Archive for the ‘History of Bedfordshire Chess in the 19th century’ Category

Before Milton Keynes

Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess in the 19th century on November 16, 2025| Leave a Comment »

In some shape or form there has always been a rivalry beween Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire of sorts it seems or a propensity for teams within both to play each other if you like.

M J M

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National events reported locally

Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess in the 19th century on November 16, 2025| Leave a Comment »

This does have some significance as it shows we were on the map back then as it were or were in the loop I should say instead perhaps. It is correct to presume this event has been reported on and written about before, which confirms one player from Bedfordshire attended, and one from Hertfordshire (female). 1 It should be noted that the second such event, in 1898, had W. Ward (played for Luton several times) as joint winner.

  1. Worth spending time on and points towards the publication the event is featured in. https://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/189006cambridge-viewer.html ↩︎

M J M

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Bedford’s first claimed match.

Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess in the 19th century on November 16, 2025| Leave a Comment »

It is argued, a home match against Luton it was, and that Bedford Chess Club formed in 1887. I do not have any sources which confirm or deny this.

M J M

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Dixon is located

Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess in the 19th century on November 16, 2025| Leave a Comment »

W. B. Dixon, who would go on to become county champion, 1 and beat American champion Harry Nelson Pilsbury -albeit in a simul only- can be found playing for Dunstable here:

With the exception of William Ward, he was arguably the strongest player found on record in Bedfordshire prior to the great war.

  1. More about him can be found here. https://mccreadyandchess.com/2025/10/10/w-b-dixon-and-updates/ ↩︎

M J M

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Some corroberation, a little clarification, a bit more context…

Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess in the 19th century on November 14, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Birds’ Nests
The summer nests uncovered by autumn wind,
Some torn, others dislodged, all dark,
Everyone sees them: low or high in tree,
Or hedge, or single bush, they hang like a mark.


Since there’s no need of eyes to see them with
I cannot help a little shame
That I missed most, even at eye’s level, till
The leaves blew off and made the seeing no game… .

Dear fellow players of Bedfordshire, I do hope you are well and good, and may your play in both our league and beyond it be resplendant and wonderous. Peripatetic, yes perhaps I am, but this does not preclude me from commenting further upon how things were once reported on. 1

Since I myself have no ambitions to write a book on Bedfordshire chess as such, this is the only one in existence Chess in Bedfordshire. This publication states that the beginning of Luton Chess Club came in 1878. (see below)

With myself being something of a post-modernist, I am inclined to suggest the handling of that is unambitious indeed. Why is there emphasis on the exact date? Because it constitutes a change of status? And what else? The propinquity of matches against St. Albans is left unexplained almost, something which the post in the footnotes cites 2, only St. Albans being a relatively new club also is offered up. The difficulties Luton faced on formalizing matters and establising itself in its infancy are not touched upon. I add below a recently discovered match against St. Albans and some of the challenges presented and also ambitions which traverse our county lanes and the fallow fields which stretch beyond them.

A year on some light is shed here on county chess but feint it is… .

‘Tis safe to assume the reporter meant County Chess Team and not County Chess club. The reportage below tells of much great intention to make things work and suggests that rivalry between St. Albans and Luton was not solely a matter of chess.

…’Tis a light pang. I like to see the nests
Still in their places, now first known,
At home and by far roads. Boys knew them not,
Whatever jays and squirrels may have done.


And most I like the winter nests deep-hid
That leaves and berries fell into:
Once a doormouse dined there on hazel-nuts,
And grass and goose-grass seeds found soil and grew.


Edward Thomas

M J M

  1. But what does, however, is concede that all this began over a decade ago now, and keeping it all together has already become a tough task, one which I am becoming weary of, if I am being frank. Over 140 posts already! Many of which I cannot remember and I really do not want to start repeating myself as it is rather embarrassing per se! ↩︎
  2. William Ward (who came 2nd in the British Championship in 1908, only ever beaten on a national level by GM Plaskett, plays for Luton against St. Albans. W. Ward plays for Luton ↩︎

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Even more on W. Ward

Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess in the 19th century on August 5, 2025| Leave a Comment »

“Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.”
― Voltaire

Should you, perchance, put W. Ward plays for Luton and also Our clash of future champions in the search bar, you will find documented evidence that William Ward competed in the Bedfordshire chess scene for Luton before moving to London and becoming champion of that city amongst many other achieved accolades.

