Henry Edward Bird (14 July 1829[1] – 11 April 1908) was an English chess player, author and accountant.

He wrote the books Chess History and Reminiscences and An Analysis of Railways in the United Kingdom.

In 1858 he lost a match to Paul Morphy at age 28, yet he played high-level chess for another 50 years.

In the New York tournament of 1876, Bird received the first brilliancy prize ever awarded, for his game against James Mason.

[2] In 1874 Bird proposed a new chess variant, which played on an 8×10 board and contained two new pieces: guard (combining the moves of the rook and knight) and equerry (combining the bishop and knight).