Object number
TN.2008.282
Title
Agreement between Messrs Spiers & Pond and Messrs Stephenson & others. 25th September 1861
Date
1861-09-25 - 1861-09-25
Creator
Production reason
Contract drawn up between Messrs Spiers & Pond and H.H. Stephenson’s team which toured Australia 1861 - 1862
Material
Size
38 x 25 cm
Description
Handwritten, 8 page document. Tied with green ribbon. Six penny stamp embossed, front page, upper left.
Display caption
Early cricket tours were very much commercial ventures. Following the success of George Parr’s team in North America, Melbourne businessmen Christopher Pond and Felix Spiers were approached to sponsor the first tour of Australia by a team of English cricketers. Melbourne was booming with gold-rush money, and Spiers and Pond had interests in the city’s most fashionable hotel and cafés. They offered the cricketers £150 each plus an additional £5 for each advertisement they featured in.
Related objects
MCC/SEC/4/TEMP21 : Legal: Memorandum of Agreement for English cricket team in Australia 1861-1862
Exhibitions
Object name
Object Category
