THE JEFFERY MEMORIAL
The C. W. Jeffery Memorial Trophy
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Cecil Woodsend Jeffery (1879-1910)
Cecil Woodsend Jeffery was born on June 23 1879, in Leeds, W Yorkshire, to Gabriel Francis Masters Jeffery and Eliza Fletcher. Cecil had 5 siblings: Alice Maud, Lizzie , Beatrice, Rose Ethel, and Harold Vincent Jeffery. Cecil passed away on June 27 1910, at age 31 in Leeds. When CW Jeffery died unexpectedly in 1910 at the age of thirty-one, Leeds Chess club members agreed to raise annual subscriptions from 5/- to 7/6d to pay for a trophy in his honour. (Five shillings was a lot of money back then and would have kept poorer families alive for a week.) We might have overdone it, actually. It's the size of the FA Cup.
From a well-to-do background, CW had no time to marry or launch a notable career in his short life. By the looks of it, he would have been too busy playing chess. In less than ten years at the club, he built up a mighty roll call of honour. Club Champion 1903, 1907, 1908, & 1909. Winner of the Silver Knight Trophy 1905, 1907, & 1909. Yorkshire Champion in 1906 & 1907 for good measure. (Notice the amazing treble there in 1907.) Edo puts him at around 2150 in terms of playing strength. He probably knew he was dying because in 1909, a year before his death, he presented the Rose Bowl Trophy to the club to be used as the club championship trophy. A very auspicious member who crammed a lot into his brief life, he was the Paul Morphy of Leeds Chess Club. |