1872.
Jan. 1st, The barque “Sing Tai” (Rising Sun), 500 tons, launched from Messrs. Beeching’s shipyard.
Jan. 1st. The brigantine “Sybil,” belonging to Mr. H. H. Gambling, while entering the harbour got on the North Sand, and was wrecked. Value, £400.
Jan. 3rd. Rear-Admiral Charles Calmady Dent, of Yarmouth, died. (See April 4th.)
Jan. 5th. Sir Francis Crossley, Bart., M.P., of Somerleyton Hall, died at Belle Vue, Halifax, aged 54 years.
Jan. 10th. First prosecution for Sunday trading instituted, the magistrates fining two delinquents—Messrs. Duffell—5s. each and costs. This continued weekly for over five years.
Jan. 12th. Restoration of Gorleston Church mooted. On May 15th Mr. Hubbard’s (East Dereham) contract of £2,642 accepted. (See June 12th, 1873.)
Jan. 16th. Loyal addresses voted by the Council to the Queen on the recovery of the Prince of Wales from a severe illness; also congratulatory addresses to the Prince and Princess.
Jan. 17th. Gallant lifeboat service by the Caister beachmen during a heavy gale, in the preservation of the barque “Jessie,” and the whole of her crew.
Jan. 25th. The Gorleston Board of Health resolved to borrow £1,000, in addition to the £3,500 previously borrowed for the Southtown drainage. (See Aug. 17th, 1871.)
Jan. 28th. John Lomas Cufaude, Esq., solicitor, died, aged 61 years. The deceased was Clerk of the Peace, Clerk to the Board of Guardians, and Superintendent Registrar of this Borough.
Jan. 29th. Caleb Burrell Rose, Esq., F.G.S., died, aged 81 years.
Jan. 29th. Supt. G. Tewsley presented with a richly-chased silver cup, at the Bear Hotel, by the sergeants and constables of the Borough Police, as a memento of their esteem.
Feb. 2nd. F. Danby Palmer, Esq., elected Supt. Registrar, and on the 9th Clerk to the Board of Guardians.
Feb. 2nd. Further experiments in the Roadstead with Harvey’s sea torpedoes, under the inspection of gentlemen representing the American Government.
Feb. 9th, 10th, and 18th. Action in the Court of Chancery—I. and C. A. Preston versus the Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough—to recover £20,000, lent by various mortgagees on the general district rates. Bill dismissed with costs. An appeal was made against the judgment in the same Court on June 19th, with a like result.
Feb. 13th. Isaac Preston, jun., Esq., elected Clerk of the Peace by the Town Council; and on March 5th, Visiting Justices’ Clerk.
Feb. 23rd. Brigantine “Isabella Walker” collided with the steam tug “Andrew Woodhouse,” the latter sustaining damage to the amount of £50.
Feb. 27th. General Thanksgiving Day for the recovery from sickness of the Prince of Wales observed in Yarmouth.
Feb. £4,680 required for the restoration of Gorleston Church. (See Jan. 12th, 1872, and April 28th, 1876.)
March 1st. Mr. G. M. Burton elected Vaccination Officer.
March 2nd. Smack “Queen of the Fleet” launched from Messrs. Smith and Son’s shipyard.
March 14th. J. Cherry, Esq., of the Norfolk Circuit, took the oaths and handed in his formal appointment as Clerk of the Peace for Suffolk, conferred by the Lord Lieutenant of the County (Lord Stradbroke), vacated by the late Mr. Borton, who held the office 30 years prior to his death.
March 22nd. Henry Negus Burroughes, Esq., died at Burlingham Hall, aged 82 years. This gentleman was elected M.P. for East Norfolk in Aug., 1837; July, 1841; Aug., 1847; and July, 1852, with the late Edmund Wodehouse, Esq., as a colleague, on the last two occasions without opposition. In 1855, however, Mr. Wodehouse, accepting the Chiltern Hundreds, Sir Henry J. Stracey was returned in the place of that hon. gentleman, but at the dissolution in March, 1857, they neither of them went to the poll. Mr. Burroughes was a Port and Haven Commissioner for over 45 years. The Rev. Randall Burroughes, who married a sister of Lord Suffield, succeeded to the possession of his fine landed property.
March 30th. Nathaniel Palmer, Esq., died at Coltishall. He was born at Yarmouth in Oct., 1792. In 1827 was called to the bar by the Inner Temple, and in 1886 appointed Judge of the Guildhall Court of Norwich and Recorder of Great Yarmouth.
March. The loop-line between Somerleyton and St. Olave’s on the Great Eastern Railway opened.
April 4th. Marriage of Lieut. Charles Francis Hastings Dent, commanding H.M.S. “Orwell,” eldest son of the late Admiral Dent and Lady Selina (daughter of the 11th Earl of Huntingdon), with Miss Jane Collins, of Bury, was celebrated at St. Mary’s Church. (See Jan. 3rd.)
