Volume I Part 58 (1/2)

Peter Mancroft church, Norwich, on the 30th. The grave was dug at the lower extremity of the middle aisle, and the customary volleys were fired by a party of hussars stationed in the roadway between the great west door of the church and the entrance to the Swan Inn.

27.-The Norwich Pantheon was opened under the management of Mr. Kinloch, with his company from the Royal Amphitheatre, London. ”A real fox chase, with dogs, horses, fox, and hounds,” was the princ.i.p.al attraction.

31.-By virtue of a writ of mandamus granted by the Court of King's Bench, the Norwich Court of Quarter Sessions was compelled to hear the appeal ”the Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor of the Hamlet of Lakenham, appellants, _v._ the Governor, Deputy-Governor, and others of the Court of Guardians of the City of Norwich, respondents.” The appellants contended that the a.s.sessment made upon stock was not in accordance with the Act of Parliament, by virtue whereof the rate for the maintenance of the poor of Norwich was raised, and was unfair and inequitable. It was stated in the course of the trial that the real estate of the city was valued at 54,041, that of the hamlets at 15,028; the personal property in the former was estimated at 99,800, and in the latter at 5,700. The court confirmed the certificate, and dismissed the appeal.

-One of the most violent storms ever remembered occurred on this date, and resulted in many disasters on sea and land. The whole of the coast of Norfolk was strewn with wrecks, many lives were lost, and much misery prevailed. At Cromer the brig, d.u.c.h.ess of c.u.mberland, came ash.o.r.e near the lighthouse, and notwithstanding the brave exertions of Mr. Buxton, Mr. Samuel h.o.a.re, Mr. William Lukin, Mr. Windham, and other gentlemen, to effect their rescue the crew of sixteen perished. Among the most remarkable of the incidents on land was the subsidence of a cottage at Corpusty. The occupier, Robert Faircloth, and two women felt the house in motion, rushed out, and a few seconds afterwards ”saw it sink out of sight into the bowels of the earth, leaving a vacuum of several feet deep above it which presently filled with water.”

NOVEMBER.

1.*-”Died very recently in London, aged 62, Mr. William Perowne, formerly an actor in the Phnix Company. He was a truly honest and industrious man.”

8.-Died at Yarmouth, Mr. Luke Waller, in the 105th year of his age.

22.-A meeting was held at the s.h.i.+rehall, Norwich, under the presidency of the Hon. John Wodehouse, Vice-Admiral of the county, at which it was decided to form a society for saving the lives of s.h.i.+pwrecked mariners on the coast of Norfolk. At an adjourned meeting on December 13th it was agreed to place lifeboats immediately at Yarmouth, Winterton, Blakeney, &c.

30.-Married, at Walcot church, Bath, Mr. Frederick Henry Yates, of Charlotte Street, London, to Miss Brunton, daughter of Mr. John Brunton, of Norwich.

DECEMBER.

1.-The ”extravaganzic burletta” ent.i.tled ”Tom and Jerry” was produced at the Pantheon, Norwich. It was described as ”an animated picture deprived through the filtering stone of the proprietor's character and career, of all that might offend even the most fastidious imagination.”

6.-Messrs. J. and W. Wiggens advertised their Phenomena coach to run from the Angel Inn, Norwich, every morning at a quarter to six and to arrive at the Bull Inn, Aldgate, at seven o'clock the same evening.

9.-At a meeting held at the Guildhall, Norwich, presided over by the Mayor (Mr. J. S. Patteson), it was resolved to pet.i.tion the House of Commons for the repeal of the duty on coals carried coastwise.

20.*-”The portrait of Mr. William Hankes, Mayor of Norwich in 1817, painted by Mr. Clint, has lately been placed in St. Andrew's Hall.”

-Drake, a showman, advertised the exhibition ”in a commodious theatre upon the Castle ditches, Norwich,” of a performing elephant, a boa constrictor, and a sea serpent alive, ”which was discovered when they were in search of the great one, and is supposed by the most moderate calculation to measure more than 300 feet in length. It is a.s.serted by the Linnean Society that this is of the same breed as the large one.”

