Hampshire played three County matches this season, two in the SCCU and the normal friendly against Wiltshire. In addition to the OTB Matches they also played two Correspondence matches against Middlesex (22 – 28 loss) and Northants (20 – 20 draw).
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 6 Sussex 10 – Oct 23rd 1909 – Portsmouth
Hampshire’s first match was against Sussex and surprisingly this was held in Portsmouth. The fixtures normally alternated each year, and last year it was held in Southsea. Looking ahead the match continued to be held in Portsmouth and it is likely that this was something set in place by the SCCU.
The location did not help Hampshire though, as Sussex were comfortable winners. The Hastings and St Leonard Observer had a detailed match report which I reproduce below, including the clock time misunderstanding on board 5. Also of note were the current strong form of JH Blake and G Thomas who had tied for 1st in the 1909 British Championship (lost the tie-break) and won the Open tournament in Hastings respectively.
Hampshire winners were JH Blake, Sir GA Thomas (Mr at this time, rather than Sir), HD Osborn and HW Daws all from the top half, which again showed where Hampshire’s strength and weaknesses were.
The British Chess Magazine published the board 4 game between Spencer Clarke and WT Pierce. Unfortunately for Hampshire this was a loss, but I give the game below.
Board | Hampshire | Club | Result | Sussex | Club | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | JH Blake | Southampton | 1 | W Paley Hughes | Hastings | 0 |
2 | Sir GA Thomas | Portsmouth | 1 | HW Butler | Brighton | 0 |
3 | FJH Elwell | Southampton | ½ | NE Hill | Brighton | ½ |
4 | Spencer Clarke | Andover | 0 | WT Pierce | Hove | 1 |
5 | WC Kenny | Southampton | 0 | HE Dobell | Hastings | 1 |
6 | JS Flower | Isle of Wight | 0 | EG Reed | Brighton | 1 |
7 | HD Osborn | Portsmouth | 1 | Castle Leaver | Brighton | 0 |
8 | HW Daws | Isle of Wight | 1 | AJ Field | Hove | 0 |
9 | G Wood | Portsmouth | ½ | CJA Wade | Henfield | ½ |
10 | E Clayton | Portsmouth | ½ | HJ Stephenson | Hastings | ½ |
11 | W Veitch | 0 | FE Puchas | Brighton | 1 | |
12 | GI Gribble | Fareham | 0 | HT Grover | Brighton | 1 |
13 | DHH Wassell | Petersfield | 0 | EW Morris | Uckfield | 1 |
14 | M Whitehead | 0 | J Chandler | Lewes | 1 | |
15 | Prof EL Watkins | Hartley College | 0 | F Brook | Brighton | 1 |
16 | Prof WF Masom | Hartley College | ½ | EC Harvey | Brighton | ½ |
Total | 6 | Total | 10 |
Hampshire 7½ – Kent 8½ – Nov 13th 1909 – London
Hampshire were next traveling to London to play Kent and this year they produced a very good performance, losing by the closest of margins.
Hampshire winners were WR Neve, GR Sloper, W Veitch and RG Stark. In the AGM minutes it mentioned the death of Mr Sloper and this was his last game for the County. He had represented the County since their formation, and played in their first friendly match in 1887 against Sussex.
Mr Sloper originally played for Southampton, and later was based in London, but still represented Hampshire as well as being a SCCU delegate. Below is his Hampshire performance against each county, although he only played against Wiltshire until 1899 (which gives an indication of when he moved to London).
Board | Hampshire | Club | Result | Kent | Club | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | JH Blake | Southampton | ½ | OC Muller | ½ | |
2 | FJH Elwell | Southampton | ½ | JC Waterman | ½ | |
3 | TE Haydon | London | ½ | EL Raymond | ½ | |
4 | RF Barlow | Unattached | ½ | WB Dixon | ½ | |
5 | Spencer Clarke | Andover | 0 | HG Cole | 1 | |
6 | WR Neve | Unattached | 1 | C Hammond | 0 | |
7 | HD Osborn | Portsmouth | 0 | Evan Cresswell | 1 | |
8 | A Asher | Southampton | 0 | C Chapman | 1 | |
9 | GR Sloper | London | 1 | A Clark | 0 | |
10 | HJ Penwill | Southampton | ½ | CH Lorch | ½ | |
11 | G Wood | Portsmouth | ½ | AI Pritchard | ½ | |
12 | W Veitch | Southampton | 1 | JA Detmold | 0 | |
13 | FN Braund | Isle of Wight | ½ | Rev CE Hughes | ½ | |
14 | DHH Wassell | Petersfield | 0 | G Hanson | 1 | |
15 | RG Stark | Basingstoke | 1 | FL Hutchings | 0 | |
16 | HA Way | Portsmouth | 0 | WM Brooke | 1 | |
Total | 7½ | Total | 8½ |
Hampshire 9½ – Wiltshire 4½- July 15th 1910 – Salisbury
Hampshire’s final match was their annual friendly against Wiltshire. Hampshire brought a strong team, with both JH Blake and FJH Elwell in action. The match was held outside, unlike the previous year and this year it was Mr and Mrs Sutton who were the hosts. Revd CJF Welsh was not even named, just stated as Bishop of Trinidad! I have left as Revd, for player tracking purposes. This was his first game against Hampshire since 1904 and would prove to be his last.
Hampshire continued their dominant ways of the last couple of years, and were comfortable 9½ – 4½ winners. JH Blake, FJH Elwell, PA MacMahon, H Streeten, Revd EB James, AG Bennett and WH Killick were the Hampshire winners.