April 19th. Corner-stone of the new schools in connection with St. James’ Mission laid.
April 24th. Simms Reeve, Esq., took the declaration at the Tolhouse Hall on acceptance of the office of Recorder of Yarmouth.
May 2nd. The fine new lugger “Sir Roger Tichborne” launched from Messrs. Smith’s shipyard at Runham.
May 13th. The smack “Renown,” belonging to Messrs. Smith and Son, fouled the South Pier, and afterwards sunk with her cargo of fish in the harbour.
May 13th. The Dutch man-of-war brig “Tornate,” used as a training ship, and having on board 110 boys and 10 men and officers, was towed into our harbour.
May 20th. A young shark, about six feet long, caught off Yarmouth, and landed on the beach.
May 20th. Serious accident to J. W. de Caux, Esq., J.P., by falling from a cart on the Marine Parade.
May. A salmon weighing 12½ lbs., and two salmon trout, one 15 lbs. in weight, and the other 2 ft. 4 in. long, taken near Caister.
May 29th. James Scott, Esq., J.P., a shipowner of this port, died, aged 69 years. (See June, 1863.)
June 6th. First visit to Yarmouth of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, attended by the Earl of Leicester, Major-General Probyn, C.B., and Col. Teesdale. This never-to-be-forgotten visit of the Heir Apparent to the Throne was the grandest event in respect to the general superb decorations and illuminations, together with the rapturous enthusiasm and open generosity of the populace, ever recorded in the annals of local history. Some 3,500 excursionists from Norwich, as well as numbers from neighbouring districts, flocked into the town on the two first days. The Prince and suite, who were entertained here by James Cuddon, Esq., J.P., at Shadingfield Lodge, left the Borough on the 8th by the East Suffolk line, en route for London.
June 6th. The new Grammar School opened by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, K.G.
June 6th. Primitive Methodist Conference opened at Yarmouth, and lasted for a week. Number of members in 1872, 161,464.
June 13th. Two Companies of 33rd Regiment of Foot (Duke of Wellington’s) and the staff of the Essex Rifle Militia, 152 rank and file, arrived at the Southtown barracks, where they stayed for a month.
June 15th. At Cambridge, the degree of Doctor of Divinity conferred on the Rev. J. J. Raven, head master of the Yarmouth Grammar School.
June 15th. Mr. Edward Fyson, a member of the Town Council, and a Captain in the 2nd Norfolk Rifle Volunteers, died, aged 37 years.
July 9th. William Sheppard, Esq., died, aged 76.
July 11th. Heavy tempest. Mr. Burton Steward’s house struck by lightning, and the interior of more than one room was damaged by the electric fluid.
July 16th. The Royal Humane Society presented Mr. Thomas Joyce with the usual honorary testimonial on parchment for saving the life of a lad named F. J. Martin, while in a very precarious state in the sea. This was the second testimonial Mr. Joyce had received for his bravery.
July. Cuddon-Fletcher, Esq., of Somerton (son of James Cuddon, Esq., late of Shadingfield Lodge), created a Justice of the Peace for Norfolk.
Aug. The decoration of the Order of Sanitat Kreuz Militar of Hesse Darmstadt, conferred on Miss E. Pearson (of Yarmouth) and Miss L. E. MacLaughlin, for their attention as nurses to the wounded soldiers in the Franco-German war. (See Sept., 1870, and Aug. 7th, 1871.)
Aug. 8th. The new organ in St. Mary’s Church, Southtown, opened with a full choral service. This fine-toned instrument was built by Mr. W. C. Mack, of Yarmouth, at a cost of £250. (See Sept. 9th, 1875.)
Aug. 9th. Mr. R. Collins resigned the appointment of Town Hall keeper, which he had held for 20 years, and was succeeded on Aug. 13th by Mr. George Harvey. (See Oct. 20th, 1874.)
Aug. 10th. By an Act of Parliament this day in force different independent sanitary bodies were placed under one authority, including the Yarmouth and Gorleston Local Boards. Yarmouth Town Council then became the sanitary authority for the whole district, at the same time taking possession of the property in Gorleston and Southtown, assessed at £15,700.
Aug. 13th. H. Fellows, F. Dendy, and S. W. Spelman, Esqs., appointed as Magistrates for the Borough.
Aug. 13th. Mr. C. H. Chamberlin’s resignation as Borough Coroner accepted by the Town Council. Mr. William Holt was at the same meeting appointed his successor. (See Dec. 5th, 1883.)
Aug. 18th. John Hillam Mills, Esq., banister, died at Lowestoft. The deceased gentleman acted as Deputy-Recorder of Yarmouth during the many years’ protracted illness of the late Mr. N. Palmer. (See March 30th, 1872.)
