BritBase.Info - British Chess Game Archive
1956 British Chess Federation (BCF) Grading List • updated Monday June 3, 2024 7:23 AM
[from CHESS, Vol.22, no.284-5, January 1957; see also BCM, January 1957, ppn 1-4]
" The following list, prepared by the B.C.F. National Grading Committee, grades performance in the two years to 31st August 1956. It excludes the Paignton and Whitby Congresses held in September, and the Moscow team tournament. The list has been prepared by the same method as last year’s, with the same rules for eligibility and qualification.
"The list contains 322 names, compared with 281 last year. Of those in the 1955 list 41 have gone up, 52 have gone down, 136 are unchanged, and 52 have dropped out; there are 93 newcomers. Last year’s gradings are shown in brackets for all who are on both lists; it will be remembered that last year 54 moved up and 46 down, with 84 unchanged, so that there is slightly more stability this time.
"There has been some thinning-out at the top. Alexander is joined by Kottnauer in 1a, and Penrose moves up to rejoin Golombek in 1b, but there are now only five in 2a compared with eleven last year. The number in the next three grades has risen from 69 to 77; in 4a and 4b from 102 to 103; and in 5a and 5b from 96 to 133. The increase in the total numbers thus reflects the greater information about the lower players, and not an improvement in standards. Indeed, some of the older players seem to be dropping back without effective replacement.
"The performance in this list contribute to the qualifications of Fuller and Phillips for the B.C.F. title of "British Master" (BM) instituted a year ago.
"The Committee is grateful for the continued support of officials all over the country in providing the records which are indispensable and which are permitting a steady increase in the number of players included in the list. For the 1957 list it is proposed to continue with the same methods and rules, but to make the two-year period run to 30th September in order to include Paignton in future as the last event of the grading period instead of the first of the next."
IM indicates International Master; BM indicates British Master
n.b. the original did not include forenames - I have added them (where known) for interest. A bracketed first forename indicates that a player was better known by the second forename - JS
Grade 1a [241-248]
(Conel) Hugh O'Donnel Alexander (IM; 1a)
Cenek Kottnauer (IM; 1b)
Grade 1b [233-240]
Harry Golombek (IM; 1b)
Jonathan Penrose (BM; 2a)
Grade 2a [225-232]
John Arthur Fuller (2a)
(Philip) Stuart Milner-Barry (BM; 2a)
Raaphi Joseph Arie Persitz (2a)
Alan Phillips (2a)
Robert Graham Wade (IM; 2a)
Grade 2b [217-224]
James Macrae Aitken (Cheltenham; 2b)
Leonard William Barden (Wimbledon; 2a)
Reginald Joseph Broadbent (BM; 2a)
Peter Hugh Clarke (Ilford; 2b)
Hugh Edward Guy Courtney (Malvern)
Michael John Franklin (Clapham Common; 2a)
Otto Friedman (London; 2a)
Arnold Yorwarth Green (London; 2b)
Michael John Haygarth (Leeds; 3a)
Wolfgang Heidenfeld (South Africa)
Frank Parr (London; 2b)
Wladyslaw Tabakiernik (Leicestershire; 3a)
Walter Veitch (Insurance; 2a)
Philip Norman Wallis (Leicestershire; 2b)
Baruch Harold Wood (Warwickshire; 2b)
Grade 3a [209-216]
Martin Blaine (né Blum: Hampstead; 3a) (birth surname sometimes rendered as 'Bloom' in chess references)
Ronald Frank Boxall (Civil Service; 3a)
E(dgar?) Brown (Middlesex) (won 1944 RAF Ch'ship; d. 1981?)
