23.—Mr. Martin William ffolkes, eldest son of Sir William ffolkes, Bart., of Hillington Hall, whilst fishing at Castle Rising, was killed by lightning. “His hands were not closed, and part of a cigar he had been smoking was in his mouth.”
24.—A lecture was given at St. Andrew’s Hall, by Professor Isham Baggs, of the Polytechnic Institution, London, on “The Economy and Philosophy of the Electric Light, and its present and prospective bearing on the vested interests of Gas Companies.” The electric light was shown by the aid of a powerful voltaic battery. It was described as “a light of dazzling lustre and surpassing brilliancy, on which no eye can steadily gaze. The figures on the various paintings in the Hall appeared to start from the canvas, and every living face displayed an almost supernatural brilliancy and expression. The gas seemed extinguished amid the new blaze of light.”
27.—Lieut. Gale, R.N., “of Cremorne celebrity,” made a balloon ascent from the Cellar Gardens, Pockthorpe, Norwich, accompanied by Mr. A. W. Pashley, of Harleston, and Mr. Nevey. “There was a second car or fake bottom attached by a rope to the balloon, and when at the altitude of about a mile this was lowered thirty or forty feet. A rope ladder was fixed to it from a trap door in the car, and by that the gallant aeronaut descended into the lower car, from which he discharged shells and other pyrotechnics.” The descent was made in a field near Coldham Hall.
AUGUST.
23.—A grand cricket match, between an eleven of All England and twenty of Norfolk commenced on the Norwich Ground. All England, 63-63; Norfolk, 118-11.
25.*—“Several of those new coins, the florin, have found their way to Norwich. It is a handsome piece of money, but we dislike the un-English name. We also protest against the omission of the words of the old legend intimating that our beloved Queen reigns by ‘the Grace of God,’ and that she is the defender of the faith.”
—Particulars were given on this date of the marriage of the notorious Lola Montez, “the ex-Countess of Lansfeldt,” with Mr. George Trafford Heald, a lieutenant in the Life Guards, and an owner of considerable landed property at Freebridge Marshland and Walpole St. Peter.
28.—The Rev. John Woolley, D.C.L., was elected head master of Norwich Free Grammar School, and on the same day the Rev. Henry Banfather, B.D., the former master, was, on his retirement, presented with a valuable piece of silver plate, subscribed for by the boys and his personal friends.
SEPTEMBER.
4.—A curious incident occurred at the Assembly Rooms, Norwich, at a lecture given by a Mrs. Hamilton, on “A phrenological analysis of the heads and speeches of three of the speakers at the soirée given