Aug. 20th. Edward Harbord Lushington Preston, Esq., died. He was Mayor of the Borough at the time, and held several offices of responsibility. Born on Nov. 4th, 1806. The remains of deceased were intended in the family vault in St. Nicholas’ Churchyard, near the Cemetery.
Aug. 20th. The new smack “Star,” built for Mr. Fleming Hewitt, launched from the shipyard of Mr. J. H. Fellows.
Aug. 27th. Charles Woolverton, Esq., elected Mayor to the 1st of November, in the place of the late E. H. L. Preston, Esq.
Aug. 29th. Part of the fleet of H.M.’s ironclads, under the command of Rear-Admiral G. G. Randolph, C.B., anchored in the Roadstead. The fleet comprised the “Achilles,” 26 guns; “Hector,” 18; “Penelope,” 11; “Audacious,” 11; “Vanguard,” 14; “Black Prince,” 28; “Resistance,” 16; “Favourite,” 10; “Valiant,” 18; and the dispatch boat “Imogen.” In the whole squadron there were some 4,500 men, including about 1,500 coastguardsmen. The Admiral’s ship (“Achilles”) carried 750 men, had 40 furnaces, and when steaming at full speed consumed at the rate of 250 tons of coal a day.
Sept. 29th. The lugger “Bee” (formerly “Prima Donna”), belonging to Mr. T. Tyrrell, of this port, foundered about 60 miles abreast of Winterton.
Oct. 3rd. Destructive fire at the shop of Messrs. Leach Brothers, oilmen, &c., Market Place, which resulted in the almost entire destruction of the shop and stock-in-trade. Estimated loss, £1,000; property saved, value about £400.
Oct. 11th. Heavy gale. Loss of the schooner “Lucy,” belonging to Mr. R. Barber, of this port, on Whitby beach.
Oct. 14th. Sir E. H. K. Lacon, Bart., M.P., laid the first plate of the Gorleston tramway, which ceremony was celebrated by a banquet at the Town Hall in the evening.
Oct. 16th. Mr. J. Suffling’s smack “Humility” driven ashore in a gale north of Britannia Pier.
Oct. 17th. Terrible accident on the Great Eastern Railway near Kelvedon—18 people wounded and one killed, among the former being William Worship, Esq., of Yarmouth.
Oct. 26th. The schooner “Blyliam” foundered in the North Sea. Mr. Walter Haylett, master of the smack “Eclipse,” was subsequently awarded a silver medal and certificate of honour by the King of the Netherlands for rescuing the crew.
Oct. 29th and five following days. The sale of Mr. J. Owles’ collection of pottery and porcelain, at the Corn Hall, realised £4,738.
Oct. Mr. A. J. Rivett passed the minor examination of the Pharmaceutical Society.
Oct. The widow of Sir William J. Hooker died. This lady was the daughter of the late Mr. Dawson Turner, F.R.S., of Yarmouth, and mother of Dr. Hooker. She was married to Sir William in 1815.
Oct. The Rev. John Beazor, late of Yarmouth, appointed to the Rectory of Portland by the Bishop of Oxford. This rev. gentleman had for six years previously held the sole charge of Minster Lovell. (See March, 1863.)
Nov. to March, 1873. Pinder’s Royal Circus at Regent Hall.
Nov. 2nd. The lugger “Good Advice,” belonging to Mr. John Hart, of Gorleston, run down by a brig.
Nov. 11th to 17th. Heavy gains, the smacks “Coronella” and “Thomas and Edward” lost, and all hands (on the 12th), and Gorleston Pier was also damaged to the extent of £3,339.
Nov. 13th. Mr. A. E. Cowl, third son of Mr. Henry Cowl, passed his final examination prior to his admission as an attorney, at the Institute of the Incorporated Law Society, London.
Nov. 13th. Sudden death of Mr. S. C. Cooke, of Horstead, at the Thorpe Railway Station, aged 71. The deceased was a member of the Port and Haven Commission.
Nov. 26th. Captain John Garnham, R.N., died, aged 83. The deceased was 42 years a Magistrate for Suffolk, and was for some years a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, and taken prisoner by the French in 1814, after which he returned to England.
Nov. 30th. The smack “Challenger,” reputed to be the largest built in Yarmouth, was launched from Messrs. Smith and Son’s yard.
Nov. Mr. F. J. Dowsett passed his final examination for an attorney at the Incorporated Law Society’s Hall, Chancery Lane.
Dec. 8th and for several days, a succession of gales. About 15 vessels in all foundered, and 100 shipwrecked mariners were received at the Sailors’ Home.
Dec. The Militia Depôt at Yarmouth offered to the Government at £12,500.
Dec. 21st 14,451 lasts of herrings delivered at the Fishwharf, as compared with 19,639 lasts for the corresponding period of 1871.