—Died at his residence, the Crescent, Norwich, in his 83rd year, Mr. J. N. V. Cooper, who was for more than 56 years clerk to the Governors of the Bethel Hospital.
18.—In the House of Commons it was agreed, on the motion of Mr. Howes, that the three divisions of the county be thenceforth known as North, South, and West Norfolk, instead of “North Eastern, South Eastern, and West.”
—The annual show of the Norfolk Agricultural Association commenced at Downham Market, and was continued on the 19th. Mr. W. Amhurst Tyssen Amherst was President.
20.—The Norwich Volunteers attended the review held by the Queen in Windsor Park. The Rifles, under the command of Lieut.-Col. Black, numbered 455; and the Artillery, under Capt. Barber, 111. Both corps mustered on Tombland at 5.30 a.m., left Thorpe Station at 6.15 a.m., and returned from Windsor the same day.
27.—The 1st Administrative Battalion Norfolk Volunteers went into camp at Hunstanton Park, 500 strong, and remained under canvas until July 2nd. The battalion was inspected by Col. Boileau.
30.—The Norwich Electoral Union selected Mr. Jacob Henry Tillett as Liberal candidate for the city, in view of the pending General Election.
JULY.
23.—A two days’ cricket match commenced on the Lakenham Ground, Norwich, between a team of “Aboriginal Australians” and the Carrow Club. The Australians showed surprising skill with the bat, and in the first day’s play made 177, against the Carrow score of 82.
26.—Died, Robert Monsey Rolfe, Baron Cranworth of Cranworth. His lordship was the eldest and only surviving son of the Rev. Edward Rolfe, and was born December 18th, 1790. His father, like his uncle, grandfather, and great grandfather, was a plain country clergyman, holding the livings of Cockley Cley and of Cranworth, and it was at the rectory house of the latter parish that he was born, and from which he selected his title just 60 years afterwards. His mother was a Miss Alexander, a granddaughter of Dr. Monsey, the physician of Chelsea Hospital. Having received his early education at Bury St. Edmund’s, he was transferred to Winchester College, and in due course proceeded to Cambridge, took his B.A. degree as 17th wrangler in 1812, and was elected to the Fellowship of Downing College. He entered Lincoln’s Inn, and was called to the Bar in 1816. One of his first public appointments was that of Recorder of Bury St. Edmund’s, and he more than once, as a Liberal, contested the representation of the borough against the powerful interest of the Marquis of Bristol. In 1832 he obtained a silk gown, and in the same year was returned to Parliament. On becoming Solicitor-General, in 1834, he received the honour of knighthood, and at the close of 1839 accepted a puisne judgeship as one of the Barons of Exchequer. In 1850 he was nominated a Vice-Chancellor, a post which, in the following year, he exchanged for that of a Justice of Appeal in Chancery, which he continued to hold until the Great Seal of the kingdom was entrusted to his hands by Lord Aberdeen, on the formation of the Coalition Cabinet in December, 1852. In the same year he was raised to the Peerage, and as Lord Cranworth again held the Great Seal in 1865–66. His lordship married Miss Carr, of Froghall Park, Hampstead.
27.—Mr. Simmons ascended in his large balloon from the Victoria Gardens, Yarmouth, and descended at Caister. On August 6th he made an ascent from the Greenhill Gardens, Norwich, and descended in Horstead Park. Mr. Simmons, on August 13th, exhibited the balloon in Norwich Market Place, where, in a captive state, it made several ascents. The aeronaut, accompanied by Mr. William Maris, then ascended to the height of 10,000 feet in the space of two minutes, when the balloon drifted away in a north-easterly direction. The passengers made a perilous descent near the sea coast. They narrowly escaped with their lives by jumping out of the car, and the balloon, blown out to sea, fell into the water two and a half miles off Sheringham. The voyage from Norwich lasted only fifteen minutes.