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Yorkshire Chess History |
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Contents: |
David Henry Butler |
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Identity of the Chess-Player
David H Butler is best remembered probably for his involvement after the Second World War in correspondence chess, but his relevance to this site is that he played for a while for Leeds in the Woodhouse Cup. The initial key to tracking him down is the fact that he played correspondence chess for Yorkshire in 1937-38, but for Lancashire in 1938-39, rather suggesting he’d be found in the 1939 Registry in Lancashire. There are three people with names answering to “David H Butler”. Their dates of birth (in 1907, David Henry Butler in1914, and David Howson Butler 1915 respectively) enable identifying dates of death. The one born in 1907 died in 1882, while the chess-player was still alive (as he won an award in 1986). The one born in 1914 was in 1939 a schoolmaster in Winchester, Hampshire, while the one born in 1915 was in 1939 a postman (!) in Crosby, Lancashire (as it then was, now Merseyside), about 6 miles north of Liverpool.
The inference seemed to be that the chess-player was the 1939 Crosby postman, which is assumed here to be the case, though more evidence is needed to clinch it, such as an obituary in one of the chess magazines. Since this page was written, John Saunders has unearthed an obituary in the 1991 British chess Magazine and the citation for his ECF award amongst other things, and from these it becomes apparent that the chess-player “D. H. Butler” was the one born in 1914 in Lancaster.
Non-Chess Life
David Henry Butler was born on 21/12/1914 to John Butler (b. reg. Q4 1884, Lancaster ) and Leonora Isabella Butler (née Brown, born 1881, Lancaster) who married in 1913, in Lancaster registration district, and went on to have at least the following children:
The 1911 census found unmarried Leonora Isabella Brown still living with her parents at 40 Regent Street and working from home as a music teacher. That her father’s name was Henry Brown may the reason for her son’s middle name being Henry.
Bulmer’s 1914 directory of Lancaster & District listed John Butler, timekeeper, living at 44 Dallas Road, Lancaster. This is probably the above John Butler. Leonora’s father was still listed at 40 Regent Street.
Since 1918, the Butler family had evidently decamped to Barnsley, South Yorkshire (then the West Riding) as 53 Park Grove he 1921 census found parents John and Leonora Isabella living with the above three children at an end-terrace property, 53 Park Grove, Barnsley (now S70 1QA, round the back of modern-day Morrisons supermarket). Father John was employed as a secretary to Wilson & Longbottom Ltd, Textile Machine Makers. David and Effie were in full-time education.
David Henry Butler went to Leeds University whence he would have graduated (in mathematics? – details difficult to track down) in around 1937 and then became a schoolteacher.
The 1939 register found him as a schoolteacher lodging in the household of the Mailes family at 17 Upper High Street, Winchester, Hampshire.
It is evident from chess records that he was still resident in Hampshire in the immediate post-war period, but as early as 1947 and into the early 1950s he was living in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire. The move from Winchester, Hampshire to Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire appears to be narrowed down to 1946 or 1947.
Later in the 1950s he became a school master at Mary Hare School for the Deaf, Newbury, Berkshire. The move from Scunthorpe Lincs. to Newbury, Berks. must have come at some time from 1952 to 1956.
By 1978 he seems, on the basis of chess records, to have been living in Bridlington. By this time, he had perhaps moved to be with (or near) relatives as mentioned later. The move from Berkshire to East Yorkshire evidently occurred at some stage from 1970 to 1978.
He may have lived with a son for a while, probably in Bridlington or Hull, but ended up in a care home.
At the time of his death, he was resident at “The Cott 2050 2050 Hessle High Road Hull” (per probate record transcription which should read “2050-2052”) which is now a care home known as The Cottage Residential Home, 2050-2052 Hessle High Road, Hull, Humberside, HU13 9NW.
He evidently had married and had a son called Martin, but tacking down details of the marriage the subsequent birth of son Martin or other children is difficult.
Chess
D H Butler did not play in the Leeds Woodhouse Cup team in 1933-34, but did in 1934-1935, 1935-36, 1936-37 and 1937-38. He also played correspondence chess for Yorkshire in 1937-38, but was playing correspondence chess for Lancashire in 1938-39.
At Leeds University he was captain of Leeds University chess club in 1935 when Thomas John Beach was starting his first year at the University.
