Norfolk Annals
Chapter 135 : 2.-Died Mrs. Sarah Bickersteth, widow of the Rev. Edward Bickersteth, rector of Watton

2.-Died Mrs. Sarah Bickersteth, widow of the Rev. Edward Bickersteth, rector of Watton, Herts. She was the eldest daughter of Mr. Thomas Bignold, of Norwich, and sister of Sir Samuel Bignold. Born on October 3rd, 1788, she married, on May 5th, 1812, Mr. Edward Bickersteth, who was then a solicitor practising in Norwich. Two years afterwards, at the call of the Rev. Josiah Pratt, he gave up a lucrative business for the laborious post of co-secretary in the Church Missionary House, and visited the missions on the West Coast of Africa. Four fourteen years Mrs. Bickersteth shared all his toils, until 1830, when he was presented to the living of Watton, by Mr. Abel Smith, M.P. He died in February, 1850, and Mrs. Bickersteth, for the last nine years of her life, divided her time among her children. She spent the last month with her son, the inc.u.mbent of Christ church, Hampstead.

15.-The church of Framingham Pigot, built through the munificence of Mr.

G. H. Christie, at a cost exceeding 5,000, was consecrated by the Bishop of Norwich.

OCTOBER.

8.-Died, in the 100th year of her age, Mary Tallowin, of Bowthorpe.

11.-Charles d.i.c.kens gave a reading, at St. Andrew's Hall, of the "Christmas Carol" and the trial scene from "The Pickwick Papers," and on the 12th read the story of Little Dombey and of Mrs. Gamp. "The reception of Mr. d.i.c.kens, on his first appearing in front of a very artistically arranged screen, was cordial and enthusiastic. His voice was far from powerful, but he had remarkable expression and the power of exhibiting this in face as well as in voice. As a pecuniary speculation, it must have been highly profitable to Mr. d.i.c.kens."

17.-The town of Attleborough was, for the first time, lighted with gas, an event which was celebrated by a public dinner at the New Inn.

20.-At the Norwich Quarter Sessions, John Plummer (25), shoemaker, was indicted for stealing a model of a gold nugget, the property of the trustees of the Norfolk and Norwich Museum. Mr. Reeve, the curator of the Museum, stated that the model was worth only a few s.h.i.+llings, but it was an attractive object, and generally supposed by visitors, and no doubt by the prisoner, to be a piece of genuine gold. The prisoner was sentenced to seven years' penal servitude.

21.-At the Norfolk Quarter Sessions, the Police Committee called attention to an Act of Parliament pa.s.sed in the previous month of August, empowering the subst.i.tution of policemen for javelin men at the a.s.sizes, and recommending that the Chief Constable be authorised, on the application of the High Sheriff, to employ a sufficient number of constables for that purpose, the High Sheriff engaging to pay such sum as would, in the estimation of the Chief Constable, be sufficient to meet the additional expense of such employment. The matter was adjourned for further consideration. (_See_ January 5th, 1860.)

-Mr. R. M. Phipson was elected County Surveyor.

24.-A singular question came before the Norwich Town Council, in relation to the right of the Corporation to the property of convicts. The Police Committee reported they had been informed by the Chief Constable that on the apprehension of one George Valentine, on a charge of felony, a large sum of money was found in his possession. Valentine having been tried and convicted at the Quarter Sessions, the Town Clerk had stated that the city was ent.i.tled to the convict's money. The Chief Constable wished to know how he should dispose of the money. The Committee were advised that, after the conviction, the city had become ent.i.tled to the money under a Royal charter granted during the reign of Henry IV. The Council ordered that the money remain in the hands of the City Treasurer, pending further inquiry. The question was again considered by the Council on May 12th, 1863, when the Town Clerk reported that after Valentine's conviction it was found that, in addition to the sum in question (90), he had 60 deposited in a savings bank in London. The Town Clerk had given notice to the bank directors that the Corporation claimed the money, but since the liberation of the prisoner he had been pressed to withdraw the notices, and had refused to do so without the sanction of the Corporation. The difficulty under which the Corporation laboured was that the money was out of their jurisdiction, and they had no control over it beyond the notice that had been given. If further steps were taken the question would arise whether it was a forfeiture to the Corporation or to the Crown, but as this would involve an inquisition, the cost of which would probably exhaust the money enquired about, it was for the Council to say whether, the man, having served his term of three years' penal servitude, and having pet.i.tioned for some relief from the fund to place him in a position to gain an honest livelihood, they would authorise the withdrawal of the notice. It was agreed that the notice be withdrawn.

