Norfolk Annals Volume I Part 65

JULY.

4.-A meeting of the "Blue and White" freemen was held at the Ranelagh Gardens, Norwich, under the presidency of Mr. William Smith, M.P., at which was formed the Norwich Union Independent Society. Its object was "to promote the purity of election."

8.-Died at Dublin, aged 24, Lieut. Henry Francis Bell, 58th Regiment of Foot, grandson of Mr. Henry Bell, of Wallington. He was accidentally shot by a recruit while at practice with ball cartridge.

10.-Great rejoicings took place at Cromer on the coming of age of the heir of Felbrigg. The horses were removed from Mr. Windham's carriage, which was dragged through the streets of the town. "Fourteen barrels of strong ale and porter having been placed on a pleasant eminence on the road to Felbrigg, thirteen were broached and distributed among the company, and the remaining barrel was given to the poor of Cromer. A ball was held at Felbrigg Hall in the evening."

13.-In the Rolls Court Lord Gifford delivered judgment in the t.i.the case Bayley _v._ Sewell. The plaintiff was the lessee of the impropriate rectory of Wymondham, and the defendant the occupier of certain farms called the Great Park Farm and the Little Park Farm, which had been purchased upwards of 200 years previously by Sir Henry Hobart, the then Lord Chief Justice of Common Pleas, as t.i.the free, subject only to the demand of a _modus_ of 1 6s. 8d. in respect of the Great Park and of 13s. 4d. in respect of the Little Park. This suit was inst.i.tuted for the purpose of compelling payment of t.i.thes in respect of both farms; and at the Norfolk Summer a.s.sizes in 1825 the jury found for the plaintiff.

Lord Gifford, in his judgment, established the two ancient _moduses_ which exempted the properties from the payment of t.i.thes.

15.-The discontinuance of Magdalen Fair, Norwich, was announced in the following official notice:-"Sprowston, July 15th, 1826. Whereas it has been represented to the executors and trustees of the estate of the late Thomas Woodruffe Smith, Esq., lord of the manor of Sprowston and lord of the fair called Mary Magdalene Fair, yearly held at Sprowston in the Hundred of Taverham in the county of Norfolk, that divers tumults and riotous proceedings have taken place at the above fair to the terror and fear of the lives of the peaceable inhabitants of the said parish, and great nuisances and depredations have been committed on their property, notice is hereby given to all dealers and chapmen and all persons whatever who have usually resorted thereto, that no fair will be held this year on the 2nd day of August or any subsequent day at Sprowston aforesaid, nor again in future, and any person or persons who may, after this notice, be found trespa.s.sing on the lands where the fair has been usually held, or on any other lands adjoining, or obstructing the public roads in Sprowston aforesaid, will be dealt with according to law. By order of the said Trustees, Lords of the Manor of Sprowston.-Thomas Sayer, Bailiff."

15.-A fine vessel called the Rapid, upwards of 160 tons, was launched from Mr. Preston's yard at Yarmouth.

22.-A historical play ent.i.tled "Viriatus, the Lusitanian Hero," written by Mr. Thwaites, jun., of Norwich, a member of the Norwich Company, was produced at the Theatre for the first time, and "was received with great approbation."

30.-A singular phenomenon was witnessed at Cromer. "The lighthouse hill and adjacent heights were literally covered with myriads of the insect called Lady Bird of an unusually large sort."

AUGUST.

7.-The prisoners at the old City Gaol at Norwich were removed to the new Gaol at St. Giles' Gates.

28.-Ten thousand persons were attracted to the neighbourhood of St.

James's Hill, Norwich, to witness the performances of "Signor Carlo Cram Villecrop, the celebrated Swiss Mountain Flyer from Geneva and Mont Blanc," who was to exhibit "with the Tyrolese pole, 50 feet long, the most astonishing gymnastic flights never before witnessed in this country." It was a hoax.

29.-The election of the freemen's Sheriff at Norwich was attended with great excitement. The candidates were Mr. J. Bennett and Mr. T. O.

