Norfolk Annals Volume I Part 116

30.-The headquarters of the 16th Lancers marched from Norwich for Hounslow.

MAY.

1.-Sultzer's public baths were opened in St. Augustine's, Norwich. In the course of six months they were used by 10,943 persons.

4.-Attention was directed to the system then becoming more prevalent than ever, of driving dogs in trucks or small carts along the public roads.

"To say nothing of the cruelty to the dogs, few horses will pa.s.s them without risk of accident."

6.-The season terminated at Norwich Theatre. The house was under the management of Mr. Clarence (afterwards known as Mr. Clarence Holt).

14.-The Norwich Town Council adopted an address of congratulation to the Queen and Prince Albert upon the birth, on May 1st, of a Prince (Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught).

16.-Mr. W. Lee, C.E., one of the Inspectors of the Board of Health, opened, at the Guildhall, Norwich, a public inquiry into the sanitary state of the city. It lasted eight days.

-A sturgeon, measuring 6 ft. 2 in. in length and 3 ft. 6 in. in girth, and weighing 15 st. 3 lbs., was shot in the river Wissey, near Hilgay Bridge. "It is surprising how a fish of this size could get up the river so far, as it had to pa.s.s through several sluices."

17.-Died at Mill Hill, Hendon, aged 57, Sir James Flower, Bart. He was a son of the first baronet, by the eldest daughter and co-heiress of Mr.

James Squire, of Portsmouth. In 1816 he married the daughter of Sir Walter Stirling, Bart. He succeeded his father in 1834. In 1838 he filled the office of High Sheriff of Norfolk, and in 1843 was appointed a deputy-lieutenant for Herefordshire. A Conservative in politics, he contested the representation of Thetford with the Earl of Euston, when a "double return" resulted. On pet.i.tion, Sir James was declared the sitting member. The first baronet was an alderman of the City of London, who filled the office of Lord Mayor in the year of the Jubilee.

19.-Lieut. John Allen, commander of the Prince of Wales Revenue cutter, boarded off Happisburgh a vessel named the Sea Flower, of Hull, and found her laden with 122 bales of contraband tobacco of 50 lbs. each, the duty upon which amounted to 900. The vessel and cargo were confiscated.

24.-The headquarters of the 11th Hussars arrived at Norwich, under command of Col. the Earl of Cardigan. "This regiment has a fine appearance. The uniform is blue jacket, braided, scarlet trousers, and bearskin cap."

-The Queen's birthday was celebrated at Norwich by the Pockthorpe "Corporation" parading in the Market Place, "the 'Mayor' and 'Aldermen'

wearing their scarlet gowns and bearing themselves with all the conscious dignity of office." The Sheriff of Norwich (Mr. James Colman) entertained the inmates of the Workhouse, the Infirmary, and the Boys'

Home to dinner at St. Andrew's Hall, and the Mayor (Mr. Woodc.o.c.k) gave a dinner at the a.s.sembly Rooms.

29.-A new organ, the gift of Col. Mason, was opened at Necton church.

JUNE.

5.-An extraordinary will was left by Miss Margaret Creake, of St.

Andrew's, Norwich, whose death occurred on this date. She was the last of three sisters, very eccentric in their manners and parsimonious in their way of living. She directed that her relatives who chose to prove their ident.i.ty should receive one shilling each; a legacy of 20 was left to one neighbour, and of 10 to another. She directed that 50 be given to each homeless person above 68 years of age in London, Ireland, and Scotland, and that all her real estate be employed in founding a hospital for aged persons, the hospital to be built and the inmates habited according to her directions. The property, valued at 20,000, being insufficient, the wishes of the testatrix could not be carried out.

Upwards of 1,000 persons visited the late residence of the deceased, "the filthiness of which was beyond description." Shortly after the death of Miss Creake, a chemist named Woolner, with whom she had been intimate, committed suicide by poisoning himself. It was then rumoured that the woman had met with her death by foul means. The Coroner (Mr. Wilde) ordered the exhumation of the body from St. Clement's churchyard. An examination of the remains was made by Mr. T. W. Crosse, who attributed death to natural causes.

9.-Died at Norwich, aged 60, Mr. John Green Crosse, senior surgeon of the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital. Mr. Crosse was a native of Suffolk, and received his early professional education under Mr. Bailey, at Stowmarket. After a distinguished career as a medical student in London, he became demonstrator of anatomy in Dublin. He visited Paris, where he made himself sufficiently acquainted with the French schools of medicine to enable him on his return to publish "Sketches of the Medical Schools of Paris." He settled in Norwich in 1815, and in the following year married a daughter of his former master and friend. In 1825 he was elected a.s.sistant-surgeon of the Hospital, and on the death of Mr. Bond succeeded to the surgeoncy on August 25th, 1826. There he gained for himself a surgical reputation which was described as "not local, not provincial, not British, not European, but universal." Mr. Crosse was one of the founders of the Pathological Society; he was a Fellow of the Royal Society, a Fellow of the College of Surgeons of England, a Doctor of Medicine in the Universities of Heidelberg and St. Andrew's, a member of several scientific bodies, and the author of many valuable professional works and papers. His remains were interred on June 14th, in the burial ground of Norwich Cathedral.

JULY.

