5.—The High Sheriff (Mr. Angerstein) was fined £50 by the Judge of Assize at Norwich. (Mr. Justice Keating), for non-attendance with his carriage at the Judge’s lodgings. His lordship had driven to the court in a cab, which he considered to be “a way not fitting her Majesty’s Judges.” The High Sheriff subsequently explained that a mistake had been made as to the time fixed for the sitting of the court, and having tendered an apology, the fine was remitted by his lordship.
5.—At the Norfolk Assizes, before Mr. Justice Byles, James Johnson, of North Walsham, sought to recover from Mr. W. H. Cooke, Q.C., Judge of the Norfolk County Court, damages for false imprisonment and assault. It was alleged that the defendant wrongfully imprisoned the plaintiff for thirty days; when the plaintiff left Norwich Castle he personally served the Judge, as he was leaving the court, with a notice of action for false imprisonment, and his Honour, mistaking the man’s intention, seized him by the collar, and a second time ordered his arrest. For the defendant it was alleged that he had acted within his jurisdiction. After two days’ trial the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff, damages one farthing.
8.—An alarming flood occurred at Walsingham. Owing to heavy rains, the stream in the vicinity overflowed its banks, and the low-lying part of the town was submerged. Forty women and children were rescued from the upper rooms of the cottages by means of ladders, and conveyed in boats to a place of safety. On the 9th a temporary dam was erected, which had the effect of diverting the flow of water. The village of East Barsham was also flooded, and the high road at West Barsham was under water.
10.—At a meeting of the Norfolk Central Committee, held at the Shirehall, Norwich, it was reported that foot-and-mouth disease had spread to an alarming extent among cattle and sheep. On the motion of Mr. C. S. Read, M.P., it was ordered that markets for fat stock be held under the same restrictions that were in force during the time of the cattle plague, and that similar regulations should govern the movements of store stock as were then in force. In Norfolk alone during the previous five weeks the loss to stockowners from foot-and-mouth disease was estimated at £22,500, in respect of 10,000 cattle and 5,000 sheep. The committee sent a memorial to the Privy Council to prohibit the opening of all fairs and markets for the period of six weeks.
12.—Died suddenly, at Hills Road, Cambridge, Mr. George Kett. He was born at Suton, near Wymondham, on June 26th, 1809, and commenced life in a small way of business as a wood carver at Wymondham. After copying poppyheads at Wymondham church, he undertook the carving of the seats for Ketteringham and Mulbarton churches. He then removed to Norwich, where he was engaged upon the restoration of the Cathedral stalls and canopies. Whilst he was working there Mr. James Rattee was placed under him as an apprentice, and the two afterwards became partners. Mr. Kett was next offered employment upon the works for the new Houses of Parliament. In 1845 he removed to London, where he was principally employed under the immediate direction of Sir Charles Barry, in supplying designs for the wood carving. Among other portions of the work on which he was specially engaged were the Royal Arms at the back of the Throne in the House of Lords. Mr. Rattee, in 1848, consulted him upon an estimate for the restoration of the choir of Ely Cathedral, and Mr. Kett agreed that if the tender were accepted he would remove to Cambridge and assist him in carrying it out. The business partnership thus commenced continued after Mr. Rattee’s death, in 1854, with his widow, under the style of Rattee and Kett. Mrs. Rattee died in 1866, when Mr. Kett assumed sole control of the establishment, and was largely engaged in the work of church restoration in all parts of the United Kingdom.
15.—Died at Felbrigg Park, Mr. John Ketton, in his 61st year. Mr. Ketton was a native of Norwich, where for many years he was engaged in commercial pursuits. His success enabled him, when Mr. Windham’s affairs became embarrassed, to purchase the Felbrigg estate, where he resided until the period of his death.
—Died at Reigate, Surrey, from the effects of injuries inflicted upon himself, Mr. Benjamin Land, better known as “Ben Land,” a sporting character of great celebrity in his day. Mr. Land began life as a Norfolk farmer, and gave great encouragement to steeple-chasing in the county, upon the introduction of that sport in the first half of the century. One of his earliest winning mounts was in 1836, a horse named Predictor. Then he owned a very useful nag called Neewood, and another, Lottery, an exceedingly clever animal over a country. Land made himself further known by his doings on Jim Crow, Faith, the Novice, Yellow Dwarf, Little Nell, Victoria, and Wonder, who could all run and jump a bit, and sad teasers they were to other Norfolk sportsmen. While still holding on his farm, Land hunted a pack of staghounds, but he gradually got out of business as an agriculturist, and took to riding and training as a profession.
17.—The provisions of the new Licensing Act came into operation in Norwich. A notice had been issued by the Chief Constable that on Sunday, Christmas-day, and Good Friday, licensed houses were not to open before 12.30 at noon and to close at 2.30 in the afternoon; not to open again before six in the evening, and to close at ten o’clock. On week-days they were not to open until six in the morning, and to close at eleven o’clock at night. “This application of the Act came on the city suddenly and unexpectedly, the general opinion having prevailed that everything would go on as usual until the next annual licensing-day. In Union Place and King Street many people determined to have their own way as far as they could, and accordingly just before closing time they made a great demand upon the can accommodation of the houses. Large cans and small cans, when filled with beer, were borne off in triumphant defiance to the pavement outside, or to the men’s private gardens or houses, where friend and neighbour remained drinking, and, in some cases, singing, together long after the lights of the various public-houses had been extinguished. In two or three instances some ill-advised publicans persisted in keeping their houses open.” Several licensed victuallers were fined for infringing the regulations of the new Act, and in the early days of its operation the Norwich magistrates were very liberal in granting extensions of time on the occasion of the Christmas, Easter, and Whitsun holidays. At East Dereham the justices permitted the public-houses to remain open until twelve o’clock during four months of the year.
19.—The first really notable journey upon a bicycle was performed by Percy Everett, of Ryburgh, a lad aged 16. He started at 4.45 a.m. from Ryburgh station, and rode to Newmarket, where he had breakfast; thence to Whittlesford, where he lunched; and at 5.30 p.m. he reached Ware, in Hertfordshire, having accomplished the distance of 110 miles in about 12½ hours. Everett rode one of the first of the rubber-tyred bicycles—a machine of Coventry make, known as the “Aeriel.”
20.—Died, Mr. Edmund Harbord Lushington Preston, Mayor of Great Yarmouth. Mr. Preston was born in 1806, at the period when the Hon. E. Harbord (second son of the then Lord Suffield) and Mr. Stephen Lushington were returned to Parliament as members for Yarmouth—hence two of his Christian names. After the passing of the Municipal Reform Act, he was one of the first burgesses returned to the Town Council on Conservative principles, and, with the exception of a short period, from November, 1868, to November, 1869, he continued to be a member of the Corporation. Mr. Preston was for twenty years one of the magistrates of the borough, and a member of the Port and Haven Commission.