Cecil De Vere: manuscripts

Historical knowledge and information regarding our great game.
Post Reply
John Townsend
Posts: 827
Joined: Sun Aug 29, 2010 8:26 pm

Cecil De Vere: manuscripts

Post by John Townsend » Wed Jan 19, 2022 10:02 am

"The late Mr. Cecil De Vere left behind him some valuable chess manuscripts, which are being prepared for publication."

The above was inserted in the South Australian Weekly Chronicle, 11 November 1882 (page 16). I found it using Trove:
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/

Do you know what manuscripts are being referred to and whether they were published?

The information may be incorrect. If he left valuable manuscripts, I suppose it raises, potentially, the question of who his heir was.

User avatar
Gerard Killoran
Posts: 1003
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 11:51 am
Contact:

Re: Cecil De Vere: manuscripts

Post by Gerard Killoran » Wed Jan 19, 2022 7:13 pm

From the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News - Saturday 02 December 1882 p.11
I may mention that the expenses of Mr. De Vere's funeral, together with the cost of his living during the two months previous to his death, were borne almost wholly by Mr. Joseph Clarke.
I suspect he would have inherited what few possessions were left.

Clarke was also 'well known in Australia' according to NacDonnell as quoted by Tim harding in his Blackburne book.

John Townsend
Posts: 827
Joined: Sun Aug 29, 2010 8:26 pm

Re: Cecil De Vere: manuscripts

Post by John Townsend » Thu Jan 20, 2022 3:36 pm

In The English Morphy? (page 22), Clark(e) is referred to as "a fellow member, an amateur named "J. Clark"". (They were fellow members of the City of London Chess Club.) It would be interesting to learn more about their relationship.

Joseph Clark was a wealthy man, the developer of Emperor's Gate, Kensington. My attention was drawn to that place by Tim Harding's Joseph Henry Blackburne: A Chess Biography (page 213). In the 1871 census, Joseph Clark is to be found in Kentish Town, St. Pancras, a land proprietor, aged 41, born at Farringdon, Berkshire. He had three children born in Australia, so his link with that country was substantial.

It would be useful to find De Vere himself on the 1871 census. The last address that I have for him prior to 1871 was at Clement's Inn in 1867. A little earlier in that decade, R. B. Wormald had the address 5 Clement's Inn and it has occurred to me there may be a link. By 1871, Wormald had moved on to Lambeth.

I wonder if there is an element of truth about the De Vere manuscripts which involves Clark. On page 25 of The English Morphy?, it is remarked that the nearest thing De Vere had to family were his obituarists, all of whom knew him personally. One of these was Macdonnell.

Post Reply