Hampshire County Matches 1908 / 09

Hampshire played three County matches this season with two wins and one loss. In addition to the OTB Matches they also played two successful Correspondence matches against Somerset (37 boards) and Suffolk (54 boards).

Update Feb 28th 2024. Additional photographs and newspaper clipping supplied by Neil Blackburn have been added.

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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 9 Sussex 7 – Sept 26th 1908 – Southsea

Hampshire’s first match was against Sussex. I have mentioned before that playing at home was an advantage, and Hampshire benefited from this by winning 9 – 7 at Southsea. The previous season Sussex had narrowly won 8½ – 7½, with the match being held in Chichester.

Last season Hampshire won on the top four boards, and they went one better in this match with the top five boards all winning. Where the team was different to 1907 was the number of Southampton Chess Club players, dropping from five to three. Portsmouth Chess Club had the most players with six, compared to three and the Isle of Wight were not that far behind with four players against two (in 1907). Being played in Southsea was probably the main reason for this, which is obviously much closer for the players in the east of the county.

Even with the lack of Southampton players, the team were noticeably stronger this year, with FA Joyce playing on board 10, which was four boards lower than his placing in 1907. For Sussex Castle Leaver was on board 5 this year, whereas in the same fixture in 1907 he was on board 10. With this is mind Hampshire would have gone into the match as favourites, but as per usual the match was very close. This was Hampshire’s first match win against Sussex since the 1904/05 season.

The Isle of Wight Observer had an interesting article on the match, where they mentioned that JH Blake was now living in London and therefore travelling to the South for these matches. In addition, there were six players either active in the IOW chess, or had been a prominent player in the past.

County Chess Match: Hampshire V. Sussex.
A match between Hampshire and Sussex in the first round of the Southern Counties Union Competition was played at Portsmouth on September 26th, and resulted in a victory for the home team. Both sides were nearly at full strength, though Sussex were without their present champion. M. JH Blake travelled from London to assist his old county, and set a good example by winning the first game finished.

The Isle of Wight was well represented in the Hampshire team, sending four players, Messrs. FN Braund and FA. Joyce, of Newport, SD Caws, of Cowes, and JS Flower, of Ryde. In addition to these players, Messrs. HD Osborne and GI Gribble, both formerly prominent in Island chess circles, took part in the match, and so out of the sixteen Hampshire players engaged, the Island furnished six, a very creditable proportion, and gratifying as showing the strength of the I Isle of Wight players as compared with the rest of the county

Isle of Wight Observer – Saturday 03 October 1908

Hampshire winners were JH Blake, Sir GA Thomas (Mr at this time, rather than Sir), FJH Elwell, Spencer Clarke, HD Osborn, FN Braund, Revd HS Wansborough and GI Gribble.

Board	Hampshire	Club	Result	Sussex	Club	Result
1	JH Blake	Southampton	1	HE Dobell	Hastings	0
2	Sir GA Thomas	Portsmouth	1	NE Hill	Brighton	0
3	FJH Elwell	Southampton	1	E Middleton	Hastings	0
4	Spencer Clarke	Andover	1	JA Watt	Hastings	0
5	HD Osborn	Portsmouth	1	Castle Leaver	Brighton	0
6	E Draycott	Portsmouth	0	CJA Wade	Henfield	1
7	FN Braund	Isle of Wight	1	JW Bridger	Lodsworth	0
8	WC Kenny	Southampton	0	FE Purchas	Hove	1
9	JS Flower	Isle of Wight	½	EW Morris	Uckfield	½
10	FA Joyce	Isle of Wight	0	HJ Stephenson	Hastings	1
11	Revd HS Wansborough	Portsmouth	1	J Chandler	Lewes	0
12	SD Caws	Isle of Wight	0	HT Grover	Brighton	1
13	E Clayton	Portsmouth	0	F Brook	Brighton	1
14	G Wood	Portsmouth	0	TR Kirkpatrick	Hastings	1
15	GI Gribble	Fareham	1	S Pilch	Brighton	0
16	DHH Wassell	Petersfield	½	EC Harvey	Brighton	½
	Total		9	Total		7

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Neil Blackburn has kindly supplied some photographs / newspaper cuttings of various Sussex and Kent players from this period which I have added to the article. This is very much appreciated.

Sussex’s top board Herbert E Dobell organised the 1895 Hastings Chess Tournament which the Premier was an invitation contest between 22 of the greatest masters of the day, including the current World Champion Lasker and the man he had replaced, Steinitz.

