Norfolk Annals Volume Ii Part 99

13.-Sir Charles R. Gilman was presented by the district managers and inspectors of the Norwich and London Accident Insurance a.s.sociation with a piece of silver plate weighing 150 ozs., "as a mark of their esteem and to commemorate the honour conferred upon him by the Queen during the second term of his mayoralty of the city."

14.-The Norwich Diocesan Conference opened at Noverre's Rooms, Norwich, and was concluded on the 15th.

18.-A Missionary Loan Exhibition was opened at the Agricultural Hall, Norwich, by the Countess of Leicester, in celebration of the jubilee of the Church Missionary Society. It was closed on the 23rd.

23.-Notice was published of an intended application to the Light Railway Commissioners for powers to construct a light railway from Trowse, _via_ Arminghall, Brooke, and Loddon, to Beccles. On July 12th Lord Jersey, chairman of the Light Railway Commission, and Col. Boughey, R.E., C.S.I., sat at the Shirehall, Norwich, for the purpose of receiving information on the subject. It was stated that the length of the proposed line would be 17 miles; the capital to be authorised by the Bill was 100,000, with borrowing powers for 33,000, and Sir Douglas Fox, consulting engineer, stated that the contractor would be able to construct the line for 93,000.

27.-Mr. John Cross tendered his resignation of the office of Clerk to the Norwich Board of Guardians, and on May 25th Mr. E. R. Woodward was elected to fill the vacancy.

MAY.

7.-Died at Kirkley, Lowestoft, Mr. Robert Hitchman, formerly Chief Constable of Norwich, aged 72. He was appointed Chief Constable on March 24th, 1859, and retired on April 30th, 1897.

12.-Polling took place in the Southern Division of the county in consequence of the resignation of Mr. Francis Taylor (Liberal Unionist).

The candidates were Mr. J. Sancroft Holmes, of Gawdy Hall, Harleston (Conservative), and Mr. A. W. Soames, architect, of London (Liberal).

The poll was declared at the Shirehall, Norwich, on the 13th: Soames, 4,626; Holmes, 3,296.

19.-Intelligence was received in Norwich of the death of Mr. Gladstone.

Both political parties paid becoming respect to the memory of the deceased statesman. Resolutions of sympathy were pa.s.sed by the members of the Norwich and Norfolk Conservative Club and of the Gladstone Club, and on the day of interment, the 28th, a memorial service, attended by the Mayor and Corporation, was held at the Cathedral.

24.-The Norwich Town Council considered a report of the Executive Committee containing recommendations for the alteration of the names of various streets and roads in the city. The report, with certain modifications and amendments, was adopted at a subsequent meeting.

26.-A new Voluntary school for the accommodation of 400 boys, erected on Hall Road, Lakenham, by the supporters of Church education in Norwich at the cost of 2,600, was opened by the Lord Bishop.

27.-Died at Mulbarton, Mr. George Frederick Cooke, formerly District Registrar of the High Court of Justice, and Registrar of the County Court, Norwich, in his 80th year. He was the youngest son of the Rev.

William Cooke, vicar of Bromyard, Herefordshire, and brother of Mr.

Cooke, a former judge of the Norfolk County Court.

28.-The members of the Automobile Club of Great Britain arrived at Norwich in the course of a Whitsuntide tour through East Anglia.

JUNE.

9.-A verdict of accidental death was returned by a coroner's jury at Norwich in the case of Henry Skepworth, a sergeant in the 7th Dragoon Guards, who died from injuries received when returning from Wymondham, where a party of non-commissioned officers and men of the regiment had given a military display at the athletic sports. It was subsequently announced that "certain irregularities having lately occurred at sports and other displays in which soldiers have taken part, and notably in the Colchester district, where a sergeant met with his death, the Commander-in-Chief has refused applications for their services on such occasions."

16.-Mr. Ben Greet's company gave pastoral representations of "As You Like It" and "The Comedy of Errors" at Bracondale Woods in aid of the endowment fund of the Jenny Lind Infirmary at Norwich.

20.-The railway from North Walsham to Mundesley was opened for goods traffic. The first pa.s.senger trains were run on July 1st.

21.-The Norwich Corporation Baths at the old Museum premises, St.

