Norfolk Annals Volume Ii Part 88

1.-The first lecture of a series on Ecclesiastical History was delivered in the nave of Norwich Cathedral by Archdeacon Farrar on "Ignatius and Polycarp." (_See_ January 5th, 1893.)

8.-Died suddenly, at Bristol, Mr. William James Metcalfe, Q.C., Recorder of Norwich, and judge of the Bristol County Court. He was a son of the Rev. W. Metcalfe, of Foulmire, Cambridges.h.i.+re, and was born in 1818.

Educated at St. John's College, Cambridge, where he took his M.A. degree, he was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in 1845, and became Queen's Counsel in 1873. Mr. Metcalfe was Recorder of Ipswich from 1866 to 1874, and succeeded Mr. P. O'Malley, Q.C., in the Recorders.h.i.+p of Norwich. In 1879 he was appointed to his County Court judges.h.i.+p. He was succeeded as Recorder of Norwich by Mr. Thomas Richardson Kemp, Q.C.

12.-Captain Lugard addressed two influential meetings at St. Andrew's Hall, Norwich, upon the situation in Uganda. A resolution expressive of satisfaction with the action of the Government was adopted.

18.-Died, at Portland Place, Bath, Mr. James Hunt Holley, aged 88. He was a son of Mr. James Hunt Holley, of Blickling, and was educated under Valpy at Norwich School. Possessed of considerable landed property, he took great interest in agriculture, and in 1858 purchased the estate of Oaklands, Okehampton, in Devons.h.i.+re, on the borders of Dartmoor, where, remote from railways, agriculture had been neglected. The improvements which he carried out in the district gave great impetus to trade. He was an active magistrate, and during the earlier part of his life a staunch Free-trader and a Whig of the old school; but being unable to follow the extreme views of his party he ultimately withdrew from politics. Mr.

Holley married a daughter of Admiral Windham, of Felbrigg Hall.

19.-The Prince of Wales presided at a dinner given at the Hotel Metropole, London, to Lord Suffield, on his retirement from the command of the Prince of Wales's Own Norfolk Artillery.

26.-The Compton Comedy Company commenced a twelve nights' engagement at Norwich Theatre, and Ginnett's Circus began its winter season at the Agricultural Hall.

1893.

JANUARY.

1.-The issue of second-cla.s.s tickets was abolished throughout the system of the Great Eastern Railway Company, except in the case of trains running in the metropolitan suburban districts.

2.-"Sidney Carton," a dramatised version of d.i.c.kens' "Tale of Two Cities," was performed for the first time on any stage at Norwich Theatre by the Compton Comedy Company.

5.-The frost continued to be very severe. Large numbers of skaters visited Wroxham and Surlingham Broads.

-The course of lectures on Ecclesiastical History was continued at Norwich Cathedral by the Rev. J. A. Robinson, Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge, who dealt with "The Apology of Aristides." On February 1st the Rev. Prebendary Meyrick lectured on "The Life and Times of Justin Martyr"; and on March 8th the Rev. Stanley Leathes, D.D., Prebendary of St. Paul's, on "The Life and Times of Irenaeus." The second course was commenced by the Rev. G. A. Schneider, who lectured on "Tertullian: His Life and Times," on December 1st, and on "The Works on Tertullian," on December 19th. (_See_ April 2nd, 1895.)

7.-Died, at Woodbastwick, William Fryer, for seventy-four years parish clerk, in his 92nd year. He entered into office in June, 1819, and continued to discharge his duties to within a short period of his death.

If not the oldest parish clerk in point of age, there was reason to believe that Fryer had held office longer than any other parish clerk in the kingdom. He was for many years postmaster, general shopkeeper, and village carpenter and blacksmith.

11.-The first meeting in Norfolk of the National Agricultural Union promoted by Lord Winchilsea was held at the Corn Hall, Harleston, under the presidency of Mr. J. Sancroft Holmes. Other meetings of the Union were held during the year in various parts of the county.

12.-The series of Science Lectures for the People was resumed at St.

Andrew's Hall, Norwich, by Dr. Andrew Wilson, on the subject of "The Distribution of Animals, and what it Teaches." On February 8th Dr.

Drinkwater lectured on "Light and Colour from the Sun."

