A Sheffield Football Club account for 21 pounds and 12 shillings for three dinners held at the Black Swan Commercial & Family Hotel, Sheffield, during

A Sheffield Football Club account for 21 pounds and 12 shillings for three dinners held at the Black Swan Commercial & Family Hotel, Sheffield, during the 1873-74 season, an account in pen & ink manuscript from the hotel by proprietor Thomas S. Morris to the Sheffield FC for dining three times; 30th October 1873 25 dinners at 5 shillings, 7 shillings for waiters 15th January 1874 Sandwiches 15 shillings, 3 bottles of sherry at 6 shillings each, 20 dinners at 5 shillings, 7 shillings for waiters, a further 3 bottles of sherry at 6 shillings each 7th March 1874 26 dinners at 5 shillings each, 5 shillings for broken glass, 7 shillings for waiters; the total account of 21 pounds and twelve shillings receipted over a one penny Victorian Inland Revenue Stamp and received 3rd September 1874, written in pen & ink to the reverse 'T S Morris, 21 pounds 12 shillings', mounted in a perspex stand for display purposes; sold together with three photocopied match reports from the Sheffield Daily telegraph that confirm the match occasions for which the dinners were organised, namely i) 30th October 1873, Sheffield FC v Shropshire Wanderers for the Challenge Cup provided by the London Football Clubs Association, the game ending as a 0-0 draw; ii) 15th January 1874, Sheffield FC beating Nottinghamshire 2-0 & iii) 7th March 1874, Sheffield FC beating Derbyshire 2-0 This was a substantial amount of money in 1874 and equivalent to ?1,560 today using the retail price index. The dinners were equivalent to ?18 per head, whilst a bottle of sherry was ?21. Contrast this with the cost of waiters at ?25, reflecting the low cost of labour in Victorian times. The account was not settled by Sheffield Football Club until six months after the last dinner and nearly a year since the first one, perhaps explained by the high expense they managed to run up on credit. The account may be compared with a cash balance of only 2 pounds, seventeen shillings and five pence held by the Football Association in 1875 (A History of Football by Morris Marples, Secker & Warburg, London, 1954, p.177). The Black Swan Hotel was located at Snig Hill, Sheffield, and was demolished during redevelopment in the 1960s. Sheffield FC is acknowledged to be the world's oldest Association Football Club. The club's archive including the earliest ruled were sold at Sotheby's 14th July 2011 for a hammer price of ?750,000.