1871.
Jan. 3rd. A male otter caught in one of the Broads near Yarmouth. It weighed 30 lbs., and was four feet long, the tail alone measuring 21 inches.
Jan. 9th. Lady King, late of Telegraph House, died at Maddingley Hall, Cambridge.
Jan. 13th. Race for £100 on the ice covering the Southtown marshes, between Mr. Barnes’ pony (ridden by the owner) and an excellent skater named Woodhouse. The rough-shod pony won by several yards.
Jan. 13th. Public subscriptions for aiding the wounded in the Franco-German war amounted to £297 6s. 7d. Jan. 27th. Forty-five screw steamers passed up through the Roadstead within three hours.
Jan. 18,709 lasts of herrings caught during the last voyage, or 5,353 lasts more than the previous year’s catch.
The rateable value of the Borough as per last poor rate, £96,556 10s., and the number of ratepayers 9,750.
Seventy-five schools provided accommodation for 5,370 pupils, viz., Yarmouth, 65 schools, 4,587 children; Gorleston and Southtown, 10 schools, 781 children.
The total receipts of the Board of Health for the past year were £6,819 8s. 8d., and the expenditure £6,698 19s.
Feb. 4th. Robert Steward, Esq., J.P., died at Cambridge, aged 57. This gentleman was five times Mayor of the Borough, and was also a Member of the Town Council for upwards of 20 years.
Feb. 7th. Fire in Broad Row at the shop of Mr. J. H. Lay. About £100 worth of damage done.
Feb. 18th. Mantby Hall destroyed by fire.
Feb. Two whitings caught by the smack “Dutch Trader”—one measured 26 inches and the other 24 inches.—The number of fishing boats belonging to Yarmouth, according to a Parliamentary return, amounted to 900, of the aggregate tonnage of 14,788, giving employment to 4,051 men and 530 boys.
March. Lieut. Fyson appointed Captain of the 2nd Company of Rifle Volunteers on the retirement of Capt. Tomlinson.
C. C. Aldred, Esq., appointed a Justice of the Peace for East Suffolk in place of the late R. Steward, Esq.
March 3rd. Police-constable George Shreeve met with a fatal accident by falling from the fire escape at the Police Station. (See Aug. 3rd, 1870.)
March 29th. Mr. A. D. Stone purchased the barque “Frederica,” with stores, &c., for £1,425.
April 3rd. Census taken. Population of Yarmouth, 33,880; Gorleston and Southtown, 6,645; exclusive of about 700 absentees at sea. Number of houses: Yarmouth, 8,098; Gorleston, 1,534. Population of surrounding villages: Belton, 582; Bradwell, 387; Burgh Castle, 409; Fritton, 221; Hopton, 309; Ashby, 95; Blundeston, 716; Corton, 530; Flixton, 52; Gunton, 73; Herringfleet, 230; Lound, 422; Oulton, 860; Somerleyton, 592; Flegg Hundreds, 9,381.
April 7th. The new Tabernacle on Wellesley Road opened for Divine worship. It cost £2,496. (See May, 1870.)
April 19th. Mr. H. Fenner’s smack “Sebastopol” destroyed by fire whilst at sea.
April 19th. Edmund Girling, Esq., formerly in Messrs. Gurneys and Co.’s bank, died in London, aged 75. He was a talented artist.
April 22nd. The screw steamer “Kestrel,” with emigrants for America (about 150), run down by the screw collier “Frankland,” near Cromer. All hands saved.
April 24th. The smack “Otter,” launched.
April. A beautifully-stained window placed in St. Nicholas’ Church to the memory of the late John Goate Fisher, Esq., Mayor of the Borough in 1820.
The number of wherries registered as belonging to the river Bure was 103, of 1,846 tons burthen.
May 4th. Mr. J. R. Baumgartner passed his examination at Apothecaries’ Hall.
May 6th. Richard Hammond, Esq., J.P., died at Yarmouth, aged 78. This much-respected gentleman was the oldest Magistrate of the Borough, having been called to the Bench in 1841; he was also a Port and Haven Commissioner. On the Bench he once remarked that our smacksmen “earned their money like horses, but spent it like asses.”
