Remembering Alexander McDonnell (22-iv-1798 14-ix-1835)

[John Upham]

Remembering Alexander McDonnell (22-iv-1798 14-ix-1835)




https://britishchessnews.com/2020/09/14 ... 5-ix-1835/

[John Upham]

Alexander McDonnell (22-iv-1798 14-ix-1835) by Edward Winter

Can anyone else corroborate the image below?

Alexander McDonnell (22-iv-1798 14-ix-1835) by Edward Winter

cn7318_chess.jpg (39.78 KiB) Viewed 502 times

[John Townsend]

John, your text contains this:

"However, following painstaking research of primary sources by James O’Fee and Tim Harding it has been demonstrated that the father of AM was not Dr. Alexander McDonnell but, in fact, Thomas McDonnell, a merchant."

In reality, proof (utilising "Alumni Dublinenses") that the father was Thomas M(a)cDonnell, a merchant, first appeared in Edward Winter's C.N. 10662 (December 2017) in an article submitted by me.

This fact was acknowledged by Tim Harding on this forum on 15 September 2020, although he also said he had thought of a different proof earlier, but it was not published.

I don't see why Edward Winter's name has been associated with the absurdities in the first part of John Upham's article, including the (laughable) portrait, since Winter has clearly had nothing to do with them.

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

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[John Townsend]

Note the images which Edward Winter gives in https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/ext ... ntity.html

It is an article about mistaken identity. The image which John Upham included is, of course, George Alcock MacDonnell.

[John Townsend]

Jon, I don't readily recall referring to Eliza McDonnell in my research. Did I say she was a sibling of the chessplayer? Could you not cite the C.N. item number you are referring to?

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

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[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

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[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

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[John Townsend]

Jon D'Souza-Eva wrote:

"I did not cite the Chess Notes item number because this was not from a Chess Notes item."

Ah, but you said (above) that you had used my "evidence". That must have been in Chess Notes.

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

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[John Townsend]

Your family tree does not appear to acknowledge its use of data discovered by other researchers, and so bypasses the normal and traditional obligation to give credit to those researchers. For example, that the father of the chessplayer was Thomas, a merchant, and not Alexander, a physician, was only established after numerous decades during which it was thought that the reverse was the case. You present it as if it were your own discovery (if I have understood correctly).

[John Townsend]

Despite my 14 September post on this thread, John Upham's article on Alexander McDonnell has not yet been corrected regarding his father. The information that he was Thomas M(a)cDonnell, a merchant, was posted by me in December 2017, in https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/win ... l#CN_10662.

[John Townsend]

On 19 October 2020, on a thread of a similar title, I enquired of John Upham what his source was for McDonnell's supposed date of birth of 22 April 1798 and received the following information in reply:

"Also, we do not have a primary source confirming the date of birth. 22-iv-1798 which was obtained from the family tree of a distant relative.

I will pm you the details of this family tree and the distant relative when I re-discover them."

I showed interest in the family tree, but, despite the passage of six years since John Upham's reply, I have yet to receive details about the tree or any other information concerning his source for 22 April 1798.