Full Names of 1950s Players (1956 BCF Grading List)

[John Saunders]

That has to be [W S Wallis]. I am intensely curious now to know whether it was him that replaced William Winter in the 1939 British Chess Championships!

The 1939 event was under-reported, probably because the outbreak of war was obvious and attention was elsewhere. But surely contemporary sources must make clear whether it was P. N. Wallis or W. S. Wallis?
...
I will need to leave this now, but it deserves its own thread as not everyone will be reading this one.

I've just noticed that I had already identified W S Wallis as William Scott Wallis when publishing the JM Aitken file. I should have checked that before finalising the revised draft of the 1956 Grading List with forenames, with which this thread began. My apologies for this and one or two other similar oversights on my part. BritBase, grown huge like Frankenstein's monster, occasionally threatens to overwhelm its creator.

The 1939 Bournemouth event was not under-reported. There were daily reports in the Times, the Manchester Guardian, other regional newspapers and substantial coverage in BCM. All UK reports that I have seen have referred to P N Wallis so the NYT is very much out on a limb. Note that the NYT report was dated 17 August 1939 - the same day that Flohr played Wallis - so it is not a matter of them copying an earlier newspaper source. (The article is behind a pay wall so I don't have full access to it.) I suppose it must have been an error on the part of whoever reported for that paper, who might have had an existing note of the name W S Wallis, put 2 and 2 together and made 5. We've all done it.

Philip Norman Wallis (1906-1973) would be rather more deserving of a separate thread than W S Wallis - he was a strong player - but fortunately Steve Mann has already done most of the leg work at his excellent Yorkshire Chess History website: https://mannchess.org.uk/People/Wallis,PhilipNorman.htm - chess history buffs will be used to seeing PNW's name followed by residence details such as Sheepy Parva (one of my favourite chess player residences - no doubt the 'Parva' was a necessary qualifier to distinguish it from the seething metropolis that was Sheepy Magna) or Leicestershire, but Steve Mann tells us that "Philip and [his wife] had by 1939 seemingly moved to 6 Cranes Park, Surbiton, which is where they were living in 1939, apparently as lodgers in the household of one Septimus Beresford Weller." It was only after WW2 that P N Wallis took up residence in Leicestershire. So the residence details ("of London") given in most 1939 Bournemouth reports are correct.

[John Saunders]

Ernest Leslie Taylor (b 20.05.1910, d 21.03.1973 - address in probate record matched that given in 1956/57 BCF Yearbook when he was Hon. Treasurer of Cheshire Chess Association)

[Christopher Kreuzer]

That has to be [W S Wallis]. I am intensely curious now to know whether it was him that replaced William Winter in the 1939 British Chess Championships!

The 1939 event was under-reported, probably because the outbreak of war was obvious and attention was elsewhere. But surely contemporary sources must make clear whether it was P. N. Wallis or W. S. Wallis?
...
I will need to leave this now, but it deserves its own thread as not everyone will be reading this one.

I've just noticed that I had already identified W S Wallis as William Scott Wallis when publishing the JM Aitken file. I should have checked that before finalising the revised draft of the 1956 Grading List with forenames, with which this thread began. My apologies for this and one or two other similar oversights on my part. BritBase, grown huge like Frankenstein's monster, occasionally threatens to overwhelm its creator.

The 1939 Bournemouth event was not under-reported. There were daily reports in the Times, the Manchester Guardian, other regional newspapers and substantial coverage in BCM. All UK reports that I have seen have referred to P N Wallis so the NYT is very much out on a limb. Note that the NYT report was dated 17 August 1939 - the same day that Flohr played Wallis - so it is not a matter of them copying an earlier newspaper source. (The article is behind a pay wall so I don't have full access to it.) I suppose it must have been an error on the part of whoever reported for that paper, who might have had an existing note of the name W S Wallis, put 2 and 2 together and made 5. We've all done it.
<snip>

Thank you, John, for clearing that up. I apologise for the "under-reported" comment. It seems indisputable that P. N. Wallis is the 1939 participant. I do hope to find out more about W. S. Wallis, but will look out for anything else others find in the meantime.

[John Saunders]

Thank you, Chris, for Charles Jahn (and much else besides).

Despite his unusual surname Charles Jahn was hard to track down as regards dates of birth and death because of forename changes. He was born Reinhold Karl Jahn in 1906 in Lincoln, got married as Reginald Charles Jahn to Betty Gilbert (1913-1996) in 1933 (though a newspaper report of the marriage gave him as 'Charles Jahn') and died in 1983 (though this might have happened outside England as the only evidence is a grave record).

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Lovely gravestone for Charles Jahn.

