History of Checkers

2015 (First edition)
Govert Westerveld
The History of Checkers (Draughts)

William Shelley Branch was born in Hastings, Sussex on 4th July 1854. He was the son of William Branch and Elizabeth Shelley (born c 1826, Lewes). Elizabeth Shelley had married William Branch in Lewes in 1853 [marriage registered in Lewes during the third quarter of 1853]. The newly-weds moved to Hastings, where Mrs Elizabeth Branch started a dressmaking business. 

William Shelley Branch was born in Hastings the following year. William's brother Henry Edward Branch arrived some six years later [the birth of Henry Edward Branch was registered in Hastings during the third quarter of 1860]. When William Branch senior died, Mrs Elizabeth Branch returned with her two young boys to her home town of Lewes, where she set up a haberdasher's shop in the High Street (Mrs Elizabeth Branch is listed as a haberdasher in Lewes High Street in an 1866 trade directory).

Some time before 1878, when he was in his early twenties, William Shelley Branch established a photographic studio which spanned No. 47 and 48 High Street, Lewes. Around 1879, William S. Branch sold this studio to Daubigny Hatch (Henry D'aubigny Hatch) and set up a photographic studio at his mother's fancy goods store at 16 High Street, Lewes.

At the time of the 1881 census, Mrs Elizabeth Branch and her sons were living at 16 High Street, Lewes (also known as 16 School Hill), the location of the fancy goods shop and studio. Elizabeth Branch is described in the census return as a 55 year old widow, working as a dealer in wool, toys and other "fancy goods". Henry E. Branch, aged 20, gives his occupation as "News Reporter", while his older brother William S. Branch is entered on the census return as a "Photographer", aged 26.

Around 1888, Mrs Elizabeth Branch and her two sons moved to Cheltenham in Gloucestershire. William Shelley Branch was then aged about thirty-four and his brother Henry was in his late twenties. William Shelley Branch established a photographic studio in Suffolk Road, Cheltenham, where he continued in business as a professional photographer for the next five years. Henry Branch, William's younger brother, worked as a journalist for the local newspaper.

From around 1895, William S. Branch appears to have abandoned photography for journalism. When the 1901 census was taken, forty-six year old William S. Branch gave his occupation as "Journalist". His brother, Henry E. Branch, is described on the 1901 census return as a "Journalist, SR Editor & Reporter". Henry Branch is remembered today as the author of a study of Gloucestershire entitled "Cotswold and Vale: or Glimpses of Past and Present in Gloucestershire", which was published in Cheltenham in 1904. A keen chess player, William Shelley Branch is known today mainly as a chess historian and the author of an historical survey of the game entitled "A Sketch History of Chess", published in the British Chess Magazine in 1911. Between 1901 and 1932, William Shelley Branch wrote regular articles on the game of chess for the Cheltenham Chronicle and the Cheltenham Examiner. Recognised as an authority on the game, William S. Branch wrote articles on chess and other board games for newspapers at home and abroad. Between 1911 and 1912, William S.Branch wrote a series of articles for the American newspaper The Pittsburg Leader under the general heading of "The  history of checkers from the earliest known date. Its  evolution and growth ".

William Shelley Branch died in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire on 22nd January 1933, at the age of 78.