Colonial judge. Educated at the Edinburgh Institution and the University of Edinburgh, Chalmers became an advocate in 1860. From 1867 he worked as a magistrate in West Africa. In 1876, he was appointed first Chief Justice of the Gold Coast, and two years later became Chief Justice of British Guiana (Guyana). He was knighted in 1876 and, in 1878, married Janet, the daughter of Prof. James Lorimer (1818-90). Chalmers served on a Judicial Commission of Enquiry in Jamaica in 1893, and as a special Judge in a prosecution for fraud in Newfoundland in 1897. He was appointed as the Royal Commissioner to enquire into the 1898 revolt in Sierra Leone. He is noted for introducing measures for the abolition of slavery in West Africa.
