NORFOLK ANNALS

A CHRONOLOGICAL RECORD OF REMARKABLE EVENTS IN
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

(Compiled from the files of the “Norfolk Chronicle”)

by
CHARLES MACKIE

VOLUME I.

1801–1850

“It is beyond the capacity of the human intellect to discriminate beforehand between what is valuable and what is valueless in the pursuit of historical research. What would we give now for newspapers and trade circulars illustrating the social habits of many bygone times and peoples?”—The Times, May 4, 1900.

[Entered at Stationers’ Hall]

1901
Printed at the Office of the “Norfolk Chronicle” Market Place Norwich

SUBSCRIBERS.

Lord Amherst of Hackney, Didlington Hall, Brandon, Norfolk.
Major C. W. Archdale, Coltishall, Norwich.

The Rev. Thomas W. B. Bartlett, Beeston Rectory, Swaffham.
Miss Bateman, 1, Hanover Road, Brunswick Road, Norwich.
Sir Reginald P. Beauchamp, Bart., Langley Park.
The Rev. John Hare Beevor, Hevingham Rectory, Norwich (two copies).
W. T. Bensly, LL.D., F.S.A., Eaton, Norwich.
C. A. Bathurst Bignold, Eaton Hall, Norwich.
Edward L. Birkbeck, Lexham.
Henry Birkbeck, Westacre.
T. C. Blofeld, Hoveton House.
Thomas Blomfield, Wellington House, East Dereham.
Edward Boardman, Albemarle Road, Norwich.
E. T. Boardman, Queen Street, Norwich.
H. C. Bolingbroke, Shirehall, Norwich.
T. B. Brittan, Brentwood, City Road, Lakenham, Norwich.
William Cooper Brown, Hartwell, Wroxham.
Henry G. Browne, 84, West Pottergate Street, Norwich.
The Rev. E. Utten Browne, Besthorpe Vicarage, Attleborough.
Sir Harry Bullard, M.P., Hellesdon House, Norwich.
General W. E. G. L. Bulwer, C.B., Quebec House, East Dereham.
Edward Bunnett, Mus. Doc, The Close, Norwich.
C. Louis Buxton, Bolwick, Marsham, Norwich.
G. F. Buxton, Dunston Hall, Norwich.

Edward J. Caley, Chapel Field Works, Norwich.
Thomas Chaplin, Milestone House, Thorpe Road, Norwich.
Henry L. Clark, Maid’s Head Hotel, Norwich.
Stroud L. Cocks, Uplands, Diss.
Russell J. Colman, Bracondale Woods, Norwich.
Ben Cook, Aylsham.

Henry J. Copeman, 2, Town Close Road, Norwich.
S. Cozens-Hardy (Sheriff of Norwich), Bracondale, Norwich.
Thomas Cranmer, Clarence House, East Dereham.
Archdeacon Crosse, Cathedral Precincts, Norwich.
Henry R. Culley, 12, Bank Street, Norwich.

Travers Daveney, Linton, Cambridge.

Sir Peter Eade, St. Giles’ Street, Norwich.
Frederic R. Eaton, Cleveland House, Eaton, Norwich.
M. S. Emerson, Cathedral Close, Norwich.

The Hon. Ailwyn E. Fellowes, M.P., Honingham Hall.
G. B. ffolkes, Manor House, Wolferton, King’s Lynn.
Sir William H. B. ffolkes, Bart., Hillington Hall, King’s Lynn.
P. Berney Ficklin, Tasburgh Hall, Norwich.
Miss Franklin, 58, Unthank Road, Norwich.
Free Library, Norwich.

W. Coke Gee, Branksome, Catton.
W. B. Gerish, Ivy Lodge, Bishop’s Stortford, Herts.
Henry J. Gidney, Aylsham.
George Gilbert, Old Hall, Reedham.
Lieut.-Col. H. H. Gilbert, Cantley, Norfolk.
Sir Charles R. Gilman, Stafford House, Norwich.
The Rev. F. J. W. Girling, Shernborne Vicarage, King’s Lynn.
T. Inglis Goldie, Theatre Street, Norwich.
Agas H. Goose, 17, Prince of Wales Road, Norwich.
Robert Green, Angle Cottage, Sheringham.
Frederick Gregory, Excelsior House, North Walsham, Norfolk.
Guildhall Library, London.

W. H. Hackblock, Coltishall.
H. Rider Haggard, Ditchingham House.
J. B. Tooke Hales, The Close, Norwich.
Peter E. Hansell, Wroxham House, Wroxham, Norfolk.
P. Harbord, Lammas Hall, Norwich.
Bosworth Harcourt, 39, St. Giles’ Street, Norwich.
Thomas Hardie, Tudor House, Lower Clarence Road, Thorpe Hamlet.
W. T. Hartcup, Eastwood, Old Catton.

