kept in close touch with the British chess problem world. He was made a Fellow of the British Chess Problem Society, and made several generous gifts to its Permanent Fund, successfully avoiding any cash-for-honours scandal, and made generous donations to other bodies, including the BCM.

He died in Monaco in the winter of 1954.

His problems may be found today in magazines, books and newspapers around the world, and are a lasting tribute to this true Devon Pioneer.

Charles Blanshard was born in Leeds in 1852, the son of the Rev. Richard Blanshard of Lincoln College, Oxford. An ancestor of his was William Isaac Blanshard, a barrister at law and an expert at taking notes in a shorthand he devised himself, and published a book on it in 1779, though itnever reached the popularity of Pitman’s method. He also helped defend Warren Hastings when he was impeached in 1787 for corruption in his position as first Governor General of India.

Charles attended Clifton College and took a scholarship to Queen’s College, Oxford, and in 1874 took first class degrees in both Chemistry and Physics, the first person at Oxford to do so. In 1880 he took up the study of phonography, much like his forefather, William. He started the Oxford School of Shorthand and tried to get the University authorities to take the subject seriously, without any lasting success.

His main occupation was teaching, natural science, shorthand and modern languages being his forte. There was a Charles T. Blanshard listed as headmaster of Calday Grange Grammar School, on the Wirral,