Peter Fairbairn Copping (Wiltshire; 3a)
John Warcup Cornforth (Hampstead; 2b)
Stefan Fazekas (IM; 2b)
Peter Campbell Gibbs (Bradford & Birmingham University; 3a)
Geoffrey Frank Harris (Stourbridge; 2b) (b 04.01.1930, d 27.05.2016)
Roland Hartnett (Clapham Common)
Derek Geoffrey Horseman (Coventry; 3a)
E(dward?) C Hughes (Civil Service; 3b) (known as 'Ted' so probably Edward but might be Edwin)
Francis Ernest Appleyard Kitto (Exeter; 3a)
John L Levin (Metropolitan; 3b) (b 07.04.1907, d ? - Yorkshire Chess History - English Chess Forum)
Donald George Mackay (Surrey; 3a)
Geoffrey J Martin (Ilford & Leicester University; 3a)
Slade Milan (Stockport; 3a)
Richard Hilary Newman (West London; 3a)
Peter James Oakley (Birmingham University)
(Charles) Derek Simpson Paffley (Wakefield; 3a)
David Brine Pritchard (Middlesex)
Herbert Gibson Rhodes (Southport; 3b)
Joseph Stone (né Strachstein: Hampstead; 3a)
Andrew Rowland Benedick Thomas (Devon; 3a)
Henry Vickers White Trevenen (Cornwall; 3a)
Grade 3b [201-208]
Gerald Abrahams (Liverpool; 2b)
Donald Melville Andrew (Lancashire; 3b)
Jeffrey Ansell (Cheltenham; 3a)
(Thomas) John Beach (Liverpool; 3a)
John Harold Beaty (Doncaster; 4a)
Jonas Birnberg (Athenaeum; 4a)
Reginald Walter Bonham (Worcester; 3a)
Cecil George Butcher (Wimbledon; 3a)
Bernard Cafferty (Blackburn)
Percy Baldwin Cook (Ilford; 3b)
Stephen Harding Crockett (Insurance; 4a)
Frank Davy (Southgate; 3a)
Clifford George Hilton (Manchester; 4a)
A Hirsch (Finchley)
Philip Charles Hoad (Liverpool; 3b)
James B Howson (Kent; 3a)
Harold Israel (Middlesex; 3b)
E Jesty (Athenaeum; 3a) - there is an Edmund Tom Jesty, b 1890 - not sure if it's him - JS
G Brian Lewis (Civil Service; 3b)
Brian J Moore (Birmingham; 3b)
Arthur John Morrell (Ilford; 3b)
William Ritson Morry (Birmingham; 4a)
James Neale (Cheltenham; 3b) (Middle initial E? Worked for GPO in London before GCHQ Cheltenham)
J S Parker (Wimbledon; 3b)
Roland Payne (West Ham)
(Nicholas) Anthony Perkins (Civil Service; 3b)
John Edwin Povey (Leeds; 3b)
Wilfred Henry Pratten (Hampshire)
John Spencer Purdy (Australia)
Peter Darrell Sanderson (Leicestershire; 3a)
Dr. Schachno Peisach Schotz (Middlesex; 3b)
Stanley Archibald Seale (Surrey; 3b)
Edward Guthlac Sergeant (BM; 3a)
Reginald William Stevenson (Clapham Common; 4b)
Bennett Sturgeon (Ilford; 3b)
John Anthony Wall (Finchley; 4a)
Thomas Henry Wise (Middlesborough; 3a) (b 14.11.1917, d 26.03.1993)
John Wolstenholme (Salford; 3b)
Grade 4a [193-200]
Frederick Walter Allen (Athenaeum; 4a)
David Leslie Barrett (Insurance; 4a)
William Broome (Barrow; 4b)
Ronald MacKay Bruce (Plymouth; 3b)
John G Cockcroft (Bradford; 4a)
Malcolm Frank Collins (Crewe & Cambridge University; 4a)
Charles Ambrose Scott Damant (Sussex)
Alexander Distler (Athenaeum; 4a)
Edward/Eduard Faierman(n) (Gloucestershire; 4b)
Julian Thomas Farrand (London University; 4a)
