Who was L. Alexander?

[NickFaulks]

I was watching that game live on ICC and commented Nxf7, which I thought was humorous. A moment later he played it.

[MJMcCready]

You could try asking the current Open University player NO'D James Alexander, he might know.

[Richard James]

After a bit of detective work, I now have a possible answer to Gerard's original question. It's a long story so please bear with me.



I had a vague recollection of a conversation with Mike Sheehan about 35 years ago in which he told me his friend Laurie Alexander lived in Greenford.

So, having failed to find anything for Laurie Alexander, I looked for Laurence Alexander in that area. I found a death record: Laurence Alexander born 12 Jun 1900 died August 1991 in Brent. The associated probate record gave his death date as 18 Aug 1991 and his address as 48 Sunley Gardens Perivale, which is between Ealing and Greenford. This must be the right man: he was actually Laurence, but always known as Laurie.

Going back, I could find him on electoral rolls at the same address with his wife Elsie C M Alexander between 1950 and 1965. Laurie and Elsie married in Lambeth in 1940: an online family tree gives her full name as Elsie Constance May Upton.

Going back a year, the 1939 Register found him a patient in Charing Cross Hospital: his occupation was given as Shipping Clerk (Engineering). We’re also told he was married, although he only tied the knot with Elsie a year later.

We can therefore identify a probable earlier marriage, to Adriana C Jacobson, in Willesden in 1927. It looks like they divorced and she also remarried in 1940.

I now went back to the 1911 census (the 1921 census, for legal reasons, won’t be available until January 2022) and found a Laurence Alexander of the right age living in Raynes Park, Wimbledon. The family comprised Albert Edward Gomperts, the manager of a cigarette manufacturing company, born in Kimberley, South Africa, but a British subject, his wife Edith Maud, their two young children, Evelyn Maud and Bernard Eyton, and Laurence Alexander, their nephew, aged 10 and born in Westminster.

As I still couldn’t find a birth record my next step was to find Edith’s birth name: Moret. Albert’s family were Dutch (probably Jewish as his father’s name was Barnet), while Edith, although born in London, was from a French family with connections in Alsace Lorraine. There were several reasons why young Laurie might have been living with his uncle and aunt. He might just have been visiting, but it was also possible that one or both of his parents had died, or that he was the illegitimate son of a sister of Albert or Edith (who, from family trees, had several sisters).

I couldn’t find any Alexander-Gomperts or Alexander-Moret marriage records, or any birth records for Laurence with any of those three surnames so I looked for the Gomperts and Moret families in the 1901 census. There, living in Soho, we find Joseph Moret, a carriage trimmer, his wife Alsacia, a char (both born in Whitechapel), their 18 year old daughter Eleanor, a tailoress, and their 9 month old grandson Laurence, born in Soho, and most likely Eleanor’s son. His surname looks something like Bogalooski. Eleanor, also known as Lena, would later marry, and by 1911 would be living in New Cross, South East London with her much older husband and the first of their two children.

I still couldn’t find a birth record, though, so I looked through all boys named Laurence born in the Westminster area in 1900. I eventually found a record for Laurence Alexander Foreman, which, given his middle name, seemed interesting, and further investigation gave me his mother’s maiden name: Moret. The birth was registered in St Giles, which is round about Tottenham Court Road station, and was, for much of the 19th century, perhaps the most notorious slum area of London.

So my best guess is that this might have been the boy who grew up to be Laurie Alexander.

Birth: 12 Jun 1900 Soho, London
Name at birth: Laurence Alexander Foreman (at some point between 1901 and 1911 Alexander would become his surname)
Mother (probable): Eleanor Louisa Moret
Father: unknown (possibly Foreman, or possibly something like Bogalooski)
Married (1): Adriana C Jacobson 1927
Married (2): Elsie Constance May Upton 1940
Died: 18 Aug 1991, Brent, London

I can find no children from either marriage.

[Kevin Thurlow]

Well done, Richard!

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I'm absolutely sure the obit is by Bruce Hayden and not Brian Harley.

In the Lud Eagle v Allied Forces match pic
viewtopic.php?f=27&t=11172&p=255065&hil ... er#p255065

Diamond is the spectator standing on the eztreme right.