21.-At the instance of the Rate Basis Committee of the County Council a conference of delegates from all the Unions of Norfolk was held at Norwich, to consider the advisability of adopting a uniform system of a.s.sessment through the county. A resolution was carried recommending a.s.sessment Committees to make the annual value of property as determined for the purpose of Schedule A the basis of rating. It was also decided that the Rate Basis Committee send out to the different Unions a general or consolidated scale of deductions.

25.-The Norwich Board of Guardians resolved to request the Local Government Board to repeal parts of the Norwich Poor Act of 1863 in order to make the general law as to franchise and election of Guardians applicable to Norwich.

28.-It was authoritatively announced that the Bishop of Norwich had placed his resignation in the hands of the Archbishop of Canterbury. An Order in Council, pa.s.sed in the presence of her Majesty, on May 16th, declared the See of Norwich vacant. (_See_ May 31st.)

31.-Archdeacon Crosse was installed a Canon Residentiary of Norwich Cathedral.

FEBRUARY.

2.-At a full-dress parade of the 1st Volunteer Battalion Norfolk Regiment Brigadier-General Bulwer decorated several officers of the battalion with the new Volunteer Decoration.

20.-Miss Grace Hawthorne appeared at Norwich Theatre in Sardou's play, "Theodora." A feature of the performance was the introduction of a cage of live lions in act I., scene 3.

MARCH.

7.-The honorary freedom of Norwich was presented to Mr. J. J. Colman, M.P., by the Town Council, in recognition of his distinguished services to the city.

12.-The thermometer on the afternoon of this date registered 60 deg. Fah.

in the shade; on the 17th there was a downfall of snow.

23.-The Norwich Isolation Hospital, erected upon a site near the Cemetery, was opened by the Mayor (Mr. A. R. Chamberlin). It was designed by Mr. P. P. Marshall, City Engineer, and the tender for its erection amounted to 4,290.

25.-Particulars were published of the measures to be adopted in Norwich in the event of the threatened outbreak of cholera. During the week ending this date official visits were made to Yarmouth, Cromer, and other places on the Norfolk coast by Dr. S. Monckton Copeman, one of the Medical Officers of the Local Government Board.

27.-Died, at Bracondale, Norwich, Mr. Thomas Gabriel Bayfield, aged 76.

In his school days he formed the acquaintance of Mr. B. B. Woodward, afterwards Queen's Librarian, and of Mr. S. P. Woodward, the subsequent author of the manual on Mollusca, both sons of Samuel Woodward, and from them he imbibed a love for archaeology and natural history. Mr. Bayfield was regarded as an authority on ancient seals, and rendered great a.s.sistance to Dean Goulburn in the compilation of his work on Norwich Cathedral. In geology he laboured at the chalk and Norwich crag, and made a valuable collection of fossils; those from the chalk were subsequently acquired by the British Museum. He was one of the most active members of the Norwich Geological Society, and an enthusiastic member of the Norwich Science Club and of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society. Upon relinquis.h.i.+ng his business as an ironmonger in Magdalen Street, Mr. Bayfield obtained the appointment of master of the Blind School.

30.-Died Mr. Richard Charles Browne, of Elsing Hall, East Dereham, in his 63rd year. "A son of the Rev. Richard Browne, he was head of one of the oldest houses in England, the Hastings, of Elsing. He was lineally descended from Hugh Hastings, of Elsing, and consequently from Malcolm, King of Scotland. On the death of Hugh Hastings in the sixteenth century, the Barony of Hastings (1264) fell into abeyance between the two daughters, Anne, the elder, and Elizabeth. Mr. Browne descended from the latter. The abeyance lasted till about 1840, when Lord John Russell advised her Majesty to terminate it in favour of Sir Jacob Astley, who descended from Hugh Hastings' brother. It was thought that Lord John's decision was not unconnected with politics."

APRIL.

6.-The Norwich Diocesan Conference commenced its two days' sittings at Noverre's Rooms, Norwich. Bishop Pelham presided for the last time, and in his presidential address alluded to his approaching retirement.

8.*-"The Hon. Robert Marsham having received Royal Licence to take the additional name of Townshend, the surname of himself and his family will henceforth be Marsham-Townshend instead of Marsham."

21.-A great Unionist demonstration took place at St. Andrew's Hall, Norwich, as a protest against the Home Rule Bill. Colonel Bignold, leader of the Conservative party, presided, and Lord Ashbourne was the princ.i.p.al speaker.

