16.—For nearly three hours “the sun was surrounded by a bright and beautiful halo, whilst several others appeared in its vicinity, intersecting the main one in several directions.” A similar appearance was observed in the summer of 1826.
JULY.
1.—The fares by the Royal Norwich mail from the Star, Haymarket, to the Belle Sauvage, Ludgate Hill, were reduced from this date to 16s. inside and 8s. outside.
4.—Mr. Charles Gill and Miss Vining, two popular performers with the Norwich Company, eloped from the city. “The attachment between the parties has been of long standing, but it was opposed by the young lady’s friends, on account of the disparity of years.” Mr. and Mrs. Gill appeared at Yarmouth Theatre on September 8th.
—Died at North Walsham, Captain Thomas Withers, R.N., aged 73. He entered the service in 1793, joined Nelson in the Agamemnon, which formed part of Lord Hood’s fleet at the occupation of Toulon, and took part in the reduction of Bastia and Calvi, and in the several actions in which the ship was engaged. In 1796 he joined the Captain, and in the following year, in the battle off Cape St. Vincent, had the distinguished honour of commanding the division which boarded the San Nicolas, and from that ship the San Josef. He was made lieutenant next day, and soon after appointed to the Terrible, under the command of Sir Richard Bickerton, and served during the expedition against the French in Egypt. In April, 1803, he was appointed to the command of the Expedition (44 guns), and was chiefly engaged in the Mediterranean until 1804. In 1805 he accepted employment under the Transport Board, and in 1809 received post rank.
8.—A whirlwind occurred at Blakeney. In its course it carried away several yards of a wall two feet thick, took from some smacks the hatchings, which were blown upon the marshes, and blew a man off the seat of a threshing machine. The stable at the White Horse was unroofed, and a quantity of Mr. Temple’s hay was blown to the distance of a mile.
15.—Arising out of an assault case, a curious story about witchcraft was told to the Norwich magistrates. Mr. and Mrs. Curtis alleged that a Mrs. Bell had bewitched them three days after Tombland Fair, and they had been bewitched ever since. “Mrs. Curtis saw Mrs. Bell light a candle and fill it with pins. She then put some red dragon’s blood, with some water, into an oyster-shell, and having repeated a form of words over it, her (Mr. Curtis’) husband’s arms and legs were set fast, and when he lay down he could not get up again without
somebody helping him.” The man made a similar statement, and said that to the dragon’s blood and water Mrs. Bell added some parings of her own nails, put the mixture over the fire, and muttered an incantation.
19.—A young man named Robert Smithson “wagered that he would run over the nine bridges in Norwich in twenty-five minutes.” He performed the distance, nearly four miles, in twenty-two minutes.
24.—Died at Shotley Parsonage, Ipswich, aged 91, the Rev. Samuel Forster, D.D., formerly head-master of Norwich Free Grammar School. On resigning, in 1811, Dr. Forster became private tutor to the son of the Marquis of Bristol. Sir Edward Berry, Nelson’s flag captain at the Battle of the Nile, married the doctor’s eldest daughter.