5.—Died at St. Giles’ Street, Norwich, Mr. Horatio Bolingbroke, aged 80. He was educated at Norwich Grammar School, under Valpy, was for many years engaged in business as a manufacturer, and did much to enhance the reputation of Norwich for the production of textile fabrics. Mr. Bolingbroke was a prominent figure in the political life of the city, was the first Sheriff appointed under the Municipal Corporations Act, and was amongst the first of the Liberal members returned to the “reformed” Corporation. He was a generous supporter of local charities, chairman of the Norwich Charity Trustees (General List), and a Justice of the Peace. Labouring under the affliction of blindness, he had for some years prior to his death retired from active public life.
16.—The nomination of candidates to fill the vacancy in the representation of North Norfolk, occasioned by the death of Colonel Duff, took place at Aylsham. Mr. Edward Birkbeck, of Horstead Hall, was the Conservative, and Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, Bart., the Liberal nominee. The polling took place on the 21st, and the result was declared on the 22nd, as follows:—Birkbeck, 2,742; Buxton, 2,252.
FEBRUARY.
8.—At the Norfolk Assizes, before the Lord Chief Baron, an action was brought by Mr. Hamon le Strange, lord of the manor of Snettisham, and his tenant, William Harding, against Richard Auker, for trespassing upon the foreshore at Snettisham and removing shingle, mussels, and cockles. Mr. le Strange in 1866 took legal proceedings to maintain his proprietary rights on the foreshore, and obtained a verdict, against which an appeal was entered; but a full bench of judges confirmed the verdict. Since then he had issued licences to persons to remove mussels from the foreshore, and had leased it to Harding, who had found the defendant carrying mussels away. The special jury returned a verdict for the plaintiffs, damages one shilling, and the learned Judge said he would make the injunction issued against the defendant perpetual. (See January 21st, 1885.)
13.—Died at Kirstead, the Rev. Jonathan Bates, rector of Kirstead with Langhale. He was the son of a Wesleyan minister, and was born at New Buckenham, on June 13th, 1829. When still a child he removed with his family to Edinburgh, where he was placed in the High School. Thence he went to Huddersfield College, and at eighteen became junior master. He had not only passed the examinations of the London University, but had saved sufficient money, with the help of the scholarships he had won, to enable him, on leaving Huddersfield, to enter St. John’s College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1854, taking his place as eleventh Wrangler in the Mathematical Tripos. On completing his University career, he was appointed second classical and mathematical master of the Colchester Grammar School. This post he held four years, and was then chosen senior or classical tutor and chaplain to the Queen’s Medical College at Birmingham. Ordained deacon in 1854, and priest in 1855, by the Bishop of Rochester, he returned to Colchester as mathematical master at the Grammar School, and did duty as a curate in the vicinity. In 1860 he was appointed Vice-Principal of the Chester Diocesan College, and in 1862 was presented by Caius College to the living of Kirstead. Mr. Bates married the youngest daughter of the celebrated Dr. Medhurst, for many years a missionary in China.
16.—Died at the Rectory, Toppesfield, the Rev. Professor Brewer, M.A., Preacher at the Rolls Chapel, and rector of Toppesfield. He was a son of Mr. John Sherren Brewer, of Mile End House, Norwich, and was born at Calvert Street, in March, 1809. After receiving his early education at the hands of his father, he proceeded to Queen’s College, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. in 1833, taking first class honours in Classics. In 1841 he was appointed to a Professorship, and in November, 1870, was elected an honorary Fellow of his College. Professor Brewer was editor of “Fuller’s Church History,” published by the University of Oxford, and of the Calendars of State Papers relating to the Reign of Henry VIII., published by the Master of the Rolls. He was for some time honorary librarian to the Marquis of Salisbury at Hatfield House, and, in addition to his appointment as Preacher at the Rolls Chapel, he held the Professorship of English Literature in King’s College, London. In 1876 he was presented by Lord Beaconsfield to the Crown living of Toppesfield, which had a gross income of £1,120 and a parsonage house.
21.—Edward Payson Weston, the American pedestrian, passed through Norwich, on his walk of 2,000 miles in 1,000 consecutive hours (except on Sundays). He arrived from Dereham, and at one o’clock lectured at the Victoria Hall, St. Andrew’s, where a large audience had assembled, under the presidency of the Mayor (Mr. Harry Bullard). In the afternoon Weston continued his walk, and arrived at Yarmouth in the evening.
—Died at Wandsworth, Mr. P. Le Neve Foster, secretary of the Society of Arts. He was born in 1809, and educated at Norwich Grammar School, prior to studying at Cambridge, where he took his degree in 1830. A few years afterwards he was called to the Bar, and, after working zealously with the Prince Consort to promote the success of the Exhibition of 1851, was appointed Secretary of the Society of Arts in 1853.
24.—Under the auspices of the Anglo-American Electric Lighting Company, Limited, a descriptive lecture was given at St. Andrew’s Hall, Norwich, upon the possibilities of the electric light, by Mr. H. Edmunds, a representative of the company. The hall was brilliantly illuminated by a special electric installation.
27.—Died at Bournemouth, Lieut.-Colonel Hugh FitzRoy, formerly of the Grenadier Guards. He was born in 1808, and was second son of the Rev. Lord Henry FitzRoy. He married, in 1831, Lucy Sarah, second daughter of Sir Thomas Buller Lethbridge, who died in 1855. In December, 1856, he married, secondly, Emily Louisa, widow of Mr. Charles William Marsham, of Stratton Strawless. