16.—Miss Heath, principal tragedienne of the Drury Lane, Haymarket, and Princess’ Theatres, London, supported by Mr. Wilson Barrett, commenced an engagement at Norwich Theatre, in “East Lynne,” “The Jealous Wife,” “The Bond of Life,” and “Masks and Faces.” Mr. Wilson Barrett was described as “a painstaking and conscientious actor.”
24.—The Queen’s birthday was celebrated at Norwich by a review of the Royal Horse Artillery and the Volunteers on Mousehold Heath. The Mayor entertained a large party at the Drill Hall, and gave a dinner at the Corn Hall to the indigent blind and to poor children; and the Norwich Athletic Club held sports on the Newmarket Road Ground.
JUNE.
13.—At a meeting of 2,000 Liberal electors, held at St. Andrew’s Hall, Norwich, Mr. Jacob Henry Tillett was adopted a candidate for Norwich. A meeting of the Whig party, convened by Sir William Foster, was held at the Royal Hotel on the 14th, under the presidency of Mr. I. O. Taylor, at which it was decided to adopt the candidature of Mr. Edward Warner.
17.—Died at Edgbaston, Birmingham, in his 72nd year, Mr. Robert Martineau, brother of the Rev. James Martineau and Miss Harriet Martineau. He was a native of Norwich, but settled in Birmingham as a manufacturer at an early period of his life, and took an active part in the Reform agitation preceding the Bill of 1832. For the last fourteen years of his life he lived in retirement, owing to almost total blindness.
23.—The annual show of the Norfolk Agricultural Association commenced at Harleston, and was continued on the 24th. Mr. Edward Howes, M.P., presided at the dinner.
—The Earl of Rosebery visited his Norfolk estate for the first time. His lordship was met at the entrance to the village of Postwick by a brass band, which preceded the carriage to the rectory, where he was received by the Rev. W. and Lady Margaret Vincent, the Countess of Buchan, Lord Cardross, and other guests. The cottage tenants were entertained at dinner, and “the orator of the village” proposed his lordship’s health, to which the Earl replied. A dinner to the tenantry was given in the school-room, at which his lordship presided, and the festivities ended with a display of fireworks.
JULY.
1.—The first annual meeting of the Norwich Meteorological Society was held at the Literary Institution. After the visit of the British Association to Norwich in 1868, the local committee, having defrayed all the expenses, had a balance in hand of upwards of £300. At a meeting of subscribers, £100 of this balance was devoted to the purchase of meteorological instruments, and on December 3rd, 1868, the society was formed, with Mr. S. Gurney Buxton as president.
4.—Died at his London residence, Clapham, the Right Hon. William Schomberg Robert Kerr, Marquis of Lothian. He was the eldest of the four surviving sons of John William Robert, seventh Marquis, by Lady Cecil Chetwynd Talbot, daughter of Charles, second Earl Talbot. Born on August 12th, 1832, he married, on August 12th, 1857, Lady Constance Harriet Mahonesa Talbot, eldest surviving daughter of the Earl of Shrewsbury and Talbot. He succeeded to the marquisate on the death of his father, in November, 1844. Educated at Christchurch, Oxford, he took high honours, having been first class in classics in 1853, and first class in jurisprudence and modern history in 1854. After he had finished his University career, he went to India for a year, but the climate had an injurious effect upon his naturally feeble constitution. His lordship died without issue, and the family estates in Scotland and Norfolk were inherited by his brother, Lord Schomberg Kerr.