This might be the point where people share (confess?) the failed attempts? I assume all the names have had at least rudimentary searches done? Some will be near impossible.

I tried and failed for Hirsch, Hardin, Bucys (may be a mis-spelling?), Gowler, Espley, Whitham.

Some of the more common surnames might be easy but people might have avoided them thinking they would be hard. Has anyone tried Parkes or Porter (apologies if they are somewhere above and I have missed them)?

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

At the moment I think P W Parkes might be Peers Warburton Parkes (8 Jan 1917 - 21 Sep 1983). In the 1939 register his occupation is "Bank Official", which fits with him playing for Westminster Bank in the 1958 grading list. I've found him in the 1950s living in London (28 Belgrave Road), but no evidence whatsoever of actually playing chess.
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/perso ... s/GRKX-FVX

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

A failed attempt to find D Gowler - I fould a father and son, both called Daniel Gowler and both born in West Ham, but could find no evidence that either of them was the chess player:
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/perso ... s/GRK9-219

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

In the wiki article of Algimantas Bučys (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algimantas_Bu%C4%8Dys) it mentions that his father, Anicetas Bučys, found himself exciled in Britain and "... actively participated in the activities of the Lithuanian emigration in London and Bradford". So my working theory is that "A Bucys" (Bradford chess player) was Anicetas Bučys.

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

Geoffrey N Stokes was Geoffrey Neil Stokes (25 April 1931 – 6 November 2020) who played chess as recently as 2019:
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/perso ... s/GRKJ-625

An obituary for him can be found here:
https://www.leamingtonchessleague.org.u ... chive.html

[Tim Harding]

I tried and failed for Hirsch...

It is quite likely that A. Hirsch (Finchley) was Alfred Hirsch, who played twice in British Correspondence Championships in the mid-1940s.
Alfred Hirsch won the first championship of the Postal Chess Club; his photo and profile (wearing a military cap) appeared in CHESS 119 for August 1945. Born in Vienna, he came to England in 1938. A jeweller by profession, he joined the British Army and after being invalided out of the forces resumed his civilian work and postal chess.

The article did not clarify his relationship (if any) to Dr K. A. Hirsch who was also a strong postal player at this time.
They were definitely not the same person as both played in the 1945-6 British CC Championship.
There was also in the 1940s Daniel Hirsch who won the British Junior Correspondence Championships twice, ahead of Leonard Barden on one occasion I believe. Maybe Leonard can throw some light on whether these three were members of the same family.

[Leonard Barden]

There was also in the 1940s Daniel Hirsch who won the British Junior Correspondence Championships twice, ahead of Leonard Barden on one occasion I believe. Maybe Leonard can throw some light on whether these three were members of the same family.
[/quote]

No information from me, unfortunately. My only recollection of the games is of
annoyance at losing....

[Brian Denman]

I wrote an obituary for Daniel Hirsch a few years ago. His father, Kurt, was a well known player, but I do not know of any family connection with the Finchley player. Daniel was born Julius Heinrich Robert Daniel Hirsch in Berlin on 6.9.1929 and his family emigrated from Germany in 1934 to escape the Nazis. He did much good organisational work for chess in Sussex and died on 22.2.2014 at Manchester.

[Tim Harding]

Thanks Brian; so Kurt Hirsch was probably the Dr K. A. Hirsch who finished 4th in both the 1945-6 and 1946-7 British Postal Championships. (In the former he won his game against A. Hirsch.)
It would seem from what you found that there was no family relationship between Kurt and Alfred Hirsch and they came to Britain in different years.

I see from my history of CC in Britain and Ireland that Daniel Hirsch won the 1946-7 (ahead of Leonard who was defending champion) and 1947-8 British Junior Corr. Championships but unfortunately the BCCA Yearbooks (where I found the results) have no games of his.

From what you say, it seems possible that he is the R. D. Hirsch (no forenames) who played in British postal events in the 1980s and can be found in the ICCF rating database (rating 1955); not shown as deceased but last games played in 2009. Or would that be another family member from a later generation?

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

From what you say, it seems possible that he is the R. D. Hirsch (no forenames) who played in British postal events in the 1980s and can be found in the ICCF rating database (rating 1955); not shown as deceased but last games played in 2009. Or would that be another family member from a later generation?

A Robert D Hirsch married in 1948 (Hinckley, Leicestershire) and a son, Robin D Hirsch, was born in 1957. So R D Hirsch could be either of those or someone completely different!

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

James B Howson was (is? I can't find a death record though he is present in the 1939 register, which shouldn't happen unless the person concerned is known to be deceased) James Bernard Howson - born in Woolwich in 1933.

He seems to be better known as Jim Howson and was still playing competitive chess in 2019.