I was going through copies of the deeds of my house this evening. The house is 100 years old next year, and I was trying to find the exact date so I can organise a centenary party, it's the 18th July by the way.
Anyway there is a rather grand house which our garden backs on to, and I was looking at copies of the old maps. The house belonged to a William Minnis. It's the type of house which you would imagine belonged to someone of high standing, so I googled for details. The William Minnis that came up was the first Irish Chess champion in 1939, I am not sure if this is the same one who owned the house, because he looks rather young in the photo.
The following interesting page from the same site catalogues a visit of Alexander Alekhine the world champion from 1927 to 1935 and again from 1937 to Belfast