Norfolk Annals Volume Ii Part 66

17.-It was announced that the Privy Council had granted licences for the sale of store sheep at Tombland Fair, on March 2nd. Norwich Cattle Market was opened for the sale of fat and store stock on April 7th, under certain conditions. (_See_ January 5th, 1884.)

22.-The Spring Show of the Norfolk Agricultural a.s.sociation was held on the Old Cricket Ground, Lakenham.

24.-A public subscription was inaugurated to enable the city of Norwich to purchase a site for the erection of brigade depot barracks for the Norfolk Regiment. The War Office, it was announced, had agreed to retain the Cavalry Barracks on condition that the city provided a site for the infantry depot. On July 24th the War Office intimated their acceptance of the site on Plumstead Road, which was purchased at the cost of 1,600.

26.-The accomplished young tragedienne, Miss Alleyn, made her first appearance at Norwich Theatre in the character of Juliet, with a company under the management of Mr. Charles Bernard. Among her other impersonations during the engagement were Marguerite Gauthier ("Woman's Love"), Lady Teazle, Adrienne Lecouvreur, Rosalind, Pauline, Iolanthe ("King Rene's Daughter"), and Portia. Miss Alleyn was described as "incomparably the best actress seen on the Norwich stage within the last thirty years."

30.-Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone pa.s.sed through Lynn railway-station, on their way to Sandringham, to visit the Prince and Princess of Wales. "Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone travelled in a first-cla.s.s carriage, and on the arrival of the train they were apparently asleep. Mr. Gladstone, however, soon woke up, and immediately one of his admirers, in the form of a 'working-man,'

proceeded to the carriage window and introduced himself as one of his supporters, and thereupon shook hands with the Premier. On Sunday morning (April 1st), some prominent members of the Liberal party in Lynn received fict.i.tious invitations to lunch with Mr. Gladstone at Sandringham, the envelopes in which the notes were enclosed bearing the postmark of that village." The visit terminated on April 2nd.

APRIL.

11.-Mr. Melton Prior, special artist of the "Ill.u.s.trated London News,"

delivered at St. Andrew's Hall, Norwich, a pictorial lecture on the Egyptian War.

13.-A specially-invited company visited Carrow Works, Norwich, to witness the lighting of the premises for the first time with the electric light installed by the Hammond Electric Light and Power Supply Company. The machinery in the printing works was, for the first time, driven by electric power.

18.-The parish church of Wells-next-the-Sea, rebuilt at the cost of 10,000, after the destruction of the original building by lightning, on August 3rd, 1879, was opened. Mr. Herbert Green, of Norwich, was the architect, and Mr. S. C. Parmenter, of Braintree, Ess.e.x, the contractor.

20.-Died at Bank Street, Norwich, aged 48, Mr. R. T. Culley, Coroner for the County of Norfolk, to which office he was appointed in June, 1878, after discharging for sixteen years the duties of Deputy Coroner.

21.*-"Major-General Seager died the other day, at Scarborough, aged 71.

General Seager rose from the ranks. He was regimental sergeant-major of the 8th Hussars when that regiment was stationed in Norwich in 1840, and formed an attachment for a young lady residing in the Close, whose parents interfered and stopped the further progress of the engagement, which they would hardly have done could they have antic.i.p.ated the career which lay before the disdained young sergeant-major. Though in the ranks, he was the son of a Liverpool merchant. He won his honours and promotion in the Crimea and in the Indian Mutiny. For the former he was 'specially mentioned' for his bravery in the heroic Balaclava charge, when he broke through the Russian lines, for which he was made captain."

22.-A porpoise was killed in the Yare at Buckenham Ferry. "A capture of this kind is unparalleled on the river Yare. It is supposed the fish came up on the night of the 21st, with the strong flood tide."

24.-The Norwich Town Council decided to discontinue the experimental lighting of the city with the electric light. In the House of Commons, on August 1st, a Bill to confirm a provisional order of the Board of Trade, in reference to electric lighting at Norwich, was considered, and reported to be read a third time.