Springfield. "Complimentary half-crowns were paid to the 'friends of independence,'" and it was mentioned as a circ.u.mstance highly creditable to the poor freemen of the "Purple and Orange" interest, that "they contented themselves with a fee of 5s. each from their own party." The poll was declared as follows: Bennett, 1,164; Springfield, 1,079.

-The North Walsham and Dilham Ca.n.a.l was formally opened by a grand procession of vessels which started from Wayford Bridge accompanied by a band of music and filled with company, among whom were Lord Suffield and many of the princ.i.p.al residents in the district. At Antingham the company landed, formed in procession, and marched to North Walsham, where a dinner was held at the King's Arms Inn, under the presidency of Col.

the Hon. John Wodehouse.

SEPTEMBER.

4.-The Ven. Archdeacon Oldershaw preached at Pulham Market church on the occasion of the opening of the newly-erected organ, built by Mr. Bullen, "an ingenious mechanic of that place."

9.*-"The aged inhabitants residing in the alms-houses in St. Gregory's, bequeathed by Alderman Thomas Pye to the poor people belonging to St.

Giles', were removed this week into their newly-erected and comfortable dwellings in West Pottergate Street."

13.-A man named Gibson, for a wager of 50, undertook to walk from Norwich to Yarmouth in seven and a half hours carrying 4 worth of copper coins, weighing four stones four pounds. He started from Bishop Bridge at five o'clock in the morning, accomplished the first twelve miles in three hours, and arrived at Yarmouth half an hour within the stipulated time.

18.-A prize fight, "one of those revolting scenes, which are equally an outrage on every feeling of humanity as well as a scandal to civilised society," took place at Bramerton. The combatants were prevented by a magistrate from bringing off the affair at Surlingham; and the parish constable at Bramerton on attempting to stop the fight was almost killed in the execution of his duty.

OCTOBER.

5.-Joseph Wiggins, driver of the Norwich Phenomena coach, was fined at Ixworth in the mitigated penalty of 90 for having 36 head of partridges in his possession, contrary to the statute 5 Anne c. 14, s. 2.

11.-Died in Goat Lane, Norwich, aged 75, Mr. John Reynolds, who served the office of Sheriff in 1796.

17.-At Norwich Quarter Sessions a committee of justices reported that the Bridewell was "insufficient, inconvenient, and inadequate to give effect to the rules and regulations enforced in recent legislation, and it was necessary from the increased number of commitments to such Bridewell that some other and more commodious building should be erected or subst.i.tuted."

19.-A meeting was held at the Angel Inn, Norwich, under the presidency of Mr. Unthank, at which was pa.s.sed a resolution to the effect "that by the present mode of electing Guardians the great body of the payers of the poor-rates are entirely unrepresented, that the extraordinary increase in the poor-rates of the city within the last six months has caused the greatest alarm and demands the strictest scrutiny, and that it is desirable a Bill should be brought in to amend the present Court of Guardians Act so far as to the choosing members of the Court." A pet.i.tion embodying the principle of this resolution was ordered to be presented to the House of Commons.

21.-Died, Mr. John Ansell, plumber and glazier, St. John Maddermarket, who served the offer of Sheriff of Norwich in 1806.

-At about this date large numbers of people a.s.sembled nightly on Orford Hill, Norwich, to watch for a "ghost" which was said to haunt the premises of a Mr. Hart. Martin, a police officer, examined some unoccupied premises adjoining, and discovered a hiding-place which had evidently been used by the person who had annoyed Mr. Hart's family.

-Mr. Stone, the County Surveyor, was reported to have "discovered rooms and pa.s.sages within the walls of the Keep of Norwich Castle which have been unknown since it has become a county gaol, a period of nearly 500 years."

22.-The Friends' Meeting House in Goat Lane, Norwich, erected on the site of the old Meeting House demolished in 1825, was opened for public worship. The architect was Mr. Patience, and the builder, Mr. John Bensley.

28.-At the adjourned Quarter Sessions at Norwich, Mr. Alderman Crisp Brown made serious allegations as to the way in which the contractors for the new Gaol had done their work. The court appointed Mr. Nicholls, of London, to survey the work. Vestry meetings were held in St. Giles', St.

