1834-1915
By Bernard Hare
March 2022
March 2022
FOUNDATION
Leeds Chess Club was officially founded in 1834, about the time slavery was abolished in Britain. The massive compensation paid out to the unfortunate slave owners meant there was lots of money swilling about in the economy at the time. Back then, of course, chess was a game only for the well to do. Poorer people would have been too busy staving off starvation and disease. The annual subscriptions of two shillings (10p) would have crippled most families. Still, the lucky few gathered in sumptuous coffee houses to pursue their sport.
Leeds Chess Club was officially founded in 1834, about the time slavery was abolished in Britain. The massive compensation paid out to the unfortunate slave owners meant there was lots of money swilling about in the economy at the time. Back then, of course, chess was a game only for the well to do. Poorer people would have been too busy staving off starvation and disease. The annual subscriptions of two shillings (10p) would have crippled most families. Still, the lucky few gathered in sumptuous coffee houses to pursue their sport.
IMPROVED COMMUNICATIONS
Inter-city matches would have been difficult before the 1840s when the growth of the railways and the inauguration of the Penny Post made communications and travel much easier.
Inter-city matches would have been difficult before the 1840s when the growth of the railways and the inauguration of the Penny Post made communications and travel much easier.
MSSRS RHODES AND CADMAN
John Rhodes (Pres.) and Robert Cadman (Treas.) were the chief organisers of the club in its formative years. More about Rhodes on the SILVER KING page. Much less is known about his sidekick Cadman, but obviously they were great friends. For example, when the great french Romantic Pierre de Saint-Amant attended the YCA AGM in 1847, he stayed at Rhodes's house and took the two of them on in consultation. You can play through the game here.
In 1837, Rhodes and Cadman organised the first recorded over-the-board match in Yorkshire. (Leeds 6 Huddersfield 6 and 2 draws.) In 1841, they were instrumental in the formation of the first Yorkshire Chess Association, which grew to become the Northern Counties Chess Union, which in turn helped to form the British Chess Federation.
The inaugural meeting of the West Yorks Chess Ass. was held in Leeds in 1856, Mr Cadman in the chair. Feeling nostalgic perhaps for their old local meetings they were again instrumental in setting up the new West Yorks Association. Leeds, Wakefield, Huddersfield and Halifax were the founder members. The Woodhouse Cup began in 1885 under WYCA auspices. The WYCA, in turn, developed into the (2nd) Yorkshire Chess Ass. as teams like Sheffield and Hull wanted to join our league.
John Rhodes (Pres.) and Robert Cadman (Treas.) were the chief organisers of the club in its formative years. More about Rhodes on the SILVER KING page. Much less is known about his sidekick Cadman, but obviously they were great friends. For example, when the great french Romantic Pierre de Saint-Amant attended the YCA AGM in 1847, he stayed at Rhodes's house and took the two of them on in consultation. You can play through the game here.
In 1837, Rhodes and Cadman organised the first recorded over-the-board match in Yorkshire. (Leeds 6 Huddersfield 6 and 2 draws.) In 1841, they were instrumental in the formation of the first Yorkshire Chess Association, which grew to become the Northern Counties Chess Union, which in turn helped to form the British Chess Federation.
The inaugural meeting of the West Yorks Chess Ass. was held in Leeds in 1856, Mr Cadman in the chair. Feeling nostalgic perhaps for their old local meetings they were again instrumental in setting up the new West Yorks Association. Leeds, Wakefield, Huddersfield and Halifax were the founder members. The Woodhouse Cup began in 1885 under WYCA auspices. The WYCA, in turn, developed into the (2nd) Yorkshire Chess Ass. as teams like Sheffield and Hull wanted to join our league.
MSSRS RAYNER & BROWN
By the time the Woodhouse Cup started up, Rhodes and Cadman were getting old and new blood was required. James Rayner (1859-98) and Issac M Brown (1854-1934) stepped up to keep the club on an even keel. He and Brown went to school together, learned the game together, and were lifelong friends.
More about James Rayner on the SILVER KNIGHT page. He was a very strong player, an inspirational captain, and a famous problemist who wrote for the British Chess Magazine. IM Brown too had an illustrious career at the club. He joined in 1884 and soon became club secretary. He was heavily involved in Yorkshire and national chess. In 1915, he presented the I. M. Brown Shield to the Yorkshire Chess Association. He was secretary of the YCA for a number of years and became its president in 1922, remaining in that post until retiring at the 1934 Annual General Meeting, due to ill health. He took over the chess column in the Bradford Observer, giving it up in 1934, again due to ill health. Here are the two great friends representing the club in 1892/93:
By the time the Woodhouse Cup started up, Rhodes and Cadman were getting old and new blood was required. James Rayner (1859-98) and Issac M Brown (1854-1934) stepped up to keep the club on an even keel. He and Brown went to school together, learned the game together, and were lifelong friends.
