18.—Winter set in with great severity; snow fell to the depth of two or three feet, and a severe frost commenced.
DECEMBER.
6.—The Eastern Counties Association for obtaining Agricultural Relief held its first public meeting at St. Andrew’s Hall, Norwich. Its principal objects were to obtain the repeal of the Malt-tax, a re-adjustment of the tithe system, security for tenants in making improvements, a reform in the management of county expenditure, and the abolition of the Game Laws.
11.—A coarse urn was turned up by a plough at Easton. The vessel contained about 4,000 small brass coins of the Lower Empire. The earliest amongst them were of the period of Gallienus, and there were about 2,500 of the Constantines; nearly 600 had the wolf and twins, and about 800 bore the victory with spear and shield. Mr. Goddard Johnson made a descriptive list of the coins.
26.—Died, in his 38th year, at Malvern, Worcestershire, Mr. J. B. Wigham, son of Mr. Robert Wigham, of Norwich. “He was a Fellow of the Royal Geological Society, and was well known as having personally collected one of the best cabinets of tertiary fossils in the kingdom.”
—Macarte’s Circus Company performed in a temporary building erected on the Castle Meadow, Norwich.
1852.
JANUARY.
5.—Died at Letheringsett, Johnson Jex, originally a blacksmith and afterwards a manufacturer of watches. He was born at Billingford in or about the year 1778. After the death of his mother, in about 1830, he led a life of complete solitude, and became a scientific anchorite. “The first watch ever constructed by Jex was made after he had settled at Letheringsett, for his friend the Rev. T. Munnings, of Gorgate Hall, near East Dereham. Every part of this watch, including the silver face, and every tool employed in its construction, was of Jex’s own making.”
10.*—“Dr. Woolley is resigning the head mastership of King Edward VI. Grammar School (Norwich), on his appointment as principal of the University College and professor of classical literature in the University of Sydney.” He was succeeded by Dr. Vincent.