English Chess Forum

Hi all,

I'm very interested to trace an old club mate Hugh "Hughie" Boyd; he was originally from Scotland, but had been settled in Leeds a number of years. He played for the original Leeds CC, West Leeds in the YCA league and a couple of teams in Bradford, he also did the odd congress.

I've not seen or heard from him in well over 10 years - was just thinking about him the other day and would be curious if anyone at all knows his whereabouts / what became of him?

In all honestly, there is a reasonable possibility he is no longer with us; he was an avid drinker and would be getting up there in years (I'd guess well into his 70's by now).

He hasn't shown up at any local clubs for a long time and I note all his accounts on online chess sites (he played on pretty much every major Correspondence site under the name "Pitchman 2") are all dormant, obviously adding to my belief he may no longer be around.

I've had a search around online, but not really getting any hits.

The death of a Hugh Boyd was registered in Leeds in the first quarter of 2022. He was born in 1946, so around 75 at the time of his death. (https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/cert ... search.asp)

A search on 192.com comes up with a Hugh Boyd who lived at an address in Leeds in 2018-19 with several people with the surname Cliffe.

No match in the probate search (probatesearch.service.gov.uk)

I searched again and it seems Hugh Boyd died on the 19th May, 2021. I don't know why his death wasn't registered until Q1 2022. His date of birth was given as 15th January, 1946.

His probate is, in fact, available from https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk
Until November 2025, it cost a mere £1.50 to get a copy of a probate. However in that month the government decided, in their wisdom, to increase the fee to £16.

Thanks for all your efforts Jon I don't know if conclusively that's him, but it seems likely.