In July of that year the Hanging-in-Chains Abolition Act went into effect’ it did just that...it abolished the practice of hanging in chains upon a gibbet after execution.
Hanging in chains, also known as gibbeting, was a common law punishment in England where the body of an executed criminal was displayed in chains after death. The practice was intended to deter others from committing similar crimes, and was often used for murderers, robbers, traitors, highwaymen, and pirates.
The Murder Act of 1752 made gibbeting a legal punishment for murderers. The gibbets were often placed near public highways or waterways, such as crossroads and the body could remain on display for days, weeks, months, years, or even decades! Needless to say, some found the sight and smell disgusting.
In August slavery was abolished in most of the British Empire and the Poor Law Amendment Act states the able-bodied could not receive assistance unless they enter a workhouse/ It also declared that poor-law authorities should no longer attempt to identify the fathers of illegitimate children to recover support from them.
In the chess world the first match of any importance pitting La Bourdonnais against McDonnell was played. Bourdonnais won +16 -5 =4. In all he won a series of 6 matches against McDonnell.
The Frenchman Louis Charles Mahe de la Bourdonnais (1797-1840), considered the world’s strongest player, and the Irishman Alexander McDonnell (1798-1835), considered Great Britain’s strongest player,played their matches in London. There was no time limit, no seconds and very little stakes. With no time limit McDonnell sometimes took over an hour and a half to make a move.
Alexander McDonnell held the post of Secretary of the West India Committee of Merchants. In the 1830s he was the best player in England. He died September 14, 1835 of Bright's disease in London at the age of 37.
Bright's disease is described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. It was characterized by swelling and the presence of albumin in the urine and was frequently accompanied by high blood pressure and heart disease.
There's no proven way to prevent it, but adopting a healthy lifestyle can help. Also, treating the underlying cause, such as infection, eating less protein and salt, cortisone and diuretic use, reducing blood pressure and kidney dialysis can help. Finally, if possible, a kidney transplant.
Bourdonnais was born on the French Island La Reunion in 1797 and died on December 13, 1840 in London. He learned chess in 1814 and took lessons from Deschapelles.
He came from a noble family and heir to an old estate, but lost his fortune in a building speculation and turned to chess to earn his living.
In November, 1840, he was diagnosed with dropsy which refers to swelling under the skin and is generally known today as edema. It’s a condition in which the area under the skin fills with fluid. The swelling varies in severity, but it is uncomfortable and can be extremely painful.
It is a symptom of a number of diseases. It is likely that some of those whose cause of death was recorded as dropsy were actually killed by the condition that caused the swelling, rather than the swelling itself. Today it’s treated with a diuretic, blood thinners and reducing salt intake.
The poor fellow also had a scrotal hernia, a bulge or lump that can appear in the groin or scrotum. They are caused by a weakness in the abdominal wall that allows part of the intestine or fat to protrude into the scrotum. Large or painful ones can be repaired surgically. He died at the age of 43 and was buried next to McDonnell.
[Event "4th Casual Matcj, London"]
[Site "London ENG"]
[Date "1834.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Alexander McDonnell"]
[Black "Louis De La Bourdonnais"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C20"]
[Annotator "Dragon by Komodo"]
[PlyCount "106"]
[EventDate "1834.04.04"]
{C23: Bishop's Opening} 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 {There is very little theory on this
ancient opening.} Bc5 3. c3 Qe7 (3... Qh4 {Rather pointless.} 4. Qe2 Nf6 5. d3
d6 6. Nf3 Qh5 {and Pavlicek,P (2036)-Matejovsky,O (2085) Ricany 2009 agreed to
a draw in a few more moves.}) 4. Nf3 (4. b4 Bb6 5. a4 a5 6. Ba3 Nf6 7. d3 d6 8.
Nf3 {equals. Nehlert,P-Jendryssek,J Kehl 1989}) 4... d6 5. O-O Bb6 6. d4 Nf6 7.
Na3 Bg4 8. Nc2 Nbd7 9. Qd3 d5 {This P sacrifice is of doubtful soundness, but
it leads to interesting play. Both 9...exd4 or 9...O-O were solid replies.} 10.
exd5 {There is little reason to allow his B to be exchanges by capturing 10.
Bxd5} e4 11. Qd2 {Now black should probably play 11...O-O. Instead...} exf3 12.
Re1 {White has a decisive advantage. However, as is sometimes the case, that
does not mean he is going to win!} Ne4 13. Qf4 f5 14. gxf3 g5 {Forceful play
typical of Bourdonnais, but white still has a decisive advantage,
theoretically at least.} 15. Qe3 {Not bad, but both players have missed a
clever, winning tactic at white's disposal. That's theoretically speaking.
