By Sea and Air

Gerard Killoran · Post by **Gerard Killoran** » Fri Jul 15, 2022 1:58 pm

John Saunders recently tweeted about Mrs Miles Bailey.

See below:

Western Daily Press - Wednesday 23 February 1927.png

She like chess on the move, taking part in...

Staffordshire Advertiser - Saturday 31 May 1930 p3a.png

...and played on the same team as Sultan Khan!

Staffordshire Advertiser - Saturday 31 May 1930 p3b.png

John Saunders · Post by **John Saunders** » Fri Jul 15, 2022 3:57 pm

More on those intrepid women and their trip to Baghdad, from the Daily Mirror, 24 February 1927...

1927-02-24-Daily-Mirror---aerial-chess.jpg

1927-02-24-Daily-Mirror-aerial-chess2.jpg

All that way on that flimsy little aircraft... I'm genuinely in awe of them.

John Saunders · Post by **John Saunders** » Fri Jul 15, 2022 4:47 pm

... it's comforting to know that those magnificent chessplaying women in their flying machine made it to Baghdad and back as confirmed by the following, in the gossip column of the Westminster Gazette for 16 January 1928.

It also confirms what appears to be the proportion of women who were members of Imperial Chess Club at that time. The cutting upthread shows 13 of the 32 players in their team were female and Mrs [Agnes Bradley] Stevenson told the newspaper that a third of the club's membership were female.

1928-01-16-westminster-gazette.jpg

John Saunders · Post by **John Saunders** » Fri Jul 15, 2022 5:06 pm

The cutting of the Imperial CC match on the Llangibby Castle reminded me that there was a photo of some of the people involved in BCM - p184 of the June 1930 issue.

1930-06 Imperial CC big group inc Sultan Khan.jpg

I wonder if Mrs Miles-Bailey might be the lady in the cloche hat behind and slightly to the left of Sir Umar Hayat Khan.

Gerard Killoran · Post by **Gerard Killoran** » Fri Jul 15, 2022 5:08 pm

It was an Imperial Airways de Havilland Hercules.

Aircraft Manufacturers-De Havilland.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Hercules

On 6 September 1929 an Imperial Airways DH.66 Hercules, registration G-EBMZ, crashed on landing at Jask, Iran, due to pilot error, killing three of five on board.

From https://aviation-safety.net/database/re ... 19290906-0

The aircraft arrived late at Jask and attempted a night landing. The pilot misjudged the height of the aircraft and flared too early and stalled the aircraft. The aircraft's wing fuel tanks ruptured and the fuel was ignited by the emergency landing flares on the tips of the wings.
The pilot was captain A.E. Woodbridge who shot down and wounded German ace Baron Von Richthofen in WW1.

Kevin Thurlow · Post by **Kevin Thurlow** » Fri Jul 15, 2022 5:11 pm

Wonderful! I'm surprised Sir John Simon wasn't flying with them, but political duties may have prevented him. The aircraft looks a bit scary and remember Lindbergh only did his non-stop flight from USA to Paris later that year... So the passengers were blazing a trail. ICC had some good players.

I cannot recall when I last saw someone wearing a monocle, having said that, I was astounded to see someone smoking a pipe in the mean streets of Wedmore yesterday. Mrs Miles-Bailey had very fine taste in hats - those were the days.

John Saunders · Post by **John Saunders** » Fri Jul 15, 2022 5:17 pm

The pilot of the February 1927 flight to Baghdad was an RFC flying ace who was awarded a DFC in WW1...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_G._R._Hinchliffe

The year after the Croydon-Baghdad adventure he attempted a transatlantic flight with Elsie Mackay. Sadly they didn't make it.

Gerard Killoran · Post by **Gerard Killoran** » Fri Jul 15, 2022 5:19 pm

In other news, in 1931, Lord Kyslant was convicted for fraud and served 10 months in the Scrubs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Phil ... on_Kylsant

John Saunders · Post by **John Saunders** » Fri Jul 15, 2022 6:31 pm

Re Mrs Miles-Bailey: her maiden name was Florence Mary Hobson, born about 1867 in London. She married George Miles Bailey (stockbroker) in 1891. He died in 1918. She lived on to the last quarter of 1952, dying in Barnet.

In 1900 George Miles-Bailey (now hyphenated) had a posh house built in the Hampshire countryside called Abbess Grange. In 1929 it was sold to John Spedan Lewis. Another chess aficionado, of course. I wonder if it was the chess connection which brought Mrs Miles-Bailey and John Spedan Lewis together to do a deal on the property. The house is still owned by the John Lewis Partnership.

