- William Davies Evans
Captain William Davies Evans (
27 January 1790 –3 August 1872 ) was a seafearer and inventor, though he is best known today as achess player.Early Life
Evans was born at St Dogwells,
Pembrokeshire ,Wales . It is almost certain that young Evans went to Haverfordwest Grammar School, the only school of any antiquity in Pembrokeshire. About the beginning of the century the family moved to Castle Pill, the name of an inlet of Milford Haven on the north side, just east of Milford town. By 1818, he had learnt the moves of chess.Early career
At the age of 14, (in 1804) Evans went out to sea to serve his country in the navy until 1815, when the war ended.He was then transferred to the postal department; by 1819, he had reached the title of Captain of the sailing packet.
Inventions
His most famous invention was the tri-coloured lighting on naval vessels designed to prevent collisions at night. For this invention he was awarded £1500 by the British government and a gold chronometer and £200 from the Tsar of Russia. ["The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales". John Davies,
Nigel Jenkins , Menna Baines and Peredur Lynch (2008) pg274 ISBN 9780708319536]He is most well known today in chess circles as the creator of the
Evans Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4).Evans died in 1872 and is buried at the Belgian port of
Ostende References
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* [http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skittles141.pdf An article about Evans] , chesscafe.com
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