Some study tries by

Charles Edward Ranken

 

(England, 5.1.1828 - 12.4.1905)

 

At Wikipedia we can read a lot about him.

This is his chess career:

Ranken was a leading member of a group of clerics who played a prominent role in early Victorian Era English chess.[4][11]

In addition to Ranken, these included the Reverend George Alcock MacDonnell, John Owen, William Wayte, Edmund Thorold and Arthur Skipworth.[11][12]

Mike Fox and Richard James remark that, "The English parsons were a talented mob; presumably quiet country parishes in the nineteenth century gave one the leisure needed to become a star."[13]

However, Philip Sergeant in his book A Century of British Chess writes that, "In chess he was one of the writing rather than the fighting clergy, and his delight lay most in analysis".[3]

Despite Sergeant's characterization, Ranken played in a number of tournaments in Britain between 1851 and 1895.[14]

After leaving Oxford, he played in the provincial section of the great London 1851 tournament, finished second behind Samuel Boden.[4][15][16]

By 1859, the Chess Player's Chronicle ranked him the best English player outside London.[17] He played in many congresses organized by the Counties Chess Association.[4]

His best result was in 1872, when he finished first in the first-class section at the 8th British Counties Chess Association Congress in Malvern with 12 of 14 possible points,

ahead of Revs. Thorold (11.5 points) and Wayte (10.5 points).[4][7][18]

He had another excellent performance in 1881, when he won the 16th British Counties Chess Association Congress in Leamington, scoring 8 of 9 possible points,

ahead of Revs. Owen (7.5 points) and Wayte (7 points).[19] n 1877, he won the Counties Chess Association handicap tournament at Birmingham.[20]

At the 1883 London Vizayanagaram minor tournament,[21] Ranken "started well but his health gave way after the first week".[4]

He still scored 17.5 of 25 possible points, tying for 5th–6th out of 26 players with George H. D. Gossip.[22][23][24] Curt von Bardeleben won with 21.5 points;

Isidor Gunsberg, who would narrowly lose an 1890–91 World Championship match to Wilhelm Steinitz, finished fourth with 19 points.[22][24]

The strongest tournament in which Ranken played was the Master Tournament at Hereford 1885, an 11-player tournament that featured some of the world's leading players.

Ranken scored 3 of 10 possible points, tying for 8th–10th with William Pollock and Thorold.

Joseph Henry Blackburne won with 8 points, followed by Henry Bird and Emil Schallopp (7.5 points), George Henry Mackenzie (7 points), and Gunsberg and James Mason (5.5 points).[25]

Ranken also participated in several correspondence chess matches and took first place in the British Chess Association's 1872 competition.[26]

 

Also more info about him at the British Chess Game Archive.

 

Sadly his few Endgame compositions are not without cooks.

But his ideas let to some corrections by others.

This all can be found in Harold van der Heijden (HHdbVI)