Norfolk Annals Volume Ii Part 20

-Norwich Theatre was opened for a brief season by Mr. Charles Dillon and Miss Gomersal.

24.-Mr. Henry Villebois, master of the Norfolk Fox Hounds, was presented with his portrait, subscribed for by 400 gentlemen, "in appreciation of his untiring and successful efforts to promote field sports in the county of Norfolk." Lord Sondes presided at the dinner held at the Town Hall, Lynn, and presented the portrait, which was painted by F. Grant, R.A.

29.-At a meeting of the Norwich Town Council, the resignations of Aldermen Sir W. Foster and Gibson were accepted, and Mr. R. J. H. Harvey and Mr. Fred Brown were elected to fill the vacancies. "The abolition of political ascendancy in the Town Council has been accomplished by the general consent of the influential men of each party, and duplicate agreements have been signed by at least three-fourths of the Corporation.

To the Mayor (Mr. J. H. Tillett) belongs the honour of having taken the initiative in this laudable effort."

NOVEMBER.

3.-A description was published of an iron lighthouse, completed by Messrs. Barnard, Bishop, and Barnards, of the Norfolk Iron Works, Norwich, for the Brazilian Government. It was designed by Messrs.

Bramwell and Reynolds, of Westminster, for erection on the island of Abrolhos, on the coast of Brazil. Made in sections, it was temporarily erected by the riverside near St. George's Bridge. The tower was circular in form, and constructed of 144 iron plates. Its base was 17 ft. in diameter, it was 46 ft. in height, and the lantern at the summit was 16 ft. high.

-A fearful boiler explosion occurred on the steams.h.i.+p Tonning, off Yarmouth, by which eight persons were blown out of the vessel and never again seen, three subsequently died, and several were seriously injured.

The Tonning was an iron vessel of 734 tons register, belonging originally to the North of Europe Steam Navigation Company, and was afterwards employed in the conveyance of cattle and pa.s.sengers between England and the Continent.

9.-Mr. W. J. Utten Browne was elected Mayor, and Dr. Dalrymple appointed Sheriff of Norwich.

10.*-"The Queen has been pleased to grant unto Edward Evans, of Great Melton and of Bylaugh, clerk, her Royal licence and authority that he may, in compliance with a proviso contained in the will of his great uncle, Sir John Lombe, henceforth take and use the surname of Lombe only, and use and bear the arms of Lombe in lieu of his present surname and arms of Evans."

-*"Mr. George Allen, of St. Stephen's, has introduced to Norwich the manufacture of elastic cloth, a fine material which has. .h.i.therto only been made in the West of England."

17.-During a strong gale from the N.N.W., several vessels lying off Yarmouth parted from their anchors and were driven ash.o.r.e and wrecked.

Several lives were lost.

DECEMBER.

1.-A gunpowder explosion occurred at the shop of Mr. Marrison, gun maker, Little Orford Street, Norwich. The entire shop front was wrecked, as also was that of the adjoining shop, occupied by Mr. Frankland, photographer and dealer in art materials. Two lives were lost. Mrs.

Dady, sister of Mr. Frankland, was sitting in a room over Mr. Marrison's shop, and was dashed by the force of the explosion to the ceiling. She fell through the chasm in the floor to the burning ruins beneath, where she was fearfully injured. Charles Hill, a shop boy in the employment of Mr. Marrison, was killed outright, and terribly mangled. The force of the explosion shattered the windows of the Bell Hotel and of other houses in the vicinity. At the Norwich a.s.sizes on March 26th, 1861, before Chief Baron Pollock, Mr. Marrison brought an action against the London Union Fire Office, for the recovery of 300 under a policy of insurance on his stock and furniture. The plaintiff had been offered and had refused 100 in settlement of the claim. The company then proved that the plaintiff had kept more gunpowder on his premises than was allowed by the terms of his contract, whereupon the judge ordered a non-suit.

3.-Died at Brighton, in his 61st year, Capt. Frederick Loftus, formerly of the 17th Lancers, youngest son of General and Lady Elizabeth Loftus, and grandson of George, first Marquis Townshend and Charlotte, Baroness De Ferrars and Compton. His remains were interred at Rainham, on December 11th.

5.-The suit, Gurney _v._ Gurney and Taylor, came before the Divorce Court, Westminster. The husband sought dissolution of marriage, on the ground of misconduct by the wife. A pet.i.tion had been presented for the settlement of property then vested in the wife in favour of the children, the issue of the marriage, and the Solicitor-General applied for a rule _nisi_ calling on the respondent, Mrs. Gurney, to show cause why a plea or a pleading in the nature of or intended to be a plea should not be taken off the file, and why the pet.i.tion for settlement should not be treated as unanswered or unopposed. Sir C. Cresswell granted a rule _nisi_. Evidence was given in the case on January 22nd, 1861, and the decree was made absolute on May 22nd.

