Edward Guthlac Sergeant (3 December 1881,

Crowland Crowland (modern usage) or Croyland (medieval era name and the one still in ecclesiastical use; cf. ) is a town and civil parish in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated between Peterborough and Spalding. Crowland ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

– 16 November 1961,

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames, colloquially known as Kingston, is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, south-west London, England. It is situated on the River Thames, south-west of Charing Cross. It is an ancient market town, notable as ...

) was an English chess master. Sergeant participated many times in the

British Chess Championship The British Chess Championships are organised by the English Chess Federation. The main tournament incorporates the British Championship, the English Chess Championships and the British Women's Chess Championship so it is possible, although it ha ...

, the London City championship and the

Hastings International Chess Congress The Hastings International Chess Congress is an annual chess tournament which takes place in Hastings, England, around the turn of the year. The main event is the Hastings Premier tournament, which was traditionally a 10 to 16 player round-robin t ...

. In 1907, he was one of four players who tied for 2nd place in the British Championship in London; the winner was

Henry Ernest Atkins Henry Ernest Atkins (20 August 1872 – 31 January 1955) was a British chess master who is best known for his unparalleled record of winning the British Chess Championship nine times in eleven attempts. He won every year from 1905 to 1911, and a ...

. He won or shared 1st place at London in 1913, at London in 1915/16 (when he won a playoff match against Theodor Germann), at London in 1916, at Hastings in 1919 (Minor), at Bromley in 1920 and at Broadstairs in 1921. He tied for 2nd place with

Harry Golombek Harold "Harry" Golombek OBE (1 March 1911 – 7 January 1995) was a British chess player, chess author, and wartime codebreaker. He was three times British chess champion, in 1947, 1949, and 1955 and finished second in 1948. Biography He was ...

at the British Championship at Brighton in 1938; the victor was

Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander (19 April 1909 – 15 February 1974), known as Hugh Alexander and C. H. O'D. Alexander, was an Irish-born British cryptanalyst, chess player, and chess writer. He worked on the German Enigma machine a ...

. Sergeant was a second cousin of Philip Walsingham Sergeant. In 1949 he was awarded the

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in the

Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the reigning monarch's official birthday in each realm by granting various individuals appointment into national or dynastic orders or the award of decorations and medals. The honours are ...

in recognition of his 39 years' service in the office of the Solicitor to the Board of the

Inland Revenue The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation ta ...

. He was the author of a notable work on

Stamp Duty Stamp duty is a tax that is levied on single property purchases or documents (including, historically, the majority of legal documents such as cheques, receipts, military commissions, marriage licences and land transactions). Historically, a ...

.London & Midland Chess Bulletin, 25 June 1949, p. 4.

References

1881 births 1961 deaths English chess players People from Crowland Officers_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire {{England-chess-bio-stub