Background
Chance was born at Edgbaston, in the city of Birmingham, and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge.
Chance was born at Edgbaston, in the city of Birmingham, and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge.
Trinity College.
He is noted for his pioneering studies on the parasitic breeding behaviour of the common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus). He was a wealthy businessman and industrialist who managed the family chemicals business, Chance and Hunt, based in Oldbury, West Midlands, which provided chemicals to Chance Brothers, the famous glassmakers based in Smethwick, Birmingham, between the first and second world wars. He was an egg-collector who became fascinated by cuckoos and made intensive studies of the common cuckoo, in the course of which he wrote two books about the species as well as producing a film.
The film – The Cuckoo"s Secret – was shot at Pound Green Common in Worcestershire, showing for the first time that female cuckoos lay their eggs directly into the nests of their hosts, rather than laying them on the ground and placing them in the nests with their bills as was previously widely believed.
Professor Nick Davies of Cambridge University has described Chance as one of his all time heroes and featured Chance"s contribution to science in his book Cuckoo. Chance"s large egg collection, which includes the eggs of the cuckoo filmed at Pound Green Common, is held at the Natural History Museum at Tring.
Chance was a member of the British Ornithologists" Union – from which his egg collecting eventually resulted in his expulsion – and served on the Council of the British Oological Association.