Graduating from the University of Oxford in 1888, Chisholm became assistant editor of the St. James's Gazette in 1892 and editor in 1897. In 1900 he joined The Times as coeditor of the new supplementary volumes constituting the 10th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. As editor in chief and head of the London office from 1903, he was largely responsible, with Franklin Hooper, for the authoritative 11th edition of the Britannica, which was published in 1910–11. Chisholm then served as city editor of The Times from 1913 to 1920, when he reassumed the editorship of Britannica for the new supplementary volumes of the 12th edition.