1866.
Jan. 13th. The lifeboat “Rescuer” upset at Gorleston Pier, and twelve of her crew drowned. The names of the rescued were E. Woods, Wm. Austin, Geo. Palmer, and Robt. Warner. Eight widows and over thirty orphan children were left unprovided for.
Jan. 27th. Exhibition of curiosities, &c., at the Town Hall, closed after five weeks.
Feb. St. George’s Denes laid out as a park and promenade, at a cost of £449 to the town. June 21st, 1807, an épergne of frosted silver and a silver salver were presented to Mr. Edward Stagg, by 200 subscribers, for the promoting and laying out of these grounds. A portion of it was laid out in 1884 as a lawn tennis ground.
Apr. 23rd. Foundation stone of the Gorleston Wesleyan Chapel laid.
May 7th. First Yarmouth Annual Spring Meeting held.
July 10th. H.M.S. “Dauntless,” 36 guns, and carrying 280 men; July 14th, H.M.S. “Trafalgar;” and on the 15th, H.M.S. “Irresistible,” anchored in the Roadstead.
July 19th. General holiday. Volunteer Review day; 1,300 Volunteers practised on the South Denes.
July 20th. Fishwharf and Tramway Bill passed in the House of Lords.
July 31st. The lifeboat “Leicester,” presented by Mrs. Hodges, launched at Gorleston. Cost, £600.
Aug. 16th. Royal Commission of Inquiry into the state of bribery at Parliamentary elections opened before Wyndham Slade, Lucius Henry Fitzgerald, and George Russell, Esqs., barristers-at-law, at the Town Hall. The inquiry lasted 34 days, and over 700 witnesses were examined. (See Feb. 15th, 1867.)
Dec. 3rd. The town, through an accident at the Gas Works, put in total darkness. Loss of gas estimated at about 100,000 cubic feet, value £1,000.
Dec. 12th. Loss of the fishing-lugger “William and Mary,” belonging to Mr. Utting, and nine lives, off Pakefield.
Dec. 30th. Meeting at the Town Hall on behalf of the sufferers from a colliery explosion in Yorkshire and Staffordshire.
“Chapters on the East Anglian Coast,” in two vols., 800 pages, published. The London Quarterly Review of April, 1807, says, “We have seldom met with a more elaborate, exhaustive, beautiful, and ably-written guide-book and local history.” It was penned by Mr. John Greaves Nall, who died in June, 1876.
Messrs. Lacons, Youell, and Co.’s Bank re-erected.
Top of Recent Road, near Town Wall House, widened by the Corporation.
A wooden circus building, on Mr. De Canx’s garden, converted into the Regent Hall, and used as a Theatre, &c. It has since been demolished.
Deaths: Feb. 2nd, Mr. W. P. Windham, at Norwich.—Feb. 9th, John Bessey Hilton, Esq., aged 44.—Feb. 18th, Isaac Preston, sen., Esq., aged 92.—Sept. 4th, David Falcke, Esq., J.P., at Paris.—Dec. 18th, Mr. Joseph Tomlinson, sen., brewer, aged 78.