Under the general poor rate and compounds in Yarmouth, there were 5,136 tenements, of the total value of £81,222 10s.
May 31st. David A. Gourlay, Esq., J.P., died at Yarmouth, aged 88 years. He was elected Mayor of the Borough in 1849, and was for many years a respected member of the Town Council. (See April 4th, 1867.)
June 6th. Salmon Palmer, J. W. de Caux, and Garson Blake, Esqs., nominated by the Town Council as new Magistrates for the Borough.
June 10th. Nearly 50 porpoises observed disporting themselves in the Roadstead.
June 13th to 24th. The D. Battery B. Brigade of Royal Horse Artillery encamped on the North Denes, under the command of Captain Strangways. 120 rank and file, having 116 horses, and 6 9-pound rifle-loading guns, &c.
June 21st. Messrs. F. S. Smyth and R. G. Bately acquitted themselves satisfactorily in their preliminary examinations at the Royal College of Surgeons, London.
June. Major W. J. Foreman, 1st Norfolk Artillery Volunteers, passed his examination and received a certificate of efficiency at the School of Instruction formed at Woolwich, under Lieut.-Colonel Woolsey, R.A.
June. Messrs. J. T. Waters, F. Burton, and F. W. Dendy passed final examination at the London Incorporated Law Society.
July 9th. Fire on the fishing premises of Messrs. Bland Brothers, Queen’s Road. A public subscription was made on their behalf.
July 13th. Boat accident in the Roadstead, by which a man and two boys, out of a crew of five, were drowned, the youths being members of a Norwich Church Choir.
July 15th. The 1st Suffolk and (on the 18th) 1st Norfolk Rifle Volunteers encamped for a week on the North Denes. The former mustered in all about 600 men.
July 26th. H.M.S. “Repulse,” 12 guns, 3,749 tons burthen, 800 h.p., commanded by Capt. Rollins, came into the Roads to embark 50 coastguardsmen.
July 30th. A terrific thunder peal, the like not having been heard for many years. The electric fluid did a considerable amount of damage to the residence of Mr. Hinchman Hammond.
Aug. 1st. The new smack “Zephyr,” on Aug. 3rd the fishing boat “Henry and Edmund,” and on Aug. 7th the dandy smack “Coral” launched. Since August last year 30 smacks and fishing boats had been launched at the various shipyards in Yarmouth and Gorleston.
Aug. 7th. Miss E. Pearson, accompanied by Miss L. E. MacLaughlin, paid a visit to the Sailors’ Home, having just returned from the Franco-German War. In October these two ladies had conferred upon them the bronze cross and diploma of the Society de Secours aux Blessés of France, in recognition of their services on the battle fields of Metz, Sedan, and Orleans. (See Sept., 1870, Aug., 1872, and Aug. 8th, 1876.)
Aug. 11th. Fatal accident to Mr. Henry Worlledge, third son of the County Court Judge, while bathing at Folkestone.
Aug. 14th. E. P. Youell, Esq., who had for 11 years previous been Captain of the 2nd Company Rifle Volunteers, was presented by the members of his company at the Drill Hall with a handsome silver salver, value £13, as a mark of esteem.
Aug. 15th. Mrs. Levina Onslow died at Yarmouth, aged 75 years. This lady was the widow of the late Capt. John James Onslow, R.N., post-captain in H.M.’s Royal Navy, and last commanding H.M.S. “Daphne,” as senior officer in New Zealand in 1845; and mother of the late Rev. W. Lake Onslow, M.A., R.N., formerly chaplain on board the “St. George” with the Duke of Edinburgh, and subsequently domestic chaplain to the Prince and Princess of Wales at Sandringham. (See June 1st, 1862.) The Rev. Onslow was educated as a boy at the old Grammar School, under the Rev. T. C. Clowes, M.A., of Queen’s College, Cambridge, and his grandfather, as Admiral, commanded the squadron in the Roads after the Camperdown action.
Aug. 15th. A congratulatory address voted by the Town Council to Sir James Paget, on her Majesty conferring upon him a baronetcy. Sir James is the son of the late Samuel Paget, Esq., a long resident in this town. The same honour was conferred by George IV. in 1821 on Astley Cooper, Esq., son of Dr. Cooper, minister of St. Nicholas’ Church. (See June 15th, 1858.)