Captain E. Harvey, Holmwood, Thorpe, Norwich.
Lord Hastings, Melton Constable Hall, Norfolk.
Frank P. Hinde, The Fernery, Thorpe Hamlet, Norwich.
Sir Samuel Hoare, Bart., M.P., Sidestrand Hall.
Francis Hornor, Thorpe Mansions, Norwich.
The Rev. J. W. Hoste, Norfolk Club, Norwich.
Charles J. A. Howes, 36, Havelock Road, Earlham Road, Norwich.
The Rev. William Hudson, 15, Hartfield Square, Eastbourne.
John Hurn, 37, Surrey Street, Norwich.

Arthur Edward Jackson, 79, St. Giles’ Street, Norwich.
Sir Alfred Jodrell, Bart., Bayfield, Holt.
Frederick Johnson, 33, Queen’s Road, Great Yarmouth.

The Earl of Leicester, K.G., Holkham, Norfolk.
Thomas Barrett Lennard, Horsford Manor, Norwich.
Hamon le Strange, Hunstanton Hall, Norfolk.
Captain Evans Lombe, 88, Hough Green, Chester.
C. J. Temple Lynes, Blakeney, Norfolk.

A. H. Mann, Mus. Doc., King’s Field, Cambridge.
The Hon. Robert Marsham-Townshend, 5, Chesterfield Street, Mayfair, London, W.
Miss Elizabeth Matthews, The Hollies, Swaffham.
William McQueen, The Cedar, Heigham Grove, Norwich.
John C. Miles, The Denes, Great Yarmouth.
Fred Morgan, Theatre Royal, Norwich.

Norfolk and Norwich Library, Norwich.

The Earl of Orford, Mannington Hall, Aylsham, Norfolk.

J. J. D. Paul (Mayor of Norwich), Eaton Grove, Norwich.
Mrs. Petre (of Westwick), Furze Hill, North Walsham, Norfolk.
R. H. Porter, 7, Prince’s Street, Cavendish Square, London, W.
Arthur W. Preston, Bradestone House, Brundall.
Richard Preston, Tonbridge, Kent.
R. J. W. Purdy, Woodgate House, Aylsham.

John Quinton, Norfolk and Norwich Library, Norwich.

Clare Sewell Read, 91, Kensington Gardens Square, London, W.
Edmund Reeve, Ber House, Norwich.

James Reeve, Castle Museum, Norwich.
F. T. S. Rippingall, Langham, Blakeney, Norfolk.
Walter R. Rudd, The Mount, Thorpe Hamlet, Norwich.
Walter Rye, St. Leonard’s Priory, Norwich.

Alfred C. Self, Arlington, Mount Pleasant, Norwich.
John Shepheard, Cromer Road, North Walsham.
His Highness Prince Frederick Duleep Singh, Old Buckenham Hall, Attleborough.
Henry Smith, Ellingham Hall, Bungay.
Edwin B. Southwell, 60, Bracondale, Norwich.
E. Bowyer Sparke, Gunthorpe Hall, Dereham.
A. W. Spratt, St. Catherine’s College, Cambridge.
F. Primrose Stevenson, F.Z.S., 155, Trinity Road, Upper Tooting, London, S.W.

Francis Taylor, Diss.

W. Gladstone Ulph, The Grange, Martham.

John Walker, Wentworth Villa, Newmarket Road, Norwich.
Lord Walsingham, F.R.S., Merton Hall, Thetford.
John H. Walter, Drayton House, Norwich.
The Rev. G. D. D. Watt, 2, Park Road, Forest Hill, London, S.E.
George White, M.P., The Grange, Eaton, Norwich.
Edward Wild, The Hawthorns, Eaton, Norwich.
Edward R. Woodward, Guardians’ Office, St. Andrew’s Street, Norwich.

PREFACE.

The “Norfolk and Norwich Remembrancer and Vade Mecum,” upon the plan of which this work is compiled, was published in two editions. The first (undated) was issued in or about 1801. It appeared in pamphlet form (f’cap 8vo), and contained (1) a brief topographical description of the city and county; (2) a “Chronological Retrospect of the most remarkable events which have occurred in Norfolk and Norwich during the 18th century, with a list of Bishops, Deans, High Sheriffs, Mayors and Sheriffs of Norwich, and Mayors of Yarmouth and Lynn within that period”; (3) an Index Villaris, “including an accurate account of the population, &c., of every parish in the county, extracted from the official returns taken in 1801, with the measured and computed distance of each market town and village from the city of Norwich; also the returns of the population of Norwich, as taken in 1693, 1752, 1786, and 1801”; (4) a list of direct and cross roads from Yarmouth, Lynn, and Cromer; and (5) an alphabetical list of “noblemen and gentlemen’s seats and villas in the county, with their distance from Norwich.” The work was printed and sold by Stevenson and Matchett, Market Place, Norwich, and was “to be had of the distributors of the Norfolk Chronicle and of all booksellers.”

