Hampshire County Matches 1906 / 07

The days of Hampshire challenging in the SCCU seemed to be over, as another season where Hampshire lost to the Sussex and Kent and the Surrey match was not played. They did manage to draw against Wiltshire in their annual friendly, but after dominating this fixture for many years this was not a particularly good result either.


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.


Hampshire 7 Sussex 9 – Sept 22nd 1906 – Portsmouth

Hampshire’s first match was against Sussex and this time it was played in Portsmouth. A match of two halves it seems, with Hampshire scoring five wins on the first five boards, but only one win and two draws on the remaining boards. Strength in depth looks to be an issue for Hampshire. Or maybe it was Sussex’s ability to bring a more balanced team to the match.

Although a better result than the previous season, this was a disappointing loss, especially with winning the top five boards. The Sussex team were probably weaker than the previous year, Stephenson was on bd 14 last season and 10 for this match.

Hampshire winners were JH Blake, FJH Elwell, GA Thomas, TE Haydon, RF Barlow and JS Flower.

BoardHampshireClubResultSussexClubResult
1JH BlakeSouthampton1EG ReedBrighton0
2FJH ElwellSouthampton1JP MollardArundel0
3Sir GA ThomasPortsmouth1CJA WadeHenfield0
4TE HaydonLondon1Castle LeaverBrighton0
5RF BarlowLondon1J Storr BestBrighton0
6WC KennySouthampton0AJ FieldWorthing1
7JS FlowerRyde1JW BridgerPetworth0
8Dr TH LetchworthBournemouth0J CreevyUckfield1
9FA JoyceIOW0IE ManningtonHastings1
10Revd HS Wansborough0HJ StephensonHastings1
11E ClaytonPortsmouth0FE PurchasBrighton1
12GI GribbleIOW0AE InfieldWorthing1
13HD OsbornPortsmouth½F BrookBrighton½
14H TargettSouthampton½S HuntHorsham½
15GH BarclayAndover0H BarrBrighton1
16J SlatterPortsmouth0J ChandlerLewes1
Total7Total9

Hampshire 6 v Kent 10 – Nov 24th 1906 – London

Hampshire next met Kent, with the match being played in London. Kent were comfortable winners and like the Sussex match Hampshire did far better on the top boards with Hampshire scoring 4½ from the first 5 boards. Lower down was more problematic with only 1 point scored on boards 9 to 16. Hampshire were not helped by the fact that boards 7 and 13 were defaulted.

Kent were very strong this year and they also defeated Surrey for the first time in the SCCU championship winning 11 – 5. This was from a larger 50 board match between the counties, which Kent also won 37½ – 12½. Kent went on to win their first Shannon Championship beating Devon in the final.

Hampshire winners were JH Blake, F Elwell, T Haydon, W Neve.

BoardHampshireClubResultKentResult
1JH BlakeSouthampton1OC Muller0
2FJH ElwellSouthampton1EL Raymond0
3TE HaydonLondon1CH Lorch0
4WR NeveLondon1PHJ O’Connor0
5RF BarlowUnattached½C Chapman½
6Dr TH LetchworthBournemouth0Evan Cresswell1
7HD Osborn (d)Portsmouth0WB Dixon1
8GR SloperLondon½WM Brooke½
9GH BarclayAndover0TS Connan1
10RG StarkBasingstoke0HC Sturton1
11WS FenwickLondon½JA Detmold½
12HJ PenwillSouthampton0AJ Prichard1
13GH Caws (d)Cowes0JH Eastwood1
14FG BinningSouthampton0H Storr-Best1
15HA WaySouthampton½DW Earle½
16G SpreadburyPortsmouth0WF Dray1
Total6Total10

Hampshire v Surrey – Scratch

With Hampshire losing their two matches against Sussex and Kent it seems the match against Surrey was not played. This was probably as neither Hampshire or Surrey could progress in the SCCU Championship (Sussex also lost to Kent).


Hampshire 7½ v Wiltshire 7½- July 13th 1907 – Salisbury

Hampshire’s final match was their annual friendly against Wiltshire. No more could this be counted as an easy win for Hampshire, and this proved the case this year, with a tough match ending in a tie. The Hampshire team was primarily sourced by Southampton and Bournemouth players, with just the one Andover and no Portsmouth or Isle of Wight teams represented.

Hampshire winners were Spencer Clarke, WC Kenny, D McIntrye, GH Barclay and W Veitch.

The Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser reported on the match as detailed below.

CHESS WILTS v. HANTS. This annual outdoor match was played in charming weather in the gardens attached to Mr. Parker’s (President of the Salisbury Club) residence in Castle Street. Salisbury. Mr. and Mrs. Parker and their two daughters entertained most hospitably, a marquee being pitched on the lawn. All expressed regret the absence of the Bishop of Trinidad, who had hoped once more to have taken port in this now time-honoured match. Messrs. Elwell and Schomberg on behalf the respective teams, thanked their kind entertainers for their admirable and comfortable arrangements, to which their hosts suitably responded. It will in the memory of our readers that Wilts won last year.

Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser – Saturday 20 July 1907
BoardHampshireClubResultWiltshireClubResult
1JH BlakeSouthampton½A RumbollCalne½
2FJH ElwellSouthampton0Revd BM AdamsSarum1
3J ParkinsonBournemouth½A SchombergDevizes½
4Spencer ClarkeBournemouth1W HeyMelksham0
5WC KennySouthampton1Sir F CunninghamDevizes0
6AJ BennettBournemouth0Dr ColeDevizes1
7H TargettSouthampton½HW ReavanTrowbridge½
8A ThomosonSouthampton0GD PraterSarum1
9D McIntryeBournemouth1Dr WardCodford0
10WB GeorgeBournemouth½A WatsonSarum½
11GH BarclayAndover1AG BaileyMelksham0
12W VeitchSouthampton1Rev G WatsonDevizes0
13GM FreanBournemouth0C AdamsDevizes1
14JA WaldronBournemouth½Rev ES BarkerSwindon½
15EE WeedonSouthampton0H MatthewsSarum1
TotalTotal

Hampshire Player Performance

Hampshire played three matches and top board JH Blake won both his SCCU matches against strong opposition, and drew his Wiltshire one. TE Haydon was the only player who played two or more games and won all his games, whilst F Elwell and R Barlow also scored +1 from their three and two games respectively.

Individual player performance is detailed below in a sortable table.

Hants PlayerWin PercentagePoints ScoredGames Played
JH Blake83.3%2.53
TE Haydon100.0%22
FJH Elwell66.7%23
RF Barlow75.0%1.52
D McIntrye100.0%11
JS Flower100.0%11
Sir GA Thomas100.0%11
Spencer Clarke100.0%11
W Veitch100.0%11
WR Neve100.0%11
WC Kenny50.0%12
GH Barclay33.3%13
GR Sloper50.0%0.51
H Targett50.0%0.51
HA Way50.0%0.51
J Parkinson50.0%0.51
JA Waldron50.0%0.51
R Targett50.0%0.51
WB George50.0%0.51
WS Fenwick50.0%0.51
HD Osborn25.0%0.52
A Thomoson0.0%01
AJ Bennett0.0%01
E Clayton0.0%01
EE Weedon0.0%01
FA Joyce0.0%01
FG Binning0.0%01
G Spreadbury0.0%01
GH Caws0.0%01
GI Gribble0.0%01
GM Frean0.0%01
HJ Penwill0.0%01
J Slatter0.0%01
Revd HS Wansborough0.0%01
RG Stark0.0%01
Dr TH Letchworth0.0%02

Summary

Although I have stated that the season was poor, on reflection it was a bit better than original thought. The winners of the SCCU Championship were Kent, and Hampshire performed the best against them of all their opponents (including Devon).

Hants 1907 AGM Extract
Hants 1907 AGM Extract

Hampshire also played a Correspondence Match against Devon which they drew 30 all.

Devon Correspondence Match 1907: Source BCM
Devon Correspondence Match 1907: Source BCM

The Hampshire Trophy was won by Basingstoke. There were two sections with the NE having six and the SE five teams. After finishing bottom of the NW division the previous season Basingstoke turned things around, first winning the NW division (winning all matches) and then beating the SE division winner Portsmouth C in the final.

This season the matches were over five boards rather than the normal six or seven and this was probably one of the main reasons for the increased number of teams entering, up 11 from 8. Four of these were from Southampton and three from Portsmouth, but Winchester entered (probably for the first time).

The main change this season as detailed in the 1907 AGM was the stepping down of R Chipperfield as the HCA President. R Chipperfield had held this post since the creation of the HCA in 1890 but wished to resign because of his age. According to the article in the Sotonpedia he was born in 1817 and would have been coming up to 90 at the AGM.

There was some discussion that Mr Lee an MP should take on the role, but in the end this GH Barclay of Andover chess club was voted in, although this was on the understanding that they would look to fill the role with a younger man. All the other roles remained the same as the previous year.

  • GH Barclay – President
  • HJ Penwill – Hon. Secretary and Treasurer
  • JH Blake – Match Captain
  • FJH Elwell, G Wood – Adjudicators
  • GR Sloper, JH Blake, RF Barlow – SCCU Delegates

The AGM was held at the Southampton Chess Club’s headquarters as reported in the Hampshire Independent.


A selection of newspaper cuttings on the various matches.


Acknowledgements and Sources

  • British Newspaper Archives
  • Anthony Fulton for historic material on results
  • Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser
  • West Sussex County Times
  • Western Gazette
  • Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser

    1 thought on “Hampshire County Matches 1906 / 07”

    1. Hello Archivist
      Thank you for posting these clippings of early county matches. I am researching the early life of Sir George Thomas and was interested to read about his playing for the county. Do you know where I can find more information? I know that he joined Portsmouth Chess Club in 1896 and wonder whether the club has any records or minute books from that period.
      Many thanks
      Jon

      Reply

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