Norfolk Annals
Chapter 181 : 14.-The last sections of the line of railway from Wroxham to the Wells branch of the G

14.-The last sections of the line of railway from Wroxham to the Wells branch of the Great Eastern Railway Company, by which the union of East and West Norfolk was effected, was inspected, on its completion, by Major-General Hutchinson. The line was opened for traffic on May 1st.

15.-A party of about twenty members of the North Walsham and Aylsham Agricultural a.s.sociation started from Norwich on a trip to Holland, the expenses of which were defrayed by Mr. Samuel h.o.a.re and Sir T. Fowell Buxton, Bart. They arrived at Rotterdam on the 16th. In the course of the tour much valuable information was obtained regarding the Dutch systems of agriculture and dairying.

18.-The portrait of Mr. Harry Bullard, to which fifteen hundred persons subscribed, in recognition of his eminent services to the city, was hung in St. Andrew's Hall, Norwich. It was painted by Mr. Frank Holl, A.R.A.

22.-A county meeting, in furtherance of the movement originated by the Prince of Wales for establis.h.i.+ng a Royal College of Music, was held at St. Andrew's Hall, Norwich, under the presidency of the Earl of Leicester.

25.-Mary Ann Plunkett, aged nineteen, was murdered at Mill Hill, Catton, by a youth of twenty-two, named William George Abigail, who shot her in the head with a revolver. He was tried at Ipswich a.s.sizes, before Mr.

Baron Pollock, and sentenced to death. The execution was carried out at Norwich Castle, by Marwood, on May 22nd.

MAY.

13.-The Norfolk Chamber of Agriculture discussed the financial proposals made by Government with regard to the maintenance of highways. The following motion, by Mr. C. S. Read, was adopted: "That this Chamber approves of the principle of relieving local rates by applying some special taxes towards the repair of main roads, but considers the proposals of the Government are no sufficient remedy for the extra cost of maintenance of main roads, and expresses its disappointment that a contribution of only 250,000 from the Imperial finances can be given in aid of local rates without the imposition of additional taxation."

17.-Cardinal Manning addressed a great meeting at St. Andrew's Hall, Norwich, in furtherance of the principle of Local Option. His Eminence, on August 30th, again visited Norwich, and at the Victoria Hall addressed the members of the Roman Catholic temperance society-the League of the Cross.

21.-Died at his house in Grosvenor Square, London, William Henry FitzRoy, Duke of Grafton. His Grace was the eldest son of Henry, fifth Duke, by Mary Caroline, third daughter of Admiral the Hon. George Cranefeld Berkeley. He was born on August 4th, 1819; served as an _attache_ of the British Legation at Naples in 1841, and represented Thetford in the House of Commons from 1847 to 1863. In politics his Grace was a Whig of the old school.

31.-The new Town Hall at Yarmouth was opened by the Prince of Wales.

After the ceremony, at which a loyal address was read on behalf of the burgesses by the Recorder (Mr. Simms Reeve), the Mayor (Mr. C. C. Aldred) entertained his Royal Highness and a distinguished company to luncheon.

On June 1st the Prince of Wales inspected the Norfolk Artillery, and left the town on June 2nd.

JUNE.

1.-A sacred and operatic concert was given at St. Andrew's Hall, Norwich, under the direction of Sir Julius Benedict, in aid of the funds of the Jenny Lind Infirmary for Sick Children. The performers included Madame Blanche Cole, Miss Lucy Franklein, Madame Alice Barth, Mr. Faulkner Leigh, Mr. Aynsley Cook, &c., and the band and chorus were composed of the opera company performing at the Theatre Royal and of the members of the Norfolk and Norwich Festival Choir.

2.-At Norwich Theatre was produced Sir Julius Benedict's romantic opera, "The Lily of Killarney," under the personal direction of the composer.

The performance was repeated on the 3rd.

22.-The Summer Show of the Norfolk Agricultural a.s.sociation was opened at Norwich, in the grounds of Mr. A. R. Chamberlin, Ipswich Road, and was continued on the 23rd. Mr. Henry Birkbeck presided at the public luncheon.

JULY.

2.-The Right Rev. Samuel Crowther, D.D., Bishop of the Niger district of Africa, preached at St. Giles' church, Norwich, and at the Cathedral.

Originally an African slave-boy, he was the first Bishop of the negro race, and at the time of his visit to Norwich was 70 years of age.

8.-It was announced that Sir Willoughby Jones, Bart., had resigned the senior chairmans.h.i.+p of the Norfolk Quarter Sessions, to which position he was elected in October, 1856. On October 19th, Mr. J. R. Bulwer, Q.C., M.P., Recorder of Cambridge, was elected to fill the vacancy.

22.-The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Battalions of Norfolk Rifle Volunteers went into camp at Yarmouth, under the respective commands of Lieut.-Colonel H.

E. Buxton, Lieut.-Colonel Bulwer, and Lieut.-Colonel R. T. Gurdon, M.P.

24.-Bishop Pelham, who, on June 11th, completed the twenty-fifth year of his episcopate, received at the Palace, Norwich, a congratulatory address from the clergy of the several archdeaconries. (A portrait of his lords.h.i.+p, painted by Mr. W. Owles, R.A., was presented to him on October 18th, 1883.)

AUGUST.

3.-The officers of the 7th Dragoon Guards were entertained to luncheon at the Guildhall, Norwich, by the Mayor (Mr. W. Hunter), prior to the departure of the regiment for active service in Egypt. The right wing left Trowse station on the 4th, and sailed from the South West India Docks, in the Egyptian Monarch, on the 5th. The left wing proceeded from Trowse to Southampton on the 6th. On the departure of the cavalry, the Barracks were temporarily occupied by a detachment of the 1st Battalion Norfolk Regiment, from Colchester. In September the citizens sent a pet.i.tion to the Secretary of State for War, asking that the 7th Dragoons might be permitted to return to Norwich, but the authorities were unable to accede to the request.

