The mysterious H. Wagner

[Gerard Killoran]

From c1895 - 1909 H. Wagner was active in London chess circles and often played top board for Essex.
http://www.edochess.ca/players/p7950.html

then Heinrich Wagner then started playing chess in Germany. (1910-1934)
http://www.edochess.ca/players/p4953.html

It seems to be too much of a coincidence for them to be two different people, however the latter's biographical data is given as:
Name: Wagner, Heinrich Also known as: Behrend
Born: 9 Aug. 1888 Died: 24 June 1959

Are the dates wrong (e.g. no chess played from 1934-1959), or were they father and son?

Here's the earlier H. Wagner dispatching a top English player.

[Event "Middlesex vs Essex"] [Site "London"] [Date "1908.01.11"] [Round "?"] [White "Wagner, H."] [Black "Michell, Reginald Pryce"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C70"] [Opening "Ruy Lopez: classical defence deferred"] [BlackTeam "Middlesex"] [WhiteTeam "Essex"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Bc5 5. O-O d6 6. c3 Bd7 7. d4 Ba7 8. Re1 Nf6 9. Bg5 O-O 10. h3 h6 11. Bh4 Re8 12. d5 Ne7 13. Bxf6 gxf6 14. Bxd7 Qxd7 15. g4 Ng6 16. Qd2 Kh7 17. Kh2 Rg8 18. Rg1 h5 19. Na3 Nf4 20. Nh4 hxg4 21. Nf5 gxh3 22. Rg3 Rg5 23. Rag1 Rag8 24. Qxf4 R8g6 25. Rxh3+ Kg8 26. Qh4 Kf8 27. Rxg5 fxg5 28. Qh8+ Rg8 29. Qf6 {Stockport Advertiser and Guardian - Friday 13 March 1908 p.3} 1-0

[John Townsend]

In B.C.M., Vol. 28, 1908, page 135, the Essex top board is referred to as "Mr. H.J. Wagner". Are there any other instances of the middle initial "J"?

[John Saunders]

I vaguely remembering researching H Wagner some time ago in the hope of giving him a forename but was not successful. I've just had another go, also without success. The problem is that it is just too common a surname, even in the UK. However, I found a few clues which might help. The Michell game was also published in BCM (March 1908, page 135 - I see I've just "crossed in the post" with John Townsend) where it gives White's name as "H J Wagner" and refers to him as "Herr Wagner" in the text, though I wouldn't set great store by the middle name initial as it never appears in the many newspaper references to him. All the ones I've seen show him as "H Wagner". As for "Herr" Wagner, that's only a slight hint that he might have retained German nationality, but again newspapers usually refer to him as "Mr H Wagner". Perhaps more useful were a couple of references to his place of residence/chess club location as Stratford and Forest Gate. That narrows down the search area for him but there were still multiple H Wagners to be found there for the period in question - more than one Henry and also Herman(n).

As to a possible relationship to the younger German IM, I could find no evidence at all. Gaige has no record for the older, UK-based Wagner. Given the ubiquity of the surname, I don't think it is too much of a coincidence for there to have been two strong chessplayers called H Wagner.

Other clues which might help a future researcher: H Wagner played variously for City of London CC, Athenaeum and Essex.

The last game I found for him was the 1908 Michell game and thereafter I could find no references. I suppose a WW1-influenced name change might explain that.

A few more game scores...

[Event "North London - South London m"] [Site "London"] [Date "1896.05.09"] [Round "?"] [White "Ward-Higgs, William"] [Black "Wagner, H"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C67"] [PlyCount "99"] [EventDate "1896.05.09"] [EventType "team-match"] [EventRounds "1"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [SourceTitle "BritBase"] [Source "John Saunders"] [SourceDate "2025.02.21"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.02.21"] [SourceQuality "1"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Rd1+ Ke8 10. Nc3 h6 11. h3 Be6 12. g4 Ne7 13. Nd4 Nd5 14. Nce2 g5 15. c4 Ne7 16. Nxe6 fxe6 17. Nd4 Kf7 18. Rd3 Bg7 19. Rf3+ Kg6 20. Nxe6 Bxe5 21. Re3 Kf6 22. Nc5 Rad8 23. Bd2 Ng6 24. Rf3+ Ke7 25. Bb4 a5 26. Ba3 Ke8 27. Re1 Rd6 28. Nd3 Rxd3 29. Rxd3 Kf7 30. Rd7+ Kf6 31. b3 Re8 32. Re3 Re6 33. Kf1 b6 34. Rd1 c5 35. Bc1 Nf4 36. Rde1 Bd4 37. Rxe6+ Nxe6 38. h4 c6 39. hxg5+ hxg5 40. Ke2 Bc3 41. Rh1 b5 42. Kd3 Bd4 43. Ke4 Kg6 44. f4 gxf4 45. Bxf4 Bg7 46. cxb5 cxb5 47. Be3 c4 48. bxc4 bxc4 49. Kd5 Ng5 50. Kxc4 {Source: Westminster Gazette, 16 May 1896} 1-0