Peter Mancroft, St. Andrew's, and St. Julian's, at which resolutions were adopted expressing approval of Mr. Brown's action. On May 12th, 1827, it was announced that Mr. Nicholls had awarded the sum of 1,552 to the contractors over and above the balance previously due to them.

NOVEMBER.

5.-A great part of the premises erected on the site of the old alms-houses, adjoining the Friends' Meeting House, Goat Lane, Norwich, fell with a tremendous crash.

11.*-"Mr. W. Wilkins has received another testimony to his ability as an architect in the preference given to his design for the London University."

-Died at Brundall, aged 72, Mr. Elisha De Hague, Town Clerk of Norwich, to which office he was elected on August 8th, 1792, on the death of his father.

18.*-"An intelligent mercantile gentleman from Russia, who landed at Yarmouth, with whom we had some conversation on the subject of the free admission of foreign corn into this country, gave it as his opinion that the fears entertained here by the landed interest of excessive importations, at least for some time to come, are quite groundless. He admitted, however, that in eight or ten years, from the encouragement we shall have given to the foreign grower by our free trade system, if it should be extended to corn, abundant supplies may be expected. What will _then_ be the state of the agriculture of _this_ country by no means too flourishing _now_ may be easily imagined."

21.-At a special a.s.sembly of the Corporation of Norwich, Mr. William Simpson, for 34 years Chamberlain, was elected Town Clerk and Clerk of the Peace, and steward of the several manors belonging to the Corporation, in the room of Mr. Elisha De Hague, deceased.

25.-A county meeting was held at the Shirehall, Norwich, for the twofold purpose of opposing the Bill presented to Parliament for the appointment of district surveyors of highways, and of expressing dissent from the practice which prevailed at the Shirehall of conducting county business with closed doors. With regard to the first subject a resolution was pa.s.sed stating that the county-rate had increased from 7,200 to 20,400 in twenty years, and that it was undesirable to increase it by making the proposed appointments. It was decided to take counsel's opinion upon the other matter. (_See_ January 12th, 1827.)

27.-The Rev. William Whitear, rector of Starston, met with his death under singular circ.u.mstances. He had gone out with a party to apprehend poachers; the party divided themselves into two bodies, and on proceeding to the place where it had been agreed upon to rea.s.semble, Mr. Whitear was mistaken for a poacher and shot in the right side by another of the party, a young man named Thomas Pallant. He died from the effects of the wound on December 10th, and Pallant was committed for trial on the charge of manslaughter. The case was tried at the Norfolk a.s.sizes at Thetford before Mr. Justice Gaselee, on March 26th, 1827, when the accused was acquitted. "He was so seriously affected during the trial that before its conclusion he became quite insensible, and was taken home in that state."

DECEMBER.

2.*-[Advt.] "Whereas a report was very generally circulated last week, and in a great measure obtained credit, that the body of William Tounshend, which was buried at Lakenham, on Sunday, November 19th, had been disinterred and taken away, we, the undersigned, have investigated the matter and certify the following statement to be correct:-The relatives of the deceased being much affected at such a report and naturally anxious to ascertain the truth of it, made application to have the grave examined. After due deliberation upon the subject permission was granted for that purpose. The grave was opened on Sat.u.r.day last in the presence of them, together with us, when it was discovered that the body reposed in its peaceful abode undisturbed. We consider it to be our duty to give this public contradiction to so groundless and scandalous a report, in order thereby to satisfy the minds of the parishioners and the public at large.-George Carter, vicar; Hunton Jackson, William Norman, churchwardens; Lakenham Vestry, November 26th."

6.-At a meeting of the Norwich Corporation, Mr. Robert Alderson was elected Recorder in place of Mr. C. S. Onley, resigned. "Mr. Alderson, though only what is technically termed an 'utter barrister,' is now the Recorder of three Corporations, namely, Norwich, Yarmouth, and Ipswich.

An 'utter barrister' (according to Bailey) is a young lawyer admitted to plead at the Bar, or a person well schooled in the common law who is called from contemplation to practice."