In Lewis's books Popert has no initials; whoever wrote this list, he could have added the 'Esq.' to be on the safe side.

Or 'John Popert' in Berger's Jahrbuch: this could be a contration from John and Popert in 'The Philidorian':

<Dr. Smeichael, of Hamburg, is a stout player, as are M. M. John, and Popert. The men of Hamburg conquered those of Berlin, a few years since, in a match by correspondence.>

This quote, already given by <tabanus> above, shows probably already another mistake: according to Bledow, the correspondence game was played by John and Schmeichel(!) (Hamburg) against Mendheim (Berlin).

+++
I think I have found an earlier source for the well-known fragment Horwitz v Popert than those mentioned by Winter: it was already published in Hirschberg's "Deutsche Schachzeitung", Leipzig 1846, pages 233-4. I hope this link works: https://books.google.com/books?id=t...

https://books.google.com/books?id=4...

"Whereas Samuel Meyer Popert late of the City of Hamburgh died on the tenth day of February one thousand eight hundred and fifty one having made his last Will and Testament and thereof appointed Joel Aron Von Halle and Julius Ernst Oppenheim, Executors, ..." etc.,

http://interactive.ancestry.com.au/...

At some point I searched the name Popert in several newspapers from Hamburg and Altona in the 1830s and 1840s. I found a lot, and many of them could easily be identified as Jews (say Samuel, Abraham), while others had forenames being more common among Chistians, but Jews often tended to adapt. I believe that all Poperts of Hamburg were Jewish or of Jewish descent, and I deduce this from the rarity of the name Popert now (see http://www.verwandt.de/karten/relat...), as well as from their professions.

About "our" Popert. I found only one source that could be possibly attributed to him: a merchant (German: Kaufmann) Popert from London resided for some time in 1839 in the 'Hotel zum wilden Mann' (or so). No forename, no initials.

About the many other Poperts. Many of them have the middle name 'Meyer'. This is somehow a tradition which helps us to relate them to each other. (So far as I know, Jews in German countries got their family names in the 18th century; the family name or middle name 'Meyer', which appears in many different spellings, comes from a Jewish forename, etc, etc.) However, my exprience with similar Jewish middle names is: they are not quite permanent. I think this should always kept in mind.

Now about <jnpope>'s book. It is a juridical expertise in a hereditary case. Page 67 lists the children, which are all wards in 1805 (I hope ward is the correct translation of the German word 'Mündel'; in particular, they are not of full age). They are brothers and sisters, and they all have the middle name 'Meyer', which appears also as a forename of one of the relatives.

I will pick two of them. The name Samuel Meyer Popert appeared quite often in the newspapers that I have seen; but I found no evidence that he had any relation to England and he probably lived all these years in Hamburg; together with the date of death provided by <tabanus>, he probably can be excluded.

The complete title is: <"Gutachten nach jüdischen Gesetzen über die Frage : Kann ein vor einem christlichen Gericht von einem jüdischen Ehepaar nach christlichen Gesetzen errichtetes wechselseitiges Testament, vorherige bündigst stipulirte Erb-Verträge desselben vernichten?"> That is, this expertise deals with the validity of a mutual will of a Jewish couple, recorded at a Christian law court, where before Jewish hereditary contracts existed. Since the first pages of the document are missing, it is not easy to determine the acting figures.

In 1803, the Jew and banker <Salomon Joel von Halle> from Berlin wanted to marry a woman named <Jettchen (Jette) Levin Popert>); she was not of full age and so their wardens made two contracts with Salomon, wherein also the heritage was fixed in several cases, e.g. if she would die childless in the first year of the marriage. They married 24 May 1804 in Berlin, and her properties in Hamburg and Kassel were given to her husband. Five weeks later, on 26 June 1804, the couple asked a Royal law court to record their mutual will. And here the husband was determined to be the sole heir. Then the wife died on 18 January 1805.

<jnpope, Tabanus> Another thought about careful reading. William Greenwood Walker was an old man (see 'CPC', vol. IV, page 372). He was the Hon. Secretary of the Westminster Chess Club in 1836. He probably had there a list for the subscribers, and Popert wrote his name to that list with his German handwriting. Probably some type of <Kurrentschrift> (see https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deuts...). Now I ask you: can we exclude that this old man read <H.W.>, where Popert wrote <W.M.>?

<John Townsend, however, has found an earlier reference (5 Nov. 1835) from the records of the London Chess Club to a 'W. Popert' and suspects that the initial 'H.' in Walker's book simply meant 'Herr'.>

Are there arrival records from 1834 that could be checked?

And I have a rough date for when Popert left England, which may also be useful: <The celebrated metropolitan player, M Popert, has left England for his native country, Germany, where, we believe, he intends remaining two or three years, in consequence of ill health.> source: Bell's Life in London, 11 September 1842.

If we show that a particular Popert arrived in 1834 (and possibly left in 1834 and returned in 1836) and departed again in 1842 it would help support the case.

<Meyer Popert, Wife & 2 Daugters 18 & 14, from Hamburg to London 4 July 1836.>

I did find evidence that a "Meyer H. Popert" had returned to Hamburg prior to 1845 as he turns up on a donations list: https://books.google.com/books?id=e...

There are a number of games where Popert is listed as M. Popert. I've always assumed it was just "monsieur", but being that he was German and not French wouldn't he be referred to as Herr Popert? Perhaps Meyer Popert (or Meyer H. Popert) is correct?

I'm not exactly sure of M. H. Popert's travel itinerary, but perhaps this is another candidate to check?

I like the W. M. Popert hypothesis, but I think M. H. Popert is possible. And I'm thinking John/Johann Popert less likely.

If we could ever establish a death record in Hamburg, 1846, for one of our candidates: http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/...

For England passenger lists, it seems they are now "in process of being digitised by Ancestry.co.uk." No indexed Popert in the Alien lists before 1836.

Wow, that's surprising. Hope he's corrected the error by now...

I guess not!

Page 256: "Mr. P-----", but he can be identified as George Perigal.

Page 284: again "P----t" and "St-----n".

Harding's "William" is adopted from Townsend (see page 355).