25.-A severe storm occurred off the Norfolk coast. At Winterton two vessels were wrecked and thirteen lives lost. At Yarmouth there were several wrecks, and for miles the sh.o.r.e was strewn with remains of cargoes and portions of vessels. The sloop James and Jessie drifted on to the Britannia Pier, and severed the structure into two parts.

26.-Mr. and Mrs. German Reed gave, at the a.s.sembly Rooms, Norwich, their entertainment ent.i.tled, "Seaside Studies."

NOVEMBER.

9.-At a meeting of the Norwich Town Council, Mr. J. H. Tillett was elected Mayor, and Mr. Joseph Underwood appointed Sheriff.

-Mr. Tillett, on taking his seat as Mayor of Norwich, informed the Town Council that an attempt had been made to bribe one of the Councillors.

Mr. Joel Fox, the member in question, produced the halves of three 100 bank notes, which, he alleged, the Conservatives had handed to him to induce him to vote for eight Conservative Aldermen. After the vote had been recorded the payment was to be completed. Amid much excitement, a Special Committee was appointed to investigate the case. On November 12th, before the Committee had presented their report, criminal proceedings were inst.i.tuted against Mr. Albert John Collins, solicitor, a member of the firm of Beckwith and Collins, who was charged at the Police Court with conspiring with Henry Croxford, stationer and others, to bribe Joel Fox, Town Councillor, by promising and offering him a sum of money to vote for certain Aldermen. Croxford, the other defendant, had absconded. Fox alleged that he went to Croxford's house, where he was shown the halves of three 100 notes and four 50 notes, which were offered to him by Croxford, on behalf of Collins, on condition that he voted for the Conservative Aldermen. After formal evidence, the case was adjourned. On the 16th the Committee of the Council asked for full power and authority to proceed with the investigation, and to take such steps as might be necessary for the prosecution of the offenders. The Council granted the application. The magisterial proceedings were resumed on the 17th, when Mr. Power, Q.C. (instructed by the Town Clerk, Mr. Mendham), appeared for the prosecution, and Mr. Serjeant Ballantine for the defendant Collins. After further evidence had been taken, the case was again adjourned. Meanwhile informations had been laid against William Wilde, William Wilde, the younger, William George Wilde, James Stowers, and Sir William Foster, members of the Liberal party, for conspiring to bribe at the last General Election for the city. By way of reprisal, the Liberals obtained summonses, through William Randell Lacey, against Sir Samuel Bignold, the Rev. F. S. Bignold, J. H. Bignold, James Hardy, Capt.

Ives, and G. Priest, for unlawfully conspiring by bribery and other illegal means to return Sir Samuel Bignold and Mr. Charles Lus.h.i.+ngton at the last election of members of Parliament. On Nov. 19th the magistrates decided to hear all the cases on December 8th. A special meeting of the Town Council was held on December 6th, to consider the following motion by Mr. Simms Reeve: "That it is the opinion of this Council that the peace and welfare of the city will be best promoted by the cessation of political strife, and, with the view to the attainment of that object, the resolution of the Council of the 16th November last, with reference to the charge of bribery made by Mr. Councillor Fox, be cancelled, and that all further legal proceedings against Henry Croxford and Albert John Collins and others for conspiracy be stayed." The motion was seconded by Mr. Field. Mr. C. M. Gibson moved, as an amendment, "That the due administration of justice is essential to the peace and welfare of the city, and it is therefore the opinion of the Council that the resolution of the 16th November . . . should be again confirmed." The motion was carried by 28 votes against 19. On December 8th, when the magisterial proceedings were resumed, the Town Clerk said he had no instructions from the Town Council to proceed with the prosecution. After he had formally withdrawn, Mr. R. N. Bacon, Mr. J. J. Colman, Mr. J. Youngs, Mr. J.

Newbegin, Mr. C. N. Bolingbroke, the Rev. G. Gould, the Rev. J. Crompton, Mr. E. C. Holland, and Mr. John Pymar appeared as prosecutors, and Mr.

Power claimed to be heard as their counsel. The Bench decided that there was no _prima facie_ case against Collins, who was discharged on giving sureties to answer any charge that might be made against him at the a.s.sizes. Serjeant Ballantine thereupon said that he would offer no evidence in the charges against the Messrs. Wilde, and Mr. S. H. Asker, who appeared for the complainant Lacey, withdrew the summons issued on his information.