How on earth do you remember all those faces and names, Leonard!

It might be worth going through archive photos (such as the ones in the Getty Archives) to help identify such players, as so often people are not named. There are lots of such photos if you know where to look (I think John Upham and Gerard Killoran among others already do look).

Can you name any more of the spectators?

What about the man standing rear centre and looking at the camera? He looks familiar for some reason.

There is also a young person sitting at the back, wonder who that is?

[John Saunders]

Bumping this old thread as I've come across a fourth game score from the match in the photo that started this thread...

[Event "Lud-Eagle v Allied Forces"] [Site "London, Bryanston Square, W2"] [Date "1944.04.22"] [Round "1.4"] [White "Friedman, Otto"] [Black "Range, O (Lt)"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A83"] [PlyCount "59"] [EventDate "1944.04.22"] [EventType "team-match"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [WhiteTeam "Lud-Eagle"] [BlackTeam "Allied Forces"] [WhiteTeamCountry "ENG"] [BlackTeamCountry "ENG"] 1. d4 f5 2. e4 fxe4 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 c6 5. Bxf6 exf6 6. Nxe4 d5 7. Ng3 Qb6 8. Qh5+ g6 9. Qe2+ Kf7 10. O-O-O Bd6 11. Qe3 Qc7 12. Kb1 Bg4 13. f3 Bf4 14. Qf2 Be6 15. Bd3 Nd7 16. N1e2 Bd6 17. h4 h5 18. Nf1 Kg7 19. g4 hxg4 20. fxg4 Bxg4 21. Rg1 Bh5 22. Nfg3 Bxg3 23. Rxg3 Rae8 24. Rdg1 Nf8 25. Nf4 Qf7 26. Qg2 g5 27. Rxg5+ fxg5 28. Qxg5+ Ng6 29. Nxg6 Bxg6 30. Bxg6 {Source: CHESS, October 1944, Vol.10/109, p12.} 1-0

Black's name - O. Range - appears to be a pseudonym. In the magazine the word "Holland" appears after it in brackets. This seemed to be a thing during the war with Tartakower (and maybe others) adopting pseudonyms whilst in uniform. There were a couple of examples of Dutch players doing something similar in pre-war Hastings/Major Open events (but in a non-military context). However, "O. Range," smoking his pipe in the photo, looks to be a bit too old and serious to indulge in undergraduate-level humour. Perhaps the adoption of pseudonyms had a serious intent, in case the appearance of real names in press reports gave away the whereabouts of military units that might be useful intelligence for the enemy. That said, this doesn't seem to apply to the US military involved in the match, nor to (Richard) Nevil Coles, whose posting to Hastings is mentioned explicitly in the press report. Perhaps Tartakower and "O. Range" were thinking more of possible consequences for family members who might have been living in occupied Europe should their identity as members of Resistance forces be revealed. Thoughts, anyone? And does anyone happen to know what Lt. O. Range's real name was?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Another magazine report John refers to earlier in the thread is BCM, May 1944, p109 (to go with the CHESS one cited above).

The newspaper report that Gerard posted (Hastings and St Leonards Observer - Saturday 27 May 1944) gives Captain O. Range, not Lt. Not sure which would be more accurate, or if some (temporary?) promotion had taken place.

The board order and IDs posted by Leonard Barden are:

1. Paul List v Savielly Tartakover
2. Laurie Alexander v Albert Simonson
3. Jacques Mieses (absent from the board) v Milton Hanauer
4. Otto Friedman v O Range
5. HH Cole v A Peters
6. Fred Leicester v J Montgomerie

From York University Archives and Special Collections (Ontario, Canada), Finding Aid - Otto Friedman fonds (F0308) (PDF):

Otto Friedman (1905-1978), born and educated in Prague, emigrated to England in the 1930s where he
served the Czechoslovak government-in-exile during the German occupation of his native country. He
taught in English universities (London, Oxford, Reading) following graduation from the London School
of Economics in 1947 and he worked as a management consultant in London prior to moving to Canada
in 1968. In Canada he taught at the University of Western Ontario, the University of Waterloo and the
University of Toronto, 1968-1971. In the latter year he joined the faculty of York University as a visiting
professor in the Division of Social Science and the Faculty of Environmental Studies where he remained
until his death in 1978. Friedman was the author of several books, articles, and lectures in the fields
of sociology, organizational theory and practise, and psychology, and produced Czech translations of
several works of Freud. His own titles included 'The dangers of fascism,' (1931), 'The break-up of Czech
democracy,' (1950, 1971), as well as lectures on 'Productivity in retailing and staff management,' (1956),
'Management ideologies and organizational change,' (1967) and others. In addition he was an avid chess
player and contributed newspaper articles, and television and radio programmes on the game while living
in Toronto.

