Jaques of London, formerly known as ''John Jaques of London'' and ''Jaques and Son of London'' is a long-established family company that manufactures sports and game equipment.

History

Dating itself from 1795 when Thomas Jaques, a farmer's son of French

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

descent, set up as a "Manufacturer of Ivory, Hardwoods, Bone, and Tunbridge Ware", the company gained a reputation for publishing games under his grandson John Jaques the younger. Jaques is said to have been instrumental in the invention and popularisation of

Croquet Croquet ( or ) is a sport which involves hitting wooden, plastic, or composite balls with a mallet through hoops (often called Wicket, "wickets" in the United States) embedded in a grass playing court. Variations In all forms of croquet, in ...

. The family lore is that "John Jaques II ... was a friend of

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet, mathematician, photographer and reluctant Anglicanism, Anglican deacon. His most notable works are ''Alice ...

nd‘Carroll was one of the founding members of the croquet club at Oxford University’", according to Joe Jaques, a descendent of the founder, who goes on to explain that, "It is no surprise that croquet is in ''

Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (also known as ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English Children's literature, children's novel by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics university don, don at the University of Oxford. It details the story of a ...

'' because Lewis Carroll was a family friend and we had commissioned the illustrator Sir John Tenniel, who went on to illustrate ''Alice in Wonderland'', to draw the original Happy Families characters when he was a cheap jobbing illustrator in 1851. It is all connected. Carroll’s niece Irene Dodgson then married my great-grandfather John Jaques III." The popularity of chess during World War II helped MI9 hide items in chess games sent to British and American prisoners of war, because the chess sets were made of wood, especially the Staunton chess sets by Jaques of London. The inside walls of the chess pieces box were hollowed out "...to secrete maps, currency, documents, hacksaw blades and swinger compasses." The large chess boards were perfect for supplying to prisoners "...counterfeit documents, maps, currency and other contraband." The chess pieces themselves were hollowed out and used to hold messages, compasses, maps and dye to help turn uniforms into civilian attire. The base of the piece was often screwed in with a left turn screw, so any attempt to unscrew the base normally would only make it tighter. The company moved its offices and showroom to Edenbridge, Kent, in 2000.

Staunton chessmen

The

Staunton chess set The Staunton chess set is the standard style of chess piece, chess pieces, recommended for use in competition since 2022 by FIDE, the international chess governing body. The English journalist Nathaniel Cooke is credited with the design on the ...

was released in 1849 by Jaques of London of Hatton Garden in London. The pieces were designed to be easy to use and universally recognized by chess players of diverse backgrounds. It became known as the Staunton chess set after Howard Staunton (1810–1874), the chess player and writer who was generally considered the strongest player in the world from 1843 to 1851. Nathaniel Cooke has long been credited with the design.

Products

Chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

– Jaques had exclusive manufacturing rights for a

chess set A chess set consists of a chessboard and White and Black in chess, white and black chess pieces for playing chess. There are sixteen pieces of each color: one King (chess), king, one Queen (chess), queen, two Rook (chess), rooks, two Bishop (chess ...

after Howard Staunton. This set later became the official international standard. * Clock golf – Jaques assert that they originated the game in the mid 19th century. *

– played an important role in popularising the game, producing editions of the rules in 1857, 1860, and 1864. * Happy Families – popular card game, developed in 1851. * Icosian game – a mathematical puzzle involving cycles on a

dodecahedron In geometry, a dodecahedron (; ) or duodecahedron is any polyhedron with twelve flat faces. The most familiar dodecahedron is the regular dodecahedron with regular pentagons as faces, which is a Platonic solid. There are also three Kepler–Po ...

, invented by W. R. Hamilton and published by Jaques and Son in 1859. *

Ludo Ludo (; ) is a Abstract strategy game, strategy-based board game for two to four players, in which the players race game, race their four from start to finish according to the rolls of a single dice, die. Like other cross and circle games, Ludo ...

– patented in England 1897. * Shove ha'penny – a pub game in the shuffleboard family, played predominantly in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. * Snakes and Ladders – the first publishers starting in 1888. *

Table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

– pioneered under the names ''Gossima'' and later ''Ping Pong''. * Reversi – the first publishers starting in 1888. * Tiddledy-Winks – the first publishers starting in 1888.

References

Sources

External links