-Died, at Bradenham Hall, Mr. William Meybohm Rider Haggard, aged 76.

Mr. Haggard came of a Scandinavian family, and for several generations his ancestors had been Norfolk squires. He was lord of the manor of West Bradenham, a Deputy Lieutenant, and one of the most active magistrates in the county. For many years he acted as a Chairman of Norfolk Quarter Sessions held by adjournment at Swaffham, and afterwards at Lynn, and for a long period was a member of the Committee of Visitors to Norwich Castle. After the pa.s.sing of the Local Government Act, by which the business previously transacted at Quarter Sessions was transferred to the County Council, Mr. Haggard, like so many representatives of the old county gentry, retired from active partic.i.p.ation in public affairs. He was educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, called to the Bar in 1842, and married, in 1844, Ella, elder daughter of Mr. Doveton, of the Bombay Civil Service. Mrs. Haggard was an exceedingly gifted woman, and possessed of brilliant literary powers.

23.-Died, at Cambridge, Mr. Robert Lubbock Bensly, M.A., Senior Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, and Lord Almoner's Professor of Arabic, aged 61. Professor Bensly, who was widely known as an Oriental scholar, was the eldest surviving son of Mr. Robert Bensly, of Eaton. He was educated at King's College, London, and afterwards at Gonville and Caius College, where he graduated in the Cla.s.sical Tripos in 1855, and was elected Tyrwhitt Hebrew Scholar in 1857. After spending two years at the Universities of Bonn and Halle, he returned to Cambridge, where he was appointed Hebrew lecturer at his college, and subsequently became the Senior Fellow. He was an active and valued member of the Old Testament Revision Committee, and was for many years an examiner in the theological and Semitic languages triposes, and succeeded the Hon. Ion Keith Falconer as Lord Almoner's Professor of Arabic. Afterwards he was appointed University lecturer in Oriental Languages. The closing work of his life was connected with a discovery of extreme importance and value, which he made in company with his former pupil, Mr. F. C. Burkett, of a ma.n.u.script found by Mrs. Lewis, of Cambridge, in 1892, in the Convent of St.

Catharine on Mount Sinai. A careful examination of photographs taken by her from this MS., which was a palimpsest, revealed the important fact that the nearly obliterated Syriac characters bore a close resemblance to the fragmentary text found by Cureton in 1842, and that the newly-found text comprised nearly all the four Gospels. This discovery led to an expedition in the present year (1893) to Mount Sinai, where the intricate task of deciphering and transcribing the MS. was undertaken by Professor Bensly, Mr. Burkett, and Mr. Rendel Harris. The Professor was well known as the discoverer and editor of "The Missing Fragment of the Fourth Book of Ezra." He also edited the Harklean version of the Epistle to the Hebrews, and at the time of his death was engaged in preparing other important works for the press.

24.-In a letter to the Press on this date Mr. James Emery, of Stibbard, wrote:-"This is the earliest spring for more than one hundred years in Norfolk. I have this day gathered some hawthorn in full blossom. I have seen more than sixty summers; my father lived to be seventy-four, and he has told me many times he never saw hawthorn in flower by the first of May. Nor have I ever seen it till this season before the first of May."

25.-The Fletcher Convalescent Home, at Cromer, built by the munificence of Mr. B. E. Fletcher, and endowed by the Earl of Leicester, as an adjunct to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, was opened by the Countess of Leicester. Mr. Edward Boardman, of Norwich, was the architect. The cost of the building was not disclosed by the donor; the endowment fund amounted to 15,000, which Lord Leicester augmented to 20,000 in February, 1894.

MAY.

5.-The Mayor of Norwich (Mr. A. R. Chamberlin) sent to the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Duke and d.u.c.h.ess of Teck, and the Duke of York and Princess Victoria Mary, the congratulations of himself and the citizens on the announcement of the betrothal of the Duke and Princess. On June 30th the Mayor, the Sheriff (Mr. Russell J. Colman), and the Deputy-Mayor (Mr. G. M. Chamberlin) proceeded to Marlborough House, and presented to the Duke of York a valuable dessert service, the gift of the citizens, with a richly-illuminated vellum containing a congratulatory address and the names of the subscribers.