[Event "Ludgate Circus v Athenaeum"] [Site "London"] [Date "1897.01.??"] [Round "1"] [White "Van Lennep, Norman Willem"] [Black "Wagner, H"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C59"] [PlyCount "77"] [EventDate "1897.01.??"] [EventType "team-match"] [EventRounds "1"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [SourceTitle "BritBase"] [Source "John Saunders"] [SourceDate "2025.02.21"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.02.21"] [SourceQuality "1"] [WhiteTeam "Ludgate Circus"] [BlackTeam "Athenaeum"] [WhiteTeamCountry "ENG"] [BlackTeamCountry "ENG"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 6. Bb5+ c6 7. dxc6 bxc6 8. Be2 h6 9. Nf3 e4 10. Ne5 Qc7 11. d4 Bd6 12. Bd2 Bxe5 13. dxe5 Qxe5 14. Bc3 Qc7 15. Bxf6 gxf6 16. Qd4 Qe5 17. Qxe5+ fxe5 18. Nd2 Rb8 19. O-O-O f5 20. Nc4 Nxc4 21. Bxc4 Ke7 22. Rd2 Rd8 23. Rxd8 Kxd8 24. Re1 Ke7 25. Re3 Be6 26. Bxe6 Kxe6 27. Rh3 Rh8 28. Rh5 f4 29. Kd2 Kd5 30. g3 Rf8 31. Ke2 fxg3 32. hxg3 Rf6 33. Rh1 c5 34. Rd1+ Kc4 35. Rd2 Ra6 36. a3 Rb6 37. c3 Rg6 38. Ke3 Rg4 39. Rd7 {'and White won". Source: Penny Illustrated Paper, 6 February 1897} 1-0
[Event "Athenaeum CC - City of London CC m"] [Site "London"] [Date "1897.01.16"] [Round "1.2"] [White "Wagner, H"] [Black "Van Lennep, Norman Willem"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C02"] [PlyCount "43"] [EventDate "1897.01.16"] [EventType "team-match"] [EventRounds "1"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [SourceTitle "BritBase"] [Source "John Saunders"] [SourceDate "2025.02.21"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.02.21"] [SourceQuality "1"] [WhiteTeam "Athenaeum"] [BlackTeam "City of London"] [WhiteTeamCountry "ENG"] [BlackTeamCountry "ENG"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Qb6 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. Bd3 cxd4 7. cxd4 Bd7 8. Nc3 Nxd4 9. Nxd4 Qxd4 10. O-O a6 11. Qe2 Ne7 12. Kh1 Nc6 13. f4 Nb4 14. Bb1 Qb6 15. a3 Nc6 16. f5 Qd4 17. fxe6 Bxe6 18. Bf4 Rd8 19. Ba2 Ne7 20. Rad1 Qc5 21. Qd2 g6 22. Ne4 {Sources: (London) Daily News, 19 January 1897; Hampstead & Highgate Express, 30 January 1897; Westminster Gazette, 27 February 1897} 1-0

[John Saunders]

Having written the above, I meant to add that the likeliest candidate for the chess-playing H Wagner that I have found so far was...

Hermann Julius Wagner, b 17 Jan 1867 (Bohemia?), d 4 Dec 1941, who lived at 14 Gurney Road, Forest Gate in 1901 with his Italian-born wife Bianca (who died in 1915). He was a clerk at the time but became a chemist, or a director of a chemical company and married again later in life.

But that is far from conclusive, of course.

(update) I now think the above is probably not the strongest candidate. There was a Hermann Wagner (1861-1929) who was a broker with a City company called Joseph Wagner & Co in the early 1900s (Joseph being his elder brother). And a Hermann Wagner who was co-director of a company called Wagner & Gerstley (47 Aldermanbury) who dealt in silverware. I lean towards the stockbroker.

[John Townsend]

John, that looks quite promising on the surface. In the 1911 census, HJW was in Marylebone, having lived in England for the last 19 years. I thought he had played a league match for Hampstead (which would fit in with Marylebone), but that may have been his opponent.

[Gerard Killoran]

Heinrich Wagner (playing career 1910+) is at the back of this group photograph from the 1928 Chess Olympiad at The Hague.

https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/thehague.html

He is #76 and looks much too young to be H. Wagner of Essex and London - i.e. if he has been correctly identified.

[John Townsend]

John, I don't follow why you prefer the stockbroker as a candidate for the Essex top board, or the silverware man either. There was a Hermann Julius Wagner in the London directories who was a chemist and hairdresser, and that is what HJW's occupation was entered as in the 1911 census. He seems to be the same man as your clerk in the 1901 census, born about 1867. Another positive factor is that he lived at Forest Gate in 1901, as you mentioned earlier.

