James Cairncross

Born: 16 May 1910 (Hawick, SCO) - Died: 27 April 1961 (Hawick, SCO)

  • Shared 1st place in the 1946/7 British Correspondence Chess Championship.
  • represented the BCCA (British Correspondence Chess Association) in international postal matches, and correspondence 'Olympiads'.
  • played for the BCCA in several over-the-board friendly matches.
  • entered the Scottish Championships 1956 and 1957.
  • associated with Lesmahagow CC in Lanarkshire.
  • previously mistaken for John Cairncross of the Cambridge Spy Ring.

The story of James Cairncross is of particular interest because he was at one point confused with John Cairncross of the Cambridge Spy Ring. Both were born in Scotland: James, the chess player, was born in Hawick in 1910; John, not the chess player, was born in Lesmahagow in 1913. Both would later live and work in England.

James Cairncross played chess in the 1930s, but he became more active after World War Two, particularly with correspondence chess. Other correspondence chess players would, of course, be aware of Mr Cairncross, mainly when he won a share of =1st in the 1946/47 British Correspondence Championship.

However, one of the idiosyncrasies of chess reporting in those days was that first names of players were rarely given, so our subject was referred to simply as J. Cairncross, no doubt contributing to the error in identification. Dr Peter C. Wason, himself a correspondence chess player, sent a note to the editor of the BCCA magazine Correspondence Chess, which was published in the January 1991 issue:

'It may interest younger readers to know that John Cairncross, the so-called fifth man, identified by the research of Oleg Gordievsky and Christopher Andrew, was joint BCCA Champion in 1947.'

This led Timothy Harding to identify Cairncross as such in his CD of correspondence games, MegaCorr3.

Later, Mr Harding published an article in his magazine Chess Mail (issue 1/2004) which corrected the earlier error. He was assisted in the research by J. Ken MacDonald, a noted correspondence chess player from Canada.

Mr MacDonald had come across a reference to the BCCA 1946/47 joint champions in the 1948 BCCA Yearbook, including a brief biography:

James Cairncross

'Mr Cairncross was born at Hawick in 1910; learned chess in that town in 1930, and won the Club Championship within twelve months of his first acquaintance with the game! Hawick has a very strong following of the cult of draughts, and Mr Cairncross played that game very keenly before the chess virus found him; he was runner-up in the Hawick Draughts Championship the same year that he won the Chess Championship. He joined the BCCA in in 1935 and won his Section in Division 3 of the Trophies Tourney that season.

'During the war he served in the RAF as an Air Gunner and finished up with the rank of Warrant Officer.

'He now resides in Baldock, Herts, and is the Indoor Games Organiser for the firm of Bondor - well known to all nylon lovers!

'He is essentially a correspondence player as his scope for serious chess over the board has been limited.

'He is no safety-first player, and in his game against the champion, Mr G. Wood, he sacrificed a piece for two pawns, and kept his opponent's pieces tied up. A grand game ended in a draw, and but for its extreme length, we should publish it.'

The research published in the 2004 issue of Chess Mail seemed to have cleared up the matter convincingly. However, for me (Alan McGowan), there still remained a mystery, for I had come across references to a J. Cairncross who was active in various areas of Scottish chess in the 1950s.

One reference had him playing for a BCCA team in a friendly over-the-board match against a Glasgow team in 1956. Also, a J. Cairncross had played in the Scottish Championships of 1956 and 1957.

For me, though, the most 'disconcerting' references were those that showed a J. Cairncross, of 20 Balgray Road, Lesmahagow, was a member of the Scottish Chess Association, and was connected to a chess club in that town, which met at one time in 'The Old School', and later at the Old Age Pensioners' Hall.

All of this added further confusion (for me, anyway), and it was necessary to try to establish whether we were talking about a third J. Cairncross, and convincingly rule out any John Cairncross-Lesmahagow connection. The puzzle was not quite solved.

I made contact with a local historian in the Lesmahagow area, Mr Robert McLeish, and provided him with full details of the story. Fortunately, Mr McLeish was immediately interested, as he did not have any references in his records to a Lesmahagow CC, nor did he have any information about James Cairncross.