Donald Gilbertson (Southgate)
T(erence?) Goodhill (West Ham)
Denis John Pereira Gray (Exeter & Cambridge University; 4a)
Derek Francis Kenneth Griffiths (Leicestershire; 4a) (n.b. most chess references omit the 'K' initial)
D Hardin (Sale)
James B Harmer (West London) (Edward James Barry Harmer, b July 1922, d 20.08.2018 - he rarely used his first name)
Peter Harris (West Bromwich; 4a) (n.b. may have had a middle name with the initial 'A')
(Peter) Jeffrey Harrison (Bolton & Nottingham University) (b 02.06.1935, Bolton; d 11.09.2013. Professor of Statistics, Warwick Univ)
John Bottomley Hawson (Ilford; 4a)
Thomas Anselm Landry (Oxford University; 4a) (n.b. grading list omits the middle initial 'A')
Norman Henry Stewart Lavers (Hertfordshire; 4b)
David Edward Lloyd (Birmingham & Cambridge University; 4a)
John W McLeod (Sussex; 4b)
Harry Gethin Thorp Matchett (Birmingham; 4a)
David Miller (Metropolitan; 4a)
George Wyville Moses (Wakefield; 4a)
Bernhard Hermann Neumann (Manchester; 4a)
George Marshall Norman (West London & Sussex)
John H Pollitt (Manchester; 4a)
Maximilian Ernst Poolake (Bristol; 4a)
Ronald Owen Powis (Stroud; 4b)
Mrs. Elaine Pritchard (Middlesex) (n.b. her full birth name was Doré(e) Elaine Zelia Saunders)
William Ernest Baker Pryer (Hertfordshire; 3b)
David John Richards (Oxford University)
William Edward Cole Richards (Civil Service; 4a)
Victor John Anthony Russ (Leicestershire; 3b)
John Victor Skilleter (West Ham; 4a)
Ronald Augustus Slade (Civil Service; 4a)
James Tennant Smith (Manchester; 4a) (n.b. sometimes hyphenated as 'Tennant-Smith')
Joseph Maurice Soesan (Ilford; 4b)
Ronald Speirs (Middlesex)
Arthur Raymond Spiller (U.S.A.) (b 14.05.1919 (Manila PHL), d 11.06.1993)
Raymond Frederick Streater (Wimbledon; 4a)
Clifford George Tayar (Birmingham; 4a)
(Alexander) Aird Thomson (Surrey)
Frederick Edward Tinworth (Civil Service;)
Douglas Gibson Tranter (Sheffield; 3b)
George Harold Foster Tredinnick (Insurance; 4b)
Stanley Wilkinson (Harrogate; 4b)
Harry Ivor Woolverton (Ilford; 3b)
David John Youston (Birmingham)
Grade 4b [185-192]
David Armstrong (West Ham; 4b) (b 1932, d c2016, Worthing, Sussex, 1950s/1960s)
Geoffrey Archer Charles Ashcroft (Battersea; 5a)
Kenneth Beaumont (Huddersfield; 4a)
John Matthias Bee (Metropolitan; 4a)
Erik Gustav Berg (Bradford; 4a)
Abram Bernfield (Civil Service; 4b)
Alan G Burbidge (Birmingham)
Alfred Joseph Butcher (Wolverhampton)
John Crowle Cock (Cambridge University; 5a)
Eugene Ernest Colman (Wimbledon; 4a)
John Rycroft Coward (Civil Service; 4b)
Felix Fischer (West London)
William Stanley Deeth (Hampstead; 4b)
George A Dickson (Edinburgh) (n.b. his middle initial was omitted in the original)
Richard George Duce (Lensbury)
(Derek) George Ellison (Bolton)
(Wilfred) Colin Evans (Sheffield; 4b) (b 16.01.1909, Wales, d 1996/q1, Rotherham)
Herbert William Gamble (Battersea; 5a) (n.b. a blind player: b 14.01.1914, d 04.04.1969)
