Yorkshire Chess History

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4^th Annual Meeting of the Yorkshire Chess Association

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George Hotel, Huddersfield,

Wednesday, 08/11/1843

The fourth meeting of the Yorkshire Chess Association was held at the George Hotel, Huddersfield, on Wednesday 8^th November 1843, under the presidency of The Right Honourable John Savile, 3rd Earl of Mexborough. His peerage was an Irish peerage, which meant it didn’t give him a seat in the House of Lords. From 1807 to 1826, and from 1831 to 1832, the Earl had been MP for Pontefract, a seat later held by his son, John Charles George Savile, Viscount Pollington (later 4th Earl of Mexborough) from 1835 to 1837 and again from 1841 to 1847 (covering the time of this meeting). The Earl had taken lessons from Sarratt, and appears to have been quite good as a player.

A notice of the impending meeting appeared in the Chess Players’ Chronicle, vol. IV, page 339, as follows:

YORKSHIRE CHESS ASSOCIATION.

Sir,

I beg most respectfully to inform you, that the 4^th Meeting of the Yorkshire Chess Association will be held at the George Hotel, Huddersfield, on Wednesday, the 8^th of Nov. next, at which Chess Players from all parts of the Kingdom are expected.

The Rooms will be opened for the commencement of Games and Matches, at Ten o’clock A.M., which will be continued (with the intermission of Lunch at One,) till Five P.M., when the party will adjourn to Dinner. The Right Honourable the Earl of Mexborough in the Chair.

Tickets, including Lunch, Dinner, a pint of Wine, and Coffee, Half-a-Guinea each.

Should you or any of your Chess Friends intend to favour the Meeting with your Company, please to signify the same to me, on or before the 1st of November next.

I am, Sir,

Yours most respectfully,

T. Parratt,

Hon. Secretary.

Huddersfield, Oct. 18th, 1843.

At least 60 players attended, the numbers being “so great as to occupy three of the rooms in the second story [sic] of the hotel”. Players from Halifax, Huddersfield, Leeds, Bingley, and Wakefield were present, besides visitors from outside the county. Bradford and Sheffield players were conspicuous by their absence. Those who’d previously travelled from Horbury, and Doncaster were absent, but there were players from Hull and Goodmanham (E. Yorkshire), places not previously represented. Proceedings started at 10 o’clock.

Visitors this year were Samuel Newham, Neuberg, Dobson and Smith, all from Nottingham, and Maw (presumably Henry Lister Maw) from Crowle in Lincolnshire. A significant feature of the presence of the Nottingham players was that the Yorkshire players were invited to a chess meeting planned by Nottingham Chess Club. (See report in Wakefield Journal.)

For the first time in a local newspaper, the Wakefield Journal, there is a report on the results of some of the games played.

The Earl of Mexborough, giving odds of a knight, won three games from “a strong Wakefield player”. Also:

Edward Cronhelm (Halifax)	+2 =1 ‑1	Marmaduke Wyvill
Marmaduke Wyvill	+2 =0 ‑0	F. W. Cronhelm (Halifax)
Marmaduke Wyvill	+2 =0 ‑0	H. E. Francis (Hull)
H. E. Francis (Hull)	+3 =0 ‑0	Dodson (Nottingham)
H. E. Francis (Hull)	+2 =0 ‑1	R. Cadman (Leeds)
Neuberg (Nottingham)	+1 =1 ‑0	E. Shepherd (Wakefield)

In none of the above were the colours or first player to move recorded.

The Wakefield Journal puts “Mr. Wyrill” with an “r” not a “v”, but the player referred to is Marmaduke Wyvill, one of the Wyvills of Constable Burton Hall, MP for Richmond from 1847 to 1865, and again from 1866 to 1868. In his one chess tournament, London Exhibition 1851, he came second, behind Anderssen, but in 1843 he was still relatively unknown.

The following is a list of people listed as attending, along with some more-specific identities (in the view of the writer):

Reported Surname &c	Reported Club &c	Identity per Writer
Ainley	Bingley	Ainley, W
Allen	Halifax
Armitage, J.	Huddersfield
Atkinson, C.	Huddersfield	Atkinson, Charles
Barker	Huddersfield
Battye, Thomas	Huddersfield	Thomas Battye
Blow, Rev. W.	Goodmanham
Boscovitz	Huddersfield	Boscovitz,David
Boyd	Halifax
Brierley	Halifax	Brierley, John Henry
Brierley	Huddersfield	Brierley, Joseph
Brook, J.	Huddersfield	James or Joseph Brook
Brown	Leeds	Brown, Robert Alexander
Cadman	Leeds	Cadman, Robert
Clay, J.	Huddersfield
Clough	Huddersfield
Cronhelm, E.	Halifax	Cronhelm, Edward
Cronhelm, F. W.	Halifax	Cronhelm, Frederick William
Crossland, T. P.	Huddersfield
Dewhirst	Huddersfield
Dobson	Nottingham
Eddison	Huddersfield	William or Henry Eddison
Fenton, J. C.	Huddersfield	James Crossland Fenton
Floyd ,C. S.	Huddersfield
Forbes	Halifax	Forbes, Neil Macvicar
France	Leeds	France, John Morrell
Francis	Hull	Francis, Henry Ralph
Freeman	Huddersfield	John Freeman
Garvey, Rev R.	Wakefield	Garvey, Rev Richard
Hervey	Halifax
Hoffmeister 1	Hull	Hoffmeister, Charles
Hoffmeister 2	Hull	Hoffmeister, [another]
Horn	Huddersfield	Henry Horn
Kaye, W. H.	Huddersfield
Kilner	Huddersfield	Kilner, John Hirst
Kinnear, George	Huddersfield
Mann	Huddersfield	Mann, W
Marsden	Huddersfield	Marsden, David
Maw	Crowle, Lincs	Maw, Henry Lister
Mexborough, Earl of		Savile, John, 3^rd Earl
Neuberg	Nottingham
Newham	Nottingham	Newham, Samuel
Oldham, Rev. J. R.	Huddersfield	Rev. John Roberts Oldham
Parratt	Huddersfield	Parratt, Thomas
Pritchett	Huddersfield	Pritchett, Charles
Rhodes	Leeds	Rhodes, John
Richardson	Leeds	Richardson, Hamilton
Robinson, W.	Wakefield	Robinson, William Ledgar
Shepherd, A.	Wakefield	Shepherd, Arthur
Shepherd, E.	Wakefield	Shepherd, Edward
Smith	Nottingham
Stables ,W.	Huddersfield	Walter/Williams Stables
Stanton, Capt.	Huddersfield
Starkey	Huddersfield	John/Joseph/Thomas Starkey
Swift, J.	Huddersfield	Joseph Swift
Walker	Wakefield	Walker, C
Welsh	Huddersfield	Welsh, R
Wilson	Wakefield
Wyrill		Wyvill, Marmaduke

See also:	Text of report in the Wakefield Journal of Friday 17^th November 1843
	Text of report in the Chess Player’s Chronicle, vol. V, 1844, p.23
	Medley in The Chess Congress of 1862, p.xii (adds very little)

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Created

25/04/2012

Last Updated

25/04/2012