Games of Sir George Thomas

Historical knowledge and information regarding our great game.
User avatar
Gerard Killoran
Posts: 1310
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 11:51 am
Contact:

Re: Games of Sir George Thomas

Post by Gerard Killoran » Sun Jul 13, 2025 12:01 pm

There is a facinating article here https://www.chessarch.com/archive/0041_ ... ndex.shtml detailing the first international tournament for women.

Here's a loss for Lady Thomas

A 'miserable worm' - Nigel Short

User avatar
Gerard Killoran
Posts: 1310
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 11:51 am
Contact:

Re: Games of Sir George Thomas

Post by Gerard Killoran » Sun Jul 13, 2025 1:25 pm

Miss Eschwege was one of the daughters of Hermann E. Eschwege. She was almost certainly not Kathleen (a friend of Lewis Carroll) who was Mrs. Round by the time of the tournament. Perhaps it was Ida?

Sydenham, Forest Hill & Penge Gazette - Saturday 08 January 1887 p.4.png
Sydenham, Forest Hill & Penge Gazette - Saturday 08 January 1887 p.4.png (632.56 KiB) Viewed 15163 times

or Nina

Sydenham, Forest Hill & Penge Gazette - Saturday 01 July 1893 p.5.png
Sydenham, Forest Hill & Penge Gazette - Saturday 01 July 1893 p.5.png (362.6 KiB) Viewed 15162 times
A 'miserable worm' - Nigel Short

User avatar
John Saunders
Posts: 2163
Joined: Thu Apr 19, 2007 3:10 pm
Location: Kingston-upon-Thames
Contact:

Re: Games of Sir George Thomas

Post by John Saunders » Sun Jul 13, 2025 2:28 pm

Yes, definitely Ida.

I have a photo of her on file which I think came from the John White collection in Cleveland...
1897 Ida Eugenie Eschwege.jpg
1897 Ida Eugenie Eschwege.jpg (494.13 KiB) Viewed 15153 times
Ida Eugenie Eschwege, born 1870 in London, married James A Marciel in 1911, died 1933.

I can't remember where I read it but I think her father Hermann was drummed out of the City of London club simply for being German, circa 1914, and despite the fact that the family had been domiciled in the UK for many decades before WW1. EDIT: I read it in Edward Winter's article about J Walter Russell.

A couple of Ida's games from the 1897 Ladies' tournament were published in the Times. Perhaps I should create a file of games from it for BritBase but I know it has been well covered by other online chess writers.

BTW, Gerard, I'm getting a warning message about the link given to the chessarch.com page - strange, because I can usually load pages from that excellent site without problems.
Personal Twitter @johnchess
Britbase https://www.britbase.info
(I prefer email to PM - contact me via this link - https://www.saund.org.uk/email.html)

User avatar
Gerard Killoran
Posts: 1310
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 11:51 am
Contact:

Re: Games of Sir George Thomas

Post by Gerard Killoran » Sun Jul 13, 2025 5:02 pm

From

Stalin's American Spy: Noel Field, Allen Dulles and the East European Show Trials, By Tony Sharp
Flora Lewis writes that when the British exhibited 'outbursts of hysterical hatred for all things German during World War I, Nina's family exchanged its German name for that of her grand-mother, and she became Nina Foote Field'. Lewis, The Man who Disappeared, p. 22. This is wrong on several counts. The name is spelt Foot, never Foote. In 1914 Nina had been Nina Sefton Field for ten years and was living in Zurich, a German-speaking city in a neutral country. Moreover, she applied for her passport in 1919 simply as Nina Field. However, her younger brother Fritz Salo Eschwege (1882-1930) did change his name to Thomas James Foot, presumably in order to serve as a doctor with the Royal Army Medical Corps on the Salonika front in 1918. Infor-mation from Peter Bull. This explains why Hermann's will lists him as his son under that name. In the will Thomas (Fritz) and his three married sisters, specified as Kathleen Round, Ida Marcial and Nina Sefton Field, each receive the interest on a fourth share of Hermann's residuary estate, which was held in trust. The trustees and executors were the Public Trustee and Noel's father Herbert. Copy of Hermann Eschwege's will supplied by Leeds Probate Registry.
Nina Eschwege became Nina Field when she married the scientist Herbert Haviland Field in London in 1903.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Haviland_Field

her son was Noel Field

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noel_Field#
A 'miserable worm' - Nigel Short