Kenneth Leslie Gardner (Birmingham & Oxford University; 4a)
Clive F Girling (Kent)
Lawrence Alfred John Glyde (Ilford; 4b)
Irving John Good (Cheltenham; 4a) (n.b. known as 'Jack' or 'IJ')
John Bertram Goodman (Plymouth; 4b)
Donald Bryan Grayson (Manchester; 4b)
Thomas Harman (Coventry)
John Hobbs (Twickenham) (birth name Aristides Hadjiyanni in 1912, changing name to John Hobbs in 1934/1935 - see Richard James' note)
B Howard (Blackpool; 4b)
Hubert Charles Lewis (Civil Service; 4b) (English Chess Forum references here and here)
William Donald Lowe (Metropolitan; 5a)
Michael Macdonald-Ross (Kent; 4b) (n.b. middle names "Inman Philip" not used in chess references)
Claud William Marshall (Glasgow; 4b)
Arnolds Mazitis (Finchley; 4b)
Kenneth Charles Messere (Civil Service; 4b)
James Roderick Nicolson (Wirral; 4b) (n.b. the original has the spelling 'Nicholson')
Alan Edgar Nield (St. Leonards; 4b)
Walter Arthur Oddy (Harrogate)
Albert Philpott (Finchley; 4b)
Abba Rivlin (Leeds; 4b)
Jack Dennis Rosse (Middlesex; 4b) (changed name from Jacob Rosselson in 1949. Not related to Leon Rosselson)
Leon Rosselson (Cambridge University; 4b)
John Faithful Scott Rumble (Kent; 4b)
Irving Percy Russell (Southgate) (b 12.01.1930, d 10.08.1976 - see English Chess Forum)
Isaac Taylor Sifton (Exeter; 4b)
Edward Vincent Slee (Cumberland)
Frank Smith (Blackburn)
Roman Starosolsky (Leicestershire; 5b) (n.b. the original gives the single initial 'A')
Miss Eileen Betsy Tranmer (Hampstead)
John Hubert Watts (Birmingham; 4b)
Cyril Owen Welch (Bristol; 5a) (n.b. the middle initial 'O' missing from most chess references)
Richard George White (Stock Exchange; 4b) (b 24.04.1912, d 02.08.1991)
Kenneth Whyld (Nottingham)
Walter James Eric Yeeles (Kent; 4b)
Grade 5a [177-184]
Charles Gordon Addingley (Leeds)
Antonio W Bachini (Liverpool; 5a) (from Uruguay, b 07.07.1930, returned there in 1957 & won the 1958 Uruguayan Chess Championship)
John Neville Baxter (Leeds University) (b 1930, d 1979 - see English Chess Forum)
Bryan J Benjamin (London University; 5a)
Kenneth John Bloodworth (Plymouth) (the original gives the initials as 'K. W.' but I think this is wrong)
Mrs. Rowena Mary Bruce (née Dew: Plymouth; 5a)
A Bucys (Bradford) (Probably Anicetas Bučys (1904-1998) - see his son's Wikipedia pages (English and Lithuanian)
Henry Thomas Callaghan (Enfield) (b 15.12.1912, d 13.10.1996; chairman of the North Circular Chess League for many years)
Harold William Calvert (Ilford; 5a) (English Chess Forum)
Thomas Ivor Casswell (Hampstead; 4b)
Edwin Breckon Chapman (Leicestershire; 5a) (known as 'Dick': see also article in Leicester Daily Mercury, 13 July 1991)
Philip Edward Collier (Leicestershire; 4b)
D J Collins (Harrow; 5b)
Reginald Boucher Copleston (Exeter)
Charles Cordel (Leicestershire; 4b)
Paul Dean (Leyton; 5a)
Michael Duda-Morena (Polish Y.M.C.A.)
