Bruce Hayden

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Alan McGowan
Posts: 27
Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2010 8:44 pm

Bruce Hayden

Post by Alan McGowan » Tue Sep 25, 2012 10:17 pm

I would like to obtain a little more information about Bruce Hayden than I have in his very brief biography on the Chess Scotland History Archive web site. http://www.chessscotland.com/history/bi ... hayden.htm
I believe he was born in Scotland but spent most of his life in England. At one time he was a chess columnist for the Sunday Times (1953-55), and the West Sussex Gazette (1929-32). He also provided articles to Chess Review in the USA. He was the author of ‘Cabbage heads and chess kings', Arco Publications, 1960. He played in the Scottish Ch 1954 and wrote an article on the tournament for the BCM of that year (p 288-9).
The Scottish Chess Association Yearbook for 1953-54 showed him as a member of the association with an address of 14 Bridge Rd., East Molesey, Surrey.
The chess Archivist for the Sussex Chess Association, Brian Denman, has been trying to help. He has suggested that Mr Hayden was born in Glasgow in 1907, and that his full name may have been Hendy Bruce Hayden (though always known as Bruce), and that he died in 1997 (25 October) in the Kingston-upon-Thames Registration. District.
I have made numerous searches on the Scotland's People web site, but without success.
Further information or direction would be appreciated, particularly with regards to confirming his full name and date/place of birth/death.
Thank you for any help offered.
Alan McGowan
Historian, Chess Scotland

Roger Mylward
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun Oct 31, 2010 9:40 pm

Re: Bruce Hayden

Post by Roger Mylward » Sun Sep 30, 2012 9:16 am

The official records show Hendy Bruce Hayden's death in October 1997 in the Kingston-upon-Thames Registration district; the same records show his birth date as 07 April 1907 but no place of birth.

There is no record of a Hendy Hayden in the ScotlandsPeople website nor in the 1911 England and Wales Census. The only Bruce Hayden in the relevant age range was born in Cowes IOW in 1908.

Roger Mylward

John Townsend
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Joined: Sun Aug 29, 2010 8:26 pm

Re: Bruce Hayden

Post by John Townsend » Sun Sep 30, 2012 7:10 pm

One of his achievements was his part in arranging the airmail chess team match between London and New York. It was an innovation because previous international correspondence matches had used cables. The Times report (Wednesday, 29 December 1954, page 8) included this comment:

"The match is a result of a meeting in London last year between Dr. Edward Lasker, of New York, the international chess master, and Mr. Bruce Hayden, at that time a member of the British Chess Federation development committee."

Alan, now that the absence of Staunton from your list of "Masters who visited Scotland" has been rectified, perhaps notes about other visiting masters can be offered by other forum members. For example, Harrwitz visited Aberdeen!

http://chessscotland.com/history/staunton.htm

Best wishes,

John Townsend

Alan McGowan
Posts: 27
Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2010 8:44 pm

Re: Bruce Hayden

Post by Alan McGowan » Sun Sep 30, 2012 9:21 pm

Roger: Thank you for the information. Some more inquiries for me to do in regard to date/place of birth, and names.
John: Thanks to you also. Now you have obliged me to add another item to my 'To Do' list, with regards to Harrwitz and Aberdeen! As if I don't have enough to do!

Regards,
Alan

Tim Harding
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Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2010 8:46 pm
Location: Dublin, Ireland
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Re: Bruce Hayden

Post by Tim Harding » Mon Oct 01, 2012 9:26 pm

John Townsend wrote:Alan, now that the absence of Staunton from your list of "Masters who visited Scotland" has been rectified, perhaps notes about other visiting masters can be offered by other forum members. For example, Harrwitz visited Aberdeen!

http://chessscotland.com/history/mastervisits.htm
Alan, I think you could add the masters who played in the Dundee 1867 Congress: De Vere, Neumann, Steinitz, and Blackburne, and maybe you would count G.A. MacDonnell too?
Steinitz was also in Dundee and Glasgow for some weeks early in 1867 (see Peter W. Walsh's 'The Story of Dundee Chess Club') and in the 1870s visited Scotland privately at least once; source: G. B. Fraser's correspondence with John G. White, cited in my book 'Eminent Victorian Chess Players'.

Then there was August 1875 in Glasgow (during the Counties Chess Association meeting) when Burn was in the main tournament and shared 1st/2nd in the Handicap with Blackburne.
Bird and MacDonnell also played in the Handicap, and both Steinitz and Zukertort were also there: see CPC 1875 page 312 for example.

For Blackburne at present you have only 1893 1895 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 for which I would be grateful (from any reader) to receive some details as McFarland have asked me to do a book on Blackburne.
I think Dundee 1867 was probably his first visit to Scotland and 1875 may have been his next, but I am not certain of the former and have only negative evidence for the latter.

To Alan's list of dates for Blackburne I can already add the following: 1879, 1883, 1894, 1896, 1897 and 1898 on the basis of known games.
Tim Harding
Historian and FIDE Arbiter

Author of 'Steinitz in London,' British Chess Literature to 1914', 'Joseph Henry Blackburne: A Chess Biography', and 'Eminent Victorian Chess Players'
http://www.chessmail.com

Alan McGowan
Posts: 27
Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2010 8:44 pm

Re: Bruce Hayden

Post by Alan McGowan » Sun Oct 07, 2012 3:59 pm

Thank you Tim. I will deal with Blackburne's many, many visits if and when I have the time. I have removed his name from that list until I get round to dealing with him. I have also removed Lasker, Lee and Teichmann for the same reason.

