7.—Died, aged 71, Mr. Richard Langton, many years librarian at the Public Library, Norwich.
17.—The north segment of North Walsham steeple was blown down. The bells fell in a mass of ruins.
17.—During a heavy gale at Yarmouth the tide overflowed many parts of the Quay, and inundated the houses. The foundations of several buildings fronting the beach were undermined by the water, and the sands presented a scene of devastation and ruin.
20.—A facing of brickwork by which the south side of the Guildhall had been disfigured for more than a century was removed and replaced by a beautiful specimen of flint work and masonry, from designs by Mr. J. Stannard, architect.
21.—Died at Ipswich, aged 64, Mrs. Cockle, daughter of Mr. Charles Roope, of Pulham Market. “She was well-known as the author of some valuable works on female education, and of literary and poetical productions.”
25.—The Northern and Eastern Railway Bill, for making a line from London to Cambridge, and thence to Norwich and Yarmouth, as planned by Mr. James Walker, was read a first time in the House of Commons. It passed the remaining stages, and was read a third time in the House of Lords on July 27th. On February 25th also the Commons Committee on the Eastern Counties Railway Bill determined that the standing orders had been complied with. This Bill was read a first time on March 10th. During that month a deputation from the London directors met the friends and supporters of the line at Norwich, Lynn, and Yarmouth; and on April 14th petitions in favour of the railway were presented in the House of Commons from Norwich by Lord Stormont, and from Yarmouth by Mr. Praed. The second reading was carried by a majority of 74. Mr. Gladstone remarked, in the course of the debate, that the petition from Norwich “had been got up by the foulest means—by means of eating and drinking. Every person who went in and put his name to the petition got a good lunch.” On May 2nd and 3rd Norwich and Norfolk witnesses gave evidence in favour of the Bill, which was read a third time on June 1st. It was announced on July 2nd that the Bill had passed through all stages in both Houses of Parliament.
MARCH.
1.—The new police went on duty for the first time at Norwich. “The 18 new policemen under the superintendence of Mr. Wright appeared for the first time on Tuesday last in an uniform dark blue dress with waterproof capes similar to those worn by the police in London.”
5.—Died at his house in King Street, aged 69, Mr. William Taylor, “a gentleman whose intellectual endowments and extraordinary range of varied acquirements had gained for his name a celebrity which, far from being confined within the walls of his native city, extended itself widely through the world of British, European, and Trans-Atlantic literature. The friend and biographer of Dr. Sayers, the associate of Dr. Southey and other distinguished characters, Mr. Taylor stood pre-eminent for his scholastic and critical knowledge of the great writers of Germany.”
12.*—“The Gas Company of this city (Norwich) have determined to reduce the price to those who consume by meter from 13s. per 1,000 cubic feet to 10s. This reduction will place Norwich in a much better situation than almost any town in the kingdom.”