Bath, England (28-29 July 1884)

              1 2 3 4 5 6  Score
————————————————————————————————
1 Caple       • … 1 … … …    1
2 Giles       … • 0 … … 1    1
3 Moscardi    0 1 • … 0 …    1
4 Shorthouse  … … … • 1 …    1
5 Trobridge   … … 1 0 • …    1
6 Nation      … 0 … … … •    0
————————————————————————————————
Note: Event cancelled by the committee

Bath, England (30 July-2 August 1884)

Section A    1   2   3   Score Place/Prize 
——————————————————————————————————————————
1 Caple     ••• 111 +++    6   1st 
2 Nation    000 ••• +++    3  
3 Moscardi  --- --- •••    (withdrew)
——————————————————————————————————————————

Section B      1   2   3   Score  Place/Prize
—————————————————————————————————————————————
1 Shorthouse  ••• 110 +++    5    1st  £3
2 Trobridge   001 ••• +++    4    2nd  £1 10s
3 Giles       --- --- •••    (withdrew)
—————————————————————————————————————————————

Introduction
Class III. Open to British amateurs not strong enough for Classes I. and II. First prize, £3; second, £1 10s; and £2 2s in consolation prizes. (1)

Synopsis
Some misunderstanding having arisen in this contest, and two out of the six competitors having retired, we withhold the scores for the present. (2)

Class III.—The scoring in this class cannot be definitely known at present, the conditions not being thoroughly understood by all the competitors. (3)

There were, however, complaints respecting the treatment of competitors in Class III., which the decision of the committee, in the absence of any evidence, did not mitigate. (4)

Considerable dissatisfaction was felt at the action of the committee in altering the original arrangements in this competition, and ordering a number of games played on Monday and Tuesday last to be cancelled. Messrs Giles and Moscardi refused to play under the altered terms, losing their games by default. (5)

Conclusion
Another cause of dissatisfaction was the alteration of the terms on which the competition in Class III. was conducted. At first it was understood that it was to be played as in the other divisions, each competitor to encounter all the others, and, in fact, every one of those who entered play one or more games upon this supposition. On Wednesday morning, however, it was stated that the six entries were to be divided into two classes, morning and evening, that all the games previously engaged in were to be cancelled, and that each player had to engage in three contests against the opposing two in his division. Messrs. Giles and Moscardi, under these circumstances, retired, altogether, and allowed the games to be scored against them without playing. (6)

For Class III. there were only six entries, all of them local players with the exception of Mr. Shorthouse of Birmingham. There was some little confusion about the arrangements for this class, in consequence of divided action between the local and general authorities, and on account of some of the entrants being only able to play in the evening, which occasioned a change being made in the conditions of the contest after it had actually begun. A protest was made against this irregularity, and it was left to the local committee to settle the difficulty, the final result being that the two prizes were awarded to Mr. Caple of Bath, and Mr. Shorthouse of Birmingham. (7)

We are informed by Mr. Skipworth that the first prize of £3 in Class 3 at the Bath meeting was adjudged to Mr. Shorthouse, and the second of 30/- to Mr. Trobridge, not Mr. Caple as stated in our report. (8)

Sources
(1) Bristol Western Daily Press, 1884.07.30, p8
(2) Bristol Mercury, 1884 .08.01, p8
(3) Bristol Western Daily Press, 1884.08.01, p3
(4) Bristol Western Daily Press, 1884.08.02, p3
(5) Bristol Western Daily Press, 1884.08.04, p7
(6) Bristol Mercury, 1884.08.04, p8
(7) British Chess Magazine, v4 n44/45 August/September, 1884, p326
(8) British Chess Magazine, v4 n46, October 1884, p366