Born in England. Henry Chawner was trained in the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths of London, a guild that taught and regulated the gold and silver trade in England. He was freed by patrimony (Chawner was specially elected for freedom by a selection committee) to pursue his own business in 1785. He was established in London by 1786, when he received his first set of marks (of two sizes) as a plateworker. His second set of marks was assigned in 1787. From the late 1780s and throughout the 1790s he was well known for his silver wares. He made a variety of forms ranging from coffee pots to inkwells. Chawner gained his third mark when he partnered with John Emes in August of 1796. He was elected from the body of guild members as a "Liverymen," and later as an "Assistant" in 1801. (Assistants are elected from the Livery and govern the company; it was a mark of distinction and respect.) The remainder of his life and work is largely unknown. He died in March of 1851.