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Origins and Evolution
of King Edward VII School
The school at the site on Glossop Road originally
started out as the Wesleyan Proprietary Grammar School. It was
completed in 1838, at a cost of more than £10,000, which was on top
of the £4,500 paid for the six acres of land. It had accommodation for
about 250 boarders.
It soon became known, by royal patent, as Wesley
College.
Individual
Chess-Players at Wesley College
From 1847 to the later 1870s, the only chess club in
Sheffield for most of the time was that associated with the Sheffield
Athenaeum [gentlemen’s] Club.
Some of the masters at both Sheffield Collegiate College
and Wesley College were members of the Sheffield Athenaeum Chess Club.
The strongest such player was Edmund Thorold, who was
educated at Sheffield Collegiate School and Magdalen College, Oxford, and
was later deputy head at Sheffield Collegiate School before settling in , but
in due course moved to Bath. Edmund Thorold was one of the strongest
“provincial” players of his day.
Wesley College could boast no nationally known players,
but a few had identifiable chess involvement.
Carl Wehnert, German master at Wesley College
during the period 1849 to 1856 (at least), and also at Sheffield Collegiate
school in 1857 (at least), was briefly a member of the Sheffield Athenaeum
Chess Club, in 1851.
Joseph Louis Meöt de Montmusard, usually referred
to as “Mons. Meot”, was listed as French master at Wesley College in
1856. Though he appears to have been a member of the Sheffield
Athenaeum Chess Club, in the sense of paying a chess club subscription,
only in 1848, he featured as a participant in the club tournament of 1875.
George Elam, commercial master, at least over the
period 1849 to 1856, appears to have been the father of Dr. Charles Elam
who, though apparently not a member of the Sheffield Athenaeum Chess Club, nevertheless
attended the 1863 meeting of the West Yorkshire Chess Association held in
Sheffield. It’s possible George pushed the odd pawn from time to
time.
Wesley College Chess
Team
Even before the formation of the Sheffield &
District Chess Association in 1883, there were a number of chess clubs in
Sheffield, with a fairly full schedule of informal inter-club chess matches
being played during the season. Whilst Wesley College seems not to
have been involved in the formation of the S&DCA, it did field a team
in matches against other clubs around that time. Whether the players
were staff, pupils or both isn’t immediately clear, but they appear to be
adults.
The following match was reported in the Sheffield
& Rotherham Independent of 15th March 1883:
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“WESLEY COLLEGE V. ABBEYDALE CHESS
CLUB.-
A pleasant match was played on Saturday evening
between the above chess clubs, resulting in a victory by Abbeydale of
seven games to three. The play was as follows:-”
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Wesley College
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Abbeydale Chess Club
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Mr. W. A. Williams
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0‑1
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Mr. W. Cockayne
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Mr. H. A. Russell
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0‑2
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Mr. T. G. Shuttleworth
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Mr. T. H. Miller
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1‑0
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Mr. J. W. Barber
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Mr. Cox
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0‑2
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Mr. Jonathan Barber
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Mr. F. Hudson
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2‑0
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Mr. E. Shuttleworth
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Mr. Warrington
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0‑2
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Mr. H. J. Thomas
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3‑7
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In was common in those days to attempt to play two games
at each board, time permitting. Thus, at some boards only one game
was contested (no clocks, of course), whereas the faster-playing players managed
to get in two games. Matches were even played in those days even with
three matches at each board, time permitting.
The following match was reported in the Sheffield
& Rotherham Independent of 12th April 1884:
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“ARUNDEL CLUB v. WESLEY
COLLEGE.
This match took place at
the College, the result being a victory for the latter. Subjoined
is the full score:-”
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Arundel
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Wesley College
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Mr. E. Barraclough
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0‑1
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Mr. H. A. Rossell
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Mr. T. W. Fisher
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0‑2
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Mr. W. A. Williams
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Mr. W. L. Shaw
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1‑0
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Mr. J. Shearer
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Mr. H. W. Pickering
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0‑2
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Mr. T. E. Shuttleworth
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Mr. S. Scott
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2‑0
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Mr. E. E. Sibray
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Mr. H. C. Twist
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0‑2
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Mr. F. Hudson
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3‑7
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Changing Times
Wesley College had operated contemporaneously with
Sheffield Collegiate School, on Collegiate Crescent, and probably had to
play second fiddle to the Collegiate School which appears to have been the
premier establishment in the area for the education of the sons of
gentlemen. There was also Sheffield Grammar School in St. George’s Square
as was.
In 1884, the Governors of Sheffield Grammar School
bought Collegiate College and the Sheffield Grammar School moved into that
site (with the cessation of the old Collegiate College) and in 1885 was
renamed Sheffield Royal Grammar School.
In 1905 Sheffield City Council acquired both Wesley
College and Sheffield Royal Grammar school, merging the two and housing the
resultant school at the Wesley College site under the name King Edward VII
School.
King Edward VII
Grammar School
A number of local chess-players used to attend “King
Ted’s”, including Geoff Frost and Steve Mann. In those days King
Ted’s habitually won the Sheffield schools chess league run by the
S&DCA, and reached the semi-finals of the Sunday Times schools
competition at the first attempt, in the season 1968-69. A later
pupil was Paul Bailey who was involved in the series of chess congresses
held at KES Upper School.
Comprehensive
Education
When comprehensive education was introduced, the old
King Ted’s was merged with a school some significant distance away, at
Darwin Lane, becoming the present King Edward VII School, and it became
“co-ed.” – i.e. girls were introduced.
Since then the building has been modified. The old
“new extension” seems to have been removed, but there has been a new “new
extension” to the rear of the assembly hall and canteen area.
Additional, separate buildings have been added to the south-east of the
original building.
The decadent new era has seen the “backs” demolished,
and the toilets are now inside the main building. Also, lifts
have been installed alongside the staircases.
The old gym, a former venue of the Sheffield Congress,
was stripped of all its death-defying apparatus decades ago, probably in
line with health and safety regulations, and now there is a completely new
gym in the new buildings.
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