsmouth, Henry entered the navy in 1834, and served with his father in the Andromache, in the East Indies and against Malay pirates in the straits of Malacca. In June 1841 he was promoted lieutenant, and as lieutenant of the Harlequin was, in 1844, severely wounded in an attack on the pirate settlements in Sumatra. For this service he was specially promoted to commander on 31 Jan. 1845. From 1846 to 1848 he commanded the Styx on the west coast of Africa with considerable success, and on 5 June 1848 was advanced to post rank. As captain he served with credit but without distinction; in 1863 he was appointed superintendent of Deptford dock and victualling yards, from which, in April 1866, he was promoted to his flag. In 1869-70 he was second-in-command of the Channel fleet; was promoted rear-admiral in October 1872; was commander-in-chief at the Nore 1876 to Sept. 1877, when, he reached the rank of admiral. On 27 Oct. 1884, having attained the age of sixty-five, he was placed on the retired list. He was made K.C.B. in 1887. Settling at Southsea, he largely devoted himself there to the care and organisation of charities in connection with the navy, and especially the Seamen and Marines' Orphanage, the committee of which he joined in 1868 in succession to his father. He died unmarried at Southsea on 30 June 1906.
[Royal Navy Lists; The Times, 2 July 1906; Clowes, Royal Navy, vols. vi. and vii. 1901-3.]