JANUARY.
1.—At the justices’ room of the Mansion House, London, John Henry Gurney, Henry Edmund Gurney, Robert Birkbeck, Henry Ford Barclay, Henry George Gordon, and William Rennie, directors of Overend, Gurney, and Company, Limited, were summoned for having, in July, 1865, and at divers other times, conspired to defraud Dr. Adam Thom and others who became shareholders in the company, of money to the amount of three millions sterling. The defendants, on the 27th, were committed for trial, and were admitted to bail, each of them in the sum of £10,000, with two sureties of £5,000 each. The trial commenced in the Court of Queen’s Bench on December 13th, before the Lord Chief Justice, who summed up on December 22nd, and the jury, after a few minutes’ deliberation, returned a verdict of not guilty. Intense excitement prevailed in Norwich during the trial, and on December 22nd, when the result was telegraphed to the city, it was everywhere hailed with great satisfaction. A remarkable scene occurred at Norwich Corn Hall, where a sale was in progress when the intelligence was received. The proceedings were stopped by cheering, the waving of hats, and other demonstrations of approval, and the auctioneer, addressing the company, said, “The name of Gurney was an honoured name in Norwich. The Gurneys had ever been friends of the poor and kind and good to all classes, and all were glad that the trial had resulted in the honourable acquittal of all the defendants.”
2.—At the Lambeth Police Court, William Sheward, aged 57, was charged upon his own confession with the wilful murder of his wife, Martha Sheward, at Norwich, on June 15th, 1851. On the night of January 1st the prisoner went to the Carter Street Police Station and said to the officer in charge, “I have killed my wife. I have kept the secret for years, but I can keep it no longer.” In a further statement he said he had intended to destroy himself, “but the Almighty would not let him do it.” He added that he had cut up his wife’s body, and that a portion was kept in spirits of wine at the Guildhall at Norwich, by order of the magistrates. At the Norwich Police Court, on January 4th, the Chief Constable (Mr. Hitchman) detailed to the magistrates the particulars reported to him by the London police, and stated that on June 21st, 1851, portions of a human body were found in different parts of the city and deposited at the Guildhall. The magistrates issued a warrant for the apprehension of Sheward, who, on January 7th, was brought to Norwich, and appeared before the Bench on January 8th. He was described as a licensed victualler, of the Key and Castle public-house, St. Martin-at-Oak, and it was proved that he married his first wife, a Norfolk woman, who formerly lived at Wymondham, at Greenwich, on October 28th, 1836. In 1838 he came to Norwich, opened a pawnbroker’s shop in St. Giles’, and became bankrupt. When living in Tabernacle Street, in 1851, his wife suddenly disappeared, about the 9th or 10th of June. Upon this evidence the prisoner was remanded, and at subsequent hearings witnesses were called who deposed to finding various portions of human remains in different parts of the city and suburbs in the summer of 1851. Relatives of the deceased woman stated that the prisoner accounted for her disappearance by saying that she had left Norwich for a time. On February 1st the prisoner was fully committed for trial. At the Norwich Assizes, on March 29th, before Mr. Baron Pigott, Sheward was placed upon his trial, and on the second day of the hearing Mr. Metcalfe, Q.C., for the defence, contended that the accused was labouring under delusions when he made the confession. The jury, after three-quarters of an hour private deliberation, returned a verdict of guilty, and the prisoner, who had nothing to say, was sentenced to death. Immediately after the trial anonymous letters were published in the London newspapers asserting the innocence of the prisoner; similar letters were addressed to the Magistrates’ Clerk at Norwich, and one communication actually purported to have been written by Mrs. Sheward herself. Efforts were made to obtain a commutation of sentence, on the ground of the long interval that had elapsed between the perpetration of the murder and the trial of the accused. These efforts, however, were of no avail, and the capital sentence was carried out by Calcraft at the City Gaol on April 20th. This was the first private execution that had taken place in Norwich. It was announced that on April 13th the culprit made a full confession of his crime, and gave detailed particulars of the manner in which he had disposed of the body of the murdered woman. In a letter to his second wife he also admitted his guilt.
14.—The trial of the election petition presented by Mr. Jacob Henry Tillett against the return of Sir Henry Josias Stracey, Bart., as member of Parliament for Norwich, commenced at the Shirehall, before Mr. Baron Martin. Counsel for the petitioner were Mr. Serjeant Ballantyne, Mr. Keane, Q.C., and Mr. Simms Reeve; and for the respondent, Mr. Rodwell, Q.C., Mr. Serjeant Sleigh, Mr. E. L. O’Malley, and Mr. J. C. C. Wyld. Bribery, treating, personation, and other matters were alleged. In his opening address, Mr. Ballantyne asserted “that the bribery was most profligate and most wholesale, and that houses were opened by persons of apparent respectability for the mere purpose of carrying out this bribery, and men of position who ought to have known a great deal better were concerned in it.” After three days’ hearing, the trial resulted in the unseating of Sir Henry Stracey. The learned judge, in his report to the Speaker of the House of Commons, stated that although no corrupt practice was proved to have been made with the knowledge or consent of any of the candidates, and, further, it was proved to his entire satisfaction that neither Sir Henry Stracey nor the other candidates at the said election had any personal knowledge of or connection whatever with bribery or any other illegal or corrupt practice, he had determined that Sir Henry Stracey was not duly elected, and that his election was rendered void by the acts of his agents. The persons reported for being guilty of corrupt practices were Robert Hardiment, Arthur Hunt, Robert Callow, and Thomas Hutchings. The first-named absconded after the petition was presented. It was also stated in the report that a number of persons went to the poll in a gross state of drunkenness. (See April 1st.)