Mr McLeish immediately (15 February 2010) sent a notice of the enquiry on behalf of Chess Scotland to his local newspapers, the Lanark Gazette and the Hamilton Advertiser. The Lanark Gazette published the item on Wednesday, 17 February, and Mr McLeish had an immediate response. It is worth repeating the very detailed information that Mr McLeish received from his informant, who had worked alongside James Cairncross at the Skelton factory referred to below, and knew him to be a correspondence chess champion:

'James (Jimmy) Caircross came to Lesmahagow from Hawick in 1947 and was employed by John Skelton and Son, who had set up a new Nylon Factory in Lesmahagow making Nylon Stockings. "Jimmy" was termed a "Key Worker", as he had been brought from Hawick to train local people with regard to the Nylon (knitting) Machines. He was given what was termed a "Key Workers House" at 20 Balgray Road. (Such houses were set aside by the Local County Council to make housing available for people with experise to encourage the setting up of new businesses in rural areas.) During the mid 1950's the Skelton Factory was sold to the Bear Brand company who were one of the largest Nylon stocking manufacturers in the UK. By the latter part of the 50's the demand for nylon stockings waned due to the new ladies fashion, "tights", which were now being imported from Asia, and proved more popular with the ladies than stockings. Jimmy left Lesmahagow in 1958 and returned to Hawick where he was employed by the Post Office. Whether he was the Postmaster at the main Post Office in Hawick or a more rural one is not known. My source could also inform me that he died soon after leaving Lesmahagow, which may well have been 1961.

On February 21, Mr McLeish received a phone call from a Mrs Nesbit (Maureen Underwood), who lived next door to Jimmy Cairncross at 22 Balgray Road, (her father worked along side Jimmy in the nylon factory) and as a child knew him as "Uncle". Mrs Nesbit provided the following information:

  • James Cairncross had two brothers, Thomas and "Gied" [possibly Gideon-AMcG], both of whom died in World War Two.
  • "Jimmy" was involved with "Flying Boats" in World War Two [see reference to Air Gunner in the BCCA Yearbook biography above].
  • She recalls him competing in an international correspondence match with a Russian during the early 1950s.
  • When the Bear Brand company gave up the factory in Lesmahagow many of their Lesmahagow workers were given the opportunity to take up work at the parent factory in Liverpool, but Jimmy and Mr Underwood declined the offer. When Jimmy went back to Hawick he started a newsagents business incorporating a Post Office. On the day he died he had been at a football match. She is not sure if he collapsed at the match and died there or was taken to hospital from the match and died in hospital. His only relation still living as far as Mrs Nesbit is aware is a nephew named Irving Cairncross, but there has been no contact with him for many, many years.

So, thanks to a local historian in Lesmahagow, Robert McLeish, and his two informants, we now have a reasonably detailed picture of the man.

However, a few days after all this information was made available, I came across a reference to a J. Cairncross playing on board 1 for Larkhall Academy Former Pupils in a Spens Cup match against Lanark.....?

Some additional notes:

  • When James Cairncross shared =1st in the 1946/47 British Correspondence Championship with R.W. Bonham, the other players were: A. Hirsch, Dr K.A. Hirsch, G.R. Mitchell, E. Parsons, B.B. Partridge, W.H. Whicher, B.H. Wood (previous holder) and G. Wood (holder) [BCM 1947, p 357]. However, CHESS 1947, Jan, p 107 says that L. Alexander took the place of A. Hirsch, who retired from the competition.
  • It is of interest to note that the B.B. Partridge mentioned above later came to Scotland, was a teacher at the High School of Glasgow, and was instrumental in the revival of correspondence chess in Scotland in the 1960s. G.R. Mitchell was with MI5, reaching a high position in the organisation. he played in the First World Correspondence Championship. B.H. Wood was the editor of CHESS, as well as a player, administrator and organiser.
  • The British Correspondence Chess Association began a series of over-the-board friendly matches against a Glasgow League team in 1948. James Cairncross played in several of these matches.
  • The first reference to the Lesmahagow CC is in the 1950 Scottish Chess Association Yearbook. The club met at the 'Old School', which, as Robert McLeish advises, was the Boy's Public School built in 1874 and demolished in 1960.
  • The SCA Yearbook for 1952 shows the club at the Old Age Pensioners' Hut, Trows Road, Lesmahagow. From Mr McLeish: 'The Old Age Pensioner's Hut was known locally as the O A P Hall on New Trows Road until the late 1980's. It had previously been a Hall owned by the Independent Order of Good Templars or I.O.G.T, one of the old "Temperance" organisations.'
  • Mr Cairncross won the individual championship of the South Lanark League in 1957, ahead of Mrs Steedman and D. Perrow. [Glasgow Herald chess column 31 May 1957.]
  • Mr McLeish is attempting to find a photograph of James Cairncross.

Further information (8th February, 2012)

  • Copies of the records of birth and death have been seen. Some of the information supplied by Mrs Nesbit (Maureen Underwood) above is confirmed: the death record shows that Mr Cairncross was a Newsagent; that the cause of death was Coronary Thrombosis, and that he died at The Cottage Hospital, Hawick. His place of residence at the time was 2 Northcote Street, Hawick, and he was married to Isabella Beattie Crosby.


Compiled by Alan McGowan