Joseph Henry Blackburne (1841–1924) was a Chess Grandmaster of legendary status who in his heyday was the second ranked player in the World, second only to World Champion Wilhelm Steinitz. He was famous for his Blindfold Simultaneous ability where he very regularly played 10 strong opponents at a time without sight of the board. He was also well know for consuming large amounts of alcohol.

W.H. Worthington of brewing fame was president of the first formal Burton Chess Club when it moved to the new Liberal Institute Club after it opened. Through his enthusiasm for chess, generosity and hospitality. In 1875, Joseph Blackburne gave a two day exhibitions. On the first day, he performed his famous ten player blindfold exhibition in front of an audience, on the second day, he played twenty odd players at the same time by walking around making moves at each board allowing his opponents much more time to ponder, at least until the majority of them had been eliminated. This was a great success and was repeated on seven occasions.

W.H.Worthington also donated impressive trophies including an impressive cased sterling silver cup and a large boxed solid ivory chess set and wooden board, very probably used by Blackburne himself, still owned by Burton Chess Club and now of high valuable.

For those interested in Chess, the above board shows the famous ‘Blackburne Shilling Gambit’ so called because Blackburne often played for a shilling wager in simultaneous player exhibition through which he secured many shillings! On the face of it, it seems suicidal allowing 4. Nxe5 by white but it has a sting in the tail for the uninitiated.