Blue plaques Sheffield: The fascinating people and their stories commemorated in city
A new blue plaque to commemorate the birthplace of the ‘Sheffield Rules’ of football was unveiled in the city last week.
It can be found at the Crucible Theatre, which now occupiet the site of the former Adelphi Hotel, where the rules were agreed by members of the world’s oldest football club, Sheffield FC, 166 years ago.
The idea behind the plaque is to celebrate and recognise the depth of football’s origins in Sheffield.
Blue plaques are renowned across the country for recognising places of interest and the former homes of famous figures.
But do you know the locations of other blue plaques in Sheffield, and why they were unveiled?
Here are 10 of the most notable from significant points in the city’s history:
Sir Henry Coward – 6 Kenwood Road, Nether Edge
Sheffield’s musical talent extends far further back than Pulp and the Arctic Monkeys.
Sir Henry Coward (1849-1944) was a conductor and composer who initially moved from Liverpool to Sheffield when he became an apprentice to a local cutler.
Throughout his life, he adopted numerous musical positions in the city, including founder and director of the Sheffield Tonic Sol-fa (Sheffield Music Union and Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus).
A plaque is now situated on 6 Kenwood Road in Nether Edge, the house where he lived from 1931 until his death.
Sir Henry Bessemer
Steel is at the heart of Sheffield’s history, and the man behind this – the inventor of the revolutionary Bessemer process, Sir Henry Bessemer (1813-1898) – gets the recognition he deserves in the form of his own blue plaque.
This is at Bessemer House on Carlisle Street East, the former offices of Bessemer Steel Co and opposite the site where Bessemer opened his first steelworks in Sheffield.
Cemetery Road Church Football Club
It isn’t only the world’s first football club that Sheffield is famous for, as the city was also home to the oldest and first football club to begin from a church – Cemetery Road Church Football Club – in 1861.
The blue plaque to commemorate this was unveiled in May 2024 on the site where the church formerly stood. This is now the Nuffield Health Sheffield Fitness and Wellbeing Gym on Napier Street.
Sir Nathaniel Creswick – 9 East Parade
Continuing with the theme of Sheffield’s proud footballing history, is the blue plaque to the co-founder of Sheffield FC and co-writer of the Sheffield Rules of football, Sir Nathiel Creswick (1831-1917).
He also scored the first goal in the first recognised football match in history: Sheffield FC v Hallam FC in 1860.
Adjacent to Sheffield Cathedral, 9 East Parade was the location of Sir Creswick’s solicitors office – which he used to support the development of the world’s oldest football club in its early years.
It was erected in June 2024 by Sheffield Home of Football.
Marples Hotel
On the first night of the Sheffield Blitz - December 12, 1940 - 70 people were killed in the bombing of the Marples Hotel.
However it was not until this year that a memorial plaque to honour the lives lost was installed, as a result of the efforts of local historian Martin Naylor.
“In my generation, all ‘Sheffielders’ were aware of it, but my own children and grandchildren knew nothing about this piece of history,” he told The Star prior to the unveiling in April.
“I was worried that it would gradually fade into obscurity, and I just wanted to help prevent that.”
The plaque sits on the side of the rebuilt building, now a pawnbrokers.
Ebenezer Elliott – 22 Blake Grove Road, Upperthorpe
Born in Masbrough, Rotherham, Ebenezer Elliott (1781-1849) was a poet and political activist.
His leading role in the successful campaign to repeal the Corn Laws – 19th century tariffs on corn and other food imports – earned him the nickname ‘the Corn Law Rhymer’.
The blue plaque is situated on 22 Blake Grove Road in Upperthorpe – his home between 1834 and 1841.
Frank Harrison – 289 Glossop Road
Frank Harrison (1859-1912) was a dental surgeon who published the world’s first academic paper on the use of X-rays in dentistry in the 1896 British Dental Journal.
He was also “instrumental” in the founding of the Sheffield School of Dental Surgery and School Dental Clinic.
289 Glossop Road – his former practise - is now home to luxury apartments.
Sir John Bright – Carbrook Hall, Attercliffe Common
Influential in the English Civil War, Sir John Bright (1619-1688) used his Carbrook Hall home as a meeting place for fellow Parliamentarians at the time of the siege of Sheffield Castle.
Over 10 days, the 1644 siege led to the securing of Parliamentarian rule and the destruction of Sheffield Castle.
Ethel Haythornthwaite MBE – Endcliffe Student Village
Influential environmental campaigner Ethel Haythornthwaite MBE (1894-1986) is recognised for her achievements in protecting the countryside around the Sheffield area.
As founder of the Sheffield Association for the Protection of Rural Scenery (now the South Yorkshire branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England) in 1924, she served as secretary over its various iterations for more than five decades.
Her work also led to the creation of the Peak District as the UK’s first National Park, and protection of land across Blacka Moor and of the Longshaw Estate.
Nationally, she assisted on government green belt policy and sat on the government’s National Parks Committee.
She was honoured with a blue plaque at Endcliffe Student Village – the site of her former Endcliffe Vale house – in 2022 following a campaign by The Star.
Joseph William Thornton – 64 Fitzwalter Road
Now one of the UK’s most recognisable confectionary brands, Thorntons opened their first
store on Norfolk Street in Sheffield in 1911.
The company later set up production sites in the city, before moving across to Derbyshire in the late 1940s.
The plaque on 64 Fitzwalter Road marks the family of home of founder Joseph William Thornton (1870-1919) at the time that the first store opened.