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Yorkshire Chess History |
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Contents: |
John Stanley Richardson |
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Identity of the Chess-Player
Books of newspaper cuttings once belonging to J. S. Richardson bear his, name and address, the latter being 2 Norton Park Drive, Sheffield. The Sheffield Morning Telegraph of 12/09/1978 carried a notice of the death of John Stanley Richardson, aged 76, at his home, 2 Norton Park Drive, Sheffield, giving his wife’s name as Phyllis. The index of Sheffield deaths records registration in the third quarter of 1978 of the death of John Stanley Richardson, quoting his date of birth as 24/08/1902. There appears to be only one entry in the 1911 census which matches our man, that given below.
Non-Chess Life
John Stanley Richardson was born on 24/08/1902. The 1911 census found 34-year-old linotype operator Samuel Richardson and his 37-year-old Birmingham-born wife, Ada Maria Richardson, living with their 8-year-old Birmingham-born son, John Stanley Richardson, at 4 Clevedon Road, Balsall Heath, Birmingham. The couple had been married for 11 years, implying they married in 1899/1900. They were also recorded as having had two children of whom only one was still alive.
Usually, when his name is not spelt out in full, it is represented as “John S. Richardson”. On the Richardson Trophy, however, it is given in the form “J. Stanley Richardson” suggesting he was known as Stanley rather than John.
The marriage of John S. Richardson and Phyllis M. Grainge (born 26/04/1904) was registered at Ecclesall, Sheffield, in the second quarter of 1930. If our man was the one born in Birmingham, then he had presumably settled down in Sheffield by 1930.
The couple had at least one child, Dennis (G.?) Richardson (born 1931, Sheffield), as mentioned in the death notice, who married Olive, and in time had at least two children, Tina and Nigel, grandchildren to J. S. Richardson.
His initial address in Sheffield is unclear, but his address was announced as changing to 152 Vincent Road, Sheffield, as from 26/02/1933.
Our man doesn’t seem to get a mention in the 1933 Sheffield directory.
By 1939, the Richardsons had moved to 2 Norton Park Drive, Sheffield, and had Phyllis’s widowed mother, Alice E Grainge (born 25/01/1893), living with them.
Kelly’s 1948 directory listed “Jn. Stanley Richardson”, manager, at 2 Norton Park Drive, Sheffield. Directories indicate that he resided at that address for the remaining thirty years of his life.
He was a member of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons of West Yorkshire, and was listed as an Assistant Provincial Grandmaster in 1970, and a Deputy Provincial Grand Master in 1971 [http://www.westyorksmark.org.uk/index.htm].
Death
John Stanley Richardson died aged 76, on Tuesday 10/09/1978, at his home, 2 Norton Park Drive, Sheffield. The funeral service was at 11.15 a.m. on Friday 15/09/1978, followed by cremation at Hutcliffe Wood Crematorium. Donations in lieu of non-family flowers were invited for the Cleeves Memorial Fund at Tapton Masonic Hall, Shore Lane, Sheffield 10.
An informative death notice appeared in the Sheffield Morning Telegraph of Tuesday, 12th September 1978, page 8, column 1.
Chess
In the 1930s, J. Stanley Richardson was for a while secretary of the Sheffield & District Chess Association, a post he gave up on becoming secretary of the Northern Counties Chess Union. He was donor, in 1936, of the Richardson Cup for competition in the team knock-out competition which bears his name.
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Created 19/10/2012 |
Copyright © 2012, 2013 Stephen John Mann Census information is copyright of The National Archive, see UK Census Information |
Last Updated 1712/2013 |