Raymond Brunton Edwards (Harrogate)
Antoni/Antony A Freyer (Leicestershire; 5b) (b 1915, Wolkowysk (Poland/Belarus), d 17.07.2007, Abergavenny)
Henry Clifford Garner (Civil Service) (b 14.07.1922, d 09.02.2010 - see English Chess Forum)
Thomas H George (Ilford; 5b)
John Stanley Giles (Altrincham) (b 15.09.1905, d 08.08.1987)
Bernard Edward Glaze (Metropolitan; 5b)
Terence T Godwin (Athenaeum; 5a)
I(saac?) Goldberg (Leeds; 4b)
Donald Gould (Leicestershire; 5a)
D Gowler (West Ham)
L G Green (Birmingham)
Charles Reuben Gurnhill (Sheffield; 4b)
Sydney Haggas (Bradford) (b 26.04.1907, d 26.02.1961)
Michael A Haigh (Leeds)
Bruce Halliwell (Preston; 5a)
Colin Hammersley (Birmingham 5a)
Otto Henry Hardy (Wakefield; 5a)
Frank Alan Hart (Hertfordshire; 5b)
George Hill (Birmingham)
S G Hill (Civil Service; 5a)
Kenneth Hilton (Liverpool) (b 1937, d 1990, professor of Financial Control, Southampton University)
Harold Stephen Hope (Croydon; 4b) (b 05.10.1908, d 27.02.1967 - see English Chess Forum)
Stefan Hryniw (Leicestershire)
Charles Jahn (Harrow; 4b) (b 03.07.1906 as Reinhold Karl Jahn, in Lincoln - d 1983, Ireland: see English Chess Forum here and here)
Harold Percy James (Wimbledon; 5a) (b 08/04.1895, Glasgow, d 28.12.1987, Bexhill - English Chess Forum)
Stefan Jezewski (Polish Y.M.C.A.) (b 22.12.1909?, d 24.07.1964, Arolla, Switzerland - English Chess Forum)
David le Brun Jones (Civil Service; 4b)
Herbert Francis Joynson (Wolverhampton; 5b)
Peter Robert Kings (Salisbury) (later ordained: b 13.05.1933 (Solihull?), d 20.04.2004 (Kings Lynn); M.B.E., 1997 New Year's Honours)
Thomas Lee (Coventry; 5b) (English Chess Forum reference)
N(eil?) E Lewis (Birmingham; 5a) (middle initial is well attested from other sources; England Glorney Cup player, 1954-56)
Keith McDermott (Bradford) (Middle initial "D" (birth reg.)? See English Chess Forum)
Anthony George Midgley (Huddersfield; 5a)
John A Moore (Metropolitan)
Henry Gerald Mutkin (Oxford University)
Godfrey Cecil Nurse (Insurance; 5a)
Lance W Oliver (South Shields; 5b)
P W Parkes (Wimbledon; 4b)
Leonard Baden Pawson (Lincolnshire)
Angus Rayfield Pitt (Cheltenham; 5b)
Marceli Podoba (London; 5a) (1899-1968)
Maurice Read Porter (Ilford) (b 1928/q1, d 04.02.2015 - see English Chess Forum)
William Stanley Powell (Stoke-on-Trent; 5b)
Arthur Philip Primett (Civil Service; 5a)
Owen Pritchard (Altrincham) (see English Chess Forum)
John Edward Redon (Twickenham)
Keith Donald Sales (Wigan & London University; 4b)
Douglas Saunderson (Chesterfield; 5a)
Roland Smith (Civil Service; 4b)
Victor James R Soanes (Liverpool; 5a)
John David Solomon (Battersea; 4a)
Alan Forrest Stobo (Manchester; 5a)
Geoffrey Neil Stokes (Solihull; 5a) (b 25.04.1931, d 06.11.1920 - see English Chess Forum)
George Tarjan (B.B.C.)
Victor Tarnofsky (West Ham; 5a)
Peter Tillson (Civil Service) (b 1914, d 1979: son of John Francis Frederick Whall Ure, 1867–1947)
William Turner (Sussex; 5b) (Steyning GS and Southwick CC; Lincoln College, Oxford (from c.1956) - played in the 1960 and 1961 Varsity chess matches)
Richard Wentworth Tyndale (Athenaeum) (n.b. the original omits the second initial 'W')
Michael Edward Ventham (Southampton; 5b)
Leslie Edward Vine (Hampshire; 5a) (n.b. the original omits the second initial 'E')
Roy Alan Wagstaff (Ilford; 5b)
William Scott Wallis (West London; 5a) (b 12.12.1884, Tyrone IRL, d 12.04.1964, London - see English Chess Forum)
A(nton?) Weber (Clapham Common; 5a) (1919?-1994?)