Board | Hampshire | Result | Wiltshire | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | JH Blake | 1 | Revd AG Gordon Ross | 0 |
2 | FJH Elwell | 1 | A Rumbell | 0 |
3 | Spencer Clark | ½ | Revd CJF Welsh | ½ |
4 | PA MacMahon | 1 | F Sutton | 0 |
5 | A Asher | ½ | A Schomberg | ½ |
6 | E Clayton | 0 | FE Young | 1 |
7 | WH Curtis | ½ | A Matthews | ½ |
8 | FJ Hill | ½ | HW Beaven | ½ |
9 | HL Streeter | 1 | WJ Naish | 0 |
10 | Revd EB James | 1 | JC Clarke | 0 |
11 | WF Sandell | 0 | H Boyer | 1 |
12 | AG Bennett | 1 | KJ Bradfield | 0 |
13 | WH Killick | 1 | FA Bradbeere | 0 |
14 | AJ Taylor | ½ | WH Jackson | ½ |
Total | 9½ | Total | 4½ |
Hampshire Player Performance
Hampshire played three matches, but only two players played in all of them. One of the reasons for this is that one match was in Portsmouth, one in London and the other in Wiltshire, which was also normally a much weaker Hampshire team. But Joseph Blake and Francis Elwell both played in all three matches and managed two and half and two points respectively.
A number of other players won their one game, but no-one else scored more than 50%.
Individual player performance is detailed below in a sortable table.
Hants Player | Win Percentage | Points Scored | Games Played |
---|---|---|---|
JH Blake | 83.3% | 2.5 | 3 |
FJH Elwell | 66.7% | 2 | 3 |
Revd EB James | 100.0% | 1 | 1 |
Sir GA Thomas | 100.0% | 1 | 1 |
HL Streeter | 100.0% | 1 | 1 |
WR Neve | 100.0% | 1 | 1 |
HW Daws | 100.0% | 1 | 1 |
RG Stark | 100.0% | 1 | 1 |
GR Sloper | 100.0% | 1 | 1 |
AG Bennett | 100.0% | 1 | 1 |
PA MacMahon | 100.0% | 1 | 1 |
WH Killick | 100.0% | 1 | 1 |
W Veitch | 50.0% | 1 | 2 |
G Wood | 50.0% | 1 | 2 |
HD Osborn | 50.0% | 1 | 2 |
TE Haydon | 50.0% | 0.5 | 1 |
WH Curtis | 50.0% | 0.5 | 1 |
FN Braund | 50.0% | 0.5 | 1 |
HJ Penwill | 50.0% | 0.5 | 1 |
AJ Taylor | 50.0% | 0.5 | 1 |
FJ Hill | 50.0% | 0.5 | 1 |
Prof WF Masom | 50.0% | 0.5 | 1 |
RF Barlow | 50.0% | 0.5 | 1 |
E Clayton | 25.0% | 0.5 | 2 |
A Asher | 25.0% | 0.5 | 2 |
Spencer Clarke | 16.7% | 0.5 | 3 |
WC Kenny | 0.0% | 0 | 1 |
GI Gribble | 0.0% | 0 | 1 |
JS Flower | 0.0% | 0 | 1 |
WF Sandell | 0.0% | 0 | 1 |
Prof EL Watkins | 0.0% | 0 | 1 |
HA Way | 0.0% | 0 | 1 |
M Whitehead | 0.0% | 0 | 1 |
DHH Wassell | 0.0% | 0 | 2 |
Summary
I think Hampshire just failed to have a great season. Losing to Kent by the narrowest of margins showed they could match the stronger counties, Kent would go on to win the SE section, progressing to the final, before losing to Middlesex in the Championship finals.
Hampshire again played two Correspondence matches this year, losing 22 – 28 to Middlesex and drawing 20 all against Northamptonshire. Middlesex won the English County Championship by beating Lancashire and it seems with their Correspondence win against Hampshire their high level of play was not limited to OTB chess.
In other activities in Hampshire Chess, the Hampshire Trophy attracted ten teams, four from Southampton, three from Portsmouth, and one each from Andover, Basingstoke and a new club Hartley University College.
This was a college which would eventually be renamed Southampton University, who still play in the Southampton Chess League. The college was started with a local eccentric – Henry Robinson Hartley. It was a great start by Hartley as they won the NW division, winning all their matches. Meanwhile in the SE division Portsmouth A won narrowly ahead of Portsmouth C. In the final Portsmouth A proved too strong for Hartley winning 4 – 1.
You can see a number of the players in the match below representing Hampshire, including Hartley’s two Professors.
The AGM also reported that the county during the year had suffered great loss by the death of two prominent members of the Association, G. H. Barclay and G.R Sloper. Mr Barclay for years was president of the Andover club, and for two years, president of the Association. I gave Mr Sloper’s record for Hampshire earlier but Mr Barclay’s is below. He performed well against Wiltshire, but poorly against the stronger SCCU teams. As has been seen Hampshire struggled against these counties on the lower boards where Mr Barclay would normally play.
But Mr Barclay obviously brought other skills to the fold, with his secretarial duties for Andover and Hampshire.
As reported earlier both Joseph Blake and George Thomas had congress successes. In addition George Thomas won the 1st class open section in the Kent and Sussex Congress in 1909 scoring all wins.
After one year as the President WC Kenny was replaced by Joseph Blake. There were changes to the delegates to the SCCU, but apart from that the other Offices remained the same.
- JH Blake – President
- HJ Penwill – Hon. Secretary and Treasurer
- JH Blake – Match Captain
- FJH Elwell, G Wood – Adjudicators
- JH Blake, RF Barlow, WR Neve – 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.
Acknowledgements and Sources
- British Newspaper Archives
- Britbase
- Anthony Fulton for historic material on results
- Hampshire Independent
- Hastings and St Leonards Observer
- Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser
- Hampshire Observer and Basingstoke News
- Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser
- British Chess Magazine
- Hampshire Archives