Handmade Chess Set in New Zealand National Army Museum

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012


Hi everyone,

Here is a very interesting artefact - A Handmade Chess Set!

This set is chess set housed in a coconut shell and carved by Lancelot Hugh Herd while a Prisoner of War (POW) in Changi Prison, Singapore during World War II. Lance Herd served as a Sapper (NZ Engineers) in World War I and was serving with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) in Singapore during World War II. On 13 February 1942 he was ordered to evacuate the base to Batavia. On his way he stopped off at Banku Island not realising it was now occupied by the Japanese. He and his crew were taken prisoner and finally placed in Changi where he remained until after the war. Find out about our other museum artefacts and recent acquisitions.

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