Practically white's move is reasonable.} (15. Qxg4 fxg4 16. Rxe4 Qxe4 17. fxe4
{White has a B+2Ps vs a R, but his positional superiority that engines
consider decisive. White scored 5-0 in Shootous, but given the length (40-50
additional moves) and complexity of the game white's win is not a foregone
conclusion.}) 15... Ne5 16. Bb5+ (16. fxg4 {has better winning chances.} Nxc4
17. Qe2 Qf7 18. Qxc4 {with the better gane.}) 16... c6 17. fxg4 {All of
white's advantage has evaporated.} (17. Be2 cxd5 18. fxg4 f4 19. Qh3 O-O-O 20.
f3 {with only a slight advantage.}) 17... Nxg4 (17... cxb5 {would have been a
howler...} 18. gxf5 Nd6 19. Qh3 O-O-O 20. dxe5 Nc4 21. f6+ Qd7 22. Qxd7+ Rxd7
23. b3 Na5 24. e6 Rxd5 25. e7 Re8 26. f7) 18. Qe2 {It's quite natural to move
the attacked Q.} (18. dxc6 {is a clever try though.} Nxe3 19. cxb7+ Kf7 20.
bxa8=Q Rxa8 21. Nxe3 {with an interesting material imbalance. Shootouts
resulted in 5 draws.}) 18... cxb5 19. f3 Ngf6 20. fxe4 Nxe4 21. Qxb5+ Qd7 22.
Qxd7+ Kxd7 23. c4 {The exchange of Qs has increased the tension because the
play with the passed Ps promises plenty of excitement. Technically black is a
smidgen better; his pieces are actively placed.} Rae8 24. c5 Bd8 25. d6 f4 {
[%mdl 1056]} 26. b4 Rhf8 27. Rf1 h5 (27... f3 {was even stronger.} 28. Ne3 g4
29. Nc4 Bf6 30. Be3 Nc3 31. Kh1 Re4 32. Rfe1 Rfe8 33. Bf2 Bxd4 {Black is
winning.}) 28. Na3 {[%mdl 8192] Heading for e5, but keeping the N where it is
and playing more directly with 28.b5 was a better plan.} Bf6 29. Bb2 g4 {
With his Ps rilling black now has a decisive advantage for real. But, the
blunders aren't over!} 30. Nc4 f3 31. Ne5+ {This only worsens white's position
because it allows the removal of black's B which facilitates the advance of
black's Ps/. More logical, but still insufficient, would have been b5 with a
bit of counterplay.} Bxe5 32. dxe5 h4 {[%mdl 32]} 33. Rad1 f2+ 34. Kh1 h3 35.
Rd3 Rg8 {This loses almost all of the advantage and puts the win in doubt.} (
35... Rf4 {Potentially threatening the b-Pawn. White is completely ties up and
black will slowly penetrate his defenses.} 36. Bc1 Rf7 37. Bb2 Rf5 38. a3 Ref8
{White has a bad B and he has no constructive moves.} 39. e6+ (39. Rdd1 Rf3 40.
Rd4 (40. Rc1 Nd2) 40... g3 41. hxg3 Nxg3+ {wins}) 39... Kxe6 40. Re3 Kd5 41.
Bg7 R8f7 42. Rd3+ Kc6 43. Bd4 Rd5 {Black is clearly winning.}) 36. b5 {
Obviously McDonnell is hoping to use his Ps to create some play, in doing so
he missed a chance to nearly equalize.} (36. Re3 g3 (36... Ng5 37. Re2 Rgf8 38.
Rexf2 Rxf2 39. Rxf2 Nf3 {Black has his work cut out in order to score the
point.}) 37. hxg3 Nxg3+ {The reason for jis 36th move.} 38. Rxg3 Rxg3 39. Rxf2
Reg8 40. Rf7+ Kc6 41. Rf1 {and white has a fighting chance.}) 36... g3 37. hxg3
{Unlike the position after 36.Re3 in the previous note it makes a huge
difference that the N is not attacked.} Rxg3 38. Rd4 (38. c6+ {falls short...}
bxc6 39. bxc6+ Kxc6 40. d7 Rd8 41. Rc1+ Kb7 42. Rdd1 Rg2 43. Rd3 Ng3+ 44. Rxg3
Rxg3 45. Rf1 Rxd7 46. Bc1 Rg1+ 47. Rxg1 fxg1=Q+ 48. Kxg1 Rd1+) 38... Reg8 {
This is a major blunder throwing away the game, or should have!} (38... h2 {
wraps it up.} 39. e6+ {delays the inevitable.} (39. Rxe4 Rg1+ {mates in 2}))
39. e6+ {The winning move.} Kd8 {[%mdl 8192] Where the K retreats doesn't
matter; black loses.} 40. Rdd1 {White has totally mis judged this position.} (
40. Rxe4 {was the only winning move.} Rg1+ 41. Kh2 Rxf1 42. Bf6+ Kc8 43. d7+
Kc7 44. Rf4 Rd1 45. Rxf2 Re1 46. Rd2 Rxe6 47. d8=Q+ Rxd8 48. Bxd8+ {with a won
ending.}) 40... h2 {To quate a famous Englishman, "The rest is silence."} 41.
e7+ Kd7 42. c6+ bxc6 43. bxc6+ Kxc6 44. e8=Q+ Rxe8 {[%mdl 32]} 45. Kxh2 Re6 46.
Rc1+ Kb5 47. a4+ Kb4 48. Bc3+ Rxc3 49. Rxc3 Kxc3 50. d7 Rd6 51. Kg2 Rxd7 52.
Rc1+ Kd3 53. Kf1 Ke3 {White resigned. It's mate in 7. A far from perfent game,
yet an exciting one.} (53... Ke3 54. Ra1 Nd2+ 55. Kg2 f1=Q+ 56.
Rxf1 Nxf1 57. a5 Rg7+ 58. Kh3 Kf4 59. a6 Rg1 60. Kh4 Rh1#) 0-1
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