12.*—“The county having for upwards of a year been free from cattle plague, the Norfolk Cattle Plague Association has been wound up, and the balance in hand, amounting to upwards of £4,000, has been invested in the names of trustees, Mr. Howes, M.P., and Mr. Read, M.P., to be available in case of any further emergency.” The “London Gazette,” on October 23rd, contained an Order to take effect on November 4th, for the withdrawal of restrictions on the movement of cattle in the interior of the kingdom.
14.—A huge female elephant, weighing five tons, and belonging to Edmonds’ (late Wombwell’s) Menagerie, started from Diss with the show, but had not gone far when she fell in Denmark Street. Poles and tackle had to be procured, and after four hours’ labour the ponderous animal was raised, put in the caravan, and taken back to the fair green, where she was placed in slings. Cordials and other restoratives were administered, but the animal died on the following day. She was valued at between £800 and £900, and had been fifteen years in the collection.
22.—An immense eel was taken from the river Ouse, near Denver Sluice. It measured 5 ft. 8 in. in length, 17¼ in. in girth, and weighed 36 lbs. before and 28 lbs. after being skinned. “Yarrel, in his ‘British Fishes,’ mentions having seen the skins of two at Cambridge which together weighed 50 lbs.—one 27 lbs. and the other 23 lbs., which were taken within a few miles of this spot.”
28.—The new fishmarket, wharves, and tramways constructed at Great Yarmouth, at the total cost of £15,799, were opened.
NOVEMBER.
5.—The new Drill Hall at Great Yarmouth, erected at the cost of £1,300, by Mr. Leggett, from designs by Mr. J. T. Bottle, was opened.
6.—St. Andrew’s church, Norwich, was re-opened after restoration. The architect who superintended the work was Mr. William Smith, the Adelphi, London, and the contractor, Mr. Burrell, of Norwich. The Bishop of Norwich preached the sermon.
—Died at Yarmouth, aged 82, James Sharman, the keeper of the Nelson monument on the South Denes. He was a native of Yarmouth, and entered the Navy in 1799, having been “pressed” when a waiting lad at the Wrestlers Inn, and taken on board H.M.S. Weazel, Captain Durben. After four years’ service he was wrecked off Cabaratta Point, near Gibraltar. He then joined the Victory, under Captain Thomas Hardy, and at Trafalgar “assisted in carrying the dying Nelson from the lower deck to the cockpit.”
9.—Mr. Jeremiah James Colman was elected Mayor, and Mr. Robert Fitch appointed Sheriff of Norwich.
—At a meeting of the Norwich Town Council, a memorial was received from the parents of boys educated at the Commercial School, praying that the efficiency of that school should not be impaired in consequence of the large outlay required for making alterations in and additions to the Grammar School premises. The Parliamentary and Bylaws Committee, to whom the memorial was referred, reported to the Town Council on November 26th that they strongly deprecated any increase in the fees of the Commercial School, but they considered the successful maintenance of the Grammar School of great advantage to the city. The report was adopted.