A Grand Fancy Bazaar
Sir
George Stephen never came to term with his life in the colonies.
Perhaps he had made the move too late. He was more set in his ways than
most, and on July 31 1855, 20 years after John Batman, he reached
Melbourne he was already over 60. Disembarking from the Oliver Lang,
he found the fears that had been growing on him during the 3 month
voyage from Liverpool quickly realised. Foreign agitators were demanding
the vote for all men. Only a few months before his arrival the republic
of Victoria had been proclaimed by a rebel named Lalor at a place
called Ballarat and Governor Hotham had found it necessary to send up
troops to restore order. In Melbourne itself seditious placards had been
circulated and inflammatory speeches made and the Mayor had sworn in
hundreds of special constables, seamen and marines had been dispatched
to guard the powder treasury and a hundred mounted gentlemen volunteers
had been ready for action.
As
a former deputy lieutenant of Buckinghamshire, Sir George regarded
himself as a military man and on his arrival he applied for a grant of
land accordingly. In fact he was no soldier, but a barrister, although
his father had intended him for the army medical corps until in 1813
Napoleon's defeat at Leipzig through hundreds of army surgeons out of
work. One of the handful of knights in Victoria (he had been honoured
for his work against slavery), Stephen soon found himself in demand as
president of this or patron of that. But he never ceased to regret his
emigration. He remained an Englishman. He was uneasy about the
democratic institutions of the colony. Melbourne Punch
lampooned him for his military pretensions and his habit of writing
letters to the editor under pseudonyms. His attempt to enter public life
as the candidate for East Melbourne came to nothing, and for years he
smarted under he impudent note that some rascal had written about him in
the Victorian Elector's guide: "Ability, not equal to his reputation.
Politics, doubtful". Disappointment with colonial life combined with a
natural acerbity to produce a formidable man.
One
day in November, 1855, not 4 months after his arrival, Sir George was
scanning the "Amusements" column in his newspaper. Lola Montez was
playing at the Theatre Royal, delighting some and shocking others with
her spider dance and "the petite drama entitled Maidens beware". But
what caught Stephen's attention was the open letter to the Lady Mayoress
about the Grand Fancy Bazaar in aid of the Melbourne hospital. The
writer suggested a chess problem tournament and offered an original
problem and a prize for the first to solve it. Now that did promise a
small intellectual diversion in this upstart city, and to a chess player
and problemist the attraction was irresistible. His wife Henrietta
looked up as with a grunt he began to read the particulars out loud: an
entry fee of 5 shillings in aid of the hospital and a diagram of the
problem to be issued at half past 3 on 22 November - that was next
Thursday - at the stall presided over by the Lady Mayoress. Thursday
came, and Sir George could not keep away. It was scarcely 3 when his
carriage reached the top of William St. The Exhibition building, its
glass walls refulgent, its flags fluttering in the afternoon breeze, was
a fine sight; modelled on the Crystal Palace. It had been used 12
months earlier for the Melbourne exhibition of 1854. (The Mint now
stands on the site.)
The Argus had promised that the inside of the building would present a most elegant coup d'oeil,
but the hall was so crowded, with its 42 stalls and huge number of
visitors, that Stephen's main impression was one of seething humanity.
Mrs Carson's floral stand, by the side of the fountain, was certainly a
pretty sight. He paused at the panoramic series of waves of the progress
made by the Allies in the Crimea. (Britain moved slowly at the outset
of any war. Lord Palmerston was confident that civilization and liberty
would soon triumph.) The war sketches were poorly executed, but that
attracted many patriotic spectators. Passing by the "Bachelors' forlorn
hope society" without a glance, Stephen arrived at the brightly
decorated stall of the Lady Mayoress. The anonymous composer of the
problem, A.C.Combe, one of the colony's strongest players, was there
already. In exchange for his 2 half-crowns one of the ladies gave Sir
George the problem.
There
was jostling as other competitors crowded around; about 150 in all
tried their hand in the course of the Bazaar. The simplest problem (mate
in 4) gave Sir George no difficulty. He hurried back to the stall with
his entry, and was annoyed to learn from Dr Casperson , who was in
animated conversation with the Scot, that the doctor had forestalled him
and so presumably won the 3 guinea prize. On that Thursday afternoon
neither Stephen nor Casperson could know that this problem, the first
published in Victoria, would lead to a chess boom in the colony that
Stephen and McCombe would themselves do much to foster.
There
had been a Melbourne Chess Club in 1851, which survived after its
foundation on May 8 for only a few weeks. 4 years later, by the time of
the Grand Fancy Bazaar, the second Melbourne Chess Club had come into
existence., although the exact date of its birth will probably never be
known. A meting held at the Argus hotel in Collins St on 15 May 1855, to
discuss founding a club had been inconclusive, but by early September
of that year the second Melbourne Chess Club was described as recently
formed and very active, so this second club must have been created in
mid 1855. Two years later the club wound itself up; William Lancelot
Kelly, the chess playing licensee of the Argus hotel, was then
secretary. Whether the club existed continuously from mid 1855 until mid
1857 is not clear, but there was plenty of chess activity in Melbourne
during that time. The chess problem tourney at the Grand Fancy Bazaar
had brought the chess players out in force, and the months following it
saw articles on chess by an anonymous Stephen in the Herald and problems in the Argus. The Age countered with a column in its new weekly, the Leader.
A tournament - the first in Victoria - with 32 competitors, played
early in 1856, gave Sir George Stephen a chance to instruct Herald
readers in the legal interpretation of "best of three" when the final
match , between Watts and McCombe, gave Watts a win and two draws. Next
year a tournament of 8 players produced the first published Victorian
games. Scarcely was this over when the third Melbourne Chess Club was
established by a meeting held at the Argus hotel on 27 June 1857, in the
course of which Sir George spoke on his experience in managing the
Liverpool chess association and other clubs. He was made a president of
the new club, which was really a continuation of the old, the members of
which presented it with their funds and name. Watts and McCombe became
vice-presidents.
