Edward John Chapman was born on February 22, 1821, in Kent, England.

He was a university professor, mineralogist, and author. He attended the Lycée Henri-Quatre and the Sorbonne in Paris. In the late 1830s, he followed friends to Algeria, where he enlisted in the French army of occupation. After being wounded in battle, he was brought back to England. Chapman decided to study civil engineering. He also became interested in identifying mineral specimens and published two small treatises in London, “Practical Mineralogy” (1843) and “A Brief Description of the Characters of Minerals ” (1844). In 1849, he obtained a professorship of mineralogy at University College, London. In 1853, University College in Toronto appointed Chapman to its newly created chair of mineralogy and geology, a position he would hold until 1889 when he joined the School of Practical Science at the University of Toronto. He played an important public role as a supporter of the Geological Survey of Canada, especially as an interpreter and popularizer of its annual scientific reports. He broadened his own research interests in geology and mineralogy to include Canadian formations. Much of his published work, both theoretical and practical, appeared in the Canadian Institute’s Canadian Journal, on whose editorial board he served for many years. In 1862, Chapman received a Ph.D. from the University of Göttingen, in the kingdom of Hanover (Germany) and an honorary L.L.D. from Queen’s College, Kingston in 1867. He was a charter member of the Royal Society of Canada in 1882. He was also an expert fencer, accomplished amateur actor, and published poet.

In 1844, he married Anne Louisa Cogan (1819–1894). In 1896, he remarried Frances "Fanny" Sutherland (1833–1924). He died on January 28, 1904, in Hampton Wick, Middlesex, England.