I remembered when receiving this I had the Battle of Hastings Book by Reg Cloud which also has additional details on Mr Dobell with him being the Secretary of the Hasting Chess Club, Treasurer of the British Chess Federation, President elect of the Sussex Chess Association as well as a Town Councillor and he also ran his own jewellery business. He was also a very strong chess player, normally on the top 5 boards when facing Hampshire.

Another photograph from Neil has the Hastings Club Touring team from 1901. This also has a number of players who played against Hampshire in this period. I think this is an amazing picture, capturing the players in various poses. AG Ginner looks very self assured. I can only locate the one game he played against Hampshire which was a draw on board 7, so maybe he was not as intimidating as the picture makes him look.

Hampshire 5½ – Kent 10½ – Nov 7th 1908 – London

Hampshire were next traveling to London to play Kent and, as per last year lost heavily, although on the positive side they did score one more point than in 1907.

Hampshire winners were Spencer Clarke, WR Neve, WC Kenny and JS Flower. Amongst the many Kent winners was Grace Moore Curling, who won the 1908 British Ladies Championship.

Board	Hampshire	Club	Result	Kent	Club	Result
1	JH Blake	Southampton	0	JC Waterman	Unattached	1
2	Sir GA Thomas	Portsmouth	½	EL Raymond	Tunbridge Wells	½
3	FJH Elwell	Southampton	0	WB Dixon	Canterbury	1
4	HGH Mills	Portsmouth	0	C Hammond	Lee	1
5	Spencer Clarke	Whitchurch	1	PPJ O’Connor	Lee	0
6	RF Barlow	Unattached	0	CH Lorch	Sydenham	1
7	WR Neve	Unattached	1	AJ Prichard	Lee	0
8	HD Osborn	Portsmouth	½	C Chapman	Sevenoaks	½
9	WC Kenny	Southampton	1	BW Hamilton	Lee	0
10	JS Flower	Ryde	1	CE Hughes	Unattached	0
11	GR Sloper	Unattached	0	Grace Moore Curling	Tunbridge Wells	1
12	E Clayton	Portsmouth	0	CF Corke	Sevenoaks	1
13	GH Barclay	Andover	0	WL Walford	Sydenham	1
14	DHH Wassell	Petersfield	0	WM Brooke	Tunbridge Wells	1
15	HJ Penwill	Southampton	0	JH Brown	Lee	1
16	HA Way	Portsmouth	½	G Hanson	Woolwich	½
	Total		5½	Total		10½

With Hampshire beating Sussex and losing to Kent the other two counties played to see who would progress in the SE division. Kent needed to avoid losing by 4½ – 11½ and they managed this, although they could do no better than a draw, despite fielding what looks to be a stronger team than the one which Hampshire faced.

The Sussex team also looked far stronger than the one against Hampshire with HE Dobell now on board four, rather than top board (although NE Hill played on board 2 in both matches. This win saw Kent win the section and with a walkover in the semi-final reach the final for the third year running.

Kent would would lose in the final 10 – 6 to Middlesex.

Missing from the match against Hampshire but playing in the Middlesex match was OC Muller. He played against Hampshire 13 times (12 on bd 1), facing Joseph Blake in all but the first of these matches (T.Crassweller in the other). He scored +2 in these encounters, beating Blake 5 times and losing 3. Neil Blackburn has supplied the picture below from the 1923 Margate Chess Congress which also includes a number of other players mentioned in these SCCU Matches.

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Hampshire 10½ – Wiltshire 4½- July 7th 1909 – Salisbury

Hampshire’s final match was their annual friendly against Wiltshire. Normally this fixture was played outdoors, but due to the unsettled weather they moved indoors. Looks like Mr FE Young’s house could easily accommodate a 15 board match.

Hampshire were too strong this year for Wiltshire and comfortably won 10½ – 4½. Hampshire winners were JH Blake, Spencer Clarke, C Clarke, GM Frean, W Turner, FJ Hill, WH Killick, HA Way and HJ Penwill. This was Portsmouth Chess Club Herbert Way’s third game for Hampshire and his first win (two draws against Kent on boards 15 and 16). He would go on to play over 70 times for Hampshire from 1906 to 1946 scoring in excess of 56% and playing as high as board 2.

He also played in the Hampshire Championship a number of times in the 1930’s and lost in the final in the first one (1930) to Frank Elwell.

When he stopped playing for Hampshire he took over the Hampshire Presidency from Judge Haydon MA KC. Following him was Andover’s AS Dance, another player who also represented Hampshire for a long period (1920 – 1951).

