26.—Norwich Theatre was opened, under the management of Mr. Abington, M.A., lessee of Southampton Theatre. The circuit also included the Cambridge, Bury St. Edmund’s, Ipswich, Colchester, and Yarmouth Theatres. The old company had been dispersed, and regret was expressed that the new company was not likely to maintain the reputation of the Norwich stage.
31.—The customary peals were rung at St. Peter Mancroft, Norwich. “In the centre of the circle stood the celebrated pitcher, capable of holding seventeen quarts, which was moulded by John Dearsley in the year 1749. This the churchwardens (Mr. W. Butcher and Mr. Robert Fitch) liberally filled with punch.”
1846.
JANUARY.
6.—The West Norfolk Agricultural Protective Association held a meeting at the Town Hall, King’s Lynn, under the presidency of Lord Hastings, “to preserve the Corn Laws from further violation.” A similar meeting was held at North Walsham on the 8th. On January 20th a great meeting took place at St. Andrew’s Hall, Norwich, at which addresses were delivered by Mr. Cobden and Col. Thompson in favour of the repeal of the Corn Laws, and a resolution, moved by Mr. Geary, and seconded by Col. Angerstein, “that the Corn Laws and all other laws designed to restrict trade under pretence of protecting particular classes are unjust in principle and injurious in operation, and ought to be forthwith abolished,” was carried by a large majority, in face of an amendment proposed by Mr. Wodehouse, M.P., and supported by Lord Hastings, Mr. Hamond of Westacre, and other prominent Protectionists. “Reporters from all the London daily papers attended the meeting, and the proprietors engaged special trains to carry back the report of the proceedings. The first special left Norwich Station at 8.45 p.m., and reached Shoreditch at 12.40 a.m.; the second left at 10.29 p.m. and reached London at 2.38 a.m. At half-past two p.m. on Wednesday (the 21st) we received the ‘Times’ containing the speeches to the extent of rather more than four columns.”
7.—Died at Malta, aged 77, the Right Hon. John Hookham Frere, of Roydon Hall, eldest son of Mr. John Frere, formerly member for Norwich. Mr. Hookham Frere was educated at Eton, where he had Canning as a school companion. When very young he evinced a love for verse, and made, when only an Eton school boy, his clever translation of the Anglo-Saxon War Song on the victory of Athelstan, written when the Rowley controversy was at its height. George Ellis gave it a place in his historical essay before his “Specimens of the Poets,” and Scott invariably spoke of it as something more than a mere curiosity. Another of Mr. Frere’s works was a “prospectus and specimen” of his “Intended National Work by William and Robert Whistlecraft of Stowmarket in Suffolk, Hemp and Collar Makers, intended to comprise the most interesting particulars relating to King Arthur and his Round
Table”—the precursor and original of Byron’s “Beppo” and “Don Juan.” “I have written,” says Byron, “a poem of 84 octave stanzas, in or after the excellent manner of Mr. Whistlecraft, whom I take to be Mr. Frere.”
17.*—“All the coaches between Norwich and London have ceased to run, the last being the mail through Bury St. Edmund’s, which was discontinued on the 6th inst. Six or seven coaches direct to London from Norfolk have been discontinued, and about 700 horses thrown off the road. There are, however, about 30 coaches constantly running from various towns to the principal stations between Yarmouth and London. There are many omnibuses, cabs, and flys. The railway has very much increased the number of horse conveyances to and from all the towns along the line. In fact, horses are dearer than ever they were and more in demand, and the consumption of oats is not likely to be diminished, but rather increased.” The adverse effects of the railway were shown in the following paragraph, published on April 25th: “During the droving season last year 9,300 beasts were housed at the Bird-in-Hand public-house, Tasburgh, and the landlord purchased for their consumption, and for horses, &c., 50 tons of hay; but so great is the diminution of the traffic occasioned by the Norfolk Railway, that during the present season only twelve beasts have been taken in, and the landlord has had occasion for only eight and a half hundredweight of hay.”
21.—The Norwich School of Design was opened by Sir J. P. Boileau, Bart.
31.*—“By order of the Mayor and magistrates of Norwich, the shop-keepers have had notice that no goods are to be exposed or sold after ten o’clock on Sunday morning, and bakers are not to sell or bake goods after half-past one o’clock in the afternoon.” Several tradesmen were afterwards charged before the magistrates for contravention of the order.