Nine
years have passed, and we now find Sir George Stephen on a Winter's
night in 1866 arriving at the Mechanics Institute in Collins St. He
feels the cold more now - remember, he is 72 - but a warm welcome awaits
him. No-one would think of forming the 4th Melbourne Chess Club without
him. He knows the others have held preliminary meetings and that
tonight (it is 4 August) the club is to be born. The others are all
ready for him - it would not do to keep them waiting. Rusden comes
forward. Sir George has said that he will take the presidency but cannot
be expected to come in from Glen Eira rd for committee meetings, and
Rusden knows that he himself will be taking the chair after tonight.
Stephens greets him warmly enough; at least Rusden, despite his
remarkable rural rides in the cause of education, is a person of
influence, holding a certain position in society. (A confirmed bachelor,
and stronger at billiards than at chess, he irritates Stephen at times
with his Shakespearian quotations.) Samuel Mullen is more deferential to
Stephen as he bids the knight good evening in a voice that still
betrays his Dublin origins. Mullen is a decent enough fellow. He is
already marked down as treasurer and his bookshop in Collins St will be
the source of the club's small library; he will also come in handy as a
publisher of games. Mullen never tires of telling the others of his
quarrel with Robertson, to whom he has not spoken for nine years. How
could he know that the rival firms would merge a generation after his
death and in time become a household word?

As Sir George declares the meeting
open he cannot help wondering whether this club will last longer than
the one they started in 1857: It survived, as he recalls, only a year.
Looking at the faces of his 18 companions he sees himself as the only
link with the committee of the club formed 9 years before. But now
Phillips hands him the report of the provisional committee and the draft
rules. He returns to the present and quizzing glass in place (his sight
now is not what it used to be), looks through the papers. At least that
fellow Phillips, the secretary Pro Tern, writes with a fair hand. The
report, he sees, raises only one question: Where should the club meet?
Alfred Harris, proprietor of the Temple of Pomona, is anxious to attract
the new club. Chess is already played at his cafe, along with
billiards, draughts, dominoes and other games. It was the venue for the
open handicap tournament, won only a few weeks earlier by the Scot
Andrew Burns, the strongest player in the colony, who now sits opposite
Sir George as the latter asks the meeting to consider the provisional
committee's report. (The idea of forming a chess club had indeed been
born at the Temple of Pomona during the presentation of prizes in the
tournament won by Burns). Harris, whose advertisements boast of "the
most elegant lounge in the southern hemisphere, replete with every
comfort that the most fastidious and refined taste could possibly desire
for beguiling a leisure hour", has offered a room for £50 a year.
Nissen, who runs a cafe and billiard saloon in Bourke St, has offered
one for £25. Harris has been quick to match this offer. Both buildings
are conveniently placed, Nissen's being just up the hill from the
Temple, separated from it only by Tattersal's hotel and Philemon
Sohler's waxworks. But Nissen's cafe has advantages which, despite its
advertisements, the Temple of Pomona cannot offer. The room above
Nissen's, Sir George reads in his report, "has advantages of a separate
entrance, is of more commodious shape, is further removed from
disturbing influences and adjoins another room of equal size, which the
proprietor is willing to let to the club should the increase in members
render it desirable, and which would also be useful on such occasions as
the holding of a tournament and playing of more important matches". The
report and draft rules are adopted. The clubroom will be at Nissen's,
opening at four from Monday to Friday and 32 on Saturdays.
Sir
George is elected president, repeating his warning that he cannot
attend routine business. Rusden becomes Vice-president, Mullen and
L.S.Phillips are confirmed as treasurer and secretary and Burns,
Sedgefield, Pirani, Lulman, Daniel and P.D.Phillips form the remainder
of the committee.
As Sir
George emerges from the Institute, making his way carefully down the
steps to street level, he can see his breath in the cold August air. But
he is glad that he has made the effort. Chess is one of the few
comforts this raucous city offers. Why (he asks himself for the
thousandth time) did he ever leave England, where his talents were
properly appreciated and where Staunton himself gave favourable notice
to his games? He does not realise, as he says goodnight to his
companions beneath the gaslight at the foot of the steps, that he has
presided at the formation of the most notable chess club in what Mr
Alfred Harris, of the temple of Pomona, would no doubt have called the
southern hemisphere.
Because
of his age, Stephen is only a figurehead. It is the younger man, George
William Rusden, clerk of the parliaments, Shakespearian scholar and
finest billiard player in the colony (but best known to later
generations as an educationist), who will guide the club for the next
three years, first as president in all but name and then as holder of
that office.
The first
pawn was advanced at the club on 9 August 1866, by which time the
members numbered 23. The first tournament, an open handicap, was held in
1867 and became an institution that would last for 90 years. Strangers
have been welcomed ever since the first November, when the committee
resolved that visitors from the country and neighbouring colonies should
be admitted to the clubroom on leaving their cards with the secretary.
Three years later the governor of Victoria, Viscount Canterbury, agreed
to become an honorary member, whether his Excellency ever came and
played is not known. For its first years the club flourished.
While
the society formed in 1857 is the descendant of that in 1855, we
cannot, with the best will in the world, claim that the 1866 club is the
continuation of some earlier body.
But
from 1866 the line is unbroken. Other chess clubs had been founded in
the 1850s at Ballarat, Beechworth and Ararat, and St.Kilda seems to have
had one in about 1859; but none of these can claim continuous
existence.