JANUARY.
4.—A grand concert, given at Wells Theatre, was attended by Earl Rosebery, Lord and Lady Bury, Lord Dalmeney, Viscountess Andover, Admiral Digby, Lady H. Primrose, the Hon. Misses Anson, the Hon. B. Primrose, &c. The programme opened with Haydn’s “Surprise Sinfonia,” and the artistes engaged included M. Venna, Master Sporle, Madame Baur, and Mr. Barron. “Gentlemen amateurs” sang glees, and at the close of the concert a ball took place, at which 200 were present.
18.—A resurrection-man was shot in Bacton churchyard by a party of grave watchers. He was in the act of disinterring the body of one James Howlett, who was accidentally killed a few days previously. The resurrectionist, although badly wounded, effected his escape in the darkness.
23.—Norwich Theatre opened for the season with Mr. Smith as manager and lessee.
24.—Died, Mr. Martin Fountain, who was Sheriff of Norwich in 1812.
26.—Atkins’ Menagerie was exhibited on the Castle Hill, Norwich.
31.—Lord William Bentinck addressed a circular letter to his constituents at Lynn, announcing his resignation as one of the members for the borough, in consequence of his appointment as Governor-General of India.
FEBRUARY.
4.—Lord George Bentinck was elected without opposition a member for King’s Lynn. “No colours were worn, agreeable to the regulations of Lord John Russell’s most sapient Act, and for which the ribbon-makers must feel highly indebted to him in depriving them of a source of consumption for an important branch of British manufacture of no inconsiderable extent.”
5.—At a meeting of the Norwich Court of Guardians, a report was adopted in favour of altering the mulcts of the assessable property in each of the parishes and hamlets of the city. In the parishes the old valuation was £61,302; the new, £89,080; increase, £27,778—45 per cent. In the hamlets the old valuation was £19,722; the new, £21,487; increase, £1,765—about 9 per cent. At the vestry meetings in several parishes the new assessment was rejected—(1) on the ground of increased local and public burdens to which the citizens would be exposed by increased rent on such valuation; and (2) because of the disproportion of the assessment of the hamlets as compared with the assessment of the city at large. At a meeting of the Guardians on April 1st, a resolution was adopted declaring the mulct to be unequal, and advising that steps be taken to place it upon a fair and equitable basis.