Alfred Stair (15 May 1845 – 2 March 1914) was an English

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

, who was the

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

at the first three

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football ev ...

s, all of which were played in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

1872 Events January–March * January 12 – Yohannes IV is crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in Axum, the first ruler crowned in that city in over 500 years. * February 2 – The government of the United Kingdom buys a number of forts on ...

, 1873 and

1874 Events January–March * January 1 – New York City annexes The Bronx. * January 2 – Ignacio María González becomes head of state of the Dominican Republic for the first time. * January 3 – Third Carlist War &ndas ...

. He entered the

civil service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

in 1864 in the Treasury, becoming Principal Accountant in 1887 and Assistant Account-General in 1889. Alfred Stair served as Accountant and Comptroller-General of Board of the

Inland Revenue The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation ta ...

Somerset House Somerset House is a large Neoclassical complex situated on the south side of the Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadrangle was built on the site of a Tudor palace ("O ...

from 1900 to 1910. He was born on 15 May 1845 in Greenwich, Kent, the third child (and eldest son) of Thomas Stair (1802-1875), Deputy Comptroller-General of the Board of the

, and Ann (née Davis). In

, Alfred Stair officiated in the match between Wanderers and

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

on 16 March. Like Stair his assistants (Umpires), JH Giffard, for the Royal Engineers, and James Kirkpatrick for the Wanderers, were also civil servants. Alfred Stair, as Treasurer of the Football Association, proposed the institution of the original FA Challenge Cup, to be paid for by a subscription of one

guinea Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...

from each member club; this was eventually stolen following the 1894–95 FA Cup final. Stair played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

for the

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

club Upton Park from 1867 to 1874 and for the Wanderers. He was also selected as the match referee for the

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

game on 6 March 1875. Stair married Elisabeth Ann Nield (1845-1934), daughter of Edward Nield (1820-1879), barrister, and Emma Cordingley, and died on 2 March 1914 at The Croft, Saltwood, Kent, aged 68. Alfred and Elisabeth had two sons, Arthur Cecil Stair and Vernon Stair, and four daughters, Gertrude, Maude (who married Sir Archibald Hurd, brother of Sir

Percy Hurd Sir Percy Angier Hurd (18 May 1864 – 5 June 1950) was a British journalist and Conservative Party politician who served as a Member of Parliament for nearly thirty years. He was the first of four generations of Hurds to serve as Conservative ...

), Lilian and Eva.

References

English football referees FA Cup Final referees Upton Park F.C. players Wanderers F.C. players Association footballers not categorized by position 1845 births 1914 deaths English footballers {{England-footy-bio-stub