Jean Defuse: Stephen Wright [BCCF E-mail Bulletin #73], page 8:THE SCHWENGERS FAMILY
As a relatively young province, British Columbia has always relied heavily on immigration in its development. This is also true of B.C.'s chess community - many of our players began their lives elsewhere in the world (e.g., John Ewing, Jack Taylor, Miervaldis Jursevskis, Elod Macskasy, Duncan Suttles, Peter Biyiasas, Jack Yoos). One of the earliest chess immigrants to this province was Peter (Joseph Antoine) Schwengers (1844-1898), who came to Victoria in 1887.
Born into one of the most influential families in Rhenish Prussia, Peter was the third son of a sugar refiner from Urdingen, Germany. A graduate of Bonn University, Schwengers moved to England, where he was associated with the London banking firm of Buninger, Schroder & Co. In 1873 he married Alice Lucey, the daughter of his landlord, and they began a family together. Alice was an amateur singer of considerable ability; she performed at the Crystal Palace in London, and in Canada she acquired the nickname "British Colubia’s nightingale." Although likely apocryphal, a distant relative of Alice’s was said to be the judge who sentenced William Shakespeare for poaching.
After immigrating to Canada Peter Schwengers worked as an accountant, and was just fifty-four when he died suddenly of an aneurysm in 1898. Schwengers was a strong amateur player whose historical rating was around 2200. He played in the third and fourth West German Championships, knockout events held in Düsseldorf in 1863 and 1864, in both cases reaching the second round before being eliminated. The winner on both occasions was Max Lange. He also played in at least two blindfold simultaneous displays conducted by Louis Paulsen; one of these was described in great detail in the Chess Player's Magazine.
Peter and Alice had five children, at least two of whom were also chess players, Conrad (Peter William) (1874-1954) and Bernhard (Peter) (1880-1946). Peter and his two sons did much toward building up the Victoria Chess Club in the 1890s. In the international cable match between Victoria and San Francisco in 1895, Conrad and Bernhard were part of Thomas Piper's consultation team on board one, while Peter helped James Hunnex on board two. There is also record of a tournament at the Victoria Club in 1896 which Conrad won with a 19-0 score, ahead of Bernhard who tied for third.
Conrad and Bernhard were both prominent members of the hardware business. In 1888 Conrad "ran home two miles to tell of his good fortune" in joining the E.G. Prior hardware company, starting as an office boy at $20 a month. Edward G. Prior went on to make a name for himself in politics, serving as Provincial Premier (1902-1903) and Lieutenant-Governor (1919-1920). By 1908 he was a junior partner, in 1921 he was appointed managing director, and in 1924, along with Bernhard, he bought out the company. After an amalgamation to form Mclennan, McFeeley & Prior Ltd. in 1928, Conrad became managing director, and in 1944 he was elected president of the company. He retired in 1951, having spent sixty-three years with the same firm. In later years Bernhard was the Island branch manager and director of McLennan, McFeeley & Prior and was also much involved in community work and publicizing Victoria, but as a young man he was known mainly as a sportsman. An outstanding tennis player, Bernhard was on Canada's Davis Cup teams in 1913 and 1914 and won the Rogers Cup in 1911 and 1912; he was an inaugural inductee to the Tennis Canada Hall of Fame in 1991.
Bernhard was an all-round sportsman, competing in rowing, soccer, cricket, and baseball. In 1902 he rejected an $8,000 annual contract to play second baseman for the St. Louis Browns (now the Baltimore Orioles). In later life he was the Pacific Northwest Senior Golf Champion in 1943. Of his chess-playing skill there is only one unfortunate example - he was a victim of the so-called Blackburne Shilling Gambit at the hands of the visiting Joseph Babson at Victoria in 1896.
[Event "Offhand"]
[Site "Victoria"]
[Date "1896.??.??"]
[White "Schwengers, Bernard Peter"]
[Black "Babson, Joseph Ney"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C50"]
[PlyCount "14"]
[EventDate "1896.??.??"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nd4 4. Nxe5 Qg5 5. Nxf7 Qxg2 6. Rf1 Qxe4+ 7. Be2 Nf3# 0-1
Not to be outdone, it should be mentioned that Peter Schwenger’s youngest daughter Ada played on the UBC women’s field hockey team, worked as a reporter for the Vancouver News Herald, was the first female producer at the CBC, and married Provincial Court Judge James McGeer. Her son Pat McGeer is a leading Alzheimer’s researcher.
Source: http://chess.bc.ca/Bulletins/bccfbu...
Kibitzing