Andrew's Broad Street, were opened by the Mayor (Mr. C. C. R. Spelman).

-At the Norfolk a.s.sizes, before Mr. Justice Hawkins, Samuel Frederick Steele (27), railway carman, was indicted for the wilful murder of Thurza Ann Bensley, at Yarmouth, on February 23rd. The jury found him guilty, but considered him insane when he committed the act, and expressed the hope that he would be kept in strict custody for the rest of his life.

His lordship said he would add that as a rider to the verdict.

-It was reported at a meeting of the Norwich Town Council that Messrs.

Hughes and Lancaster had completed their contract, amounting to 21,522 for supplying Shone's ejectors, &c., in connection with the sewerage works.

22.-George Watt (44), labourer, was indicted at the Norwich a.s.sizes, before Mr. Justice Hawkins, for the wilful murder of his wife, Sophia Watt, at Sprowston, on April 14th, and was found guilty, and sentenced to death. The execution (by Billington) took place at Norwich Prison on July 12th.

25.-The championship meeting of the National Cyclists' Union was held on the Earlham Road Recreation Ground, Norwich. The five miles'

professional championship was won by H. E. Meyers, Dutch Cyclists' Club, in 15 minutes 36 1-5th seconds; the five miles' amateur championship by A. S. Ingram, Polytechnic Club, in 14 minutes 11 2-5ths seconds; and the 25 miles' amateur championship by H. W. Payne, West Roads Cyclists' Club, in 1 hour 4 minutes 52 4-5ths seconds.

29.-The Summer Show of the Norfolk Agricultural a.s.sociation was opened at King's Lynn. Sir William ffolkes, Bart., was deputed by the president, the Duke of York, to perform his duties at the show in consequence of his Royal Highness' absence on naval service. The d.u.c.h.ess of York arrived from London by special train, and was received at Lynn railway station by Sir William ffolkes, and at the entrance to the show ground by the High Sheriff (Mr. Simms Reeve) and the show officials. Her Royal Highness before returning to London was entertained to tea by Lady ffolkes in a marquee erected on the grounds. The show closed on the 30th.

JULY.

9.-Died at Surrey Street, Norwich, Mr. Henry George Barwell. Born on February 4th, 1829, he was the fourth son of Mr. John Barwell, and was educated at Hofwyl, near Berne, and at Norwich Grammar School. He was engaged as private secretary to Mr. Birkett, brother-in-law of Sir Morton Peto, and was afterwards employed in the construction of a portion of the Great Northern Railway between Lincoln and Newark, and on its completion was sent out to Flensburg as one of the staff in the making of the Royal Danish Railway. In 1856 he joined the firm of Barwell and Sons. Taking up the practical study of art in 1870, he became a frequent exhibitor at the Royal Inst.i.tution of Painters in Water Colours; he was one of the founders of the Norwich Art Circle, and for twenty-five years was hon.

secretary of the Norwich School of Art.

15.-The Norfolk Infantry Volunteer Brigade went into camp at Colchester under the command of Col. G. S. Burton, commanding the 9th Regimental District. The four battalions numbered about 2,000 men.

-The 7th Dragoon Guards left Norwich by train for Bulford Camp, Salisbury Plain, to take part in the cavalry manuvres.

25.-In the Court of Appeal, before Lords Justices A. L. Smith, Rigby, and Vaughan Williams, judgment was given in the long pending appeal the Corporation of Thetford _v._ the County Council of Norfolk. This was an appeal from a judgment of Mr. Justice Wills. The question was whether in the case of a borough of not less than 10,000 inhabitants and having separate courts of Quarter Sessions and Petty Sessions, the salaries of the recorder and the clerk of the peace, and of the clerk to the borough justices in Petty Sessions in such borough, and certain other expenses connected with the Quarter Sessions and Petty Sessions were transferred from the borough fund to the county fund. Thetford was a borough containing a population of less than 10,000, and was situated for administrative purposes within the county of Norfolk. It had a separate court of Quarter Sessions presided over by a recorder, who was paid a salary of 40 per annum, and there was a clerk of the peace who was paid by fees. Before and since the Local Government Act of 1888 the salary of the recorder and the fees (with certain exceptions) of the clerk of the peace were paid out of the borough fund, and the clerk to the borough justices was paid a salary out of the same fund. The plaintiffs contended that by the Act of 1888 the liability for the expenses was transferred to the defendants, and they claimed a declaration to that effect, and they further claimed to be reimbursed the expenses paid by them. There was also a question raised by cross-appeal as to the payment of the salary of the clerk of the Petty Sessions. The court dismissed the appeal, and allowed the cross-appeal.

