His life and the 1st New Zealand Chess Congress 1879
This is a post I wrote 2 years ago for the Canterrbury Chess Club's Facebook page:
Henry Hookham
Henry Hookham was born in London, England on 22 October 1824. He learned to play chess at the age of 10.
In 1865, he and his family immigrated to Canterbury, New Zealand. After an unsuccessful stint at farming, he became a school teacher.
He won the Canterbury Chess Championship (then known as the championship of the Province of Canterbury) in 1870.
In 1877 the Christchurch Chess Club which has been formed in 1866 to play a telegraphic match against the Nelson Chess Club, but which had been in hibernation for some years, was revived in order to host the 1st New Zealand Chess Championships in 1879.
Henry won the club championships in 1878.
He went on to win that first New Zealand Chess Championships which were held in 1879 in Christchurch. The tournament was held at Bellamy’s (as far as I can tell this was a room or the refreshment area at the Canterbury Provincial Chambers) from 19th August to 4th September.
Eight players took part – 5 from Christchurch or nearby (players living within 15 miles of Christchurch had to pay an entry fee of 5 Pounds 5 Shilling (5 guineas?) and 3 from other parts of the South Island.
Some of the tournament rules were: • Time control was 15 moves in an hour • Format was a double round robin • Games began at 730pm • Prizemoney was as follows: 1st £50 2nd £20 3rd £10 • There were 5(!) arbiters
The final result was a tie for first between Henry and David Hay. There was a single (!) game playoff, won by Henry.
He also won the 3rd New Zealand Chess Championship in 1890 (Dunedin).
He twice finished runner up – 1893 and 1895/6 (see cover pic)
Henry was the President of the Canterbury Chess Club for many years. He was also the chess editor of the column in the Canterbury Times for some time.
He passed away on November 24 1898 in Christchurch at the age of 74.
