Games by ECC Members

Daniel Yarnton Mills, 1849 -1904

Extract from his obituary - Stroud News and Gloucestershire Advertiser, Friday 23rd December 1904, p.8.

We regret to announce the death of Mr Daniel Yarnton Mills, of Hermitage Drive, Edinburgh, which took place in London on Sunday morning. Mr Mills had been ill for some time, but was believed to be making good progress towards recovery. Unfortunately, however, he contracted influenza, and death was due to heart failure.

Mr Mills was the elder son of the late Mr Daniel Yarnton Mills, J.P., of Sudgrove House, and was born in 1849. He was perhaps best known to the outside world as one of the most distinguished amateur chess players of the day, and amongst chess players, of whom there are so many in Stroud and the district, there was no name more familiar. He was one of the founders of the British Chefs Club, and its first hon. secretary. He played for the club in the memorable Correspondence Match against St. Petersburg in 1887.

He was also instrumental in organising the International Tournament of the British Chess Association at Manchester in 1890, and took part in the amateur tournament, winning the Amateur Championship Cup of the Association. He secured the championship of the Scottish Chess Association eight times in succession. In 1885 and again in 1887, he won the championship without losing a game - an extraordinary record. He will be greatly missed in the annual Anglo-American Cable Matches, as he was always regarded as one of the most trustworthy members of the English team. He had the distinction of being the only English amateur who has never lost a game in these contests, and this result is the more remarkable as he had taken part in all the matches since their inauguration. One of the achievements in which the late Mr Mills took the keenest satisfaction was his defeat of Lasker, the world's champion chess player, when the latter visited Edinburgh a few years ago and played simultaneous games with 14 members of the Edinburgh Chess Club. Mr Mills was the only player who scored a victory or that occasion.

The funeral took on Wednesday at Miserden, the remains being interred in the family vault. The service was taken by the rector, the Rev. R. B. Faree... A considerable number of the inhabitants of the parish attended to show their respect for one who spent his childhood amongst them and who was held in the highest esteem by all who knew him. A very large number of wreaths was sent including some of exceptional beauty from Scotland.