I looked it up last night, and found that the Sheppard of the Worcestershire
tournament is Rev. J.H. Sheppard, not Edgar. Thus, I have no knowledge of Edgar
Sheppard being a chess player. He is mentioned a number of times in the London
Times for his medical practice, but never in regard to chess.

Sorry!

Jerry Spinrad

In article , "John Townsend" writes:
| Jeremy Spinrad wrote:
| According to my notes, the 1852 Chess Player's Chronicle gives some games
| and
| results for a tournament in Worcestershire, which was won by someone named
| Sheppard. I will have to check in the issue itself to see whether he is
| called a
| doctor, and whether his first name is given.
|
|
| Interestingly, Edgar Sheppard was born in Worcester, but I thought he moved
| to the London/North Middlesex area. For example, his letter of Jan. 1854
| was written from Enfield. I would be glad to know the outcome of Jeremy's
| further enquiry.
|
| I also have some notes regarding a player of the time period who is called
| Shepherd (a Shepherd is given as playing for Wakefield in the 1856 Ches
| Player's
| chronicle, and a player named E. Shepherd from Wakefield is said to have
| organized the 1st meeting of the Yorkshire chess Association (given in both
| the
| Handbuch des Schachspiels and A Century of British Chess). Spelling was
| sometimes
| loose, so it is possible that E. Shepherd = Edgar Sheppard. I am sure you
| have a
| better idea than I do as to whether Colney hatch is anywhere near
| Wakefield.
|
|
| Wakefield is much further north. This E. Shepherd was already active in
| chess by 1840 (See Sergeant's "A Century of British Chess", p. 96). I am
| fairly sure he is not Edgar, who was not born until about 1821, as I recall.
|
| The quote from chess Player's Chronicle says Staunton visited the Continent
| in
| search of health and relaxation, implying that these were the main goals,
| and
| that getting to meet Lasa was a nice bonus.
|
|
| Well spotted. After sending my post last night, I noticed that Sergeant on
| p. 86 echoes this objective of health. It seems to add to the possibility
| that Edgar Sheppard, if not actually treating Staunton, was giving him
| health advice, and that he laid on a holiday facility in Brussels for him.
| This is still pretty speculative, though.
|
|
| Best wishes,
|
| John Townsend
| Howard Staunton research project:
| http://www.johntownsend.demon.co.uk/page7.html
|
|
|