Scots Abroad ─ Hamburg Chess Club

The Hamburger Schachklub 1830 is the second oldest chess club in Germany (a Berlin club was formed in 1827).

We had long ago noted two interesting names – E. Ross and W. Campbell – in the formation of the Hamburg Chess Club. The club’s published history¹ says that the twelve founding members met on May 8, 1830, but states that ‘the actual founder of the club was Edward Ross...’ The club’s online history indicates that Ross represented the merchant class (he was a ship broker), with the other founding members being physicians, lawyers, and opticians.

Edward Ross (1786-1873) was born in Hamburg, married there in 1819 to Charlotte Catherine Hermann, established himself as a successful businessman, and died there on Christmas Day 1873.

His parents were Dr Colin Ross (1734-1793)² and Anna Magdalena Martens (1743-1821). His father had studied in Scotland under the renowned teacher William Cullen (1710-1790) before establishing his practice in Hamburg.

William Campbell (c1786-1859)³ was an optician and a dealer in optical and measuring instruments. He married Rebecca Hawley in London in 1811, before moving to Hamburg. He had a partnership arrangement there with another London optician and merchant, William Harris (1781-1841), their business advertising the sale of optical and mathematical instruments. He also established the very successful W. Campbell & Co. in Hamburg in 1816, a name that survives in Hamburg to this day.⁴

William Campbell (c1843-1844)
Daguerreotype by Hermann Biow (1804-1850)

 Nothing is known about Ross and Campbell’s subsequent association with the Hamburg CC.

NOTES

1. 150 Jahre Hamburger Schachklub 1830 (Kurt Rattmann, 1982).

2. Colin Ross was baptized February 10th, 1734 at Govan, then a village but later incorporated into the city of Glasgow. His name was recorded as Colline, his parents shown as John Ross & Elizabeth Fowlertoun [Fullerton].

He matriculated at Glasgow University in 1754, as shown in The Matriculation Albums of the University of Glasgow From 1728 to 1858, p.51, where his name is shown as Colinus Ross.

There is no record of his graduation from Glasgow University. Possible reasons were provided by university library assistant:

•  letters of recommendation from his professors were enough so he did not need to go to the addedRoss's expense of graduating. The graduation certificate was not as important at that time as it is today.

  that he came from a religious background which meant he preferred not to take a graduation oath that referred to the Church of Scotland.

  he took some classes here but graduated from another University or College. 

3. We have no date or place of birth for William Campbell. He is recorded as living in Holborn, London, when he was accepted as a member of the Jerusalem Freemason Lodge in 1815. Hamburg city records provided detailes of his death in May 1859, and the death of his wife Rebecca (Hawley) Campbell in June 1863.

4. https://campbelloptik.com/pages/hamburg

Alan McGowan, Historian, Chess Scotland

added 24/10/2026