Volume Ii Part 44 (1/2)
The name of Mr. Kett-Tompson stood first upon the list of gentlemen to fill the office of High Sheriff of Norfolk in 1873.
19.-Died, Elizabeth Harvey, widow of James Harvey, of Rollesby, in her 102nd year.
20.-A heavy gale occurred. Several vessels were lost off Yarmouth, and a s.h.i.+p wrecked at Wells.
21.-A grand fancy dress ball, attended by representatives of the princ.i.p.al families in Norfolk, was held at Hillington Hall, in celebration of the twenty-fifth birthday of Sir William ffolkes, Bart.
24.-Died at his residence, Heigham Grove, Norwich, aged 73, Major-General Burton Daveney, formerly of the Royal Scots Regiment. He was born at Colton, in December, 1799, and obtained his commission as ensign in the 57th Regiment. In 1825 he went to Australia as lieutenant in command of a detachment which had charge of nearly 200 convicts. On the voyage small-pox broke out, and the vessel was placed in quarantine. The young lieutenant throughout a period of the greatest difficulty discharged his duties with conspicuous success. In 1830 he exchanged into the 1st Royals (afterwards the Royal Scots), and served in one or other of the battalions of that regiment for thirty-one years. He pa.s.sed through the Canadian Rebellion in 1837, was present at the affairs of St. Charles and St. Eustache, and returned to England in 1841. In the Crimea, as commandant at Balaclava, his duties were so arduous that when he left, completely broken down in health, in January, 1855, the work was divided among three officers. In the absence of the colonel he brought the regiment to Aldershot, and afterwards had the honour of dining with her Majesty, to whom he was presented by the Prince Consort. He next sailed to India, and a.s.sisted in quelling the Mutiny, and returned in 1862, when he retired on full pay, with the rank of Major-General. He had seen forty-one years of active service without pa.s.sing a single day on half-pay. General Daveney was the possessor of three clasps for the Crimea, the Order of the Medjidie, and several other decorations presented by the Sultan to British officers who had served in the war against Russia.
DECEMBER.
8.-A fearful storm swept over East Anglia. At Norwich and other towns in the county great damage was done to buildings; in the country trees were uprooted and stacks overturned; and on the coast there were many s.h.i.+pping casualties.
21.-Mr. James Bacon was elected secretary of the Norfolk Agricultural a.s.sociation, in place of Mr. Cross, resigned. Mr. E. C. Bailey resigned the office of honorary director.
-A conference was held at the Guildhall, Norwich, at which representatives of the sanitary authorities in city and county discussed the best method of carrying out the provisions of the new Public Health Act, more particularly as to the appointment of medical-officers of health and inspectors of nuisances. It was suggested that the county be divided into seven districts, exclusive of the city of Norwich; that a medical-officer of health be appointed to each district, the election to be made by representatives of the sanitary authorities; and that a similar course be adopted in regard to inspectors of nuisances. Mr. T.
W. Crosse, on January 23rd, 1873, resigned his seat in the Norwich Town Council as a representative of the First Ward, and was appointed Medical-Officer of Health for the city, at the salary of 200 per annum.
26.-A pantomime (t.i.tled not stated) was produced at Norwich Theatre by Mr. G. H. Chaplin. ”The transformation scene,” it was stated, ”has not been surpa.s.sed for gorgeous beauty on our stage.” Edmonds' (late Wombwell's) Menagerie was exhibited on the Castle Meadow.
30.-The Prince and Princess of Wales arrived at Holkham, on a visit to the Earl of Leicester.
31.-Colonel Peyton and officers of the 7th Dragoon Guards gave a grand invitation ball at the Crown Bank building, Norwich. It was attended by many of the leading families of the county.
1873.
JANUARY.
2.-Died at his residence, Thorpe Hamlet, Norwich, Mr. Claude L. Nursey, artist, the painter of the well-known pictures ill.u.s.trating scenes in the early days of the local Volunteer movement. He was a son of Mr. Perry Nursey, of Little Bealings, Suffolk, and was in his 54th year.
15.-The Norwich Town Council received a letter from Whitehall, intimating that as Mr. Secretary Bruce had received no information that any steps had been taken by the Corporation for erecting a pauper lunatic asylum, he had instructed the Solicitor to the Treasury to proceed in the matter of the _mandamus_. (_See_ July 21st, 1874.)
21.-The resignation of Mr. A. W. Morant, City Engineer, and the author of the first sewerage scheme, was received by the Norwich Town Council, on his appointment as engineer to the borough of Leeds. On March 25th Mr.
Christopher Thwaites, C.E., of London, was appointed to the vacant post.
27.-Died at Trinity College, Cambridge, the Rev. Adam Sedgwick, LL.D., aged 87, Woodwardian Professor of Geology. He came of a North country family, and was born at Dent, in Yorks.h.i.+re. In due course he entered at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took his Bachelor's degree in 1808, as fifth wrangler. In 1810 he was elected to a Fellows.h.i.+p in his College, of which at his death he was the senior member. He succeeded, in 1818, Professor Hailstone in the chair of Geology, founded at Cambridge by the celebrated Dr. John Woodward. Professor Sedgwick had been a Canon of Norwich Cathedral since 1834.
FEBRUARY.
11.-A Local Government Board inquiry was held at the Guildhall, Norwich, by Mr. R. Morgan, C.E., as to an application made by the Town Council to borrow the sum of 32,500, for the purchase of a portion of the Crown Point estate, for sewerage and irrigation purposes. The amount required for the purchase of the land was 27,500, for legal and other charges, 500, and the remainder was for erecting buildings, &c. The application was opposed by the Norwich Ratepayers' Protection League. Another phase of the sewerage question occupied the attention of the Town Council at a special meeting on May 13th, when the City Engineer presented a report stating that serious defects existed in the low-level sewer, and part of the works had given way. It was resolved to borrow 20,000, at four per cent., on mortgage of the sewerage farm, as a permanent loan for ten years. On August 19th the City Engineer submitted to the Council three alternative plans for dealing with the difficulty-(1) By plating the sewer, at a cost of not less than 17,178; (2) by reconstruction, at a minimum cost of 25,000; and (3) of providing a new lining at not less than 33,000. Up to that time the total expenditure on the works amounted to 113,000. On October 21st the Council decided to consult Messrs. Hawkesley and Bazalgette, who, on December 16th, presented a report suggesting that certain remedial works be carried out at an approximate cost of 34,000. (_See_ January 20th, 1874.)
20.-In consequence of the demand by agricultural labourers for increased wages, an important meeting of employers resident in the district of the Wayland Agricultural a.s.sociation was held at Watton, under the presidency of Lord Walsingham, when resolutions were adopted whereby the meeting pledged itself to decline to recognise the system of compulsion exercised by the Labourers' Union, and to refuse any demand for higher wages made by those who were members of the Union, ”although willing to give favourable consideration to any request made in a proper manner whenever circ.u.mstances might be found to justify it.” It was further decided to invite co-operation from a larger area, and to form a society to be called the Wayland Farmers' Defensive a.s.sociation. Similar action was taken by employers in the North Walsham district, at Swaffham, and in the Blofield and Taverham Hundreds. (_See_ March 14th, 1874.)
MARCH.