The “Remembrancer” consisted of 80 pages, and was published at eighteenpence. Although the “Chronological Retrospect” extended over the period of one hundred years—from 1701 to 1800 inclusive, it was compressed into 43 pages. This, the most important section of the work, was reprinted from a local chronology published in the Norfolk Chronicle, compiled partly from old Norwich histories and partly from the early files of the newspaper. “Omissions or errors which may have occurred in this work,” says a footnote to the “advertisement” to the first edition, “shall be corrected in a future edition, and notice of such will be thankfully received by the Editors.”

But many years elapsed before the publication of a second edition, and it was not until 1822 that the “Remembrancer” again made its appearance. The modest pamphlet of 1801 had grown to a crown 8vo volume of 274 pages, bound in cloth, and issued at three shillings and sixpence. It was printed in bolder type, and contained additional information of a miscellaneous character, which, published at a time when few general directories and books of reference were in circulation, and local statistics difficult to obtain, was received with favour as one of the earliest attempts to supply the want now so fully met by local handbooks and year-books. In this, as in the first edition, the Chronology was by far the most important part of the book. The 18th century “Retrospect” was revised and amplified, and the record, continued from January, 1801, to December, 1821, occupied 208 pages. The compiler of this edition, and probably of the former issue, although his name did not appear in connection therewith, was Mr. Jonathan Matchett, the senior proprietor of the Norfolk Chronicle, who states in his preface: “The Chronology of Remarkable Events has been compiled principally from the volumes of the Norfolk Chronicle, of which, with the local occurrences of the last fifty years at least, the Retrospect may be considered an epitome. Such errors of omission or commission as may be discovered in this humble compilation shall, if pointed out, be corrected in a future edition, if ever a third should be called for.” As no subsequent issue appeared, it may be assumed that the demand for the work was not such as to justify the expenditure of the time and labour necessary to its production. Mr. Matchett died November 24th, 1844, and from that time until the present no effort had been made to continue the Chronology.

Little need be written by way of preface to this work. It was commenced as an index to the Nineteenth Century files of the Norfolk Chronicle, and was not, as originally planned, intended for publication. The compiler, however, was advised to elaborate his scheme and to prepare, in place of a MS. index designed for private use, a work which would serve the twofold purpose of continuing the excellent Chronology begun by Mr. Matchett, and of supplying a book of reference upon a variety of subjects pertaining to Norfolk and Norwich.

In Volume I. of “Norfolk Annals” are recorded the events of the two decades included in the second edition of the “Remembrancer,” but the matter has been entirely re-written, and the field of research considerably enlarged. With the lapse of time many things, too familiar and commonplace to be very fully noticed in the “Remembrancer,”—e.g., the coaching system, sports which are now obsolete, country celebrations and observances, &c.,—have acquired an interest which they did not present to a compiler of eighty or a hundred years ago. Some of the facts recorded in these pages may not in themselves be considered “remarkable,” but collectively they illustrate the manners and customs, the wisdom and follies, the labours and amusements, of Norfolk people in the century just closed, and, it is hoped, show to what extent the county and city have progressed morally and socially during the last hundred years. In one respect “Norfolk Annals” is less pretentious than its antecessor—it gives no topographical and statistical information of the kind published in the “Norfolk and Norwich Remembrancer”; in another sense it is more pretentious—it contains an index, which will add to its usefulness as a book of reference.

The writer is indebted to the Chairman (Sir Charles Gilman) and the Directors of the Norfolk Chronicle Co., Limited, for permitting him to make use of the files of that newspaper, from which exclusively the following pages have been compiled.

CORRIGENDA. [0]

Page 128, last line, for “present” read “presented.”

„ 138, line 9, for “Hawkes” read “Hankes.”

„ 166, line 2, for “Henry” read “Hurry.”

„ 187, line 8, for “Miller” read “Milles.”

„ 216, first line of last paragraph for “Norfolk” read “Norwich.”

NORFOLK ANNALS.
VOLUME I.
1801–1850.

[Note.—Marginal dates distinguished by an asterisk are dates of publication, not of occurrence.]