Saturday 24 October 1857- A slow news day in Sheffield newspapers

160 years ago today Sheffield FC the world’s oldest football club was founded. There is of course no mention of the momentous events happening at Eastbank as organised by Creswick and Prest in the newspaper of the day. The biggest news of the day in the Sheffield Independent (when Sheffield FC) started was all about the H.R.H. Duke of Cambridge laying the foundation of the monument at the top of the Moor to commemorate the men of Sheffield who died in the Crimean war. When completed it was an impressive sight:

There have been campaigns in the past to restore the Crimean war memorial dubbed “Sheffield’s Nelson’s Column” to the city centre, which has been languishing in storage for more than a decade. It stood in Moorhead for a century but was removed in 1960 as part of a road scheme. After 50 years in Sheffield’s Botanical Gardens, without the column, the monument was removed on the condition that a new site was found within two years but that deadline has been and passed and it remains in storage.
Meanwhile on page 4 of the same edition of the 24th of October 1857 paper was a classified advert that does mention a famous name in respect of Sheffield FC:

Nathaniel Creswick senior had died two years earlier on the 22 November 1855 at the family home of Easthill House, Park and the firm of which he was a partner are selling some of their stock.

 

Easthill House (just a few hundred yards away from where Sheffield FC played their first games) was sold by Nathaniel Creswick junior in August 1872. See advert for the sale here:
https://englandsoldestfootballclubs.com/died-100-years-ago-today-nathaniel-creswick-the-co-founder-of-the-worlds-oldest-football-club/

Sheffield FC have had a long-standing dream move to play at the Sheffield Works Department Sports football pitch, which is just a few hundred metres from where they originally played at Eastbank in 1857 ( a piece of land currently occupied by the B&Q store on Queens Road). If the move happens the whole location will need development and perhaps the council could support the project by relocating the Sheffield Crimean monument to Sheffield FC’s new ground as a tribute to fallen Sheffield dead of the Crimean war and at the same time commemorate a famous date in Association football history – the 24th October 1857.

Martin Westby author of A History of Sheffield Football 1857-1889 is giving a talk as part of the Off the Shelf Book Festival at the Creative Lounge at the Showroom Cinema, Paternoster Row on Wednesday 25 October 7.30pm. Tickets £6.00 (£5.00 concessions) http://bit.ly/2g3vkNi

Available at the door on the night