30.-Some remarkable vaults-the disused workings of ancient chalk pits-were discovered on the property of Mr. Sendall, near St. Giles'

Gates, Norwich. They were 35 feet beneath the surface, and extended in various directions. The vaults were thrown open for public inspection and illuminated with coloured lamps.

1824.

JANUARY.

1.-At a public meeting, held at Calvert Street chapel, it was decided to erect a second Wesleyan Methodist chapel in Norwich. A subscription was opened, and 600 contributed. The foundation-stone of the new (Lady Lane) chapel was laid on April 14th by the Rev. William Gilpin, superintendent of the Norwich circuit; and the building was opened for wors.h.i.+p on October 21st by the Rev. R. Newton, president of the Methodist Conference, the Rev. John Anderson, of London, and the Rev. Mr. Farrar, of Leeds.

2.-Persistent efforts were made this year to obtain the removal of the Lent a.s.sizes from Thetford to Norwich. At a meeting of the county magistrates on January 2nd, it was decided to present an address to the Lord Chancellor and Mr. Secretary Peel, representing the inconvenience and ill consequences resulting from the then existing arrangement. At a quarterly a.s.sembly of the Corporation of Norwich on February 24th, a committee was appointed to co-operate with the county justices, and a pet.i.tion to the House of Commons and a memorial to the Lord Chancellor were prepared. On June 5th the city pet.i.tion received the seal of the Mayor, and on June 11th Lord Suffield, in the House of Lords, presented the pet.i.tion from the Norfolk magistrates. It stated that the prisoners were carried in open carts through the towns and villages, guarded by soldiers, and ”it was not long since that they were exhibited as sights, one s.h.i.+lling being charged to see convicts of the second and third degree, and two s.h.i.+llings or more for condemned felons.” There was a dungeon at Thetford, thirteen feet below the surface of the ground, measuring eighteen feet by nine feet, and eight and a half feet in height, and in this cell upon one occasion no less than seventeen persons were placed to sleep. The Lord Chancellor intimated that the subject was under consideration, and the pet.i.tion was ordered to be printed. On August 7th the announcement was made that the Lieutenant of the county had received a letter from the Lord Chancellor, stating that the twelve Judges had unanimously decided against the removal of the Lent a.s.sizes from Thetford. At the Summer a.s.sizes on August 11th, the Grand Jury for the county presented an address to the Judges expressing regret at their decision, and pointing out that the chief benefits contemplated by the recent Act of Parliament for the regulation of gaols must be in a great degree frustrated by a continuance of the then state of things in Norfolk. ”The late city calendar,” said the NORFOLK CHRONICLE, ”furnishes no less than three cases of exceptional long confinement before trial; namely, one person for more than twelve months, who has been acquitted, and two others in custody upwards of eleven months against whom no true bills were found.”

16.-At the Norfolk Quarter Sessions at Norwich, the magistrates agreed that the whole of Mr. Wilkin's plan for erecting a new gaol at Norwich Castle be carried into execution. It was understood that the entire cost of the s.h.i.+rehall and prison would not exceed 46,000.

24.-Great sensation was caused in Norwich by the trial and execution at Hertford of John Thurtell for the murder of Mr. Wear on October 24th, 1823. The execution took place on January 9th, and on the 24th was published in the NORFOLK CHRONICLE a letter received by Mr. Alderman Thomas Thurtell, of Norwich, the father of the culprit, from Mr. Robert Sutton, High Sheriff of Hertfords.h.i.+re, in which the writer commiserated with him in his great affliction. In the same paper was another letter addressed by Mr. N. Bolingbroke, of Norwich, to the High Sheriff of Hertfords.h.i.+re, in which he wrote: ”It may appear to some that he (the father) has not acted with sufficient kindness of feeling towards his unhappy son; but you may be a.s.sured, Sir, that there was no part of his conduct which could not be satisfactorily explained. He has generally acted under the advice of Mr. Unthank, a respectable solicitor in this city, my own, and others. There are many actions in a man's life of which no correct opinion can be formed without a knowledge of the motives by which such have been influenced.”

29.-At a meeting held at the Guildhall, Norwich, under the presidency of Lieut.-Col. Harvey, supported by Mr. E. Wodehouse, M.P., and Mr. T. F.