English Chess Forum

I've been researching the family trees of some of the competitors in the early British Girls Chess Championships from 1926 onwards.

One who I'm having problems with because of her common surname is Muriel Brown, who was 2nd in 1926 (Vera Menchik was 1st, Muriel beat Olga Menchik in a playoff to decide 2nd and 3rd places) and who also played in 1927.

There is a clue on John Saunders' BritBase page (http://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/arch30b.htm) - a newspaper report about the 1926 competition which said that Vera Menchik gave a simultaneous display to 13 members of Imperial Chess Club in which she won 9 games, drew 2 and lost 2. One of the players who beat her was Muriel Brown's father!

Does anyone have any more information about Muriel Brown or her father, "Mr Brown"? The only English player of that era I know named Brown is Charles Wreford-Brown, but I'm pretty sure Muriel wasn't his daughter.

Jon D'Souza-Eva wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 14, 2023 2:49 pm

I've been researching the family trees of some of the competitors in the early British Girls Chess Championships from 1926 onwards.

One who I'm having problems with because of her common surname is Muriel Brown, who was 2nd in 1926 (Vera Menchik was 1st, Muriel beat Olga Menchik in a playoff to decide 2nd and 3rd places) and who also played in 1927.

There is a clue on John Saunders' BritBase page (http://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/arch30b.htm) - a newspaper report about the 1926 competition which said that Vera Menchik gave a simultaneous display to 13 members of Imperial Chess Club in which she won 9 games, drew 2 and lost 2. One of the players who beat her was Muriel Brown's father!

Does anyone have any more information about Muriel Brown or her father, "Mr Brown"? The only English player of that era I know named Brown is Charles Wreford-Brown, but I'm pretty sure Muriel wasn't his daughter.

I can only suggest following the trail to any exisiting records or documentations of matches involving the Imperial Chess Club. I think (not entirely sure) that a "Brown" won the championship in 1913. And you get continuing references up to the 1930s such as this one from 1935:

"against a strong gathering of members and visitors , Mr. Brown obtained the satisfactory result of 10 wins , 4 draws , and 7 losses . Prizes of chess books presented by Mr. Brown were awarded to L. Adams and J. Lyons"

I think these are Wreford-Brown, though. Difficult to be sure.

There was also a Bertram Goulding Brown active in that period. Is that a possibility?

Very difficult, with a name like Brown!

Thanks Christopher. Bertram Goulding Brown looked promising, but I don't think he is Mr Brown the Menchik Crusher.
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/perso ... s/GL5Y-81S

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 14, 2023 3:14 pm

There was also a Bertram Goulding Brown active in that period. Is that a possibility?

Very difficult, with a name like Brown!

As you can imagine, I too have searched for Muriel Brown previously and quickly gave up.

The Goulding Brown idea was worth pursuing and I have just done so. As far as I can see, Muriel was not his daughter, but I will make a note of his children here in case it's of interest...

Dorothy M P G Brown, born 1917, Cambridge
Anthony C G Brown, born 1919, Cambridge
Hilary G Brown, born 1923, Cambridge

I assume the "G" stands for "Goulding" in each case but haven't checked yet. What is interesting is that Bertram's wife's maiden name was May Mortlock, causing me to wonder whether she might have been related to Alfred Mortlock.

I wish Jon well in his pursuit of girl chess players' names and look forward to seeing the results. I've had reason to be grateful to Jon on several occasions. You too, Chris.

Incidentally, one such investigation of my own turned up a remarkable coincidence which I recorded on BritBase when compiling a record of the 1931 British Girls' Championship. Having looked up the name of one of the competitors, I D'Arcy, I found her forename to be Ita and it suddenly struck me this was my infant class teacher when I first went to school in 1958. One for Jim Plaskett...

According to John's Britbase, a Miss W. M. Brown (Belvedere) played in the 1931 BCF Third Class B. In view of "Belvedere", it must, surely, be Muriel. Winifred?

John Saunders wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 14, 2023 5:47 pm

The Goulding Brown idea was worth pursuing and I have just done so. As far as I can see, Muriel was not his daughter, but I will make a note of his children here in case it's of interest...

Dorothy M P G Brown, born 1917, Cambridge
Anthony C G Brown, born 1919, Cambridge
Hilary G Brown, born 1923, Cambridge

I assume the "G" stands for "Goulding" in each case but haven't checked yet. What is interesting is that Bertram's wife's maiden name was May Mortlock, causing me to wonder whether she might have been related to Alfred Mortlock.

Yes, you're quite right about the initial 'G' standing for Goulding in each of the children:
https://tinypic.host/image/oC9Gf

John Saunders wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 14, 2023 5:47 pm

<snip>

I assume the "G" stands for "Goulding" in each case but haven't checked yet. What is interesting is that Bertram's wife's maiden name was May Mortlock, causing me to wonder whether she might have been related to Alfred Mortlock.

That thread about Alfred Mortlock was a real trip down memory lane! Just over 13 years ago... (how time flies!). I wonder if anything more ever did get uncovered about Mortlock. Given that there is a world expert on the Mortlocks and an encyclopedia on that family, maybe the answer is there?

(Amazing connection with chess and your primary school teacher, John!)

PS. I have tried searching on muriel and chess for larks. But no joy. Do we presume she disappears from the histories because she married and we have no clue as to her married name?

Maybe it will be easier to find the father of Aileen Isobel Green, the Mr Green also mentioned in the news report reproduced on Britbase? He can't have won (or that would have been mentioned), but I do confess to wanting to know who the other person was who beat Menchik in that simul...

Aileen Isabel Green (it's Isabel rather than Isobel in most of the records) was an easy one to find. She never married and died in Colyford, Devon, in 1983.
Her father was Enos Green (not a name I've come across before) and died in 1926, perhaps as a direct result of losing to Vera Menchik?
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/perso ... s/GL8F-BLR

John Townsend wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 14, 2023 6:19 pm

According to John's Britbase, a Miss W. M. Brown (Belvedere) played in the 1931 BCF Third Class B. In view of "Belvedere", it must, surely, be Muriel. Winifred?

Thanks John. That's definitely worth exploring. This was probably the same Miss W. M. Brown who entered the BCF Third Class B tournament in 1929:
https://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/19 ... iewer.html
(a tournament which also featured "Miss Keith Dowding").
In the Third Class A tournament that year there was a J. H. Brown, who I suppose may have been Miss W. M. Brown's father.

Thanks for that, Jon.

I'm pretty sure she is Winifred Muriel Brown, born Isle of Wight, 1906.

Her father was James Henry Brown, born, Beaford, Devonshire, an engineer's tool and gauge room fitter (source 1911 census).

John Townsend wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 14, 2023 8:05 pm

I'm pretty sure she is Winifred Muriel Brown, born Isle of Wight, 1906.

I looked at her earlier this evening when you suggested that Muriel Brown might be Winifred Muriel Brown, but couldn't find a connection with Kent. However it looks like she got married in Kent in 1932, so the family probably moved there sometime after 1911.

The clincher is that Mrs W M Pond continued playing in chess tournaments!
https://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/19 ... iewer.html

Here is her grave:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/223 ... uriel-pond

Thanks everyone, that got sorted out remarkably quickly!

Knowing that her father was James Henry Brown and that J. H. Brown played in that tournament leaves no room for doubt.

That is amazing.

The following on the Britbase can be changed now if this does all hang together (it looks like it does)!

Mrs WM Pond (Erith) - nothing known

Erith (which I had thought was in Scotland) is to the south of Lower Belvedere (see the comment earlier about Belvedere).