29.-The Mayor and Corporation of Norwich attended the re-opening service at St. Peter Mancroft church, on the completion of the great work of restoration. The sermon was preached by the Bishop of Liverpool. "By means of the liberal donations of Messrs. Gurney and Co., the twelve bells have been repaired and re-hung, three houses which stood on the churchyard have been purchased and taken down, and the acc.u.mulated soil has been removed from the church walls and the churchyard levelled."

MAY.

3.-Mr. Hugh Aylmer's herd of shorthorns was sold at West Dereham, by Mr.

John Thornton. The cows and heifers (55 lots) averaged 69 11s. 3d., and the bulls (18) 72 14s. 10d. The total amount realised was 5,108 5s.

3.-A meeting of the freeholders in the Norwich district was held at the Shirehall, under the presidency of the High Sheriff (Colonel W. E. G. L.

Bulwer), for the nomination of candidates for the office of County Coroner. Mr. John Furness, solicitor, of Forncett, was nominated by Sir Francis Boileau, and seconded by Mr. C. S. Read; and Mr. Joseph Stanley, solicitor, of Norwich, was proposed by Mr. Fred Bullard, and seconded by Mr. John Hotblack. The show of hands was declared to be in favour of Mr.

Stanley; whereupon a poll was demanded on behalf of Mr. Furness. The election took place on May 7th, and the result was declared as follows: Stanley, 707; Furness, 628. The last contested election for the County Coronership took place in 1827.

8.-The first steam fire-engine for the use of the city was tested in Norwich Market Place. It was purchased for 600, partly contributed by the Norwich Union Fire Office, and partly subscribed by the public.

26.*-"The Queen has been pleased to approve the 1st City of Norwich and the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Norfolk Rifle Volunteer Corps to be known respectively as the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Volunteer Battalions of the Norfolk Regiment regular force."

27.-Died at his residence, St. Andrew's Broad Street, Norwich, Mr. James Harcourt, aged 64, formerly choirmaster of the Norfolk and Norwich Musical Festival. He was a pupil of Mr. Pettet, a musician of great local repute, and organist of St. Peter Mancroft and St. Stephen's churches. Mr. Harcourt succeeded to his master's position at St.

Peter's, on its being relinquished by Mr. Critchfield, also a pupil and the successor of Mr. Pettet. He held that post for twenty-seven years.

On the death of Mr. Hill he was chosen Festival choir-master, and was also conductor of the Norwich Philharmonic Society and of the Norfolk and Suffolk Church Choral a.s.sociation.

JUNE.

2.-Died at Broad House, Wroxham, Mr. Alfred John N. Chamberlin, in his 60th year. He was a prominent supporter of aquatic sports, and the annual regatta on Wroxham Broad was mainly kept up by his energy. Mr.

Chamberlin had been a member of the Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club from its commencement, and was one of the promoters of the National Fisheries Exhibition at Norwich.

5.-In the High Court of Justice, Chancery Division, before Mr. Justice Chitty, was heard the action, the Mayor and Corporation of Norwich _v._ Browne and other inhabitants of Pockthorpe, by which the plaintiffs sought to establish the t.i.tle of the citizens to Mousehold Heath.

Judgment was given on the 7th, in favour of the Corporation, to whom the Ecclesiastical Commissioners had transferred their rights in the Heath.

It was understood that if the defendants loyally accepted the judgment, no attempt would be made by the Corporation to enforce costs. On November 5th an official inquiry was held at the Guildhall, Norwich, by Mr. H. S. Milman, a.s.sistant Land Commissioner, into objections or suggestions respecting a draft scheme prepared for the regulation of Mousehold Heath. (_See_ April 28th, 1884.)

18.-Died at Bournemouth, Major Charles Loftus. A son of General William Loftus, of Kilbride, co. Wicklow, Colonel of the 2nd Dragoon Guards, and lieutenant of the Tower of London, by his second wife, Lady Elizabeth Townshend, only surviving daughter of George, first Marquis Townshend, he was born at Stiffkey, on September 21st, 1796, and entered the Royal Navy in 1809. He served until the conclusion of the war, in 1815, when an accidental fall from the main rigging to the quarterdeck of his ship necessitated his retirement. He so far recovered as to be able to take a commission in the Coldstream Guards, which, however, he was compelled to resign by increasing affliction. In 1835 he married a daughter of Colonel John Dixon, of Gledhow, Yorkshire, and settled at Dunham Cottage, Norfolk. On Lord Sondes' retirement from the command of the Norfolk Regiment of Yeomanry Cavalry, in 1838, he was made Major Commandant of the corps, which in 1841 was, by Royal permission, ent.i.tled Prince Albert's Own Norfolk Yeomanry Cavalry. When in 1849 blindness compelled him to live in retirement, Major Loftus occupied his time by dictating recollections of his youth and after life, which were published in two series, "My Youth by Land and Sea," and "My Life from 1815 to 1849."

