SCCA Challenge Cup

[Paul Dupré]

And still playing for Battersea in 1961!


Norwood News _ Friday 20 October 1961 p15.png

Battersea 1961 BCF grades in brackets
Dr G A C Ashcroft (4a)
H E Gamble (5a)
Chas E Fellows
E Fielder (6a)
Alan W Whitbread (5b)
A F Stimson (6b)
P L Eastwood (6a)
B F Cutler (6b)
T H Robertson

[Paul Dupré]

from the Croydon & District league archive

Croydon Shield - Past Winners
1921 South Norwood
1922 Thornton Heath & Norbury
1923 Wallington
1924 Thornton Heath & Norbury
1925 Wallington
1926 Wallington
1927 Thornton Heath & Norbury
1928 Croydon
1929 Croydon
1930 Croydon
1931 Sutton
1932 Sutton
1933 Wallington
1934 Sutton
1935 Sutton
1936 Croydon
1937 South Norwood
1938 Sutton
1939 Croydon

Thornton Heath & Norbury - 3 times winners of the league's top division

[Paul Dupré]

between the wars in the Surrey League

Surrey Trophy (Alexander Cup)
1919/20 Brixton
1920/21 Brixton
1921/22 Brixton
1922/23 Brixton (Brixton) - NEW knock-out cup competition in 1922/23
1923/24 Brixton (Thames Valley)
1924/25 Thames Valley (Thames Valley)
1925/26 Battersea (West Surrey)
1926/27 Battersea (Battersea)
1927/28 Battersea (Thames Valley)
1928/29 Battersea (Battersea)
1929/30 Brixton (Brixton)
1930/31 Battersea (Brixton)
1931/32 Kingston (Kingston)
1932/33 Battersea (Battersea)
1933/34 Battersea (Battersea)
1934/35 Battersea (Clapham Common)
1935/36 Clapham Common (Clapham Common)
1936/37 Clapham Common (Clapham Common)
1937/38 Clapham Common (Battersea)
1938/39 Battersea (Battersea)

Thames Valley - 3 times winners of the Alexander Cup, and once of the League's top division

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

My best guess for the identity of T H Robertson is Thomas Henry Robertson, born on the 8th June, 1895, and died on the 16th October, 1975. He seems to have been a civil servant and at the time of the 1939 register he was living at 934 London Road in Thornton Heath. He and his wife, Ellen (nee Baker), had one child, a son called Gavin William Edward Robertson (1926-2009) who never married.

This link will only work if you have a Family Search account (which is free):
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/perso ... s/GLG5-57T

[Paul Dupré]

Good work Jon

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

If the 1948 winner, R J Blackburn, is Reginald John Blackburn (25th June, 1909 to 7th November, 2000) then I think that would make him the 2nd longest lived winner of the competition. However I can't even find any games for "R J Blackburn", let alone evidence that he was Reginald John Blackburn. It's always difficult to seach for people whose surnames are also the name of a place. Reginald Blackburn's wife's maiden name was Manchester!

This link will only work if you have a Family Search account (which is free):
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/perso ... s/GLP5-ZL3

[Richard James]

Hi Paul

It was good to talk to you in the pub last night.

Not convinced by Reginald John Blackburn. He lived in Middlesex, serving in the Royal Navy during WW2, and later in Suffolk. I can't find any trace of him in Surrey, although I suppose he might have lived there briefly or been a member of a Surrey club.

He was interviewed in a local paper in 1995, giving his interests as croquet, gardening, model building, restoring Victorian pictures and frames, painting, reading, making love, the company of loyal friends, drinking. 'Not necessarily in that order.' No mention at all of chess.

The only RJ Blackburn I could find in Surrey in that period was a marriage in 1951 where the groom was Robert Blackburn, eldest son of Mr & Mrs RJ Blackburn of 191 Eastworth Road, Chertsey. He was a former pupil of Salesian College, working as a journalist on Flight magazine. The father was Robert James Blackburn (1895-1970) and the son was also Robert James Blackburn (1928-2000). Either would be possible from the date. The family had earlier lived in North London and don't seem to have been in Chertsey very long.

But, strangely, I can find no press record anywhere of a chess player named RJ Blackburn round about that time - or any other time. Unfortunately, in that period county matches weren't often recorded in the papers. I could have a look sometime in BCM and CHESS for that period to see if anything comes up.

