Cecil de Vere

[John Townsend]

I have to say I don't like Gordon's suggestion that "Brikton" is likely to be Brixton. Firstly, it strikes me as unlikely that a place as local and well-known as Brixton could have been recorded as "Brikton". My other objection to Brixton is that it is not in Wales, which was given by Catherine as her place of birth in the 1861 census.

I am not convinced that Cecil De Vere, while in Paris, gave his place of birth as "Sterling". He seems more likely to have given a place of birth roughly similar to what was given for the 1861 census. On that occasion it was Middlesex, St. George's. I haven't seen the original Paris writing, but it occurs to me possible that an untidily written "St. George's" could look a bit like "Sterling", and possibly the answer lies somewhere in that direction. (Note that "St. George's" is in "Angleterre", unlike Stirling!)

If he was, in fact, born at 46 Warwick Street, as indicated on the birth certificate, it would have been in the parish of St. James's, Westminster. Clearly, in 1861 he thought he had been born in the parish of St. George's, Hanover Square, but that could have been a misconception arising because the family had been associated with both parishes at different times.

Regards,

John Townsend

[John Townsend]

Being curious to know the occupier(s) of 46 Warwick Street around the time of Valentine's birth, I checked some rate books. I don't have much to report, but here it is anyway ("forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit"):

In an assessment for the "Poor Rate", dated 4 May 1846, the occupier of 46 Warwick Street is named as William Knight, who was assessed for a house with a gross estimated rental value of £44. (Poor Rate, St. James's Westminster, Church Division, 4 May 1846, Westminster Archives Centre, D193, f. 27).

In a similar Poor Rate of April 1845 (D188), no name is entered for No. 46, so it may have been unoccupied. From directories I see the premises had been previously used by George Wilkinson, a currier, and Mary Wilkinson, a lodging-house keeper. (There is also a "Paving Rate", April 1846 - slightly closer to the time of the birth - which I haven't checked. There may possibly also be some "Sewer rate" books - not to be sniffed at! - at the L.M.A..)

Later directories (e.g. Post Office London Directory, 1851) confirm that this William Knight was a bricklayer. He was married with children. Before his arrival (around 1845-6) at 46 Warwick Street he was listed at 24 Little Windmill Street, which is nearby.

However, there is nothing to suggest that he is Valentine's father, whose occupation was given as surgeon on the birth certificate - even if it doesn't give his name! Catherine Mathews may have been William Knight's lodger.

Regards,

John Townsend,
Author of Notes on the Life of Howard Staunton

[John Townsend]

Neil Blackburn has produced an interesting little blog entry about De Vere:

https://www.chess.com/blog/simaginfan

He mentions "sunken eyes", but I'm not sure which picture he means. Is it the one in which he smokes a cigar? I'm not convinced by the idea of De Vere being a tale full of sadness. Admittedly, he doesn't exactly look like Ken Dodd.

What evidence is there for "mental illness"?

Neil appears to have an interesting MacDonnell reference to "unspecified news", which sent De Vere on a downward spiral, but he hasn't shared it with us. Can anyone help there?

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

The British Chess News' article on De Vere says:

While he was in Dundee, De Vere learned that he was suffering from Tuberculosis

see https://britishchessnews.com/2020/02/14 ... 9-ii-1875/

[John Townsend]

Jon, that seems to be something which Anne Sunnucks wrote over 100 years later, but what was her source? I was hoping that Neil's MacDonnell reference would contain some contemporary information about the "unspecified news".

[Ronnie Burton]

I'm sure Bob Jones from Exmouth did something about him on his website

[John Townsend]

Thank you. I'm familiar with The English Morphy?, by Owen Hindle and Bob Jones. Page 13 quotes G. A. MacDonnell (apparently from Chess Life Pictures) about De Vere's time in Scotland, mentioning that "a dark cloud overshadowed his path", but without reference to news having been received.

[Tim Harding]

Thank you. I'm familiar with The English Morphy?, by Owen Hindle and Bob Jones. Page 13 quotes G. A. MacDonnell (apparently from Chess Life Pictures) about De Vere's time in Scotland, mentioning that "a dark cloud overshadowed his path", but without reference to news having been received.

Possibly it was the case that while in Dundee that De Vere received a diagnosis of (then uncurable) tuberculosis.
He and MacDonnell withdrew from the Handicap tournament (which was played at the end) and remained for a time in Scotland while Blackburne, Steinitz and others returned to London by sea.

