|
Yorkshire Home
Sheffield Home
Narrative
Organisations
Events
Games
People
Graves
Competitions
Trophies
Made in Sheffield
Miscellaneous
|
The Sheffield
& Rotherham Independent of 1st February 1866 reported on the
annual general meeting of the Sheffield Athenaeum Chess Club, held on 29th
Tuesday January, 1866, as follows:
|
THE SHEFFIELD
ATHENAEUM CHESS CLUB. – The
annual general meeting of this club was held on Tuesday, in the clubroom of
the Athenaeum. The report having been read and adopted, the
President, G. S.
Taylor, Esq., gave an account of the correspondence which had passed
between this and the Huddersfield Club, relative to the challenge which
that club had received from the Sheffield Athenaeum Club to play a return
match. It appeared that in consequence of having lost two or three of
its members, and of the disinclination of those remaining to play in
matches, the Huddersfield Club had declined to accept the Sheffield Challenge.
Much disappointment was felt by the Sheffield players at not having been
afforded the chance of retrieving their defeat of last year, and there was
a very general expression of regret that chess at the Huddersfield Club had
“fallen to so low an ebb.” Dr. J. C. Hall
tendered to the members present a set of Staunton chess-men to be played
for in a handicap tournament; his offer was thankfully accepted. The
following gentlemen were appointed officers, viz. : - G. S. Taylor, Esq.,
president; J. Greening, Esq.,
vice-president: Mr. J.
J. Champion, secretary (elected in place of Mr. G. B. Cocking, who had
held the post for twelve years, and whose resignation was accepted amid
manifestations of great regret); Messrs. Cockayne, Latham, Mort, and
Rowbotham as members of the council.
|
The expressed
resentment regarding Huddersfield Chess Club might have gone no further, but
one of John James Champion’s first actions as secretary was to send a
copy of the report to the Chess Player’s Chronicle, for publication
therein. Accordingly, the Chess Player’s Magazine, 1866,
page 92, published the report almost verbatim, prefaced with the
introduction, “We have been requested by the honorary secretary of the
Sheffield Athenaeum Chess Club to publish the following extract: -”.
That’s when
a spot
of trouble between the Sheffield Athenaeum and Huddersfield Chess Clubs
started.
The
“Cockayne” who was appointed to the committee was most probably William Cockayne,
junior.
|