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Yorkshire Chess History |
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Ernest Posselt |
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Non-Chess Life
Ernest Posselt’s full name in German was Ernst Karl Ludwig Posselt, but in England he Anglicised and shortened it to Ernest Posselt, the surname tending to be misspelt “Posset”.
His father was Wilhelm Heinrich Posselt (b. 1806, d. 1877), a university professor of paediatrics. Ernest attended the Gymnasium (school) in Trarbach an der Mosel.
After spending some time as a merchant in Brussels, and then Antwerp, he came to England, arriving in London, from Ostend on 21/09/1858, and going from there to Bradford where he promptly started an export business.
He is elusive in the 1861 England census. Indeed he seemed to manage to evade all England censuses, perhaps due to being abroad at the time.
In 1869 he married Johanna Maria Peters (b. 1847, d. 1902) from Elberfeld, who in England used the name Maria Posselt. The couple had at least the following four children:
Ernest seems absent from the 1871 census, but wife Maria and 3-month-old first child “Willey” were listed as visitors at a lodging house run by Frederick Simpson and his wife in Ilkley. Both were listed as having been born on Shipley.
Kelly’s 1881 Bradford directory listed Ernest Posselt living at 11 Ashfield (96 Great Horton Road), Bradford
Ernest seemed again absent during the census of 1881, but wife Maria, children Willie, Ernest and Gustav, and to servants, were listed as living at 11 Ashfield, Bradford. Maria’s place of birth was now given as in Prussia; she was described as a stuff yarn merchant’s wife.
In the middle or second half of 1883, Ernest Posselt moved to Warsaw, then in 1896 to Berlin, where he remained to his death.
Death
Ernest Posselt died on 21/02/1907, in Berlin. He was resident at the time at 62, Klopstockstrasse, Berlin.
Chess
While in the Bradford area, “E. Posselt” played for Bradford Chess Club.
He played in the 1878 Bradford v Manchester Athenaeum match.
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Created 19/12/2014 |
Copyright © 2014 Stephen John Mann Census information is copyright of The National Archive, see UK Census Information |
Last Updated 19/12/2014 |