[John Saunders]

John, I don't follow why you prefer the stockbroker as a candidate for the Essex top board, or the silverware man either. There was a Hermann Julius Wagner in the London directories who was a chemist and hairdresser, and that is what HJW's occupation was entered as in the 1911 census. He seems to be the same man as your clerk in the 1901 census, born about 1867. Another positive factor is that he lived at Forest Gate in 1901, as you mentioned earlier.

My thinking was that a member of the City of London and/or Athenaeum clubs in that era would probably be of high status professionally, but I'm now beginning to row back from that position and wondering if it might be the chemist after all. My other reason for having second thoughts about the stockbroker is that it is not clear he was domiciled in Essex at the time he was playing. County chess rules have always been quite strict about residential qualifications. So, yes, HJW is once again a leading contender. I pondered his sudden disappearance from the chess scene in 1908/9 and wondered if his wife's health might have been a factor, dying a few years later aged only 46. TB was a great scourge in those days. Incidentally I noticed there were a number of concerts given in the London area in 1906 in which 'Madame Bianca Wagner' appeared as a vocalist. This was surely her. Her maiden name was Bianca Carolina Heberlein and she seems to have carried on a hairdressing sundries business (the same line as her husband) under her maiden name until as late as 1910 in premises in the Grays Inn Road.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

When HJW remarried in later life, he was still known as Wagner? I ask because earlier you said that "H. Wagner" disappears from the chess record after 1908 and you hypothesised a WWI-related name change away from the German name. Is that hypothesis dead in the water now? Do you know the cause of death in 1941? And I don't mean to be callous, but why would he have stopped playing chess if his wife died? Were there children?

[John Townsend]

Since HJW had his own business as a chemist and hairdresser, which was listed in the London directories, I don't think one need be concerned that he would have been "beneath the salt" at those two London chess clubs.

His 1911 census entry indicates that he was born in Germany and had been in England since about 1892. That sits comfortably with Gerard's original message stating that he was active in London chess circles from about 1895.

There are several factors which suggest that HJW may have been the Essex top board. We need to land a "haymaker".

As for Heinrich Wagner, he seems to have been born and died in Hamburg and I see no connection with the Essex man beyond sharing the surname of Wagner.

[John Saunders]

When HJW remarried in later life, he was still known as Wagner? I ask because earlier you said that "H. Wagner" disappears from the chess record after 1908 and you hypothesised a WWI-related name change away from the German name. Is that hypothesis dead in the water now? Do you know the cause of death in 1941? And I don't mean to be callous, but why would he have stopped playing chess if his wife died? Were there children?

I don't think a name change would have been likely at any time prior to WW1 so his relatively abrupt disappearance from chess in 1909 wouldn't have anything to do with that. Yes, the person we now refer to as HJW remains Wagner throughout life. The 1911 census shows no children, either alive or dead. Cause of death is only discoverable on receipt of a certificate, which cost money, and I can't see the relevance anyway. HJW is perhaps the strongest candidate to appear so far but the evidence is purely circumstantial. We've nothing other than his middle initial (tallying with the BCM reference, but not any newspaper report) and his place of residence to go on. So far, nothing at all links HJW to chess.

[John Townsend]

A writer in Deutsches Wochenschach, Volume 9, 1893, page 23, gave his name as Hermann Wagner. The short article was entitled Zur Spanischen Partie (about the Spanish Game).

Is the author the Essex top board? If it is Hermann Julius Wagner, he would have moved to England only fairly recently.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Trying to think creatively here and coming at this problem sideways.

Are there any publications or other forms of evidence that would link the chemist to his chess playing activities. Maybe you do have to look in German sources? The only hope may be descendant branches of the family in Germany (would be difficult to track down).

Were obituaries published for his wife, Bianca Carolina Heberlein? They would be unlikely to mention his chess.

[John Townsend]

Further to my last post, I found three other articles by, or referring to, Hermann Wagner in Deutsches Wochenschach, as follows:

Vol. 8, 1892, page 464
Vol. 9, 1893, page 5
Vol. 10, 1894, page 385

Reference is made to his writing from Milan. The material about the Spanish Game suggests a player of some expertise. It seems unlikely that two strong players of the same name existed at the same time, so I am inclined to equate, tentatively, this writer with the strong Essex player.

If that were correct, it would still leave the issue of deciding which Hermann Wagner played for Essex. HJW would be my favourite, considering his likely recent associations with Germany, later residence in Forest Gate, and middle initial of "J" in the B.C.M.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

So four articles in total. Do you know how many pages or are they all single-page articles? What does he write about in the other three articles? With the Milan connection, might that be where he met his "Italian-born wife Bianca"? (if this is the same Hermann as HJW)? Do we know where they married?