15.—A trout weighing 15 lbs. was captured in a drop net near the New Mills, Norwich.
16.—Messrs. Jolly and Son, coachbuilders, Norwich, advertised that they had “arranged to supply from a noted French maker the celebrated bicycle velocipede, so much in vogue in Paris.” The price of the machine was from 8 gs. upwards. On the 30th there was an editorial announcement to the effect that “an attempt is being made to introduce this latest novelty in locomotive machinery, now so fashionable in Paris, to the Norwich public, by Mr. C. Thorn, who has two at his establishment, for the inspection of the curious.” The “first velocipede journey of any considerable distance from Norwich” was performed on March 30th by Mr. B. W. Jolly, who travelled from Norwich to Yarmouth, including a stoppage of fifteen minutes at Acle, in 2 hours 30 minutes. “The progress of the traveller was considerably retarded by the roughness of the roads and a powerful gale.” A short time previously Mr. G. W. Bellamy, of Saxlingham, on a velocipede built by Messrs. Jolly and Son, but under much more favourable conditions as to roads and weather, accomplished a distance of 56 miles in 6 hours 25 minutes, exclusive of a short delay midway on the journey. A Norwich Velocipede Club was established in the month of April, and on the 29th an exhibition of the machines was held at the Corn Hall, under the management of Mr. Thorn. On the same occasion was exhibited “one of the old-fashioned dandy horses, the original or the velocipede tribe,” but, it was added, “the now velocipede is more easily managed.” The first velocipede races took place at the athletic sports of the Norwich Gymnastic Society, held on Newmarket Road Cricket Ground, on May 24th. A “slow race,” ridden by Messrs. Jolly, Griffiths, and Goldsmith, was won by the last-named. A “plank race,” in which the bicycles were ridden upon a seventy yards’ length of plank, was won by a competitor named Ewing. A one mile “fast race” was ridden in heats, the first of which was won by Kent, of Beccles, and the second by Bellamy. Kent was the winner of the final heat, in 4 minutes 49 seconds. “He came over on his bicycle from Beccles in the morning, and returned the same way after the sports.” By the end of the year there was a marked increase in the number of local cyclists. Accidents to inexperienced riders were frequently recorded, and many complaints were made by drivers of the alarm occasioned to horses by the appearance of these new-fangled machines.
16.—The so-called monastic chapel erected at Elm Hill, Norwich, by Father Ignatius, was the subject of further discussion. Miss Robinson, a “lady preacher,” had hired the “monastery,” and named it the “Jehovah Jireh chapel,” whereupon Ignatius issued a notice warning her and others concerned that he was the owner of the building. On this date “Brother Philip” and one or two other members of the confraternity came to Norwich, under instructions from Ignatius, and demanded the keys of the building from Mr. Liddlelow, who refused to give them up unless authorised by his principal, Mr. Backhouse, surveyor, of Ipswich. At midnight on the 18th Ignatius, who had arrived in Norwich a few hours previously, with other brethren, gained access to the old sanctuary by, they asserted, miraculous intervention, and thence made their way to the new chapel. The police were sent for, and Ignatius was informed that he had no right there; as he declined to leave the building, the police refused to interfere. Mr. Liddlelow, on the 19th, applied to the magistrates for an order of ejectment, but as a question of right was involved, they would have nothing to do with the matter. On the same evening Ignatius performed service in the chapel, and stated, in the course of his address, that Miss Robinson had acted in the most honourable manner, but had been misled by others. He alluded to her as his “sister in Christ,” and Miss Robinson, who preached in the chapel on the evening of the 20th, spoke of Ignatius as her “brother in Christ.” Ignatius addressed the congregation at the close of the proceedings, and informed them that he should never allow the chapel to be used for any other purpose than that of monastic worship. “Although the members of Father Ignatius’ congregation and the members of Miss Robinson’s flock could not be more opposed in their mode of thought, yet the greatest harmony prevailed, and at the close they offered up the Lord’s Prayer in perfect unison.”
18.—The new Cemetery at Diss was consecrated by the Bishop of Norwich. The total cost of the chapels, lodge, &c., was about £1,750, but this sum was exclusive of the price of the land.
FEBRUARY.
5.—Died, in his 87th year, at Norwich, Thomas Hurry, church bell-hanger, and for more than 50 years a member of the St. Peter Mancroft company of ringers.