Aug. 15th. Brigantine “Edward,” belonging to Mr. W. J. Foreman, launched, after extensive repairs, from Mr. Rust’s yard. The same morning, a new lugger, belonging to Mr. G. Palmer, was launched from the same shipbuilder’s yard.
Aug. 17th. Tenders opened for laying a common sewer through Gorleston and Southtown, viz., 350 feet run of from 2 to 3½ feet brick sewer, and about 5,500 feet run of pipe sewer, from 9 to 15 inches in diameter. A tender of £1,725 was accepted by the Gorleston Board of Health. (See June 25th, 1872.)
Aug. 23rd. The sale of Mr. J. Tomlinson’s business premises, Howard Street, realised £11,390.
Aug. 25th. Fire at Mr. C. Garwood’s fish-house in Charlotte Street; very little damage done.
Aug. 28th. H.M.’s paddle-frigate “Terrible,” 1,850 tons burthen, 800 horse power, 19 guns, commanded by Capt. Travenen, passed through the Roadstead.
Aug. 31st. The Yarmouth Horticultural Society’s first show, held in St. George’s Park, which was entirely enclosed with boarding, was a grand horticultural and floral fête, and patronised by most of the élite of the town. The East Norfolk Militia and Artillery Militia bands played at intervals during the day.
Aug. H.R.H. the Prince of Wales accepted the hon. colonelcy of the Norfolk Artillery Militia, rendered vacant by the death of Lord Hastings.
Sept. Mons. A. A. Desfougerais, Vice-Consul to the French Government, after 11 years’ residence in Yarmouth, obtained an appointment in the Foreign Office in Paris. On Sept. 22nd this gentleman was presented with a claret jug and cup, value £40, as testimony of respect.
Sept. 11th. The dandy smack “Fern,” 54 feet long, 7 ft. 2 in. deep, and 32 4-100ths tonnage, launched from Mr. R. Rust’s yard.
Sept. 17th. Organ at St. George’s Chapel re-opened after being restored.
Sept. 17th. The Rev. C. Voysey, B.A., late Vicar of Heaulaugh, preached at the Unitarian Chapel.
Sept. 22nd. The smack “Maria and Isabella,” belonging to Mr. Seago, of this port, ran into by the barque “Rock City,” near the Dogger Bank, where she foundered, and four of her crew were drowned.
Sept. 25th. The captain of the passenger steamer “Albion,” plying between Yarmouth and London, fined £6 11s. for having on board 448 passengers, or 111 more than the vessel was chartered to carry.
Sept. 29th. The new General Post Office, Regent Street, opened.
Sept. 29th and 30th. The brig “New Fair Trader,” and the fishing lugger “Black-eye’d Susan,” of this port, received much damage.
Oct. Number of persons by excursion trains during the summer was—Vauxhall Station, 47,176; Southtown, 35,383; total, 82,559. Last season, V., 32,103: S., 26,009; total, 58,112.
Oct. 4th. The schooner “John Watson,” belonging to Messrs. Watling, of this port, collided with the barque “Thomas Knox,” in the Roadstead, and the former sunk. Crew saved.
Oct. 5th. Mr. William Mallam Vores admitted a licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries.
Oct. 16th. The screw steamer “Annie Bronghton,” 120 h.p., 782 tons register, 230 feet long, 32 ft. beam, drawing 19 ft. of water, and valued at £22,000, while on a voyage from Newcastle to Alexandria with 1,650 tons of coal, got on Hasbro’ Sands, but was assisted off after four days’ hard exertions. The salvage claims amounted to £1,300.
Oct. 16th. Fire at Mr. A. Tabraham’s jewellery shop on St. Peter’s Road. Considerable damage done.
Oct. 16th. A royal sturgeon caught off Yarmouth. It was 7 ft. 10 in. long, and weighed 28 stone.
