10.—Died in Paris, aged 63, Mr. W. Wilshere, of Welwyn, Herts., and formerly member of Parliament for Yarmouth. He became a candidate for that borough with Mr. Rumbold, in the Liberal interest, in 1837, when the Conservative candidates were Messrs. Baring and Gambier. On the dissolution of Parliament in 1847, he retired from the representation of the borough. “It is said that his various contests cost him a very large sum of money, and that in other respects the expenses incident to the representation of a borough on Liberal principles were too much for endurance.”
16.—Reference was made to the disbandment of the 1st Norfolk Light Horse, which had been under the command of Capt. Hay Gurney since its institution by him in 1861. The members presented to their commanding-officer a testimonial “representing in frosted silver, on an ebony stand, a mounted officer and trumpeter in full dress.”
20.—The Scratby Hall estate, comprising 280 acres, was sold by auction by Messrs. Butcher, at the Star Hotel, Yarmouth, for £16,760.
26.—The Rev. Edward Marjoribanks Nisbet, M.A., was installed a residentiary canon at Norwich Cathedral.
30.—The Right Hon. Edward Stratham Gordon, Lord Advocate of Scotland, was elected to represent the borough of Thetford in Parliament, upon the resignation of the Hon. A. H. Baring. Lord Frederick FitzRoy, who had come forward as a candidate, withdrew from the contest on the day appointed for the nomination. “He departed for London, leaving behind him an address telling the electors that, by means of treachery, opposition had been brought against him.”
DECEMBER.
1.—The Norfolk coast, in common with the whole of England, was visited by a gale of unusual violence. It resulted not only in great destruction of property, but in the loss of many lives. At Yarmouth the waters overflowed the banks of the river, inundated all the low-lying lands from the harbour’s mouth to Reedham, and, flooding the neighbouring railways, stopped the traffic. Several vessels were driven ashore and their crews lost. On December 2nd the lifeboat Rescuer was entering the harbour with the shipwrecked crew of the ship George Kendall, from Liverpool to Hull, on board, when she fouled with a fishing-boat and was capsized. Of the shipwrecked crew of twenty-three only four were saved, and of the lifeboat crew six were drowned. Many widows and children were left destitute, owing to the large number of lives lost during the gale.
—The parish church of Little Ellingham was destroyed by fire. The building had recently undergone extensive restoration, and the damage, due to the overheating of a new warming apparatus, amounted to upwards of £1,000. Efforts were made by the Hingham fire brigade to preserve the chancel, and were in part successful, but the nave was wholly demolished. Under the supervision of Messrs. T. H. and F. Healey, architects, of Bradford, the nave was rebuilt and the chancel repaired by the contractor, Mr. Clarke, of Hingham; and the church was re-opened for public worship on Ascension Day, 1869.
24.—A common hall was held at the Guildhall, Norwich, under the presidency of the Mayor (Mr. J. J. Colman), at which the citizens expressed their “detestation of the late Fenian outrage at Clerkenwell, their sympathy with the sufferers, and their loyal attachment to the Queen and the Constitution.”
26.—The Christmas pantomime produced by Mr. Sidney at Norwich Theatre was entitled, “Hush-a-Bye Baby on the Tree Top, or Harlequin Fortunio, Clown King Frog of Frog Island, and the Fairy Queen of the Golden Flowers.” At Mander’s Menagerie, stationed on the Castle Meadow, “the electric light was exhibited in the interior during Maccomo’s performance with the lions, tigers, and elephants.” On the 30th was produced at Henry and Adams’ Circus an “equestrian pantomime,” entitled, “O’Donaghue of the Lakes, or Harlequin Dermot Astore and the White Horse of Killarney.”