1805.
The discussion of the Catholic claims was the principal domestic matter occupying the attention of Parliament and the public; while the death of Nelson, and Trafalgar, filled all men’s hearts and mouths towards the close of the year. The war was fast becoming popular; for though the taxes were enormous, our taxable income, which in 1792 appears not to have exceeded £130,000,000, had increased to £220,000,000. A great proportion of the vast war outlay was, in fact, but a circulation amongst ourselves. Consols averaged 59; wheat averaged 89s. 9d.
January 4—The Vice Chancellor and Mayor of Oxford issuing a notice, forbidding all stage carriages to pass through that city between nine a.m. and four p.m. on Sundays, the times of the carriers leaving Worcester on the Friday were obliged to be altered. They afterwards set out for London at five p.m. on Friday, reaching London on Tuesday morning.
February—A dispute between the physicians and surgeons of Worcester, the former (Dr. Cameron, Dr. Wilson, and Dr. Barnett) declaring that they would not meet the surgeons in consultation in any medical cases unless the surgeons would refrain from acting as consulting physicians. They defined the department of the surgeon to be—any external or local disease unaccompanied by any general affection of the system but what the local disease itself produced and requiring manual assistance in its treatment. Messrs. Yeomans, Rayment, Nash, Hill, Hebb, and Romney consented to the physicians’ terms; Messrs. Cole, Sandford, and Carden refused them.
February 25—The Hon. Mr. Ward presented a petition to the House of Commons from the freeholders and rackrenters of Worcestershire and Herefordshire, praying to be allowed to employ five horses in narrow wheeled waggons.
March 29—The following advertisement appeared in the Worcester Herald of this date:
“Cocking: A main of cocks will be fought at the house of Mr. John Lloyd, the sign of the Pheasant, New Street, Worcester, between the gentlemen of Worcestershire and the gentlemen of Gloucestershire, to show and weigh thirty-one cocks on each side in the main, for four guineas a battle and fifty guineas the odd battle; and twenty cocks on each side in the byes, for two guineas a battle. To weigh on Saturday the 18th of April, 1805, and fight on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, the following week, being Easter week.
Feeders: GOSLING, Worcestershire. HAYNES, Gloucestershire.”
May 1—The Loyal Worcester Volunteers inspected by General Bingham, and afterwards marched to Gloucester, there to remain twenty-one days on permanent duty.
May 6—The Worcester Yeomanry Cavalry, under the command of the Hon. Colonel Cocks, marched to Hereford, there to remain on fifteen days’ permanent duty.
May 20—The Volunteers return from Gloucester laden with honours and encomiums. The officers of the regiment invited to a dinner at the Crown Inn by the Mayor and Corporation.
July 22—The Young Roscius performed in Worcester Theatre with the same success as elsewhere. The exorbitant prices which the manager, in the first instance, wished to charge for admission caused considerable excitement and a sort of O. P. riot, and the manager was obliged to yield.
September 25—A boy, gathering nuts in a wood at Crowle, accidentally removed a piece of turf, and found beneath it a trap door and chimney. He called several men to the spot, who immediately descended through the door, and discovered a subterranean cave divided into several apartments with much care and ingenuity. In one of the rooms there was a quantity of cold meat, and in another a number of skins with entrails, &c. It had evidently been the retreat of sheepstealers and general thieves, though none happened to be there at the moment of discovery.
December 11—An address presented to the King from the Corporation of Worcester, congratulating him upon the glorious victory of Trafalgar, and lamenting the death of Nelson. As much as £400 collected in Worcester for the wounded marines, and the widows and orphans of those who fell in the action.
Local Acts—For building a chapel of ease at Redditch; for enclosure of waste lands at Rushock.