A Lithuanian Jew, Joseph Kagan and his wife Margaret were lucky to escape the Nazi attentions during the Second World War thanks to a friend who risked his own life, and they eventually settled in West Yorkshire in 1946.

He came to prominence in the mid-1950s when the rising star of Labour politics, Harold Wilson, began wearing his Gannex raincoats, quickly followed by world leaders such as American President Lyndon Johnson, Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev, Queen Elizabeth, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Royal corgis.

Lord Kagan, a wealthy industrialist, suffered a fall from grace in 1980 after he was charged with tax evasion and sentenced to 10 months in Rudgate Prison where he continued to play chess – a hobby he passionately pursued all his life.

Although stripped of his knighthood he retained his peerage and later spoke in the House of Lords on a wide range of subjects and was part of the House of Lords team which played the first chess match against the House of Commons. He died in London in 1995.

Since then Lady Kagan has shunned the limelight, but while clearing out possessions at the former mill in Elland she came across his collection of around 20 sets thought to be worth several hundred pounds and decided to give the majority of them to Huddersfield Chess Club.

A number of players at the club chess congress at the Ukrainian Club, Edgerton, were invited to inspect the sets which include stunning examples from all over the world.

Particular interest was paid to a political set featuring some of the century's foremost politicians from Harold Wilson and Enoch Powell to Margaret Thatcher and Jim Callaghan.

Others from India, Spain and Russia feature exquisite, colourful pieces with incredibly detailed craftsmanship. Perhaps most striking of all is an Alice-in-Wonderland set complete with rabbit-type pieces.

Huddersfield Chess Club committee member Chris Stratford said: "They are quite amazing and I am sure they will generate a lot of interest and everyone at the club is grateful to Lady Kagan. We have only recently received them so have not decided what to do with them yet."

Lady Kagan, 83, of Huddersfield, said: "It was hard to give the sets up. I have no idea about the value of them, but I just wanted them to be appreciated and I thought it would be nice for a local club such as Huddersfield to have them. I'm sure that Joseph would have liked that.

"He was a very keen chess player and played whenever he could. He would always ask people he met whether they played - that was always his first question.

"He said two hours of playing chess with someone gave you a better insight into their personality than anything else.

"Joseph was so keen on chess – it was his main hobby, sometimes to the exclusion of all everything else.''