I am aware of the Masters who visited Dundee in 1867; I may add their names to that list, though there is a separate article on the tournament elsewhere in the History Archive. (I have The History of Dundee Chess Club.)

Thanks for comments about CCA meeting in Glasgow 1875.

Alan McGowan
Posts: 27
Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2010 8:44 pm

Re: Bruce Hayden

Post by Alan McGowan » Sun Jan 08, 2017 7:48 pm

In view of a recent article in Chess (reprinted by Chessbase), it was decided that it was time to put the results of our research (Brian Denman and myself) on the Forum.

Bruce Hayden was born in Glasgow, Scotland on 7 April 1907. His name was registered as Henry Bruce Cobb Ellenband. His father was listed as Maurice Henry Ellenband, Advertising Contractor, and his mother was Joan Cobb, Table Dresser.

The address at time of birth was given as 42 Oran St [Maryhill], Glasgow. Interestingly, the Glasgow Post Office Directory for that year does not show a Nr. 42 Oran St.

Online searches show a Maurice (or Morris) Henry Ellenband, born 1873 in Salford, died 1939 in London. Searches of the British Newspaper archive show Mr Ellenband at various political meetings around the country.

Online searches at the ScotlandsPeople web site have failed to definitively identify Joan Cobb as having been born in Scotland, though there are possible references to Forfarshire. Hayden's parents do not appear to have made a life together. (Maurice H. Ellenband married Emily Burge in 1918, at Holborn.)

Cheltenham Connection
Brian Denman discovered that the 1911 Census for England shows a Hendry Bruce Cobb Ellinband [note spelling variations], age 3, residing as a visitor at the home of Thomas Parker, a 58 year old bricklayer, at Harborne, Moorend Crescent, Moorend Street, Cheltenham. His mother is not listed among the other residents.

Several examples of Bruce Hayden’s name/games being used in the Cheltenham Chronicle 1930 have been seen. The issue for Saturday, 4 July 1931, page 4, commented: “Mr Bruce Hayden, formerly of Cheltenham, now the secretary of the Hove CC.”

Mother
Further research by Brian Denman suggests that Hayden’s mother either married, or was in a common-law relationship with, a William Scott Wilson. Home addresses for Bruce Hayden in the early 1930s (Sussex), 1945 (Surrey) and 1961 show that Joan Wilson was at the same address.

Sussex Research
The 1935 Kelly's Directory for Brighton shows a Mrs Joan Wilson operating tea rooms at Lower Road, Kingston, and Wm. S. Wilson operating a motor car dealership at Old Ship Yard, Bungalow Town. William Scott Wilson died 1935 at Southlands Hospital, 2 Upper Shoreham Road. His home address was shown as 80 Old Shoreham Road, Shoreham by Sea.

Joan Wilson (shown as age 80) died 16 September 1961 at 26 Wolverton Avenue, Kingston, Surrey.

Hayden: Journalism and Chess
Hayden – using that name – first appeared in Sussex chess records in 1927. He edited a chess column in the West Sussex Gazette from 1929-1932. He also wrote for the Sunday Times 1953-55.

Hayden played in the 1954 Scottish Championship at Stirling. He contributed an article about the championship to the September 1954 British Chess Magazine (pages 288-289).

The Scottish Chess Association Year-Book 1953-54 gave Hayden's address as 14 Bridge Rd., East Molesey, Surrey.

Mr Hayden contributed regular articles to the American chess periodical Chess Review. The following reference is given in a footnote on page 308 of the October 1956 issue of that magazine:

"For the record, Hayden's full name is Hendry Bruce Cobb Ellenband-Hayden; but he foregoes using the hyphenated surname as being cumbersome. Ed." (Thanks to Edward Winter for this reference; Chess Notes 9223.)

Hayden was the author of Cabbage Heads and Chess Kings, Arco Publications, London, 1960.

Brian Denman also found that Hayden used the initials H. B. C. E. as late as 1977-78, when he was listed as a patron of the Sussex Chess Association.

Hayden died 25 October 1997 at Kingston Hospital, Surrey. His address at the time was 30 Bracken Gardens, Barnes, London SW13.

Information has been offered suggesting that Hayden may have been involved in secret work during the 1939-45 war and may have spent some time in the USA.

Several references to Hayden mistakenly show his first given name as Hendy.

It has still not been ascertained how the name Hayden was assumed or acquired.

Research is ongoing. Further information about Mr Hayden would be welcomed.

Sources:
ScotlandsPeople web site
Brian Denman, Archivist for the Sussex Chess Association.

Roger Lancaster
Posts: 1906
Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2015 2:44 pm

Re: Bruce Hayden

Post by Roger Lancaster » Sat Jan 14, 2017 9:06 pm

A journalist friend of mine, now also deceased, claimed to know Bruce Hayden well. My recollection, and we would be talking about the 1970's and/or 1980's, was that Bruce Hayden was then a member of West London Chess Club and worked for (or had recently retired from) a local paper somewhere in that area.

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