11.-In the Vice-Chancellor's Court was heard the action, Berney _v._ the Norfolk and Eastern Counties Railway Company. By an agreement dated June 6th, 1843, the plaintiff sold certain land to the Norwich and Yarmouth Railway Company, and it was provided that such company should establish and for ever maintain a station in connection with their railway at Reedham, on part of the land sold to them by plaintiff. Nothing was said in the agreement in reference to stopping trains at the station. In 1844 the Norwich and Yarmouth railway was completed, and a station was constructed in accordance with the agreement, and called the Barney Arms Station, at which certain trains stopped. In 1845 the Norwich and Yarmouth Company was incorporated with the Norfolk Railway Company, and trains continued to stop at the station until 1850, when the Norfolk Company discontinued the practice. The plaintiff thereupon inst.i.tuted this suit, praying for a specific performance of the agreement of June, 1843, and an injunction to restrain the Norfolk Company from permitting the trains on their railway to pa.s.s the Berney Arms Station without stopping thereat, which was, in effect, to compel the company to stop the trains at that station. The motion for the injunction did not come on, in consequence of an arrangement whereby the Norfolk Company agreed to stop at Berney Arms Station one train from Norwich and one from Yarmouth on every Monday, Wednesday, and Sat.u.r.day. The Norfolk Railway was now worked by the Eastern Counties Railway on an agreement dated in 1854, which had received the sanction of the Legislature. The Eastern Counties Company were then made parties to the suit. Although the trains then stopped in a manner satisfactory to the plaintiff, there was no security that they would continue to do so. The Vice-Chancellor said there must be a specific performance of the agreement of June, 1843, and an order that one train from Norwich and one from Yarmouth should stop at Berney Arms Station on Monday, Wednesday, and Sat.u.r.day in every week; but he should also order that each of the companies should pay 100 to the plaintiff by way of costs. But for the plaintiff's forbearance in this respect, it would be difficult to say whether the Eastern Counties Company would have escaped from the litigation with having nothing else to pay than the plaintiff's ordinary costs.

14.-The Norwich Operatic Union gave its second concert, at St. Andrew's Hall. The programme included "Norma" and selections from "Il Trovatore."

The princ.i.p.al vocalists were Mdlle. Paripa, Mdlle. Vaneri, Mr. Santley, and Mr. Swift. Mr. Bunnett, B.M., conducted.

16.-The first of a series of special services was conducted at Norwich Theatre, by the Rev. T. B. Stephenson, Wesleyan minister. "The boxes were reserved for the most respectable-looking, and the unmitigated plebs. were relegated to the pit and gallery. The occupants of the gallery conducted themselves as the G.o.ds usually do, and were rebuked by the preacher, who took up his position on the stage in front of the drop scene, surrounded by a number of persons of both s.e.xes."

25.-This was the coldest Christmas that had been experienced for at least a century. "At the Literary Inst.i.tute at Norwich the minimum registered was 3 degrees above zero. At Costessey the register was 7 degrees below zero, or 39 degrees lower than the point at which water freezes. A peculiarity of the temperature on Christmas-day was the fact of its being colder in the morning than during the night. The coldest register was between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m., and there was scarcely any appreciable variation till after two o'clock. Ice was about four inches thick."

26.-The pantomime at Norwich Theatre was ent.i.tled, "Cinderella, or the Little Gla.s.s Slipper and the Fairy G.o.dmother from the Realms of Golden Palms." Wombwell's Menagerie was stationed on the Castle Meadow, and performances were given at the Royal Crystal Palace Amphitheatre, Golden Ball Street, under the management of Messrs. Emidy and Moffatt. The lessee was Mr. C. Testar.

27.-Died at 36, Berkeley Square, London, in his 57th year, Dr. Edward Rigby. He was the eldest son of the celebrated Dr. Rigby, of Norwich, and was educated at the Grammar School, under Dr. Valpy. He graduated at Edinburgh, and subsequently commenced practice in London, where he gradually raised himself to the very highest branches of his profession.

1861.

JANUARY.

5.-At the annual meeting of the Norfolk Agricultural a.s.sociation, held at the Swan Hotel, Norwich, Mr. Clare Sewell Read moved that the annual show for 1861 be held at East Dereham, instead of at Swaffham. This effort to abolish the system of holding the exhibitions alternately at Norwich and Swaffham was defeated by 19 votes to 15.

6.-The frost continued with unusual intensity, and on this day snowstorms, which covered the ground to the depth of twelve inches, occurred. On the 10th a public meeting was held at Norwich, under the presidency of the Mayor (Mr. W. J. Utten Browne), at which a fund was inaugurated to relieve the distresses of the poor. In a few days the sum of 4,139 12s. 11d. was subscribed. The river was frozen from Norwich to Yarmouth, and on the 16th a large party of ladies and gentlemen a.s.sembled on the ice on Breydon and "skated" quadrilles. The frost continued for more than five weeks, during the whole of which period the ground was covered with snow.