20.-The Summer Show of the Norfolk Agricultural a.s.sociation was opened at Fakenham. Prince Albert Victor came from Sandringham and made a tour of the showyard in company with Lord Hastings, the president for the year.

The show was continued on the 21st.

30.-A disastrous thunderstorm occurred at Norwich. Many of the low-lying streets were flooded by the rain water, and in Grove Street, Unthank's Road, a man sheltering beneath a tree was struck dead by lightning.

Another man was killed by lightning on the farm of Mr. Keable, at Earlham, and some of the farm buildings were destroyed by fire. In several parts of the county stacks were fired and live stock killed.

JULY.

9.-Died at Southtown, Yarmouth, Commander Francis Harris, R.N. He entered the Navy on July 12th, 1805, as first-cla.s.s volunteer on board the Temeraire, 98, Captain Harvey and Sir Charles Hamilton, in which ship he was present at the battle of Trafalgar. From 1826 to 1860 he was employed with the Coast Guard, and retired with the rank of commander.

13.-Died at Tunstead, the Rev. G. H. Harris, aged 57, for twenty years rector of the parish. Mr. Harris was well known for his exertions in behalf of church bell-ringing, and was the means of reviving the art not only in his own neighbourhood, but in other parts of the county. He was the originator and honorary secretary of the Norwich Diocesan a.s.sociation of Ringers.

14.-In the High Court of Justice, Chancery Division, before Vice-Chancellor Bacon, an order was made for the compulsory winding-up of the Norwich Equitable Fire Insurance Company, which was stated to be insolvent.

25.-Died at East Dereham, where he had spent the declining years of his life, Mr. Antonio James Oury, the celebrated violinist. Mr. Oury was born in London in 1800. His father, a native of Nice and of n.o.ble descent, left home to follow the early campaigns of the then General Bounaparte, and was taken prisoner by the British and landed near Southampton, at which place he married, in 1799, the daughter of a Mr.

Hughes, a musician and dancing master. Young Oury at the age of three years commenced violin playing under the tuition of his father and George Macfarren. In 1812 he became the pupil of three eminent professors, Mori, Spagnoletti, and Kiessewetter; and in 1820 he went to Paris to study under Baillot, Kreutzer, and Lupont. Returning to England, he made his debut at the London Philharmonic Society, and afterwards became joint leader with Francis Cramer at the Birmingham, York, Leicester, and Derby Musical Festivals, and made several operatic tours in Ireland. In 1826 he was engaged as leader of the ballet, sub-leader of the opera, and solo violinist at the King's Theatre, and as successor to Mori and Lacy he held this tripart.i.te post for five years. Oury married, in 1831, the distinguished pianist, Mdlle. Belleville, whose father had been an officer of Napoleon's. In 1832 they left England for Hamburg, Berlin, St. Petersburg, and Moscow, gave twenty-three concerts during a residence of two years in Russia, and returned to Berlin. They next visited Leipzig, Dresden, Prague, and Vienna. After a brilliant sojourn of two years in the Austrian capital Oury visited Pesth and Buda, gave seven concerts with great success and profit, played in the presence of the Imperial Court at the Bourge Theatre, Vienna, and returned to Munich.

Accompanied by Madame Oury he gave concerts in all the princ.i.p.al towns on the Rhine, and arrived in Holland, where his wife was attacked by a serious illness, which interrupted several professional engagements.

They subsequently visited a number of other places on the Continent, and returned to England after an absence of nine years. In 184647 Oury and his accomplished partner visited Italy, gave concerts at Rome, Naples, Venice, and Milan, and returned to England in 1848. Oury removed to Norwich in 1868, and after being some years resident there, proceeded to Dereham, where he lived with Mr. Arthur Mori.