Robert Weisz (Wimbledon; 4b)
Bernard Landon Wilkinson (Chorley; 5a)
Robert Douglas Wormald (Worcester; 4b)
Grade 5b [169-176]
R(obert?) Beevers (Sheffield) (see English Chess Forum)
John Alexander Charles Borland (Hampshire)
Frederick Jackson Camm (West London; 5a)
Arthur Richard Chamberlain (Birmingham; 5b)
Ivor Roy Edward Clark (West London; 5b)
Percival Arthur Cooke (Civil Service; 5b)
Stuart Dean (West Ham)
John C Dore (Birmingham)
Miss Joan Frances Doulton (B.B.C.; 5b) (b 1913, d 1992: m. 1963, David Hay)
William Edge (Salford)
James Espley (Stockport) (b 31.03.1905, d 27.03.1993 - born and died in Stockport, piano tuner/teacher)
Wilfred Evans (Battersea & Buckinghamshire) (b 12.11.1897, d 1985/q1, Reading, Berkshire)
Brian R Ewart (Wallasey) (n.b. the original omits the second initial 'R')
Charles E Fellows (Battersea)
Bronislaw Forysiak (Polish Y.M.C.A.)
Walter James Gillies (Civil Service; 5a) (b 10.02.1911, b 15.09.1983)
(Wolfgang) Bernard Haase (Southgate; 5b) (1929-2010)
Ronald Wilson Ives (Wakefield; 5b)
George Edwin James (Leicestershire; 5b) (b 31.08.1894, Brighton, d 05.05.1979, Leicester - English Chess Forum)
Rodney Ewan James (Insurance)
John Todhunter Keable (Croydon; 5a)
R H King (Civil Service; 5a)
Stanley Charles Love (Wimbledon; 5b)
Bruce John McGreevy (Liverpool; 5b) (b 1938, d 12.03.2020, lecturer in chemistry at the University of Huddersfield)
Peter May (Southgate)
John Watts Narcross (Leeds) (n.b. original doesn't give middle initial - b 02.12.1896, d 26.09.1963)
Andrew P Nicholas (Birmingham)
William Ewart Phipps (Birmingham) (b 17.10.1906, Market Bosworth, d 11.08.1979, Ludlow). English Chess Forum here and here.
Edgar Priestley (Huddersfield; 5b)
Tadeusz Franciszek Pruchnicki (Polish Y.M.C.A.; 5b) (no middle initial given in the original)
Gerald Alexander Rain (Croydon; 5b)
Cyril George Rains (Ilford)
Robert P Ross (Hull)
Ronald Ernest Rushbrook (Surrey)
James Rushton (Huddersfield; 5b)
Thomas Russell, junr. (Glasgow)
Otto Schalscha (Shropshire)
Peter M Shaw (Civil Service; 5b)
Wincenty Slowik (Derby) (a.k.a. Vince)
Joseph Eric Smith (Birmingham; 5a)
John Walter Smith (Wimbledon; 5a) (Known as 'Jack' - see English Chess Forum)
Alan Francis Stammwitz (Harrow) (n.b. he had a second middle name 'Bertie' but not used in chess references)
Ernest Leslie Taylor (Sale) (b 23.05.1910, d 21.03.1973)
Francis William Viney (Finchley)
Leonard Charles Walters (Ilford; 5b)
John L Warren (Warwickshire; 5a) (b 20.05.1902, d ??.10.1983 - see English Chess Forum)
Harold Horace Watts (Southport; 5b)
Oswald Weiss (Leicestershire; 5b) (b 31.12.1907, d 30.11.1985)
Frank Whitham (Manchester; 5a) (b 15.09.1900, d 1996 - English Chess Forum)
Hieroim Zamojski (Polish Y.M.C.A.)
File Updated
| Date | Notes |
|---|---|
| 2015? | First uploaded |
| 22 May 2024 | Added forenames where known. |
| 24 May - 2 June 2024 | Thanks to Jon D'Souza-Eva, Kevin Thurlow, Gerard Killoran, John Upham, Neil Blackburn, Mike Alderson, John Clarke, Roger de Coverly, Brian Denman, Sean Coffey, Richard James, Chris Kreuzer, Reg Clucas, Paul Dupré and Graham Stuart for responding to my appeal for amendments and additions at the English Chess Forum. |