Owen Hindle was (maybe still is) the number one expert on De Vere but I have had no contact with him in a few years. If he's still around, seek him in Norwich.

[John Townsend]

Thanks for your message, Tim. Having read Neil's words that "MacDonnell records that De Vere received the unspecified news", I was hoping that the reference to "news" meant Neil had found something interesting in MacDonnell's writings. Many people have assumed that De Vere learned about the tuberculosis diagnosis in Scotland, but it would be useful to have some confirmation of that.

You are, of course, right about Owen Hindle being the top dog on De Vere. It was he who made the important discovery of De Vere's birth registration, which turned out to be a year later than had been widely assumed, and a significant game-changer.

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

Not really related to Cecil De Vere, but I stumbled across when trying to find the answer to one of John's quiz questions about De Vere - here is an article about Owen Hindle's wife, Kathleen (formally Kathleen Patterson). It's from a few years ago but I've only just discovered it:
https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/20711097.a ... ns-gambit/

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Not really related to Cecil De Vere, but I stumbled across when trying to find the answer to one of John's quiz questions about De Vere - here is an article about Owen Hindle's wife, Kathleen (formally Kathleen Patterson). It's from a few years ago but I've only just discovered it:
https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/20711097.a ... ns-gambit/

Nice article. Slightly spoilt by the fact that you have to rely on an image caption near the bottom of the page to learn that she was Kathleen Patterson before she became Mrs Hindle.

Great first encounter with chess:

“There was a message on the Tannoy saying a new teacher had come to the school and he was starting a chess club - if we were interested we could get out a few minutes early and meet him in the library. Before that I’d never seen a chessboard before.”

Really romantic bit here (about her future husband some years later, not the new teacher!):

“He had beautiful hands and the way he moved the pieces was absolutely mesmerising.”

[Tim Harding]

Thanks for your message, Tim. Having read Neil's words that "MacDonnell records that De Vere received the unspecified news", I was hoping that the reference to "news" meant Neil had found something interesting in MacDonnell's writings. Many people have assumed that De Vere learned about the tuberculosis diagnosis in Scotland, but it would be useful to have some confirmation of that.

You are, of course, right about Owen Hindle being the top dog on De Vere. It was he who made the important discovery of De Vere's birth registration, which turned out to be a year later than had been widely assumed, and a significant game-changer.

I think I have probably read everything MacDonnell wrote about chess, certainly about De Vere, and I just checked that the chapter about DV in his book Chess Life-Pictures is verbatim what had appeared in the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News of 19 November 1881 in his "Chess Chat" by "Mars".

"I happen to know there was an efficient cause for this declension and apathy on his part" after the Dundee tournament, wrote MacDonnell.

There is the same phrase about a "dark cloud" which "overshadowed his path" but nothing about De Vere receiving "news" while in Scotland in 1867.

The most likely possibilities would seem to be a medical diagnosis or a letter ending romantic hopes. But there is nothing to support the latter suggestion (a doomed affair in Paris?) whereas we know he died of TB.

I don't think either the British Chess News article or the Blackburn blog contributes anything new; we can just never know for sure because MacDonnell chose not to be more explicit.

[John Townsend]

Thank you for your thoughts, Tim.

This is not the only instance where Rev. G.A.M. claimed to have confidential information about a prominent player without revealing what it was. Tim's Eminent Victorian Chess Players (page 53) contains these words about Howard Staunton:

"Over his very early days a veil of romance and mystery certainly hangs, through which I have been permitted to peep, but I do not consider myself at liberty, at least at present, to draw it aside."

Why would Rev. G.A.M. have been entrusted with such secrets, which other contemporaries did not even mention the existence of, let alone their substance? It is not as if either de Vere or Staunton were ever his parishioners or part of his flock; and, in fact, he was a good deal younger than the latter.

A suspicious person may conclude that he tried to cultivate an image of the journalist with the exciting secrets.

How reliable should he be considered? In the case of de Vere, Rev. G.A. M. is also the source of the information that the former had relatives in Dundee. Which relatives were these? It seems quite a coincidence if a man who was illegitimate had relatives in a city where he participated in a major tournament. I would consider it a step forward if this assertion could be either proved correct or refuted, though the latter is perhaps more difficult.