Yorkshire Chess History

 

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1857: Halifax CC Annual Meeting

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Held at the Odd Fellows’ Hall, Halifax,

on Wednesday, 27/05/1857.

 

This “Annual Meeting” seems to have been the sort of extended playing session, involving guests from other clubs, and with refreshments being served, sometimes called a “soirée”, rather than the type whose primary purpose was administrative matters such as election of officers etc.  Indeed, there’s no indication that the latter purpose was served by this meeting.

 

The Halifax Courier of 30/05/1857 contained a report on this meeting which stated that Halifax Chess Club had only recently been revived.  The club had not been represented at annual meetings of the West Yorkshire Chess Association over the period 1853 to 1856.  It may be that Frederick William Cronhelm had dropped out of chess activity due to advancing years (65 years of age in 1852) and nobody else had kept things going.  The expansion of the original Yorkshire Chess Association to the broader Northern & Midland Counties Chess Association can only have served to remove stimulus from Yorkshire chess clubs.

 

Halifax Chess Club seemingly experienced a greater ebb and flow in its fortunes than did most other clubs.  It was again not represented, but for the odd person, at West Yorkshire Chess Association meetings from 1861 to 1868, and then had another “revival” around 1868-69 (see 1869 Bradford-Halifax meeting).

 

The report in the Halifax Courier read as follows:

 

ANNUAL MEETING OF THE HALIFAX CHESS CLUB.- On Wednesday last, the annual meeting of the members and friends of this club was held at the Odd Fellows’ Hall.  The attendance was good, some fourteen boards being in use.  Among the gentlemen present we noticed John Craven Esq., president of the club, and Messrs. Leyland, Walsh, Nussey, J. [sic] A. Brierley, J. H. Brierley, Fleming, Law, Marchant, Coton, J. Wainhouse, (secretary), Whitman, Cooper, Parker, Scott, Rigg, and Tasker.  The players from neighbouring towns were Mr. Tomlinson, from Wakefield; Dr. Scott, Messrs. Watkinson, Cooper, Taylor, and Taylor [sic], from Huddersfield, and Mons. Mrozinski.  Play commenced at three o’clock and was kept up till six, at which hour the abstraction of the courtly game was exchanged for the more material pleasures of a collation.  The company were speedily back at the tables, and play was resumed and continued to nine o’clock – the coffee hour.  The club, it is only fair we should add, has but recently been re-organized, and though numerically strong, numbers many inexperienced players.  Nor has the recent session been as assiduously devoted to practice as could have been wished.  Yet the play on Wednesday was uniformly good.  Before collation, some spirited, though not obstinate, games ensued between M. Mrozinski and Dr. Scott, of Huddersfield.  Both these gentlemen are without doubt extraordinary players , but at close quarters the former gentlemen would unquestionably deal sorely with his adversary.  In the evening, other gentlemen sat down with M. Mrozinski, and excellent play was witnessed.  Altogether, the annual meeting passed off in a manner that must have been highly satisfactory to the members of the club.

 

That chess was still the province of only the more affluent, independent classes is evidenced by the fact that play started at 3 p.m. on a Wednesday afternoon, so limiting attendance to those who could take the afternoon off from whatever employment they might have.  (On the other hand, half-day closing might have been a consideration.)

 

The identities of the dramatis personae , were discernible, would appear to be as follows:

 

J. [sic] A. Brierley

Halifax

Thomas Allen Brierley

J. H. Brierley

Halifax

John Henry Brierley

Cooper

Halifax

 

Coton

Halifax

 

John Craven

Halifax

John Craven, senior

Fleming

Halifax

William Fleming

Law

Halifax

 

Leyland

Halifax

Francis Alexander Leyland

Marchant

Halifax

probably John Marchant

Nussey

Halifax

 

Parker

Halifax

G. L. Parker

Rigg

Halifax

probably Samuel Taylor Rigg

Scott

Halifax

W. H. Scott

Tasker

Halifax

probably William Tasker

J. Wainhouse

Halifax

Jonathan Calvert Wainhouse

Walsh

Halifax

Edwin Walsh

Whitman

Halifax

 

Tomlinson

Wakefield

William Henry Bedford Tomlinson

Dr. Scott

Huddersfield

Dr. William Scott

Watkinson

Huddersfield

John Watkinson

Cooper

Huddersfield

Duncan Anderson Cooper

Taylor

Huddersfield

George Henry Taylor

Taylor

Huddersfield

(2 Taylors?)

Mons. Mrozinski

 

 

 

The identity of “Mons. Mrozinski” is unclear.

 

 

Created

25/05/2014

Stephen John Mann

Last Updated

25/05/2014