(chess element bolded for emphasis)

For H. H. Cole, see Henry Holwell Cole (1873-1953) (EC Forum thread started by John Saunders).

15 boards in total. Some of the other names may be of interest. "D. M. Morrah (former Oxford player)" appears to be Dermot Michael Macgregor Morrah (1896-1974):

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

[Christopher Kreuzer]

The name "O. Range" and "O'Range" appears several times in BCM in 1944. See images below.

BCM_1944_p110.jpg

BCM_1944_p88_p108_p227.jpg

The team name "London Dutch" also confirms the joke-y pseudonym (orange for Dutch in case anyone hasn't got that yet).

The "R.N.B." bit on page 108 might help. As will the reference to the "Netherlands Brigade".

Probably: Royal Netherlands Motorized Infantry Brigade.

Spot the reference to Leonard Barden!

the fourteen-year-old Croydon boy champion L. W. Barden, playing in his first full-scale match, more than held his own in a draw against Pte. J. W. Martens."

(EDIT: Adding one last bit, several of the matches in the Second World War involving members of the armed forces and others have been covered by Martin Smith in blog posts which are listed at the bottom here: History Index (The Streatham & Brixton Chess Blog), see blogs 'War Game 4' to 'War Game 9' at the bottom of the listing.)

[Paul McKeown]

It is possible that Capt. O. Range was a member of the (Dutch) Royal Household, the name a nod to the House of Oranje-Nassau. Queen Wilhelmina was evacuated to London, where she was damned well nearly killed by a German bombing raid, and where she took an active role in supporting her country's resistance movement and where Churchill's admiration for her ensured that she became the first woman instituted into the Order of the Garter since the time of the Plantagenets.

If the captain was a member of the royal household, his identity will have been carefully preserved. Of course, if the captain was actively involved in supporting the resistance, or even was dropped into his occupied country, his identity would also have been extremely carefully preserved. However, if he had been involved in active operations, I suspect that he wouldn't have been seen publicly in London doing anything as frivolous as playing chess.

CK's suggestion of the captain being a junior officer of the KNBPI is very likely to be correct, though.

ritmeester - an army officer's rank above luitenant and below majoor would have been translated as captain
kapitein would have been ranks in the airforce, marines or marechausse
kapitein ter zee would have been a senior naval rank

De Tijdschrift van den Koninklijken Nederlandschen Schaakbond from the time may have an indication. You could ask at the Max Euwe Centrum in Amsterdam, or at the Koninklijke Bibliotheek in the Hague (which has the world's largest or second largest collection of chess literature).

Another place you could ask is the NIMH, the Nederlands Instituut voor Militaire Historie, which is part of their Department of Defence.

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

One obvious possibility for the identify of O. Range is Johan van Hulst, but although there is a superficial resemblance between them, van Hulst's age, job and probable location in 1944 don't match well. Also I don't suppose too many pipe smokers make it the ripe old of 107!
https://en.chessbase.com/post/johan-van-hulst-1911-2018

[Paul McKeown]

It seem unlikely to be van Hulst, because he remained in the Netherlands during WWII.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Paul McK's suggestions are good ones. Searching in Dutch-language sources is another possibility (or looking through contemporary Dutch chess sources as Paul indicated). I may actually contact the Nederlands Instituut voor Militaire Historie at some point.

The other possibility is to look at other photographs of Dutch soldiers in London at the time, in 1944, and see if the pseudonymous "O. Range" is in those. That would require quite a systematic search though. It may be easier to do the following:

(a) Obtain full copies of the BCM and CHESS reports featuring "O. Range" and examine for context and clues;
(b) Look into the history of the other Dutch players named in these match reports.

