13.—Mr. E. Wodehouse presented to the House of Commons petitions from the owners and occupiers of land in the vicinity of Norwich, Yarmouth, and North Walsham, on the depressed state of agriculture, praying for a repeal of the last duty on malt, and for the substitution of a modified tax on property. At this date wheat was making 25s. to 31s.; barley, 9s. to 12s. 6d.; oats, 9s. to 10s.; and malt, 34s. per coomb.
22.—A performance took place for the benefit of the Theatrical Fund, established for the relief of aged and decayed actors of the Norwich company. The Freemasons gave their patronage, and, in full regalia, attended the Theatre, where the pieces produced were the comedy “Secrets worth Knowing,” and the musical farce “The Padlock.” The proceeds amounted to £117 2s. 6d.
26.—Mrs. Bartley commenced at Norwich Theatre an engagement, during which she appeared in the characters of Bianca (“Fazio”), Jane Shaw, Madame Chermont (“Adrian and Orrila”), Mary Stuart, and Catherine (“The Taming of the Shrew”).
31.—The freedom of the city of Norwich was presented to Capt. William Edward Parry, R.N., prior to his departure for the Arctic Seas to ascertain the existence of a north-west passage. He was a nephew
of Dr. Rigby, of Norwich. The parchment was presented in an oak box, made of a piece of the wood of the Hecla, the ship commanded by him in his voyage of discovery towards the North Pole in 1819–20.
APRIL.
2.—A new peal of bells, hung by Messrs. Hurry, of Norwich, was opened at Ditchingham.
3.—Died, aged 92, Thomas Burton, “father of the St. Peter’s company of ringers, Norwich.”
—Died in St. George Colegate, Norwich, aged 88, Mrs. Goulty, widow of Mr. John Goulty, and aunt to Admiral Lord Nelson.
—Mr. R. Morlege, many years confidential clerk to Messrs. W. and S. Bircham, of Reepham, “left that place with his family, a wife, and seven children, one an infant, in a covered van for Liverpool, there to embark for Baltimore, and from thence to proceed in his van, which he takes on board with him, about 400 miles up the country, and to settle on the banks of the Ohio.”