Board	Hampshire	Result	Wiltshire	Result
1	JH Blake	1	A Rumboll	0
2	Spencer Clarke	1	CJ Woodrow	0
3	WC Kenny	½	HM Matthews	½
4	E Clayton	0	Revd E Wells	1
5	Prof EL Watkins	0	F Sutton	1
6	D McIntyre	½	A Schomberg	½
7	EC Clarke	1	Revs PN Harrison	0
8	GM Frean	1	HW Beaven	0
9	WJ Turner	1	HO Roger	0
10	FG Hill	1	Sir F Cunningham	0
11	W Henry	1	JW Clark	0
12	HA Way	1	Revd C Le Sanctuary	0
13	R Owen	0	T Brinsmead	1
14	HJ Penwill	1	AJ Phillips	0
15	T Tucker	½	FE Young	½
	Total	10½	Total	4½

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Hampshire Player Performance

Hampshire played three matches, but only five players played in all of them. Unlike last season apart from E Clayton who lost all his games these players all scored at least 50%. Spencer Clarke won all of his games and Joseph Blake won two and lost one, whilst Sir GA Thomas, HD Osborn, FN Braund and HA Way all won one and drew one for the best Hampshire performances.

Individual player performance is detailed below in a sortable table.

Hants Player	Win Percentage	Points Scored	Games Played
Spencer Clarke	100.0%	3	3
JH Blake	66.7%	2	3
Sir GA Thomas	75.0%	1.5	2
HD Osborn	75.0%	1.5	2
FN Braund	75.0%	1.5	2
HA Way	75.0%	1.5	2
WC Kenny	50.0%	1.5	3
JS Flower	50.0%	1.5	3
GM Frean	100.0%	1	1
GI Gribble	100.0%	1	1
EE Beeden	100.0%	1	1
WR Neve	100.0%	1	1
Revd HS Wansborough	100.0%	1	1
HW Daws	100.0%	1	1
EC Clarke	100.0%	1	1
FG Hill	100.0%	1	1
W Henry	100.0%	1	1
WJ Turner	100.0%	1	1
Revd Barry Cole	100.0%	1	1
Revd CS Hughes	100.0%	1	1
FA Joyce	50.0%	1	2
FJH Elwell	50.0%	1	2
HJ Penwill	50.0%	1	2
T Tucker	50.0%	0.5	1
D McIntyre	50.0%	0.5	1
SD Caws	25.0%	0.5	2
DHH Wassell	25.0%	0.5	2
G Wood	0.0%	0	1
GR Sloper	0.0%	0	1
RF Barlow	0.0%	0	1
AJ Taylor	0.0%	0	1
GH Barclay	0.0%	0	1
E Draycott	0.0%	0	1
Prof EL Watkins	0.0%	0	1
R Owen	0.0%	0	1
HGH Mills	0.0%	0	1
E Clayton	0.0%	0	3

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Summary

With two wins and one loss this was a good season for Hampshire, but they were probably seen as the weakest team in the competition, at this period of time. I am sure our top boards still struck fear into the opposition, as Joseph Blake, Sir George Thomas and Frank Elwell were all very strong players. EDO give their estimated strength as 2321, 2351 and 2326¹ in 1908. Sir George Thomas would become even stronger in the near future, but at this stage was still seen as the board two rather than one.

This is not surprising as Joseph Blake even at the age of 50 was still strong enough to finish tied with Henry Atkins at the 1909 British Chess Championship (he lost the tie-break).

I mentioned that Hampshire also played Correspondence matches this year and managed to win them comfortably. A 37 board match was played against Somerset (26 – 11) and they took on Suffolk in a 55 board match (33½ – 21½).

I located two games from the Suffolk match, but these were in the East Anglian Daily Times are were wins for Suffolk. I give these two games below, although if I locate any Hampshire wins I will add.

In other activities in Hampshire Chess, the Hampshire Trophy attracted ten teams, three from Southampton and Portsmouth, and one each from Andover, Basingstoke. Petersfield and Winchester. The North-West Division was won by Southampton A, and the South-East Division by Southampton B. In the final Southampton A won 3½ – 2½. A rule change saw a reduction of players from six to five in the teams in the following season.

A new President was voted in, with Southampton’s WC Kenny replacing Andover’s GH Barclay. The other Hampshire Officers remained the same, although it mentions a Trophy Competition Committee which may have been new. The AGM saw Frank Elwell complete a simul at the end of the meeting, winning all the games in under two hours.

• WC Kenny – President
• HJ Penwill – Hon. Secretary and Treasurer
• JH Blake – Match Captain
• FJH Elwell, G Wood – Adjudicators
• GR Sloper, JH Blake, RF Barlow – SCCU Delegates
• HD Osbourne and PEJ Talbot – Trophy Competition Committee

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

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Acknowledgements and Sources

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1. 1900 rather that 1908 as this was the last year detailed in EDO. ↩︎