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Mr W.E.A. McBride was born in Kent in 1904, and died on 12 January 1984. According to an obituary published in the "South African Chessplayer" McBride arrived in Durban in 1935, where he was employed by Stuttafords. He was club champion in 1939, 1944 and 1946. I understand that Jack Archer, who won in 1937, 1938 and from 1940 to 1943 did not compete in those years, as he was by far the strongest player in Durban at the time. They played a match in 1940, which Archer won 5-3 (+4=2-2), so McBride was good enough to defeat Archer twice, something that very few players in South Africa were able to do.

In 1952 he moved to Cape Town, and became a leading player in Western Province chess. McBride was also a very accomplished chess administrator, being President of both the Cape Town Chess Club and the Claremont Chess Club at one time. He also served as President of the South African Chess Federation from 1964 to 1968. McBride was still active as a chessplayer until the late 1970's.

Here is a game from the pages of the "South African Chessplayer" published in March 1956: