Hampshire County Matches 1921 / 22

The SCCU had another small re-grouping of the Championship this season, with Sussex, Middlesex and Surrey joining Hampshire in one section, whilst Berks, Essex, Herts and Kent played in the other. This season also saw the introduction of the Ebony Cup in the SCCU (top 50 boards in matches counted towards this, and therefore Hampshire did not play in this competition). Unfortunately for Hampshire they only managed the one draw in their three fixtures. Hampshire had better luck on the Correspondence front, winning three of their four matches. This included winning the last SCCU Correspondence Championship, beating Sussex 15½ – 14½.

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For the record of Hampshire County matches, and links to any articles I have written, the table on the Hampshire County Chess Matches page will detail these. The Hampshire County Chess History page summaries the leagues Hampshire have played in, and the successes Hampshire have achieved. Both of these are available from the menu at the top of the site as well.

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Hampshire 5 – Surrey 11 – Nov 5th 1921 – London

Hampshire met Surrey in London and lost heavily 5 – 11. Hampshire were no match for a strong Surrey team, although they were able to field an impressive top three boards. Surrey had too much strength in depth, and the only two Hampshire winners were Sir GA Thomas (in his only match for Hampshire this season) and L Illingworth.

Board	Hampshire	Result	Surrey	Result
1	Sir GA Thomas	1	RP Mitchell	0
2	JH Blake	½	HB Uber	½
3	FJH Elwell	½	HS Barlow	½
4	RF Barlow	0	W Gooding	1
5	JS West	0	GA Felce	1
6	HD Osborn	0	WF Alnutt	1
7	L Illingworth	1	J Butland	0
8	JS Flower	½	R Coman	½
9	WJ Fry	½	HC Griffiths	½
10	A Hayes	0	BHN Stronach	1
11	AB Coe	0	HG Felce	1
12	E Clayton	½	C Duffield	½
13	FG Binning	0	AJ Spencer	1
14	AS Dance	0	WT Dickenson	1
15	GC Ives	0	AW Fisher	1
16	WJJ Eaton	½	PW Rampton	½
	Total	5	Total	11

The match details were included in the BCM.

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Hampshire 8 – Sussex 8 – Dec 10th 1921 – Portsmouth

Hampshire and Sussex played in Portsmouth and a hard fought match ended in a draw. Hampshire winners were JH Blake, WA Way (great result for the reserve player on board 3), JS West, L Illingworth and E Clayton. Again, like a broken record Hampshire top were dominant, only dropping three draws on the top seven boards, but Sussex strength in depth meant the match was tied.

With two players with the Way surname playing in the match I researched their history. I found that there were four players with the Way surname who played for Hampshire, WA, HA, JL and EA. EA Way only played the one game on bottom board and may have been a reserve. HA, WA and EA were all Portsmouth Chess Club players and JL is down as IOW. Hubert A Way was the stronger player, normally playing above his nephew WA, although not always.

• JL Way – 1888 to 1893
• HA Way – 1906 to 1947
• EA Way – 1910
• WA Way – 1920 to 1946

Hubert was a regular player in the Hampshire Individual Championship before the second world war, and was strong enough to beat Wilf Pratten (although all the games in the Pratten database were losses for him and WA Way). I am sure there are some results for one player, which are actually for the other, but this is always a risk with players from the same club.

The two who played the most for Hampshire scored in excess of 50%, which as Hampshire lost more matches than they won was an impressive record. Hubert was the uncle of WA Way, and his chess achievements were detailed in the Hampshire Telegraph.

Hampshire county performance for the Way family.

As another aside, looking at the Portsmouth Chess Club I knew there were three of the Le Fevre family who played in Hampshire. AP Le Fevre, N LeFevre and Stephen Le Fevre (approx. 240 games for Hampshire).

But I found an Eric Le Fevre, JR Le Fvere and N Le Fevre playing in 1936 in the Dupree Competition (junior). There was also a T LeFevre playing in 1936 (unless this is a typo) and a K Le Fevre.

This means at least seven (or eight if NG and N Le Fevre are different) Le Fevre’s played in the Portsmouth Chess League. N Le Fevre last played in 2002 and Stephen is still playing today.