Oct. 18th. The new Corn Hall, Howard Street, opened by a public dinner, to which nearly 200 gentlemen sat down, including Viscount Mahon, M.P., Sir E. H. K. Lacon, Bart., M.P., the Hon. F. Walpole, M.P., C. S. Read, Esq., M.P., E. Corrance, Esq., M.P., and the Mayor (E. H. L. Preston, Esq.) H. S. Grimmer, Esq., occupied the chair.
Oct. 24th. George S. Harcourt, Esq., of Ankerwych, formerly M.P. for Bucks, died at St. George’s Square, Belgravia, aged 64 years. This gentleman established the Yarmouth Sailors’ Home.
Oct. 26th. A silver tea-kettle, value £25, presented as a testimonial to the Rev. R. J. Dundas, prior to his leaving the town for Albury, near Guildford.
Oct. 30th. The Rev. W. Boycott, rector and patron of Burgh St. Peter, died at Ormesby, aged 73 years.
Nov. Mr. Ziba Rayson passed his third and final examination at the Law Society’s Hall, London.
Nov. 3rd. Fire at the drapery shop of Mr. E. Bostock, King Street, and damage done to the amount of £350. (See 1884.)
Nov. The smack “Evangeline,” built for Mr. Olley of this town, launched from Mr. Fellows’ shipyard.
Nov. 14th. The iron screw steamer “Benjamin Whitworth,” 639 tons register, 99 h.p. (Capt. John Smith), got upon the Cross Sands and encountered a terrifically heavy sea; but after great perseverance she was floated off on the following day. The steam tug “Reliance,” value £2,500, belonging to the Standard Company, while assisting the “Whitworth,” struck against a piece of sunken wreck, and so rendered leaky. She was run on to Caister beach, where she became a total wreck. (See Dec. 4th, 1875.)
Nov. 14th. A fleet of some 1,200 sailing vessels passed through the Roadstead.
Nov. 25th. The fishing lugger “Sailor’s Friend,” value, with nets, &c., about £850, the property of Mr. C. Rumbold, was run into by the French screw steamer “Union Bayonnaise,” which caused the lugger to founder. Crew all saved.
Nov. 30th to Dec. 2nd. Heavy gale. Lifeboat crews performed several daring acts of bravery, and although about 25 hands were unfortunately lost near Yarmouth, no less than 23 shipwrecked men were rescued and taken to the Sailors’ Home.
Dec. 4th. Smack “George and Elizabeth” ran ashore north of the North Pier, where she went to pieces, her crew being rescued by the rocket apparatus.
Dec. 4th. Rev. A. T. Shelley, Congregational minister at Aylesbury, and formerly of this town, died at Aylesbury, Bucks, aged 45.
Dec. 6th. Intense frost. Every street and road one mass of ice, and so smooth and slippery as to render walking upright impossible. Several accidents occurred to people and horses.
Dec. 9th. The smack “Friendship,” value £400, lost in the North Sea.
Dec. 10th. The new steamer “South Tyne” stranded on North Scroby Sand. She was got off the next morning after 100 tons of coal had been thrown overboard. Salvage services amounted to £1,000.
Dec. 11th. The market tolls, &c., were let by public competition by Mr. S. Aldred for £890 per annum. (See Aug. 21st, 1876.)
Dec. 15th. The smack “Dagmar” on fire in the harbour. Much damaged.
Dec. 19th. The smack “Emma,” valued at £300, totally destroyed by fire while in the North Sea. Crew rescued.
Dec. 19th. The screw collier “Magdeburg” struck on Scroby Sand, but was got off by the steam tug “Reliance” for £200.
Dec. In the 2nd Norfolk Rifle Volunteers in 1871 there were in the five companies 11 officers, 22 sergeants, and 460 men, 87 of whom were marksmen.
The 600 fishing craft belonging to this port pay annually for towage about £4,000.
A new Primitive Methodist Chapel opened at Bradwell.
Mr. J. T. Clarke, solicitor, appointed a Commissioner to administer oaths in the High Court of Admiralty in England.
Two hundred and forty millions of herring landed at the Fish Wharf during the whole of the present season.
The number of shipwrecked men received during the year at the Sailors’ Home was 228.
A whiting measuring 26 inches caught on the coast.