Varsity Match 1908

Historical knowledge and information regarding our great game.
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Gerard Killoran
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Varsity Match 1908

Post by Gerard Killoran » Thu Dec 09, 2021 2:01 pm

Played on Board 2 in the 1908 contest:



Stower became Reverend Stower, but I have no idea what happened to Reuben Lob.

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John Saunders
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Re: Varsity Match 1908

Post by John Saunders » Thu Dec 09, 2021 3:28 pm

That's a superb find, Gerard. I'm beginning to think I should set up a competition amongst contributors to BritBase based on the quantity and quality of their contributions to the archive. You, Gerard, would be right up there at the top with Brian Denman and Andy Ansel. You would get bonus points for this being a Varsity match game and some more for it being from a Varsity match for which no games have previously been found. Chapeau, mon ami.

Reuben Lob (Worcester College, Oxford) played for Oxford in the 1907-1910 matches inclusive. His brother Hymen Lob (King's College, Cambridge) was on the opposite side in the 1908 match, but lost. A fraternal feat which has since recurred in recent years, with twins Adam and Tom Eckersley playing on opposite sides in 2006-8. Reuben and Hymen weren't twins, born in 1888 and 1886 respectively to a parents Aaron and Rebecca Lob who had immigrated from Austro-Hungary. Hymen was a schoolmaster at Manchester Grammar School from 1908 until his death in 1941. Reuben got a maths scholarship to Worcester College, Oxford, and he too became a schoolmaster. He died in 1971, having changed his name at some point to Robert Lobb.
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Richard James
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Re: Varsity Match 1908

Post by Richard James » Thu Dec 09, 2021 3:43 pm

His brother's granddaughter's online tree tells us he changed his name to Robert Lobb.

He married Rebekah Duckham in Kingston in 1931, was a schoolmaster in Sevenoaks in 1939, and his death was recorded in Surrey Mid-Eastern in the second quarter of 1971.

His birth record (Q4 1887) gives his name as Robert, not Reuben. He may also be the Gustav Robert Loeb living in Hampstead and working as a bank clerk in 1911.

John Townsend
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Re: Varsity Match 1908

Post by John Townsend » Thu Dec 09, 2021 4:10 pm

Richard James said: "He may also be the Gustav Robert Loeb living in Hampstead and working as a bank clerk in 1911."

Probably not, since, in the 1911 census, I found a 23-year-old Reuben Lob who was an assistant schoolmaster at Tettenhall, Staffordshire. He sounds more like the ticket.

Richard James
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Re: Varsity Match 1908

Post by Richard James » Thu Dec 09, 2021 5:53 pm

John Townsend wrote:
Thu Dec 09, 2021 4:10 pm
Richard James said: "He may also be the Gustav Robert Loeb living in Hampstead and working as a bank clerk in 1911."

Probably not, since, in the 1911 census, I found a 23-year-old Reuben Lob who was an assistant schoolmaster at Tettenhall, Staffordshire. He sounds more like the ticket.
I'm sure you're right. I'd seen that record but then forgot about it, and found another online tree claiming (probably incorrectly) that Gustav was Rebekah's husband.

Nick Ivell
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Re: Varsity Match 1908

Post by Nick Ivell » Thu Dec 09, 2021 6:53 pm

More exciting pyrotechnics there than any Varsity match I took part in.