More about James Rayner on the SILVER KNIGHT page. He was a very strong player, an inspirational captain, and a famous problemist who wrote for the British Chess Magazine. IM Brown too had an illustrious career at the club. He joined in 1884 and soon became club secretary. He was heavily involved in Yorkshire and national chess. In 1915, he presented the I. M. Brown Shield to the Yorkshire Chess Association. He was secretary of the YCA for a number of years and became its president in 1922, remaining in that post until retiring at the 1934 Annual General Meeting, due to ill health. He took over the chess column in the Bradford Observer, giving it up in 1934, again due to ill health. Here are the two great friends representing the club in 1892/93:
N.B. Mr James White down there on the lower boards was also a well known composer of chess problems. More about this aspect of the game and the club's contribution to the genre in the late-19th century on the PROBLEM COMPOSERS page.
THE GLORY YEARS
Leeds Chess Club’s glory years were from the turn of the century until the First World War came along and ruined everything. The club met at the opulent Grand Café on Park Lane and was so successful that the establishment itself soon changed its name to the Gambit Café.
Most of the club’s priceless silver trophies originated during this period. For example, when CW Jeffery died unexpectedly in 1910 at the age of thirty, annual subscriptions were raised to 7/6d (seven shillings and sixpence!) to pay for a memorial trophy in his honour. (It's about the size of the FA Cup.) Before his untimely demise, Mr Jeffery had himself generously presented the silver Rose Bowl trophy to the club to be played for in perpetuity as the individual club championship. Sad to lose CW so early, but the following year members were very pleased to present Mr TGC Jones esq with a set of silver fish knives on the happier occasion of his marriage. Did they have some sort of silver fetish going on at the club at the time? These days, we can only guess.
FD YATES
FD Yates (British Champion 1913, 14, 21, 26, 28 & 31) was Leeds Chess Club's top board in the Woodhouse Cup when we won it five years on the trot from 1911 to 1915. We won the trophy outright, but generously presented it back to the Association to be played for in perpetuity. Blackburn, England’s top player, visited the club regularly during this period, giving several simultaneous exhibitions, although his fee of five guineas was thought excessive by many members.
THE FIRST WAR
Pre-war, Leeds Chess Club was undoubtedly the strongest club in the nation. The juniors were winning everything too, but a young and promising team - needs must - was sacrificed for the greater good against the Hun.
After the Great War, we remained strong, but some of the spirit seems to have evaporated from the club. Membership was down, understandable perhaps as there were dozens of millions less people alive in the world, and finances were less assured, indeed worrying.
Leeds Chess Club’s glory years were from the turn of the century until the First World War came along and ruined everything. The club met at the opulent Grand Café on Park Lane and was so successful that the establishment itself soon changed its name to the Gambit Café.
Most of the club’s priceless silver trophies originated during this period. For example, when CW Jeffery died unexpectedly in 1910 at the age of thirty, annual subscriptions were raised to 7/6d (seven shillings and sixpence!) to pay for a memorial trophy in his honour. (It's about the size of the FA Cup.) Before his untimely demise, Mr Jeffery had himself generously presented the silver Rose Bowl trophy to the club to be played for in perpetuity as the individual club championship. Sad to lose CW so early, but the following year members were very pleased to present Mr TGC Jones esq with a set of silver fish knives on the happier occasion of his marriage. Did they have some sort of silver fetish going on at the club at the time? These days, we can only guess.
FD YATES
FD Yates (British Champion 1913, 14, 21, 26, 28 & 31) was Leeds Chess Club's top board in the Woodhouse Cup when we won it five years on the trot from 1911 to 1915. We won the trophy outright, but generously presented it back to the Association to be played for in perpetuity. Blackburn, England’s top player, visited the club regularly during this period, giving several simultaneous exhibitions, although his fee of five guineas was thought excessive by many members.
THE FIRST WAR
Pre-war, Leeds Chess Club was undoubtedly the strongest club in the nation. The juniors were winning everything too, but a young and promising team - needs must - was sacrificed for the greater good against the Hun.
After the Great War, we remained strong, but some of the spirit seems to have evaporated from the club. Membership was down, understandable perhaps as there were dozens of millions less people alive in the world, and finances were less assured, indeed worrying.