AUGUST.

6.-Lady Walsingham unveiled a fountain and rest erected at Swaffham as a memorial to Sir William Bagge, Bart., for thirty-six years a representative in Parliament of the Western Division of the county. Its cost, which amounted to 800, was defrayed by public subscription.

7.-Died suddenly at a board meeting of the Norwich Union Fire Insurance Society, of which he was a director, Mr. Elijah Crosier Bailey, Clerk of the Peace for the city, aged 65. He was head of the firm of Bailey, Cross, and Barnard, solicitors, and was appointed Clerk to the Norwich Board of Guardians in 1844, in succession to Mr. Roger Kerrison, and resigned in 1879. On the death of Mr. Arthur Dalrymple in 1868 he was elected Clerk of the Peace. Mr. Bailey was for many years secretary of the Norfolk Agricultural a.s.sociation, and on his resignation of that office was appointed honorary director. A warm supporter of the party, he was for a long period Conservative agent for East Norfolk. Mr. Bailey married, first, Miss Cann, daughter of Mr. W. R. Cann, of Wymondham, by whom he left four sons; and, secondly, in January, 1879, Miss Haselwood, of Swardon, Kent, granddaughter of Sir Edward Dering, Bart., M.P.

-At Norwich a.s.sizes, before Mr. Justice Day, Joseph Betts, described as a labourer, was charged with maliciously sending to the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Norwich, on June 5th, a letter threatening to murder him. Mr.

Blofeld, for the prosecution, said that the Bishop was of opinion that the prisoner had no real intention to take any step towards carrying out his threat, and was desirous that the case should be withdrawn. The judge said that his lordship had acted in a very handsome and generous manner, and allowed the prosecution to be withdrawn on the prisoner entering into recognisances to keep the peace towards the Bishop and all other persons. At the Norwich Police Court on September 21st Betts was charged with knowingly, wilfully, and feloniously sending to Mr. J. J.

Colman, M.P., a letter, signed "Another Invincible," threatening to murder him "unless he fairly and proportionately distributed his last year's balance among his workmen." He was committed for trial, and at the a.s.sizes on October 27th was sentenced by Lord Justice Fry to twelve calendar months' imprisonment. (_See_ February 21st, 1889.)

11.-The scheme prepared by the Charity Commissioners for the future management of the endowed schools and children's hospitals in connection with King Edward VI.'s charity and Anguish's and Norman's charities, was published. The scheme for the Grammar and Commercial Schools was practically the same as those promulgated in 1878. In the matter of Anguish's charity, it was proposed to divide the endowment into two parts, one to be called Thomas Anguish's endowment for boys, and the other Thomas Anguish's endowment for girls. The existing boys' school was to be given up, the master pensioned, and the income devoted, so far as 200 yearly was concerned, to providing lodging, clothing, and maintenance for boys holding exhibitions preferentially awarded under the scheme. With the rest of the income the governors were to maintain seven special exhibitions for poor boys who for not less than three years had been scholars in some public elementary school or schools, and as many general exhibitions for poor boys as the income available would allow to be tenable at either of King Edward VI. schools. As to Thomas Anguish's endowment for girls, the girls' hospital was to be abolished and the income applied in the same way as that for boys, except that 300 yearly was to be devoted to providing lodging, clothing, and maintenance for orphan or other necessitous girls. Norman's charity was to cease to exist in its then form, the master pensioned, and the endowment to be appropriated to the maintenance of a girls' middle school, the scheme for which was practically the same as that for the King Edward VI. Middle School for Boys, and to be known as Norman's School, provision being made for the acquisition by purchase of the Girls' Hospital School at Lakenham by the new governors of the Norman School. On August 28th the Norwich Town Council pa.s.sed resolutions in opposition to the scheme, on the ground that it was contrary to the wishes of the founders and of the people of Norwich; and similar resolutions were carried at a meeting of the Norwich Charities Protection Society held at the Guildhall on September 10th, under the presidency of the Sheriff. (_See_ February 3rd, 1888.)