Battersea’s founder and its first secretary was a titan of our chess club, a prodigious organiser for both the London Chess League and the Surrey County Chess Association, and a highly-respected chess journalist.

This article serves to honour William Philip Plummer, known as W.P., by collecting together everything we know about him in one place. New information will also be added when it becomes available.

However, there are three main sources referred to here:

  • Club archives;
  • The British Chess Magazine;
  • Newspaper archives.

From the archives

Let’s start at the beginning. The first source we have regarding Mr Plummer, which many club members may already be familiar with, is Fifty Years of Chess at Battersea, the club history that spans 1885 to 1935 and was written by L. C. Birch.

In it, Birch says the Oxford graduate “founded the Club, tended it during infancy and brought it to maturity”.

Sketch of Plummer published in 1896
Sketch of Plummer published in 1896

He also describes how Plummer was one of “two leading spirits”, along with G. Wernick, who transformed what was a chess circle with around a dozen members into a successful trophy-winning club. Press reports elsewhere say by the mid-1890s Battersea had around 125 members.

Birch’s pamphlet also reports that Plummer was on the Surrey Committee from 1885, was secretary 1892-95, and helped “to stir the County out of its then moribund condition”.

Plummer’s role:

  • Secretary and Treasurer (1885-96)
  • Match Captain (1885-91, 1894-5, 1899-1901)
  • Tournament Secretary (1885-92)
  • President (1905-07 and 1931–32),

Plummer also led Battersea’s part in the foundation of the British Chess Federation and, as a delegate, attended the preliminary meetings held in 1903. He acted as a London delegate until his resignation in 1914.

W. P. Plummer
W. P. Plummer

Birch repeatedly pays tribute to the work of Plummer and Wernick, saying they did “far more than any other officers, both in the intensity and the length of their services”.

How strong a player was he?

Over the board, Plummer is described as “a strong, solid player, always difficult to beat”. He himself, however, claimed that he “does not pose as a great player”.

The British Chess Magazine of June 1896 offers a “portrait” of W.P. saying he was taught to play chess whilst a schoolboy by one of his teachers.

By the time of the article, Plummer was a “class I” player – despite spending most of his time helping others to play.

The BCM said: “Thus immersed in organizing for club and county, Mr. Plummer has had but little time at his disposal for over-the-board encounters, therefore we have but few of his personal successes to record.

“He did, however, win a handicap in the Battersea C.C., being then in the second class; and he also won a handicap in the County Association, in the same class, in 1893. He also won a prize in a Problem Solving Tourney in The Schoolmaster in 1891; but since then he has had “no time for such luxuries,” as he himself phrases it.

“He is now placed in class I. of the Battersea CC, and has a fairly good record in the club matches, a result arrived at by steady play on his part. To again use his own phrase, however, Mr. Plummer “does not pose as a great player.”

More on Plummer’s zeal on and off the board, such as his journalistic endeavours, can be found in the full article here:

Page 240 of British Chess Magazine, June 1896
British Chess Magazine of June 1896
Page 241 of British Chess Magazine, June 1896
British Chess Magazine of June 1896
Page 242 of British Chess Magazine, June 1896

Plummer’s historic chess match

By 1896 Battersea Chess Club was in its pomp having won the Surrey Trophy for the first time in 1884/5 and considered the strongest club in the county.

But Plummer – as the BCM portrait explained – was in the middle of organising the first 50-a-side match between North London and South London.

Here’s how it started, according to the Morning Post:

Morning Post - Monday 24 February 1896
Morning Post – Monday 24 February 1896

The challenge was accepted and it was widely reported in newspapers of the time.

London Evening Standard - Tuesday 24 March 1896
London Evening Standard – Tuesday 24 March 1896

What started out as a 50-a-side match eventually doubled in size to a 100 board match and “perhaps the most important ever held London”.

According to the South London Press of June 6, 1896, Plummer “took a prominent part” in the organisation.

It added that “no player is better known or more respected in South London”.

Winning the match, however, was considered something of a “forlorn hope” due to the strength of the North. And so it was: “as anticipated”, the North won.

The 100-a-side match took place on May 7 at The Cannon Street Hotel, pictured below:

Cannon Street Hotel as pictured in the Illustrated London News
Cannon Street Hotel as pictured in the Illustrated London News

In its heyday, The Cannon Street Hotel was one of London’s most elegant venues. Designed by E.M Barry – son of Charles Barry, the main architect behind the Houses of Parliament – it was added to the station a year after the terminal opened.