User avatar
Gerard Killoran
Posts: 1310
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 11:51 am
Contact:

Re: Games of Sir George Thomas

Post by Gerard Killoran » Sun Jul 13, 2025 6:37 pm

Lady Thomas wins easily

A 'miserable worm' - Nigel Short

GrahamStuart
Posts: 231
Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2021 11:04 am
Location: Blackfield
Contact:

Re: Games of Sir George Thomas

Post by GrahamStuart » Sun Jul 27, 2025 11:13 am

Another one for the collection?

A living pieces game was held at Taunton's School in May 1935 between Sir George Thomas and CHOD Alexander.


Attachments
Hampshire Advertiser - Saturday 18 May 1935 Article.jpeg
Hampshire Advertiser - Saturday 18 May 1935 Article.jpeg (414.39 KiB) Viewed 14981 times
Hampshire Advertiser - Saturday 18 May 1935 Game.jpeg
Hampshire Advertiser - Saturday 18 May 1935 Game.jpeg (161.48 KiB) Viewed 14981 times

User avatar
John Saunders
Posts: 2163
Joined: Thu Apr 19, 2007 3:10 pm
Location: Kingston-upon-Thames
Contact:

Re: Games of Sir George Thomas

Post by John Saunders » Sun Jul 27, 2025 4:57 pm

GrahamStuart wrote:
Sun Jul 27, 2025 11:13 am
Another one for the collection?

A living pieces game was held at Taunton's School in May 1935 between Sir George Thomas and CHOD Alexander.
Many thanks, Graham. I've added that one to the BritBase collection.
Personal Twitter @johnchess
Britbase https://www.britbase.info
(I prefer email to PM - contact me via this link - https://www.saund.org.uk/email.html)

User avatar
Gerard Killoran
Posts: 1310
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 11:51 am
Contact:

Re: Games of Sir George Thomas

Post by Gerard Killoran » Mon Jul 28, 2025 9:50 pm

A game:



A name:

H. B. Beale the correspondence player of Hyde Court Stroud was Henry Blenkarne Beale b.1845 d.1921.

https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/library-rnid/20 ... rge-beale/

https://woodchesterhistory.weebly.com/t ... ation.html

https://adastrapermundum.com/2019/10/27 ... miss-buss/

Miss Buss and Miss Beale
Cupid's darts do not feel.
How different from us
Miss Beale and Miss Buss
A 'miserable worm' - Nigel Short

User avatar
John Saunders
Posts: 2163
Joined: Thu Apr 19, 2007 3:10 pm
Location: Kingston-upon-Thames
Contact:

Re: Games of Sir George Thomas

Post by John Saunders » Tue Jul 29, 2025 11:56 am

Many thanks, Gerard. This will be added to the online collection when it is updated, hopefully later today.

The St James Budget is proving a fruitful source of games. Here's another...

Personal Twitter @johnchess
Britbase https://www.britbase.info
(I prefer email to PM - contact me via this link - https://www.saund.org.uk/email.html)

User avatar
John Saunders
Posts: 2163
Joined: Thu Apr 19, 2007 3:10 pm
Location: Kingston-upon-Thames
Contact:

Re: Games of Sir George Thomas

Post by John Saunders » Tue Jul 29, 2025 4:53 pm

A further ten games added to the Sir George Thomas file, plus a few corrections and extra details...

https://www.saund.org.uk/britbase/pgn/t ... iewer.html

... many thanks to Tim Harding, Alan Smith and Gerard Killoran for contributing further games.
Personal Twitter @johnchess
Britbase https://www.britbase.info
(I prefer email to PM - contact me via this link - https://www.saund.org.uk/email.html)

User avatar
Gerard Killoran
Posts: 1310
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 11:51 am
Contact:

Re: Games of Sir George Thomas

Post by Gerard Killoran » Tue Jul 29, 2025 10:41 pm

A C Jackman of the North London club.

