26.—A series of lectures on phonography was commenced at the Assembly Rooms, Norwich, by Mr. Joseph Pitman and Mr. Reid. “Mr. Reid appears to have mastered the system so far as to be able to follow a speaker, but no reporter has yet adopted it.”
JUNE.
2.—Mr. Macready, accompanied by Mr. Ryder, “a highly respectable actor,” commenced a three nights’ engagement at Norwich Theatre. He appeared in the characters of Hamlet, Richelieu, and Macbeth.
JULY.
21.—Miss Fitzwilliam appeared at Norwich Theatre in the Assize week performances. She took the leading parts in “The Belle of the
Hotel,” “My Little Adopted,” “Foreign Airs and Native Graces,” &c. At the conclusion of the season, on the 26th, Mr. George Smith announced to the audience that he had resigned the management of the circuit. “He had been,” he said, “thirty-one years a member of the Norwich Company. He had witnessed the drama in its high and palmy state; he had seen its gradual decline. Many had been the causes assigned for this decay—the increase of Dissent and fanaticism on the one hand, errors of management on the other, and the reduction of prices.”
29.—A prize-fight took place on Mousehold Heath, Norwich, between Jim Woods and Ben Clarke, “the Norfolk Slasher,” for £5 a side. Woods was the favourite, at 5 to 2, and obtained “first blood,” but in the second round Clarke struck him a severe blow on the temple and felled him. In the third round Clarke put in another blow, and as his opponent was falling, struck him behind the ear and laid him senseless. Clarke was declared the winner, after a contest which lasted only five minutes.
—The Norfolk Railway was opened. The directors ran a special train from Trowse to Cambridge, by which about 200 guests, including the Dean and Mayor of Norwich, were conveyed. A special train from London brought a like contingent to Cambridge, where luncheon was served, under the presidency of the chairman of the Eastern Counties Railway, Mr. Henry Bosanquet. One of the first projects for a long line was the proposal to construct a railway between London and Norwich, via Thetford, with a continuation to Yarmouth. A prospectus was printed and partially circulated in 1825, but the scheme was abandoned. In 1835 the prospectus of the Eastern Counties (or Grand Eastern Counties) Railway appeared. The requisite notices were published in November of that year, application was made in the ensuing session of Parliament for a Bill, and the first Act for the construction of the works received the Royal assent on July 4th, 1836. Up to 1840 this line was opened only as far as Warley Lane, between Brentwood and Warley Common. In 1843 it was completed as far as Colchester, but as the original capital was more than expended in carrying the line that distance, all hope of proceeding to Norwich was abandoned. In 1839 two Acts connected with the Northern and Western Company were passed, and received the Royal assent on July 19th. The first was for the purpose of extending the time for the purchase of land as far as Bishop’s Stortford, and the second was chiefly to confirm an agreement with the Eastern Counties Company as to the terms, &c., for passing over their line. In 1840 another Act was passed, receiving the Royal assent on June 4th, for reducing the joint stock capital to £700,000, giving the company power to raise £240,000 on debentures so soon as one moiety of the capital should be paid off, and abandoning that portion of the line between Bishop’s Stortford and Cambridge. In 1840 the idea of railway communication between Norwich and the Metropolis was revived, and it was resolved to form a company, to be styled the Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridge Railway Company. It was afterwards known as the East Anglian Railway Company. It received the support of the landowners’ committee in Norfolk, and the expense was estimated as follows: From Bishop’s Stortford to Cambridge, 22 miles, £572,000; from Cambridge to Norwich, 63 miles, £1,126,695; from Norwich to Yarmouth, 18 miles, £291,512. After the opening of the Yarmouth and Norwich
line according to the plan of Mr. Stephenson, the project for the East Anglian Railway was dropped for a time, and was revived by the promoters of the Norwich and Brandon Railway, the prospectus of which was published in 1843. The capital to be raised was stated to be £380,000, in 19,000 shares of £20 each. In the Session of 1844 an Act was applied for and received the Royal assent in the month of June. The line in connection with that from Yarmouth and with that from Ely to Brandon resulted, and it was known as the Norfolk Railway. Messrs. Grissell and Peto were the contractors, and Messrs. Stephenson and Bidder the engineers in chief. The works were commenced at Wymondham on May 17th, 1844, and finished on July 1st, 1845. The first through train to London started from Trowse on the morning of July 30th. At that date the swing bridge at Trowse had not been completed. Of the travelling it was said it “cannot be rendered more comfortable than it is upon the Norfolk Railway.”