11.-Walsingham Quarter Sessions were held for the last time. Sir Willoughby Jones, who presided, informed the Grand Jury that the Sessions would be removed part to Swaffham and part to Norwich, "on account of the expenses being so great in proportion to the number of prisoners for trial." On March lst the Bridewell ceased to be used as a house of correction, and the prisoners were removed to Norwich Castle.

16.-Died, aged 85, Mr. Kinnebrook, for many years a proprietor of the "Norwich Mercury."

18.-Died, in his 60th year, Mr. Thomas Lound, for 35 years confidential clerk at King Street Old Brewery, Norwich. "As an artist, but princ.i.p.ally as a painter in water-colours, he had maintained a high reputation for many years. The local river and rural scenery afforded materials for a large proportion of his works. He occasionally painted street scenes and monastic ruins, and of late years he made excursions into Wales and Yorks.h.i.+re, bringing home with him a vast variety of subjects." In addition to his own collection, he left many water-colour drawings by Bright, Thirtle, c.o.x, and others, some of them of considerable value.

26.-At Norwich Castle, James Blomfield Rush, aged 30, "eldest son of _the_ Rush," was committed for trial on the charge of breaking into the dwelling-house of Mr. Abraham Cannell, farmer, Cringleford, on the night of January 12th. At the Norfolk a.s.sizes, on March 27th, before Chief Baron Pollock, the prisoner was acquitted. At subsequent dates he was twice acquitted for housebreaking, but at the Norfolk Quarter Sessions on March 11th, 1862, was sentenced to four years' penal servitude for breaking into a house at North Tuddenham.

FEBRUARY.

13.-In the Court of Queen's Bench, before the Lord Chief Justice and a special jury, an action was brought by Mr. Costerton, solicitor, of Yarmouth, against Sir Edmund Lacon, M.P., for a scandalous attack made upon the plaintiff by the defendant in the course of an election speech.

The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff, damages 40s.

25.-Judgment was given by the Barons of the Exchequer in the cause Morant _v._ Chamberlin. It was an action between the Corporation of Yarmouth and Mr. G. D. Palmer, who claimed a right to a portion of the south end of the public quays. Judgment was for the plaintiff, damages 5 5s.

"This decision thus settles this long-pending dispute, now nearly three years from its commencement, and decides the right of the Corporation to the soil of the quays and the right of the public to the free use of the same without any of the inconveniences which for so long a time prevented the proper enjoyment of the part in dispute. The verdict gives the plaintiffs the costs of this heavy litigation, except on two unimportant issues. The defendant will have to pay somewhere about 2,800."

MARCH.

16.-On this date was published the announcement that the First Norfolk Mounted Rifle Volunteer Corps had been attached to the City of Norwich Rifle Volunteer Corps for administrative purposes. The mounted corps, which numbered 50, was commanded by Capt. F. Hay Gurney. The uniform consisted of scarlet tunic with blue facings, white cross belt, white breeches, and Napoleon boots. The head-dress was a busby with blue bag; the forage-cap was blue trimmed with white.

16.-Intelligence was received at Norwich of the death, of the d.u.c.h.ess of Kent. On the 17th (Sunday) special references were made to the melancholy event at the religious services in the city, and at intervals the age of the deceased was tolled upon the m.u.f.fled bells of the Cathedral and St. Peter Mancroft church. The Town Council, on April 5th, adopted an address of sympathy with the Queen.

-The Surlingham estate was sold by Messrs. Butcher, at the Royal Hotel, Norwich, for 16,895.

26.-At the Norfolk a.s.sizes, before Chief Baron Pollock and a special jury, was tried the libel action, Cufaude _v._ Cory. The plaintiff and defendant had taken different sides at the election of a vestry clerk at Yarmouth, and the libel was contained in a handbill issued during the contest by the defendant, who referred to the printed statement of the income and expenditure of the Guardians, to which body the plaintiff was clerk, as "cooked," and left the sum of 779 unaccounted for. The special jury returned a verdict for plaintiff, damages 500. In the Court of Queen's Bench, on April 17th, Mr. Lush moved for a rule to set aside the verdict, on the ground of excessive damages. A rule was granted. Mr. Cufaude subsequently consented to a reduction of damages from 500 to 300, "much against the advice of his counsel."

APRIL.

2.-The High Sheriff of Norfolk (Mr. J. T. Mott) delivered a lecture at Noverre's Rooms, Norwich, on "The Paston Letters."

10.-The 10th Hussars Steeplechases took place at Crostwick.