Background
The son of the architect Ernest Gershom Colman (1851-1935) he graduated from Cambridge University with a law degree and entered service in the Malay States.
The son of the architect Ernest Gershom Colman (1851-1935) he graduated from Cambridge University with a law degree and entered service in the Malay States.
When he retired, he stayed on in Malaysia and set up youth clubs throughout the peninsula. His name is attached to the Colman Variation of the Two Knights Defense (1e4 e5 2Nf3 Nc6 3Bc4 Nf6 4Ng5 d5 5exd5 Na5 6Bb5+ c6 7dxc6 bxc6 8Qf3 Rb8) but the most remarkable thing about it were the circumstances under which it was first analysed. During World World War II Colman was interned in Changi Civilian Internees Camp in Singapore (1942–1945) and his opening analysis helped take his (and his fellow prisoners’) mind off the horrors of the prison (about 850 POWs died in Changi Prison during the Japanese occupation).
Coleman called his variation "The Wimbledon Defense.".
He returned to England and lived in Wimbledon where he was an active member of the Wimbledon Chess Club.