12.-Mr. Louth, landlord of the Rampant Horse Hotel, Norwich, received fatal injuries by the overturning of his vehicle in London Street. His father, by whom he was accompanied, also sustained severe wounds, from which he died on the 18th.

30.-The foundation-stone of the St. Andrew's Wherrymen's chapel, at Yarmouth, was laid by the Mayor (Mr. W. Wors.h.i.+p). The building, which was erected at the cost of 1,050, by Mr. Stanley, of Yarmouth, from plans by Mr. C. E. Giles, of London, was consecrated by the Bishop of Norwich on October 9th, 1860.

DECEMBER.

1.-The Norwich Operatic Union gave its first concert, from Verdi's "Il Trovatore," at St. Andrew's Hall. The princ.i.p.al vocalists were Miss Theresa Jefferys, Mr. Angus Braham, Miss Laura Baxter, and Mr. Durand.

The band and chorus of 80 performers were conducted by Mr. Bunnett, B.M., Mr. Alfred Bowles was instrumental leader, and Mr. Henry Rudd choral director.

-A fatal accident occurred on the works in progress at the new Fishmarket, Norwich, by the falling in of three of the arches beneath the "promenade." A workman, named William Powley, of Necton, was killed, and another workman sustained a broken leg. At the adjourned inquest, on December 15th, the jury returned a verdict of accidental death, with the rider: "They consider, from the evidence of eminent architects of London and builders of Norwich, that the buildings are in an unsafe condition, and require the immediate attention of the Corporation, in order to insure the perfect safety of the public."

10.-Died at Sydenham, Col. the Hon. John Walpole, of 18, Jermyn Street, Piccadilly, aged 73. He was son of the second Earl of Orford, served with the Guards in the Peninsula War, and was severely wounded at the siege of Burgos. From 1827 to 1831 he was member of Parliament for King's Lynn; from 1830 to 1833 private secretary to Lord Palmerston; from 1833 to 1841 Consul-General in Chili; and from 1841 to 1849 _charge d'affaires_ there.

17.-A heavy fall of snow and a frost of great severity were recorded.

"In the course of the 17th, the thermometer fell to 14 degrees, and on the 18th to 9 degrees, or 27 degrees below freezing-point."

26.-The pantomime at Norwich Theatre was "founded on the celebrated and world-known Norfolk ballad," and ent.i.tled, "The Babes in the Wood, and Harlequin and the Cruel Uncle, or the Forest Queen of the Fairy Dell."

The other Christmas attraction was Mander's Menagerie.

27.-Died, Jacob Astley, Lord Hastings, of Melton Constable and of Seaton Delaval, Northumberland. He was son of Sir Jacob Henry Astley, fifth baronet, by the youngest daughter and co-heiress of Samuel Browne, of King's Lynn. His lords.h.i.+p was born in 1797, married in March, 1819, the youngest daughter of Sir Henry Watkin Dashwood, Bart., and succeeded his father in the baronetcy in 1817. As one of the heirs of Sir John de Hastings, who sat in the Parliament of 18th Edward I., he was summoned to the House of Peers in 1841. He was appointed first Captain and Commandant of the Norfolk Militia Artillery in 1853, and Hon. Colonel in 1856. From 1832 to 1837 he represented West Norfolk in Parliament. His lords.h.i.+p was succeeded by his son, the Hon. Jacob Henry Delaval Astley, born in 1822.

1860.

JANUARY.

5.-At the County Sessions, at Norwich, the Committee appointed at the previous Sessions recommended that the Chief Constable, on the application of the High Sheriff, be allowed to supply police-constables for keeping order in the a.s.size Courts, in place of the javelin men previously employed, the High Sheriff engaging to pay the additional expense. The Chairman (Sir Willoughby Jones) remarked that theoretically the javelin men kept the Courts, but practically they kept the neighbouring public-houses. The recommendation was agreed to. On March 27th, Mr. Justice Williams was received at Victoria Station by the High Sheriff (Mr. Henry Birkbeck) and a posse of policemen, "in the place of the time-honoured body which had long const.i.tuted a conspicuous part of the pomp and circ.u.mstance of our a.s.sizes, having at length succ.u.mbed to the utilitarian tyranny of the age. His arrival at the s.h.i.+rehall and Guildhall was signalised, however, by the customary fanfaronade on a couple of inharmonious trumpets."

15.-St. Giles' church, Norwich, was for the first time lighted with gas, and evening services were held there from this date.

17.-Mr. E. E. Benest, City Surveyor, tendered his resignation to the Norwich Town Council, after eight years' service. He was succeeded, on March 14th, by Mr. Thomas D. Barry.

20.-Lord Sondes was presented by his Norfolk tenantry with a piece of plate, of the value of 140 gs., as a birthday gift and as a testimony of the esteem in which he was held by them as a landlord and n.o.bleman.

FEBRUARY.

7.-A fire occurred on the premises of Mr. W. C. Aberdein, pastry cook, Dove Street, Norwich. The outbreak itself was not of a serious character, but in a room upon the adjoining premises of Mr. Cubitt, ironmonger, was stored upwards of 400 lbs. of gunpowder, which was safely removed in wet blankets. The circ.u.mstance caused much sensation, and the practicability of establis.h.i.+ng a public powder magazine was discussed by the magistrates.

20.-Died at King's Lynn, Mr. J. F. Reddie, many years organist at St.

Margaret's church, in that town.

24.-A pet.i.tion against the return of Sir Edmund Lacon and Sir H. Stracey, as members of Parliament for Great Yarmouth, in April, 1859, commenced before a Special Committee of the House of Commons. The pet.i.tioners, Mr.

Joseph Bayly, surgeon, and Mr. Robert Pilgrim, linen draper, alleged bribery, undue influence, treating, and intimidation. On March 1st the Committee declared the members to have been duly elected, and were of opinion that one of the witnesses, Henry Fayerman, had been guilty of wilful and corrupt perjury. The members were received with great enthusiasm on their return to Yarmouth, and were entertained at a public dinner, given at the Theatre, on April 12th. At the Westminster Police Court, on June 11th, Fayerman was committed for trial on the charge of perjury, but at the Old Bailey, on July 12th, the jury gave a verdict of acquittal.

28.-A terrible gale raged throughout the country. At Norwich, between ten o'clock and noon, the thermometer rose from 36 degrees to 47 degrees; at two o'clock it registered 45 degrees. The wind blew from the west, veering occasionally to the north and to W.N.W., but during the height of the gale it blew west by north. Great damage was done to buildings, trees were uprooted, and "locomotion was extremely difficult and laborious, and, indeed, quite out of the question to those of the fair s.e.x whose fas.h.i.+onable expanded dresses, a.s.suming the properties of parachutes, compelled them to undertake a species of aerial voyage for a distance of a few yards, or exposed them to the still more unpleasant predicament of having their parachute garments inverted." There were many disasters along the coast, and several lives were lost.

MARCH.

9.-A Special Committee of the House of Commons sat to decide various questions arising out of the elections at Norwich in 1859. The first point to be decided was whether Lord Bury's claim, by virtue of the election in July, was not nullified by the bribery which was proved to have been made by his agents when he was returned with Mr. Schneider in April; and secondly, whether, in the event of such disqualification, Sir Samuel Bignold or Colonel Boldero had a valid claim. There were three pet.i.tions: (1) against the return of Lord Bury and the qualification of Sir Samuel Bignold, on the ground that both had been guilty of bribery at the April election, and the seat was, therefore, claimed for Colonel Boldero (signed by Josiah Fletcher, S. Jarrold, and J. J. Kempster); (2) alleging the disqualification of Lord Bury, and claiming the seat for Sir Samuel Bignold (signed by J. G. Johnson and R. Kerrison); and (3) alleging the disqualification of both Lord Bury and Sir Samuel Bignold, and claiming the seat for Colonel Boldero (signed by P. Back and G. C.

Stevens). No appearance was put in in support of the first pet.i.tion.

The Committee declared that Lord Bury was not merely disqualified from sitting in the House of Commons during the then Parliament, but the last election was void, in consequence of his lords.h.i.+p having been found, since that return, guilty of bribery by his agents. A writ was then issued for another election, and on March 28th the following candidates were nominated: Mr. W. Forlonge (C), Aynhoe Park, Northamptons.h.i.+re; Mr.

W. D. Lewis, Q.C. (C); Sir William Russell (L), and Mr. Edward Warner (L). The polling took place on the 29th, and the result was officially declared on the 30th, as follows: Warner, 2,083; Russell, 2,045; Forlonge, 1,636; Lewis, 1,631.