With chess players placed in categories to denote ability only across Victorian England, establishing exactly how strong Ward was whilst playing in Bedfordshire is challenging because none of his scoresheets have survived. We do have help however. Regarding timelines: the two posts above show a few of his results for Luton in 1896 & 1897 respectively; the following year, at the 1898 Southern Counties Congress in Salisbury, his first success beyond Bedfordshire was achieved. Invaluable archivist John Saunders has once again offered us the details on that superb site of his, which can be accessed here: https://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/189809sccu-viewer.html

W. Ward came joint first as you can see, about half of his games are available for you to play through also. This should enable you to develop your own opinions about how good he was when he left us. May I suggest you look at his game against George Bellingham and see how he plays the endgame?

Should you wish to refer to the edo website for its own estimation also, you may do so here: http://www.edochess.ca/years/y1898.html and learn that he was estimated at 2352 ELO in 1898, putting him 91st in the world. Above more esteemed gentlemen such as Jacques Mieses, Frank Marshall, Henry Bird, and John McCutcheon, as well as future world champion José Capablanca.

He was the first Englishman to play chess competitively in Bedfordshire and then go on to represent merry England (Anglo-American cable matches), the second being Dennis Victor Mardle (also of Luton), the third GM James Plaskett (of BMS/Bedford).

 “The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?” Edgar Allan Poe – the Premature Burial.

M J M

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When curiosity triumps over significance

Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess in the 19th century on June 8, 2025| Leave a Comment »

William Ward, who is documented playing for Luton around the turn of the 19th century, is almost certainly the forth strongest player of all time to play chess in Bedforshire, if and only if, the EDO historical rating site is to be trusted fully, putting his rating at ELO 2422 at its apogee http://www.edochess.ca/players/p562.html.

He came third in the 1905 British Chess Championship in Southport and in taking a look at some of his games, I noticed a curiosity. I have discovered what must be his quickest win ever, courtest of Britbase (see game 60). https://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/190508bcf-viewer.html. He won in only two moves! I am researching how this came about and will update in due course.

Next day’s update

A brief online chat with author and historian Richard James has drawn attention to such games being described as game stubs, where the newspaper or magazine referred to does not have the entire gamescore for whatever reason.

McCready, latin america

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Shelton appears on the map

Posted in Academia, History of Bedfordshire Chess in the 19th century on May 4, 2025| Leave a Comment »

In Reading Timothy Harding’s doctoral thesis ‘correspondence chess in Britain and Ireland, 1824-1914, a social and cultural history‘, which may be found online here Thesis, I learnt that Befordshire made an appearance on pg. 283.

Victorian England is the context, the chapter pertaining, documenting some of the difficulties and challenges female players faced back then in much detail. Fellow county chess players, if you look through what has been posted on this site, you will note that, locally, women were never written about regarding chess in Bedfordshire, however, this does not mean that chess was not played by women in Bedfordshire but rather that it was more likely played at home rather than at a club as was commonplace back then, the author claims. The post-modern historian Jenkins once wrote in his publication Re-thinking history that ‘history and the past are categorically distinct’, herein lies evidence and argument to that effect. Put more simply, just because something has been left undocumented, it doesn’t mean it did not happen.

You may find what is linked below of further interest.

First things first…(pages 1-39)

Mark. J. McCready

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The missing links

Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess in the 19th century on September 4, 2024| Leave a Comment »

I have written about the once famed amateur William Ward many times on this site because he was the first player to represent Luton who went on to make a name for himself. Having done further research it has become clear that Ward was established as a player in London before his documented appearances for Luton in 1896 & 1897. They were at best cameos, most likely he still had family in the area and retained his attachments. The reportage below show he had commitments in London during those years.

We have been been able to establish that by profession he was a solicitor. But information about his life outside chess and the circumstances concerning his death have remained unestablished until very recently. I am indebted to the individuals on the English Chess Forum who have taken up a thread I started almost ten years ago and have long since forgotten about! Please see below.

Mark. J. McCready, Bangkok

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A contestable formation

Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1940-1960, History of Bedfordshire Chess in the 19th century on May 17, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Tom Sweby, in the reportage below, argues that the date of formation regarding Luton chess club which appears in the 1933 publication Chess in Bedfordshire is contestable. You will find the aforementioned publication on this site.

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