18.—Winter set in with great severity. The Dereham, Swaffham, and Lynn coach was unable to leave Norwich, owing to the great depth of the snow.
20.—A fine specimen of the black grouse was shot at Swanton.
—A riot occurred at Pulham St. Mary Workhouse. The paupers made a preconcerted attack upon the bread store, and were with difficulty driven back by the officials. Thirteen of the ringleaders were committed to Norwich Castle for terms ranging from seven days to two months’ imprisonment. (See January 5th, 1847.)
26.—Norwich Theatre opened for the Christmas season with the play of “George Barnwell” and the pantomime “Fortunio.” Mr. Davenport, “in compliance with public feeling,” reduced the prices of admission, which had been raised on his taking over the management.
—Many of the roads in the country were stated to be “half a yard deep in mud,” and almost impassable. “Heavy goods in large quantities have lately been sent from Norwich to London and from thence to Ipswich by rail, 196 miles, instead of the direct route of 40 miles
by road, the rail conveyance being cheaper and quicker. It would be a great advantage in this and other counties if a general Act were passed for widening and levelling the turnpike roads and for laying down tramways on which carriages could be drawn by horses or by engines of small power to the principal railway. Unless some measure of this sort be carried out, the common roads will soon be of little use, and not worth keeping in repair.”
1847.
JANUARY.
1.—A new form of entertainment was introduced at this date—“Ethiopian minstrelsy,” the precursor of the Christy minstrels. The troupe appeared at Norwich Theatre. “The band consists of five harmonists, with black faces and white eyes, black coats and white cuffs, black trousers and white waistcoats, black stocks and white collars. The instruments are a violin, two ‘banjoes’ (instruments that look like guitars run to seed), a tambourine, and ‘bones’ (a species of castanet).”
4.—Died at Earlham, in his 59th year, Mr. Joseph John Gurney. He was a son of John Gurney, of Earlham, and a grandson of John Gurney who died in 1770, and had been “the connecting link by which the hand-spun yarn of the South of Ireland was brought to add its stores to the wants of our artizans.” Mr. J. J. Gurney received his early education under the Rev. M. Browne, of Hingham; he then went to the Academical Institution at Oxford. He was a great traveller. Several times he visited the West Indies, travelled twice on the Continent, made a tour in Scotland, in company with Mr. Hoare, for the purpose of inspecting the prisons, and, accompanied by Mrs. Fry, he visited Ireland in the spring of 1827, in order to personally investigate the condition of the prisons and the charitable institutions of that country. On July 8th, 1837, he embarked at Liverpool for Philadelphia on a Gospel mission to parts of North America and the West Indies. Of this tour he gave an interesting account in “Familiar Letters to Amelia Opie”; his “Winter in the West Indies” is described in “Familiar Letters to Henry Clay of Kentucky.” He was three times married; his first wife was a daughter of Mr. J. Birkbeck, of Lynn, his second a Wiltshire lady, and his third an American lady. Mr. Gurney was the author of several works in addition to those above-mentioned, and was one of the greatest philanthropists of his day. Memorial services were held at many places of worship in Norwich on the Sunday following his death, and on the day of the funeral (January 12th) business in the city was suspended. The interment took place at the Gildencroft, when the rites peculiar to the Society of Friends were performed.