Board	Hampshire	Result	Sussex	Result
1	JH Blake	1	GM Norman	0
2	FJH Elwell	½	JAJ Drewitt	½
3	WA Way	1	RE Lean	0
4	HD Osborn	½	Revd E Griffith	½
5	JS West	1	W Bridger	0
6	L Illingworth	1	Castle Leaver	0
7	HA Way	½	EJ Ackroyd	½
8	AB Coe	0	JH Jones	1
9	A Hayes	½	AG Ginner	½
10	WJ Fry	0	J Chandler	1
11	Revd E Gill	½	J Storr Best	½
12	E Clayton	1	WH King	0
13	FG Binning	½	W Bridger	½
14	GI Gribble	0	AT Osborne	1
15	JW Duggan	0	G Gillian	1
16	RT Lawrence	0	GV Butler	1
	Total	8	Total	8

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Hampshire 3 – Middlesex 13 – Jan 14th 1922 – London

Hampshire’s last match was against Middlesex, and they met in London, The result was not close! Hampshire only managed the one win and four draws to lose heavily (not helped by two defaults). Middlesex’s team were very strong with a number of well known players e.g. Conde and the two Sergeant’s.

The Revd W Proctor in his first game for Hampshire was our only winner.

Board	Hampshire	Colour	Result	Middlesex	Colour	Result
1	JH Blake	White	½	AG Conde	Black	½
2	FJH Elwell	Black	½	EG Sergeant	White	½
3	HD Osborn	White	½	PW Sergeant	Black	½
4	JS West	Black	0	RC Griffith	White	1
5	L Illingworth	White	½	H Saunders	Black	½
6	HA Way	Black	0	HV Buttfield	White	1
7	Absent	White	0	ME Goldstein	Black	1
8	AB Coe	Black	0	WH Watts	White	1
9	E Clayton	White	0	GA Hooke	Black	1
10	WA Way	Black	0	WE Bonwick	White	1
11	GC Ives	White	0	CE Ford	Black	1
12	Absent	Black	0	WH Regan	White	1
13	FG Binning	White	0	P Healey	Black	1
14	A Hayes	Black	0	J Maclister	White	1
15	Revd W Proctor	White	1	Dr FS Duncan	Black	0
16	AS Dance	Black	0	SPJ Merlin	White	1
	Total		3	Total		13

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Summary

Just the one win from the three matches, but certainly playing Surrey and Middlesex in London was a tough task. Surrey went on to win the SCCU Shannon Championship, whilst Middlesex won the newly created Ebony trophy. Remember that Sussex were the champions the last two years, and you can appreciate that we were facing three of the strongest Southern Chess Counties.

For completeness Middlesex beat Sussex 9 – 6 but lost to Surrey 11 – 5. Surrey defeated Sussex 12½ – 3½.

Hampshire played four Correspondence matches, beating Sussex (15½ – 14½) in the final of the SCCU Championship and Cornwall 24 – 7). The lost to Middlesex (5½ – 6½) and were 2nd in the new British Championship (with Surrey and Yorkshire) behind Cornwall (19½ – 10½).

The Sussex win was detailed in BCM, which also commented on the popular and veteran Hampshire Secretary Mr HJ Penwill.

The Hampshire Trophy in the 1921/22 season attracted eight teams from four clubs. The NW Division was won by Southampton A whilst the SE one was won by Portsmouth B. In the final, Southampton B won 3½ – 2½. The report in the Hampshire Telegraph stated there was one game sent for adjudication, which must have gone Southampton’s way.

In the Hampshire League eight teams from six clubs competed and Andover scored 6½ points to win ahead of Winchester.

The Hampshire AGM was reported in the Hampshire Advertiser.

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The HCA officers elected at the AGM were:

• PEJ Talbot – President
• HJ Penwill – Hon. Secretary and Treasurer
• JH Blake – Match Captain
• FJH Elwell, E Sims – Hon. Auditors
• JH Blake, HD Osborn & Sir GA Thomas – SCCU Delegates

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Acknowledgements and Sources

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