The grand building, where the British Communist Party was founded in 1920, was eventually destroyed in the Blitz.

However, the result of the match played there is disputed – at least between two newspapers. The Illustrated London News of May 23, 1896, says the first North vs South match ended 56.5 to 43.5.

The South London Press, however, reports the score as 57.5 to 42.5.

Here is an extract from the SLP report which bears a striking resemblance to the article in the BCM:

The recent great match of 200 players at Cannon Street Hotel – perhaps the most important ever held London – between players representing the north and south of the Thames respectively, brought the winter chess season close.

Over nominations were received for this match, consequently the play was of a high order. As hon sec. for the south team, Mr. W. P. Plummer, the Battersea Chess Club’s honorary secretary, took a prominent part.

No player is better known or more respected in South London, and to his untiring energy mainly due that such a strong team was raised to cope with the formidable north in what was known to be “a forlorn hope”.

The fact that the Battersea club, founded in 1885 by Mr. Plummer, is now the strongest club in Surrey, for it holds the Surrey trophy for the year, speaks for the zeal and powers of organization chess matters possessed by this gentleman, its first and only secretary.

The Battersea club started the Chess Club early in the Vicarage House Schoolrooms, Battersea square, by kind permission of Canon J. Clark, vicar of Battersea, who placed room at the disposal of the club.

To better suit the convenience of visiting clubs a move was made to Clapham Junction. The name was altered to Battersea Chess Club and Rev J. F. Sugden became president. This gentleman president was a noted strong player, and his support was great factor in the club’s success. The membership increased, and the championship of the B Division of the Metropolitan Chess Club’s competition was won. The club-rooms became too small, and a move was made to the Railway Tavern, Battersea Rise, where one the finest chess-rooms in London was enjoyed by the members who approached 120 in number), thanks to the courtesy of the penial proprietor, Mr. Duncan.

The past winter has seen the club making its but the Division, Senior Metropolitan League competition, where it defeated the strong then Streatham Chess Club, the only club which has ever lowered the colours of the famous Metropolitan Chess Club.

In all, 10 matches, with teams of from eight players, have been contested during the season, and the match captains – Messrs. Read and 0. Hills-have ably and success folly kept the same the club the front. In addition, the members have been veil catered for in the way of tournaments, blindfold and simultaneous displays, «tc. The success of the Battersea club and the work of Mr. Plummer as its representative on the Surrey County Chess Association Committee led the latter organization appoint that gentleman hon. secretary when the vacancy occurred. This post has been occupied for three years, during which period county match has been lost, and Surrey has secured the Southern Counties Chess Championship. Many Surrey clubs have also been led to the association, and last winter new club competition scheme was framed for their benefit by Mr. Plummer, to whom belongs the honour of inaugurating the now popular big county matches of from 50 to 100 aside, which, owing to the increasing number of strong players enrolled and to the active co-operation of Messrs. Baxter and Ward (match captains), are at present always in favour of Surrey.

Mr. Plummer has a good record of labour and time devoted unselfishly to encouraging a love of the elevating pastime. Although little time has been left for aiming at personal successes over the board, a club and county handicap tournament have been won this enthusiastic secretary, two problem-solving prizes have been landed, and even problems hare been composed, whilst each year he has had a good average for first-class match play.

His unwearied efforts for the good of the cause, and for the convenience of all players with whom comes contact officially, added to unfailing courtesy, make Mr. Plummer highly respected member of the London chess world.

He is proud of his club, and is of him. In the recent great chess match, North v. South, the following gentlemen were elected ballot to act on the committee for the South: Messrs. G. A. Felce (Brixton C.C.), T. H. Moore (Dulwich C.C.), E. K. Turner (Spread Eagle C.C.), Grantham Williams (Lewisham and Greenwich C.C.), and W. P. Plummer (Battersea C.C.), the Latter being prevailed upon to continue the secretarial duties. Messrs. T. (Sydenham and Forest Hill C.C.) and W. White (K.C.C.A.) were afterwards invited to act on the committee, in order that it should be made more representative still. As it happened, more of the strongest London players were found to reside north of the Thames and, as was anticipated, North won to 42J.

Keeping it local

We have two known addresses for Plummer, both local and both a stone’s throw from the home of Battersea Chess Club at the time which was The Railway Tavern, now called The Hawkins Forge.

Both are Edwardian properties and would have been new homes at the time.

18a Kathleen Road, Battersea
18a Kathleen Road, Battersea

And:

 4 Comyn Road, Battersea
4 Comyn Road, Battersea