It looks like the young D H Butler played cricket as in 1937, in a match between Leeds University II and Devonshire Hall, D H Butler went in at number 6 and was bowled out by G Charlesworth for 6 runs, to be followed at number 7 by T J Beach who was bowled out by B E Newman for 1 run. (They were both better at chess.)
He played for Lancashire (for which he had a birth qualification) v East Cheshire in a friendly match played 26/11/1938. He played in a friendly correspondence match for Lancashire v Durham in 1941, then on and off thereafter.
He was one of the original members of the Social Correspondence Chess Association founded in 1940, being one of the original committee members. He also served as SCCA Best Games Judge from 1941, apparently through to 1979 inclusive.
During WW2, a number of friendly correspondence matches were played, and D H Butler appears playing on board 21 for his native Lancashire in a 40-board friendly correspondence match against Worcestershire.
In 1945, he was listed as one of the “Tourney and other Secretaries” of the British Correspondence Chess Association. By 1947 he was on the Executive Committee. By 1949 he was a vice-president.
He represented Hampshire in county matches in the immediate post-war period.
On 26/09/1946 he was accepted with 13 others as an applicant to play in the 1946-47 Hampshire championship which had not been held, it seems, from 1939-40 to 1945-46.
D H Butler finished 3rd-4th= in the Major Open at the British Championships of 1947, held in Harrogate.
In the 1947-48 season of the Scunthorpe league, D H Butler played on board one for a club named Redbourn Works.
In December 1949 he played on board 3 for Lincolnshire in a 35-board friendly match against Yorkshire.
In October 1950 he played on board 1 for Scunthorpe against Lincoln in the Lincolnshire league.
On 25/11/1950 he played on board 2 for Lincolnshire against Leicestershire.
On 17/02/1951 he played for Lincolnshire on board 2 in their 11-8 victory over Northamptonshire.
In April 1951 he played on board 3 for Lincolnshire in a 36-board friendly match against Yorkshire.
On 22/03/1953 he played for Lincolnshire on board 2 in their 15-9 victory over Nottinghamshire.
In September 1952, a D H Butler of Scunthorpe was succeeded as President of the Lincolnshire Chess Association by P H Shepherd of Grimsby, but when D H Butler assumed the post is less evident.
In a match in November 1952 when Leicestershire beat Lincolnshire by 15½-7½, D H Butler lost on board one for Lincolnshire.
He won the Lincolnshire County Championship of 1952-53.
“D Butler” was playing chess for Newbury in the Western Division of the Berkshire League in 1956. “D H Butler” was playing for Newbury in 1958.
Some Examples of him playing county chess for Berkshire are as follows. In November 1958 he lost on board three for Berkshire against Kent who won the match 12-8. Also in November 1958, he won on board 5 for Berkshire in a match against Oxfordshire in a match the latter narrowly won by 10½-9½. In January 1959 he was one of the four Berkshire players winning their games in a British Counties Championship match in which Surrey beat Berkshire by 13‑6½. In October 1959, he drew on board three for Berkshire in a 20-board English County Championship match in which Surrey beat a “weakened” Berkshire 16½-3½.
On 09/12/1961 he played on board 4 for Berkshire against Buckinghamshire, then on 06/01/1962 on board 5 against Surrey, then on 17/02/1962 on board 3 against Oxfordshire.
On 18/09/1969 he played on board 11 for Berkshire in a 50-board match with Middlesex in the SCCU’s Amboyna Shield.
In September 1970, he played on board 7 for Berkshire against Somerset in a pre-season friendly county match.
In around 1976 a Humberside League was formed due to a perception that the Hull & District CA league was too overshadowed by Hull Chess Club teams. In 1978, D H Butler was playing for Bridlington in the Humberside League.
In August 1978 he played for Bridlington in a pre-season friendly with Hull YPI (=Young People’s Institute).
Hereafter, he seems to disappear as an over-the-board shess-player.
In 1981, a third division was added to the Counties & District Correspondence Chess Championship, and it was given the name “Butler-Thomas”, which one imagines had some connected with D H Butler.
In 1986 he was one of the recipients of the BCF President’s Awards for Services to Chess.
At some stage he was made a BCF Honorary Life Member.
Death
In March 1991 he suffered a mild stroke and went to live with his son Martin in Hull. He went into hospital and a brain tumour was diagnosed. He died in a home in Hull on 03/10/1991 at the age of 76.
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Created 26/08/2018 |
Copyright © 2018 Stephen John Mann Census information is copyright of The National Archive, see UK Census Information |
Last Updated 30/10/2024 |