Some of his fellow soldiers (if serving in the same unit) may help shed light on this. As would any surviving record of who organised the "London Dutch" team to take part in this match. Unless it was "O. Range" himself...

[Christopher Kreuzer]

One of the other members of this 'London Dutch' team was Roelof Blindeman (1910-1962). The full list of 16 names from the match list (for London Dutch) on page 88 of that BCM report is below, and apparently "eight members of this team belonged to the Netherlands Brigade". I have marked with an asterisk (*) those with military rank. The others were presumably London-resident Dutchmen.

1. Capt. "O. Range" [???] (*)
2. W.G. Belinfante
3. R. (Roelof) Blindeman
4. Capt. Dr. M. Zak (*)
5. W. Hazeu
6. Sgt. T. Segaar (*)
7. Sgt. J. C. van Vliet (*)
8. D. J. Groen
9. J. H. van Meurs
10. Pte. H. Heilbut (*)
11. J. Boas
12. Pte. J. W. Martens (*)
13. J. R. van Stuwe
14. Pte. S. Schwartz (*)
15. Ant. de Jong
16. Capt. Dr. S. A. Prins (*)

Harry Heilbut (1917-1981) was an Israeli chess composer who played in one of the reserve sections at Hastings 1945/6.

From page 77 of that BCM issue, we learn that:

Here is a game played in the Netherlands Brigade Chess Club. Dr Prins is a cousin of L. Prins [Lodewijk Prins (1913-1999)], well-known and well-liked in England before the war. It may be noted that the name of L. Prins does not appear in the list of Quisling tournaments on the Continent.

(The game is Dr. S. Prins versus Dr. M. Zak.)

[Christopher Kreuzer]

It is highly likely, in my view, that the mysterious Captain "O. Range" was a member of the royal staff, unless that would mean the "R.N.B." appellation would be wrong?

I don't think this is the same person, but it gives an idea of the uniform:

https://www.alamy.com/portrait-of-a-cap ... 54719.html

The uniform in the picture here is also that of a 'Captain':

https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrie_van_Maasdijk

Um. I am going to advance a crazy theory.

Could "Captain O. Range" actually be Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, going incognito (hiding in plain sight)?

Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld

During the war, he was part of the London-based Allied war planning council, and saw active combat service as honorary wing commander in Royal Air Force (RAF), flying both fighter and bomber planes. He was also an honorary general officer in the Dutch army and involved in negotiating the terms of surrender of German forces in the Netherlands.

He was born a German prince and in 1937 he married Princess Juliana of the Netherlands "and was immediately given the title Prince of the Netherlands with the style of Royal Highness."

It sounds crazy that he would be playing in chess matches of this sort, but the likeness is remarkable.

Bernhard1.png

Berhard2.png

Capt_O_Range.png

Bernhard3.png

One of those pictures is Prince Bernhard as a pipe smoker in later life. The clincher might be to find a picture of him smoking a pipe during the war, or to confirm what his movements were at the time of these chess matches?

[EDIT: Sadly, I think the ear lobes (a good way to identify people) are different. ]

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Two other reasons why the above theory is poppycock (other than the obvious that the commander of the Dutch forces going incognito like that would not be possible): (i) the lapel insignia in the second image above is that of a brigadier, not the captain in the chess picture - though obviously that is part of the disguise...; (ii) Mr O. Range was a lieutenant earlier, and then gained promotion to captain (unlikely to be two different people).

The exploits of "Lt. O. Range" can be seen in BCM in 1943:

Lt_O_Range_BCM_1943.png

The first event in that list may help the most, as a tournament in which Sir George (Thomas) and Vera Menchik and Paul List and Yorkshire champion A. Y. Green and others took part, so it might have actual records showing who O. Range is. He finished last. He did better in "the Major section of the West London Summer Tournament" and won that.

Maybe someone with access to the BCMs of the 1940s might be able to see if the reports tell us anything more about the mysterious "O. Range". Maybe he played chess before and after the war without his pseudonym? He also clearly gained a promotion from Lieutenant to Captain at some point in 1943 or 1944, so that may help narrow this down.