An analysis was carried out numerically to study unsteady heat and mass transfer by free convection flow of a viscous, incompressible, electrically conducting Newtonian fluid along a vertical permeable plate under the action of transverse magnetic field taking into account thermal radiation as well as homogeneous chemical reaction of first order. The fluid considered here is an optically thin gray gas, absorbing-emitting radiation, but a non-scattering medium. The porous plate was subjected to a constant suction velocity with variable surface temperature and concentration. The dimensionless governing coupled, nonlinear boundary layer partial differential equations were solved by an efficient, accurate, extensively validated, and unconditionally stable finite difference scheme of the Crank-Nicolson type. The velocity, temperature, and concentration fields were studied for the effects of Hartmann number (M), radiation parameter (R), chemical reaction (K), and Schmidt number (Sc). The local skin friction, Nusselt number, and Sherwood number are also presented and analyzed graphically. It is found that velocity is reduced considerably with a rise in the magnetic body parameter (M), whereas the temperature and concentration are found to be markedly boosted with an increase in the magnetic body parameter (M). An increase in the conduction-radiation parameter (R) is found to escalate the local skin friction (), Nusselt number, and concentration, whereas an increase in the conduction-radiation parameter (R) is shown to exert the opposite effect on either velocity or temperature field. Similarly, the local skin friction and the Sherwood number are both considerably increased with an increase in the chemical reaction parameter. Possible applications of the present study include laminar magneto-aerodynamics, materials processing, and MHD propulsion thermo-fluid dynamics.