AApril 16 1908
The Birmingham Post, Birmingham, West Midlands, England, Thursday, April 16, 1908
Death of a Famous Chess Player.
The “Morning Post” says:— The death is announced of Mr Henry Edward Bird the well-known chess player. The long career of Mr Bird who was born in 1830, is intimately connected with the history of chess in the second half of the nineteenth century, the period in which the game attained its highest standard in this country. He appeared at the famous Divan, the rendezvous of the great players of the past as a boy of sixteen and became a general favourite, winning renown by defeating Buckle, the historian, then one of the best players in the world at the odds of pawn and move. Bird took part in the tournament of 1851, and also in that of 1899, when, though he was enfeebled by age and gout the fire that always marked his play remained unextinguished. In the long interval he had engaged in a multitude of tournaments and matches. He made an even score with Anderssen in a series of eighteen games, and in 1867 he nearly defeated Steinitz who had just won the world's championship from Anderssen. Blackburne paid him the compliment of frequently adopting his strategy.
April 17 1908
The Guardian, London, Greater London, England, Friday, April 17, 1908
Mr. H. E. Bird.—The death is announced of Mr. Henry Edward Bird, one of the best-known English chess players of the past century. He was born in 1830; and for fifty years played a leading part in matches and tournaments. He belonged to the brilliant, dashing tip-and-run school, and his play, though never particularly sound, was most attractive to the spectator. He was no match for the giants of the game, and was distinctly inferior to several of his English contemporaries, but he had a lively imagination, and was an adept at clever combinations. Several audacious innovations in the openings will probably give him a permanent place in chess literature. When Dr. Lasker was on the threshold of his fame he played Bird a short match at the Liverpool Club, and beat him soundly without the loss of a game. This was almost the last appearance of the veteran in serious chess.
City Hall, Liverpool, England; 17 February 1890—28 February 1890
April 25 1908
The Bridge of Allan Gazette, Bridge of Allan, Central Region, Scotland, Saturday, April 25, 1908
Death of 'Old Bird'
By the death last week of Henry Edward Bird, England has lost one of her foremost players.
A Somersetshire lad with a most remarkable memory he soon began to make his way upwards from the humble station in life in which he was born. For his education he had chiefly to depend on himself but such good use did he make of his opportunities that at sixteen he became an accountant's clerk and not long after joined a firm of accountants.
In this sphere to which he was so peculiarly adapted he specialized on railways and framed the tables and statistics on which the Great Eastern Railway is to-day conducted.
Meanwhile his great memory had soon made him a marked figure in the chess world and when only 21 years of age he took part in the great International tournament of 1851. From that day to this (says the “London Evening Standard”) he has always been recognized as a chess master and his various books on the game have added to his reputation. The foremost player of his day he never was. In fact, Henry Thomas Buckle, the author of the “History of Civilisation” could concede him odds and beat him. He also succumbed to Paul Morphy the phenomenal American player, but for all that he was a great factor in upholding the honour of English chess when it stood sorely in need of champions.
For many years Bird was a familiar figure at London's one time great chess resort now closed—Simpson's Divan in the Strand—and was the best liked of all the professionals who gathered there to play with anybody—for a fee. Bird was not so greedy as some of them, and was of a genial, pawky nature, which attracted strangers who found their way to the Divan when in London. He was a very good player, though not first-class, but was one of those who will take risks for the sake of a pretty combination, with a sparkling finish. The player who does this enjoys his chess better, but he does not win so many games as the man to whom victory is the main consideration. Bird was over 70 years of age and was a big heavy man.
May 06 1908
Free Press Prairie Farmer, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Wednesday, May 06, 1908
The death has occurred of the veteran chess player, Henry Edward Bird, in London, in his 78th year. In his earlier years Mr. Bird practised the profession of accountant, though chess always had a great fascination for him, and so far back as 1851 he competed in the International chess tournament held that year in London. He was the author of several works on chess, perhaps the best known of which are his “Chess Masterpieces,” “Chess History and Reminiscences,” and “Modern Chess.” His chief records in tournament and match play were as follows: He lost to Steinitz, 6 games to 7, in 1867, just after the latter player had beaten Anderson for the championship of the world. In the Vienna tournament of 1873 he took fifth place, and the third place in the Philadelphia tournament of 1876. In 1889 he won the first prize at the London congress of the British Chess association, and the first prize in Simpson's handicap, 1891. He competed in the Hastings tournament of 1895 and in the London tournament of 1899, in both cases securing only a very moderate position in the score, and since then his failing health prevented him from taking part in any contest of importance.