9.-Intelligence was received in Norwich of the death of H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge. The bells of the city churches were tolled.

29.-Mrs. Charles Gill (Miss Vining) appeared at Norwich Theatre, after an absence of five years, and was enthusiastically received by a crowded house.

AUGUST.

3.-Comment was made upon the altered circ.u.mstances of the Norwich a.s.size week:-"Alterations in our system of jurisprudence have caused some change in the character of our a.s.sizes, and diminished the number attending them; whilst changes of our social system have led the higher cla.s.ses to join less in the popular amus.e.m.e.nts of the people."

10.-Potash Farm, formerly occupied by James Blomfield Rush, was sold by auction by Mr. Butcher, for 3,100. The purchaser was Sir J. P. Boileau, Bart.

17.*-"Messrs. E. and R. W. Blake, of Norwich, have purchased the Yarn Factory, with its machinery, for 14,000, under direction of the Master in Chancery, under the Winding-Up Act. The stock is valued at 7,219, making, with the purchase, the sum total of 21,219."

-Died, Hannah Sarah Hanc.o.c.k, daughter of the Rev. Thomas Wigg Hanc.o.c.k, of St. Helen's parsonage, Norwich. She was born on November 8th, 1781. At eight years of age she compiled a dictionary for children, and throughout her life took great interest in music and painting. She received the silver medal of the Society of Arts in 1805, and in 1807 was granted a second silver medal by the same society for an oil painting after the design by Rubens in the altarpiece at Antwerp.

-Considerable inconvenience was caused at Norwich by a strike of the firemen and engine-drivers on the Eastern Counties Railway.

24.-Died at Birkenhead, Lieut.-Col. Edwin Cruttenden. Of an old Norfolk family, he was born in 1784. He received a commission in the Royal Artillery in 1804, was stationed ten years in the Mauritius, and in 1814 was engaged in the capture of Oswego, North America. He was appointed lieutenant-colonel in 1841.

SEPTEMBER.

20.-At a special meeting of the Norwich Town Council, an address was ordered to be presented to the Bishop of Norwich on his appointment to the diocese. The presentation took place at the Palace, on October 4th.

28.-Died at his residence, James Street, Buckingham Gate, London, Mr.

Thomas Amyot, F.R.S., F.S.A., in his 76th year. He was the eldest son of Mr. Peter Amyot, of St. Peter Mancroft, Norwich, and was articled to Messrs. Foster and Unthank, solicitors, of that city. On the accession to power, in 1806, of the Fox and Granville parties, the Right Hon.

William Windham, Secretary for the Department of War and the Colonies, appointed Mr. Amyot his private secretary. On the dissolution of that short-lived Administration, he received a lucrative Colonial appointment as Registrar of Slaves in the British West India possessions, a position which he continued to hold until his functions gradually ceased on the pa.s.sing of the Slavery Abolition Act. Mr. Amyot was interested in literary pursuits and archaeological research. He married Jane, only daughter of Mr. Edward Colman, surgeon, of Norwich, by whom he had two sons and six daughters.

OCTOBER.

23.-A fine schooner was launched from Mr. T. Tyrrell's shipyard at Wells-next-the-Sea.

24.-"The Times" was shamefully hoaxed on this date. A letter had been sent to the editor, with the intimation that a Protectionist meeting was to be held at Lynn, to be addressed by the Hon. E. H. Stanley, M.P., Mr.

D'Israeli, and other gentlemen. "The Times" sent its representatives, who found that no such meeting had been announced or even contemplated.

27.-Died at Blickling Hall, the Dowager Lady Suffield. "She was born in the year 1767, her early life being pa.s.sed during one of the most eventful periods, both socially and politically, which have marked our history." Her father was John Hobart, second Earl of Buckinghamshire, who had been Amba.s.sador at St. Petersburg, and was afterwards Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. In 1792 she married William a.s.sheton, second Lord Suffield, and in 1744 her youngest sister, Amelia Ann, was married to Lord Castlereagh. "In consequence of this union her connection with the political world was maintained even more intimately than before.

Throughout her life she continued to take a lively interest in the politics of the county, and the influence of the united houses of Gunton and Blickling in the days of contested elections was not lightly esteemed by conflicting parties." In 1821 she became a widow, and thenceforth devoted herself to charitable works. The family estates descended to the Marquis of Lothian, her grand-nephew.

NOVEMBER.

2.-The announcement was made of the engagement of Mr. and Mrs. F.

Phillips as members of the Norwich Company, under the management of Mr.

Joseph Clarence. Mrs. Phillips, who was professionally known as Miss Ellen Daly, had acquired Metropolitan celebrity, and "was equally at home in serious work, in domestic comedy, and in fashionable life."

8.-The ceremony of turning the first sod of the great undertaking known as the Norfolk Estuary Works was performed at Lynn by Sir William ffolkes. The Earl of Hardwick, the Earl of Leicester, Mr. R. G. Tounley, M.P., and Miss Wodehouse each deposited a spadeful of earth upon a barrow, which was wheeled away by the Mayor. It was estimated that 150,000 acres of land would be reclaimed from the sea by the completion of the work.

9.-Mr. Henry Woodc.o.c.k was re-elected Mayor of Norwich. Mr. Edward Blakely was appointed Sheriff.