[Paul Dupré]

My best guess for the identity of T H Robertson is Thomas Henry Robertson, born on the 8th June, 1895, and died on the 16th October, 1975. He seems to have been a civil servant and at the time of the 1939 register he was living at 934 London Road in Thornton Heath. He and his wife, Ellen (nee Baker), had one child, a son called Gavin William Edward Robertson (1926-2009) who never married.

This link will only work if you have a Family Search account (which is free):
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/perso ... s/GLG5-57T

I currently play for South Norwood chess club about 400 metres from where he lived in 1939.

[Paul Dupré]

Hi Paul

It was good to talk to you in the pub last night.

Not convinced by Reginald John Blackburn. He lived in Middlesex, serving in the Royal Navy during WW2, and later in Suffolk. I can't find any trace of him in Surrey, although I suppose he might have lived there briefly or been a member of a Surrey club.

He was interviewed in a local paper in 1995, giving his interests as croquet, gardening, model building, restoring Victorian pictures and frames, painting, reading, making love, the company of loyal friends, drinking. 'Not necessarily in that order.' No mention at all of chess.

The only RJ Blackburn I could find in Surrey in that period was a marriage in 1951 where the groom was Robert Blackburn, eldest son of Mr & Mrs RJ Blackburn of 191 Eastworth Road, Chertsey. He was a former pupil of Salesian College, working as a journalist on Flight magazine. The father was Robert James Blackburn (1895-1970) and the son was also Robert James Blackburn (1928-2000). Either would be possible from the date. The family had earlier lived in North London and don't seem to have been in Chertsey very long.

But, strangely, I can find no press record anywhere of a chess player named RJ Blackburn round about that time - or any other time. Unfortunately, in that period county matches weren't often recorded in the papers. I could have a look sometime in BCM and CHESS for that period to see if anything comes up.

Chertsey was my first chess club I played for in the Surrey league.

We also entered a team in the London Team championships in 1988 and you may have played against us Jon. You were Hackney then, right.
We played Hackney 3 in round 4, Hackney 2 in round 5 and Hackney 1 in round 6. I think it was at the Sir William Collins school.

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

Sounds like Reginald John Blackburn is a non-starter.

Here's a suggestion from out of left field - Reginald Joseph Broadbent.

His bio on chessgames.com says "He was Northern Counties Champion 1933-46, the Surrey champion 1947, and the British champion in 1948 and 1950". This was taken from the Yorkshire Chess History site (https://mannchess.org.uk/People/Broadbe ... Joseph.htm) which now has a correction for the suggestion that Broadbent was Surrey Champion, saying that the information came from the Bradford Chess Club’s Centenary History book (published in 1953).

According to the Yorkshire Chess History site, Broadbent's whereabouts from 1939 to 1946 are unclear, though it is thought he was still in the northern counties. Could it be that he was living in Blackburn during those years and entered the Surrey Championships in his first year down south under an assumed name, using the name of the town he had moved from?

[Paul Dupré]

Surely Leonard Barden would know the answer to that?

[Kevin Thurlow]

Broadbent played for GPO (General Post Office) in the Civil Service League in 1947 and on until the late 60s, in 1950, he played for CS against Combined Universities losing to a young Leonard Barden. He also played for Clapham Common in the London League. He ended up in a senior position in GPO, and played fewer tournaments, but most CS league matches.

[Richard James]

He was described as being from East Grinstead, but was actually living in the nearby village of Felbridge, across the county boundary in Surrey.

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

Broadbent had a twin sister, Laura Natalia Cook Broadbent, who I can find very little information about. The latest record I found for her was on the manifest for a shop destined for Sydney, Australia, which suggested that the 20 year old Laura and her mother, Alice, were intending to disembark in Suez and live in Egypt ("Country of Intended Future Permanent Residence" has "Egypt" entered for them both). Laura's father and brothers were nowhere to be seen.

[Edit] Nevermind - I managed to pick up the trail of Laura Broadbent in another ship's manifest from 1936, where she was married to a minister called John Gilbert Hall and with two young children.

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

Chertsey was my first chess club I played for in the Surrey league.

We also entered a team in the London Team championships in 1988 and you may have played against us Jon. You were Hackney then, right.
We played Hackney 3 in round 4, Hackney 2 in round 5 and Hackney 1 in round 6. I think it was at the Sir William Collins school.

Hi Paul. I would have been in my final year of university in 1988 and I think I tried to cut down on my chess before my final exams (it was the after match drinking that interfered with my studying!). After that I went back to my parents for a few months until I managed to get a job in London in December. This means that I probably didn't play for Hackney much, if at all, in 1988, though I was a regular for a couple of years after that until I moved away from London.