12.-The first reference was made to the commencement of operations in Norwich by the Salvation Army, who had "secured St. Giles' Hall, formerly the Skating Rink, and converted it into suitable quarters." Frequent complaints of nuisances created by the "Army" were from time to time addressed to the magistrates. "General" Booth made his first visit to Norwich on September 9th.

23.-Mr. J. J. Henley and Dr. Airey, Local Government Board Inspectors, opened an inquiry at Norwich Workhouse into certain cases of alleged injury from vaccination reported to the Department by Mr. Ralph Lee Bliss. Eight definite cases were submitted, and in each the operation had been performed by the public vaccinator (Dr. Guy), at the vaccination station. Six of these cases were investigated. Subsequently five other cases were submitted, but only two were the subject of inquiry, the others being private cases, into which the Inspectors had no power to enquire. The inquiry concluded on September 4th. The Commissioners, in their report, dated October 21st, stated that no blame was to be attached to the public vaccinator as to the performance of his duties; "but we think," they added, "he should discontinue the use again and again of the same ivory points, and we consider it was an error of judgment on his part to continue vaccination attendance while he was daily visiting cases of erysipelas, without taking more than ordinary precautions to guard against the spread of infection."

SEPTEMBER.

1.-A three weeks' mission, in furtherance of the Blue Ribbon movement, was commenced in Norwich by its founder, Mr. Francis Murphy. The new pledges taken during the mission numbered 10,000, and upwards of 15,000 blue ribbons were distributed.

-The express service from the Eastern Counties to Doncaster was opened by the Great Eastern Railway Company, over their own and the Great Northern joint line.

5.-The coming of age of Mr. Russell J. Colman, eldest son of Mr. J. J.

Colman, M.P., was celebrated by a dinner given in the grounds of Carrow House, to between 3,000 and 4,000 of the _employes_ at Carrow Works.

9.-The death was recorded of Mr. John Laffan Hanly, proprietor and editor of the "Levant Times," at Constantinople, at the age of 48. Mr. Hanly was for some time chief reporter on the NORFOLK CHRONICLE, and subsequently editor of the "Lincolns.h.i.+re Chronicle."

13.-The French fis.h.i.+ng lugger, La Reine des Anges, deeply laden with herring, was wrecked on the Middle Cross Sand off Yarmouth, and of her crew of eighteen, ten were drowned.

17.-Special thanksgivings were offered in the churches in Norwich "for the glorious success achieved by our arms at Tel-el-Kebir, with the consequent collapse of the rebellion of Arabi and the prospect of the restoration of peace in Egypt."

24.-Died at Yarmouth, Mr. Charles John Palmer, F.S.A. He was Mayor of the borough in 1835, 1854, and 1855, and was very zealous in promoting various local undertakings, among which was the restoration of the parish church. Mr. Palmer was the author of several antiquarian works, the best known of which is his "Perl.u.s.tration of Great Yarmouth."

27.-The coming of age of Mr. Edward Evans Lombe, eldest son of the Rev.

Henry Evans Lombe, was celebrated at Bylaugh Park.

OCTOBER.

21.-Died at East Dereham, Mr. George Alfred Carthew, F.S.A., M.A., aged 75. Mr. Carthew, who was known throughout the kingdom as an able archaeologist, contributed many valuable papers to the journals of learned societies. He was the author of "A History of the Hundred of Launditch,"

and of a similar work, pa.s.sing through the press at the time of his death, on the topography, archaeology, genealogy, and biography of East and West Bradenham, Necton, and Holme Hale. He had vast stores of curious information, acquired in the course of a life-long study of matters ill.u.s.trating the history of the county in ancient times. He was a descendant of the old Cornish family of Carthew, a member of which, Thomas Carthew, of Ca.n.a.lidgy, married, in the year 1685, Mary Colby, of Banham. Mr. Carthew helped to found the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society, and to establish its position among the learned societies of the kingdom.

24.-An inquiry, directed by the Charity Commissioners for England and Wales, under the Endowed Schools Act, 1869, was opened at the Guildhall, Norwich, by Mr. C. H. Stanton, into the matter of the endowments commonly known as the Grammar School of the foundation of King Edward VI., the Commercial School of the same foundation, the Boys' Hospital, the Girls'

Hospital, and Norman's Charity. Many prominent citizens made statements before the Commissioner, who closed his inquiry on the 25th. (_See_ August 11th, 1883.)

26.-A remarkable case of somnambulism occurred on this date. A girl of seventeen, employed as general servant by a shopkeeper at Felthorpe, after retiring to rest at nine o'clock, got out of bed, and, having put on a dress and a pair of boots, climbed out of the bed-room window, and, without waking, reached the ground by groping along the roof of a lean-to shed. She then walked to Cawston, a distance of five miles, and was found about four o'clock in the morning sitting fast asleep on the doorstep of her father's house. She was stiff, cold, and speechless, and on being restored to warmth and consciousness, stated that she had no recollection whatever of having left her bed.

28.-A severe gale, accompanied by wrecks and loss of life, occurred on the Norfolk coast.

-At the Norwich a.s.sizes, before Mr. Justice Lindley, James Charles Edwards, 37, solicitor's clerk, pleaded guilty to forging certain doc.u.ments. The prisoner read a written statement, in which he said, "A love for pictures was my ruin, a craving desire and mania to possess myself of something better than my neighbours gradually developed, until at last it became a madness with me." He was sentenced to ten years'

penal servitude.