In search of the donor of the Williamson Shield

In 1904 H. B. Williamson presented a Shield to Standtown Chess Club to be used in connection with a Championship tournament. However, very little is (or was) known about the donor of the Shield. Contemporary newspaper reports only refer to Williamson being a member of Strandtown Chess Club while on an extended trip to his native land. Over 60 years after Williamson had donated the Shield, Albert Long, the secretary of the Ulster Chess Union, resolved to find out more. Below is the information he found out and then recorded in his ring binder on the history of the Ulster Chess Union.

Enquiries were made during 1968 and with the help of the Secretary of the Ulster Unionist Council [Mr J. O. Bailie], Miss Dorothy Williamson, 8 Tweskard Park, Belfast (his niece), the Pharmacy Board of New Zealand, the Department of Justice, Wellington, the New Zealand High Commission, London and the "New Zealand Daily Herald" the following facts were obtained.

Hugh Bellis Williamson was born in Coleraine about 1850, the eldest child of Hugh Williamson and Sarah Williamson, nee Caskey. A younger brother was Councillor Dr. Williamson.

H. B. Williamson, having studied chemistry, married Jessie Margarette Allen in Dublin in 1876 when aged 26 and emigrated to New Zealand about the same year, where he set up business as a pharmacist at New Plymouth (1876) and then at Wanganui. 

He had four daughters.

He died Tuesday, 23rd March, 1926 at his home in Epsom, a suburb of Auckland, where he was living in retirement.

The announcement in "The New Zealand Daily Herald" reads:

Williamson - On March 23 at his residence, 648 Manukau Road, Hugh Bellis, late of Wanganui. No flowers.

There was no obituary or photograph, and although his niece, Miss Dorothy Williamson (mentioned above) tells me she has numerous family portraits, she is unable to identify any as being that of her uncle. She was very young when he was last in Belfast on a visit in 1904.

Unfortunately Miss Williamson appears to have died shortly after these enquiries were made. However in December 1968 Albert Long was again in contact with J. O. Bailie, who was able to tell him a close friend of Miss Williamson, Mr William Kennedy, a Unionist M. P., had acquired some of her personal effects. In Long's ring binder a note dated 22nd April 1969 reads as follows:

Through the courtesy of Mr. Wm. Kennedy (M. P. Cromac) 8 Cooke Street, Belfast, I was able with the help of Mr. Larmour, to search the photograph albums belonging to the late Miss Williamson, and succeeded in finding one of H. B. Williamson, taken in Wanganui, and dated 1887.

In a letter to Kennedy Long says:

I need hardly say how grateful I am for you kindness in this matter, which has pleased me beyond all expectation and will be a source of great interest to a large number of people.

So, in the hope that this information is of interest to a new generation, here is the photograph of Hugh Bellis Williamson, generous benefactor to the chess players of Belfast.

Postscript: This Time Traveller article was originally published in August 2001. Julia Rhodes, H. B. Williamson's great granddaughter, contacted me a dozen Augusts later and she pointed me in the direction of the obituary that had eluded Albert Long.

OBITUARY.

MR. H. B. WILLIAMSON.

FORMER WANGANUI RESIDENT.

Many friends in New Zealand will learn with regret of the death of Mr. Hugh Bellis Williamson, of 648, Mamikau Road. He was formerly a resident of Wanganui, and since his retirement from professional life, had lived in Auckland. Born in Ireland, Mr. Williamson came to New Zealand in the 'seventies. He carried on a chemist's establishment for many years at Wanganui, and was highly esteemed by all who knew him. He took a keen interest in chess, and for many years he was secretary of the chess club, which, in company with the Hon. John Ballance and the Hon. John Bryce he helped to found. Mr. Williamson was a vice-president of the Auckland Chese Club, and it was whilst playing a game there last week, he had a stroke, which was the cause of his death. Deceased was a prominent Freemason having been associated with Lodge Tongariri, English Constitution, since 1878, doing yeoman service in the early days of that lodge. His kindly disposition and readiness to extend a helping hand to those less fortunate endeared him to all who knew him. His Masonic brethren accorded him the last service prior to cremation yesterday at Waikumete. Captain W. H. Feldon, W.M., of Lodge Te Awamutu, conducted the service assisted by Mr. A. Eady, W.M,. of Lodge Prince of Wales. 

Source: Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 72, 26 March 1926, Page 10