26.-Dr. J. E. Talmage lectured at Victoria Hall, Norwich, on "Utah and its People."

-The Norwich Town Council adopted the report of a special committee appointed to enquire into the sanitary condition of the courts and yards of the city. The effect of the recommendations was to enforce upon the owners of property the fulfilment of the provisions of the Public Health Act and the Norwich Corporation Act of 1889.

AUGUST.

1.-On this date occurred the most serious and destructive fire that had taken place in Norwich during the century. At an early hour in the morning the premises of Mr. Daniel Hurn, rope maker, Dove Street, were discovered to be on fire. The flames spread southwards to Messrs.

Chamberlin and Sons' wholesale warehouse, northwards towards Pottergate Street, and westward to the Public Library. The premises in which the fire originated, the warehouse, and a portion of the property on the north were speedily destroyed, and ultimately the Library building was consumed with its 60,000 volumes and the valuable Norton library. On August 5th the Edinburgh public-house, at the corner of Dove Street and Pottergate Street fell with a crash, and two or three persons were severely injured.

2.-Died at Scone Palace, near Perth, William David Murray, fourth Earl of Mansfield, K.T., aged 93. The deceased n.o.bleman was better known to Norwich politicians of a by-gone generation as Lord Stormont, who with Sir James Scarlett, afterwards Lord Abinger, was returned as Conservative member for the city at the first Parliamentary election after the pa.s.sing of the Reform Act. It was not until 1895 that the Conservative party once more obtained the undivided Parliamentary representation of Norwich by the return of Mr. Samuel h.o.a.re and Sir Harry Bullard.

12.-Died at Swaffham, Mr. Herbert William Day, aged 76, who for upwards of twenty-five years held the office of County Treasurer, and retired shortly after the pa.s.sing of the Local Government Act, 1889.

23.-At the Norwich Police-court, Samuel Matthews, of Raglan Street, Dereham Road, was charged on eight summonses with unlawfully using the name and t.i.tle of doctor and of surgeon, thereby implying that he was a registered medical pract.i.tioner. The Bench decided that Mr. Matthews, in using the word "doctor," did not wilfully and falsely pretend to be registered as such, and, therefore, dismissed the case; but they considered there had been an infringement of the law in the use of the word "surgeon," for which the defendant was fined 1, and 12s. costs. At the Norwich County Court on the 24th Mr. Matthews was sued by the Master, Wardens, and Society of the Art and Mystery of Apothecaries of the City of London to recover the sum of 20 for unlawfully acting as an apothecary by attending, advising, and supplying medicines to certain persons. A special jury was empanelled to try the case, which was admitted. Judgment was entered for the plaintiff society for 20 and costs. Mr. Matthews was afterwards presented with a gift of plate weighing 300 ounces, subscribed for by the citizens as a mark of their esteem and sympathy.

26.-The promises of Messrs. Pinchen and Co., brewers and mineral water manufacturers at South Creake, were destroyed by fire. The damage was estimated at 3,000.

28.-The church of St. Peter Mancroft, Norwich, was re-opened upon the completion of the work of restoring the chancel to its original level.

This portion of the great work of restoration was carried out at the expense of an anonymous donor.

30.-At the Episcopal Consistorial Court, held at Norwich Cathedral, before Mr. Chancellor Blofeld, was heard an application for a faculty in which citation had been granted against the Rev. Robert Middleton, rector of St. Michael-at-Coslany, Norwich, for illegally, without any faculty and in spite of remonstrance of William Joseph Simmons, one of the churchwardens, removing a re-table from its position above the communion table, and moving from the church certain ornaments which stood there, namely, a cross of bra.s.s, two candlesticks, and two flower vases, and for refusing to replace them. Mr. Middleton was cited to appear and show cause why a faculty should not be granted to the churchwardens directing them to replace the articles. The faculty was granted as prayed, with costs against Mr. Middleton.

SEPTEMBER.