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Yorkshire Chess History |
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Leslie Charles Alfred Lewis |
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Identity of the Chess-Player
“L. C. A. Lewis” was a well-known chess-player in Wakefield, but his forenames weren’t normally given in chess reports. His move from Wakefield to take up a post with the Unemployment Assistance Board in Sheffield was reported in the chess column of the Yorkshire Telegraph and Star. The London Gazette, in reporting civil service appointments, promotions and transfers, comes to our aid in giving his full name as “Leslie Charles Alfred Lewis” who is in any case the only plausible candidate thrown up by genealogical sources.
Non-Chess Life
The parents of Leslie Charles Alfred Lewis were Alfred Lewis (born 1872/73, Lynsted, Kent) and Ellen Jane Lewis (born 1873/74, Sittingbourne, Kent), who had had seven children by 1911, of whom the following five were still alive in 1911:
“Leslie Charles A. Lewis” was born on 19/04/1906, according to his baptism register entry and his death register entry. The birth of “Leslie Charles A. Lewis” was registered in the second quarter of 1906, at Holborn, London.
“Leslie Charles Alfred Lewis”, son of Alfred Lewis, omnibus inspector of 29 Great Percy(?) Street, Islington, and Ellen Jane Lewis, was baptised on 30/09/1906, at St. Mark’s, Myddelton Square, Islington, by Henry G. Allfree. The baptism register gave the child’s date of birth as 19/04/1906.
The 1911 census found parents and five children living at 40 Gayhurst Road, Dalston, London N.E. Father Alfred was still an omnibus inspector.
The London Gazette of 08/01/1935, page 223, made reference to “Leslie Charles Alfred Lewis” being or becoming an Assistant Officer in the Unemployment Assistance Board “under clause 8 of the general regulations” under a general heading of “appointments, promotions, transfers from November and December 1934.
As a chess-player he was described as being from Wakefield as late as 23/03/1935, but by 18/01/1936 he is described as being from Sheffield, so he most probably moved to Sheffield during 1935, after the close of the 1934-35 chess season.
The marriage of “Leslie C. A. Lewis” was registered in the third quarter of 1935, at Barnsley. His bride’s maiden name was Henderson.
The Yorkshire Telegraph & Star of 03/10/1936 reports his having moved to Sheffield to take up a post with the Unemployment Assistance Board in Sheffield, and on 21/11/1936 gave his address as U.A.B. chess club secretary as 193 Abbey Lane, Sheffield 8.
His address as U.A.B. chess club secretary was given in the Yorkshire telegraph & Star of 11/12/1937 as 28 Allenby Drive, Greenhill, Sheffield 8.
Quite when he left Sheffield is unclear, but he seems to have ended up in Leicestershire.
Death
The death of “Leslie Charles A. Lewis” at age 85 was registered in the second quarter of 1991, at Market Harborough, Leicestershire.
Chess
He was a prominent member of Wakefield’s Woodhouse Cup team up to and including the season 1934-35.
He played for Yorkshire in the 1935 Lancashire v Yorkshire match, on 23/03/1935, as a Wakefield player.
In season 1935-36, he missed Wakefield’s first two Woodhouse Cup matches, then played for them, seemingly for the last time, on 30/11/1935, enigmatically against Sheffield, beating A. Y. Green on board 1. Perhaps he had at that stage already moved to Sheffield, but played in this match as it was in Sheffield.
He played for Yorkshire in the 1936 Yorkshire v Durham match on 18/01/1936, as a Sheffield player.
Starting in the 1936-37 season he was a prominent member of Sheffield’s Woodhouse Cup team.
After starting work at the Unemployment Assistance Board in Sheffield, he was a prime mover in the formation of an Unemployment Assistance Board Chess Club, which duly entered a team in the Sheffield & District Chess Association’s Weston Trophy competition of 1936-37. L. C. A. Lewis normally played on board 1 for the U.A.B.
On 10/11/1937 he represented U.A.B. in a friendly match against Button Lane.
He played in Sheffield’s first Woodhouse Cup match of the 1937-38 season, on 23/10/1937, but that was his only Woodhouse match that season. It seems that henceforth he was avoiding Saturday chess.
He played regularly for the U.A.B. in 1937-38, in which season they won the Weston Trophy.
He was one of a number of Sheffield players who travelled to Leeds to play in the 1938 simultaneous display by Alekhine in Leeds.
He played for Yorkshire in the 1938-39 County & District Correspondence Championship.
He played as a Shefield player in the 1946-47 County & District Correspondence Championship.
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Created 01/01/2014 |
Copyright © 2014 Stephen John Mann Census information is copyright of The National Archive, see UK Census Information |
Last Updated 01/01/2014 |