Chalker was born in London, the son of a railway stationmaster who had been awarded the
MBE for his work in
World War I. After attending
Alleyn's School in
Dulwich and training in graphics and painting at
Goldsmiths College, Chalker won a scholarship to the Painting School of the
Royal College of Art in London. However, Chalker was conscripted into the
British Army before he could take up his scholarship. While serving in Singapore as a bombardier with the
Royal Field Artillery in February 1942, Chalker was captured by the invading Japanese forces during the
fall of Singapore. Chalker was held as a prisoner of war, first in
Changi prison then two labour camps before being sent to work on the
Burma Railway. On a part of the line in
Kanchanaburi, Chalker used stolen paper and other materials to record the torture, malnutrition and illnesses endured by the prisoners. Although he risked being badly beaten, or worse, for doing so he managed to produce, and keep hidden, over one hundred paintings and drawings during his captivity between 1942 and 1945. He met the Australian surgeon Colonel
Edward Dunlop in 1944 and agreed, again at great personal risk, to make detailed records of the prisoner's medical conditions to help Dunlop in his work. In 1995 an exhibition of the works of the four artists was held at the
State Library of Victoria under the title 'The Major
Arthur Moon Collection'. Chalker returned to England at the end of 1945 and he graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1946. He was appointed Director of Art at the
Cheltenham Ladies College and also worked as a visiting tutor at the Cheltenham College of Printing. In 1950 he became the Principal of
Falmouth College of Art and after some years working as an advisor in local government Chalker took the same post at the
West of England College of Art in Bristol in 1958. When that college became part of
Bristol Polytechnic in 1969 Chalker became Head of the Faculty of Art and Design in the new institution and retained that post until he retired in 1974. Ill-health resulting from his wartime treatment led to Chalker selling many of his Burma sketches in 2002 in an auction that gained worldwide attention. ==Bibliography==