Volume I Part 19 (1/2)
JANUARY.
14.*-”The orders lately come down to Norwich, besides affording constant employment to most of the manufacturing poor for nearly twelve months, will in the different branches of labour diffuse upwards of 40,000 in earnings, exclusive of the amount circulated for combing and spinning.”
15.-The Norwich Volunteer Infantry, commanded by Lieut.-Col. De Hague, was formed into a battalion of five companies of 60 men each.
25.-A ”grand operatical romance,” ent.i.tled ”The Forty Thieves,” was produced for the first time at Norwich Theatre, with scenery specially painted by Dixon.
28.*-(Advt.) ”A card. Mr. Lambert, from Leicester, respectfully informs the ladies and gentlemen of Norwich and its vicinity that he arrived on Sunday at Mr. Leeche's, at the King's Head, where he will see company from 11 to 2, from 3 till 6, and from 7 till 9 each day. Admission one s.h.i.+lling each.” Lambert died on Wednesday, June 21st, 1809, at Stamford.
He was in his 40th year, and weighed 52 stones 11 lbs.
28.-In consequence of a rapid thaw, the low lying parts of Norwich were flooded. ”Some of the houses were six or seven feet under water,” and boats were rowed in the street at St. Martin-at-Oak. The marshes below Norwich were so inundated that the course of the river could not be traced, and the barge proceeding to Yarmouth had to return, in consequence of the men being unable to find the channel.
30.-During a violent gale a stack of chimneys fell on the roof of an old house in c.o.c.key Lane, Norwich. Mr. and Mrs. Graham were buried in the ruins and killed. On the same night a large tree in Sprowston Park was blown down. It was planted the day King Charles was beheaded, January 30th, 1649.
FEBRUARY.
3.-Mr. S. Mitch.e.l.l (as nominee for the Wymer Ward, Norwich) obtained judgment in the Court of King's Bench, by which it was ruled that Militiamen out on duty, but having dwellings in the city in which their families lived, had a right to vote at ward elections.
7.-A stage coach, owned by Mr. Wm. Funnell, and known as the Lynn and Norwich Telegraph, commenced running. It left the Star Inn, Lynn, on Tuesdays and Fridays at eight a.m., and arrived at the Woolpack Inn, Norwich, at eight p.m. It ran by way of Grimston, Great Ma.s.singham, Rougham, Litcham, Mileham, Stanfield, Brisley, Elmham, Billingford, Bawdeswell, Lenwade Bridge, Attlebridge, and Drayton. The return journey was on Wednesdays and Sat.u.r.days.
24.-Died, at his house in Bruton Street, London, aged 85, the Right Hon.
the Earl of Orford. His lords.h.i.+p was the nephew of the famous Sir Robert Walpole, afterwards Earl of Orford. For many years he sat in the House of Lords as Baron Walpole of Wolterton. On the death of Horace, Earl of Orford, he succeeded to the Barony of Houghton, the Earldom becoming extinct, but he was afterwards created Earl of Orford. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Lord Walpole, who was for many years member for Lynn.
General Walpole, who concluded the treaty with the Maroons in Jamaica, who seconded Mr. Tierney in his duel with Mr. Pitt, and who was one of Mr. Fox's secretaries, was a younger son of the deceased Earl. The remains were brought from London for interment in the family vault at Wolterton. The funeral procession pa.s.sed through Norwich on March 10th in the following order:-”Four hors.e.m.e.n preceding the Earl's coronet, borne on a cus.h.i.+on of crimson velvet by a person on horseback, bare headed; then the body in a hea.r.s.e, surmounted with plumes and drawn by six horses, followed by a mourning coach and six; his lords.h.i.+p's coach and six, with blinds up, and servants on horseback closed the procession.” The great bell of St. Peter Mancroft, and the bells of other churches tolled as the procession pa.s.sed through the city.
28.-The Norwich Squadron of Light Horse Volunteers had just concluded their drill on Mulbarton Common, when Capt. Darell's hounds drove a stag across the parade ground. The Volunteers at once joined in the chase, ”to which it will readily be conceived their numbers and appearance gave a great _eclat_.” The stag was taken alive in a shed at Mangreen, after a run of 3 hours 10 minutes.
Died, this month, Mr. John Wagstaffe, of Bawburgh. He was the author of a poem, ent.i.tled ”Stonehenge,” dedicated to his friend and neighbour, Mr.
Edward Jerningham.
APRIL.
3.-A trotting match took place between Young Adonis, a colt belonging to Mr. James Neeve, of Terrington St. Clement, and an eight year old horse, Hue and Cry, owned by Mr. James Mathew, of the same place. The stakes were 20 a side, and the distance five miles. The colt, which carried 13 stones, covered the distance in 19 minutes, and won.
10.-A meeting was held at St. Andrew's Hall, Norwich, at which resolutions were pa.s.sed, thanking Col. Wardle and his supporters for their conduct in Parliament, respecting the charges preferred against the Duke of York.
21.-A new peal of bells was opened at Wiveton. The tenor, weighing upwards of 11 cwts., was cast and hung by Mr. Wm. Dobson, of Downham Market.
22.-The postmasters announced that ”from the wonderfully high prices of horses, hay, corn, &c.,” they were ”under the disagreeable necessity of charging eighteen pence per mile from this date.”
27.-Died, aged 32, in Arras prison, John Rising, sixth son of Mr. Robert Rising, of Somerton Hall. He commanded the Vanguard letter of marque, which was captured, on her return from Trinidad, off Beachy Head, by the Ambuscade, after a desperate resistance. The remains of the deceased were followed to the grave by upwards of 200 Englishmen.
MAY.
9.-The six regiments of Norfolk Local Militia a.s.sembled for 28 days'