NickFaulks · Post by **NickFaulks** » Fri Jul 15, 2022 7:45 pm

Great stuff!

Richard James · Post by **Richard James** » Fri Jul 15, 2022 9:22 pm

With regard to the match against the shipping team, I've been trying on and off for some years to find out more about Mr W Veitch, their top board, who drew with Sultan Khan. There were a couple of other chess players around named W Veitch at various times, in Scotland and Southampton, for example, but they didn't seem strong enough to play on top board and draw with such a strong player. Of course it might have been a diplomatic draw.

The reason I was interested was that I was wondering whether there was any connection with the endgame expert and sometime Richmond Chess Club member Walter Veitch (1923-2004). Perhaps this W Veitch was Walter's father, or some other relation.

Very little is known about Walter: the only obvious source seems to be this, which suggests he was born in Switzerland, with a Scottish father and Swiss-German mother. He never married and appears to have been rather reclusive. I haven't been able to find any online family trees.

Can Gerard, John or anyone else provide any further information about either W Veitch?

David Sedgwick · Post by **David Sedgwick** » Fri Jul 15, 2022 9:59 pm

Richard James wrote: ↑
Fri Jul 15, 2022 9:22 pm
Can Gerard, John or anyone else provide any further information about either W Veitch?

I think that Walter Veitch (1923 - 2004) was a member of the insurance Chess Club. Please contact me if you would like contact details for the Club's officers.

I also have a recollection that B H Wood mentioned him in CHESS several times in the late 1960s / early 1970s.

Ken Norman · Post by **Ken Norman** » Sat Jul 16, 2022 8:36 am

In 1950 B.H.Wood organised a national Knockout tournament . This was won by WALTER VEITCH. The final game was against J.Wolstenholme.
Veitch played the then new Colman variation of the Two Knights defence. The game can be found in April 1950 CHESS on page 140.

Walter Veitch Played in the 1950 British Championship scoring 6.5/11 and finishing equal 7/9th with Barden and Thomas.
He beat Golombek in a very good attacking game but lost in 9 moves to Penrose.

This is part of a part of a letter he wrote to Michael Franklin in 1996.

“You will probably recall that I was always a rather reluctant chess player, having become bored with the game and I gave up playing around 1959. This might have been the end of Chess for me but in 1965 John Roycroft founded EG, a quarterly magazine concerned with endgame studies and I decided to take an interest and provided a regular column of comment, mainly analytic-critical but with contributions also from readers from Russia/Georgia to USA /Canada. This lasted till 1975 when my workload became too great, and I gave up all Chess Completely.

My work was in Overseas Insurance and was affected by three mergers by the Commercial Union.

In 1971 I moved from East Sheen Buying a small bungalow in Caterham on the hill.

In 1973 CU bought Delta Lloyd established a Northwest Europe head office in Amsterdam of which I became the manager.

In 1978 I returned to London still as manager northwest Europe until my retirement at age 60 in 1983.”

B.H.Wood published the following information in CHESS March 1950
"W.Veitch is British by birth, but lived in Switzerland until November 1947. He learnt Chess at Ten in a holiday camp, He joined a chess club in Geneva. He was a student of Economics.
He won the Premier Reserves A at Hastings in 1947. He joined an insurance company and promptly won the Insurance Championship beating S.H.Crockett in a play-off. He enjoys Tennis more than chess."

Gerard Killoran · Post by **Gerard Killoran** » Sat Jul 16, 2022 12:45 pm

Can Gerard, John or anyone else provide any further information about either W Veitch?

There was a W. Veitch who turned out a few times for Bradford Seconds in 1924/5. He was bottom board and lost each time.

Here's a game from the event, but who was L. A. S. Howell?

Richard James · Post by **Richard James** » Sat Jul 16, 2022 1:31 pm

Gerard Killoran wrote: ↑
Sat Jul 16, 2022 12:45 pm

Here's a game from the event, but who was L. A. S. Howell?

That's a very good question. A quick search finds Lawrence Arnold Stafford Howell (sometimes Lawrence Arnold Stafford-Howell), born in London in 1906, but may also have lived in Scotland, who was a Merchant Seaman who served in WW2, but then seems to disappear.

There's also Leslie Alec Seymour Howell (1900-1959), a shipping clerk from North London.

Both involved in shipping, so either might have played for the shipping team.

I'll report back later with any further information.

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