The British Chess Magazine, Volume 20 p. 183 has:
OBITUARY. Brighton Society (April 14th) records the death of Mr. A. C. Jackman, a member of the first class of the North London Club. Though an invalid for many years, Mr. Jackman was a genial companion and trusty friend. He was exceedingly fond of chess, and his play was of the attacking style, he was also a good solver, being particularly fond of end-games. For some months before his death he had been confined to house, and his absence from the club is one of the causes why the North London Club has done so badly this season.
It seems this is Arthur Croome Jackman; born c1849; buried 10 April 1900, in Camden.
A 'miserable worm' - Nigel Short

User avatar
Gerard Killoran
Posts: 1310
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 11:51 am
Contact:

Re: Games of Sir George Thomas

Post by Gerard Killoran » Tue Jul 29, 2025 11:17 pm

A. Mayne seems to be the Cornish chess player Ambrose Mayne d.1941

From West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser - Thursday 20 February 1941 p.6
CONSTANTINE CHURCHMAN
In a grave lined with rhododendrons and ivy, the interment took place at Constantine churchyard, last Wednesday, of Mr. Ambrose Mayne, aged 72, of Pons-a-Verran. Port Navas, who died at Falmouth and District Hospital after a short illness. Son of the late Rev. James Mayne, Mr. Mayne was a member cf a well-known Constantine family, and he had been connected with Constantine Church all his life. He was a keen chess player.
A 'miserable worm' - Nigel Short

Jon D'Souza-Eva
Posts: 922
Joined: Mon Apr 24, 2023 7:53 am

Re: Games of Sir George Thomas

Post by Jon D'Souza-Eva » Tue Jul 29, 2025 11:29 pm

Gerard Killoran wrote:
Tue Jul 29, 2025 10:41 pm
It seems this is Arthur Croome Jackman; born c1849; buried 10 April 1900, in Camden.
He was actually born in 1859 (9th March, 1859, according to one unsourced tree on ancestry) in Leintwardine, Herefordshire. He died on the 6th April, 1900, according to his probate. He was probably unmarried as one of his sisters and her husband were mentioned in his probate, but no-one else.
https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/pe ... s/9QW3-M2L

User avatar
Gerard Killoran
Posts: 1310
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 11:51 am
Contact:

Re: Games of Sir George Thomas

Post by Gerard Killoran » Wed Jul 30, 2025 9:14 am

Jon D'Souza-Eva wrote:
Tue Jul 29, 2025 11:29 pm
Gerard Killoran wrote:
Tue Jul 29, 2025 10:41 pm
It seems this is Arthur Croome Jackman; born c1849; buried 10 April 1900, in Camden.
He was actually born in 1859 (9th March, 1859, according to one unsourced tree on ancestry) in Leintwardine, Herefordshire. He died on the 6th April, 1900, according to his probate. He was probably unmarried as one of his sisters and her husband were mentioned in his probate, but no-one else.
https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/pe ... s/9QW3-M2L
d.o.b. registered: Jan 1859 Ludlow, Shropshire, England, according to Ancestry.
A 'miserable worm' - Nigel Short

Jon D'Souza-Eva
Posts: 922
Joined: Mon Apr 24, 2023 7:53 am

Re: Games of Sir George Thomas

Post by Jon D'Souza-Eva » Wed Jul 30, 2025 11:22 am

Gerard Killoran wrote:
Wed Jul 30, 2025 9:14 am
d.o.b. registered: Jan 1859 Ludlow, Shropshire, England, according to Ancestry.
Yes, although obviously "Jan 1859" means the first quarter of 1859. This doesn't narrow his date of birth down by much. He might have been born any time in the last couple of months of 1858 or the first three months of 1859. In fact I have seen cases when someones birth is registered much later than you'd expect, perhaps up to a year after the actual date of birth.
Last edited by Jon D'Souza-Eva on Wed Jul 30, 2025 2:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Post Reply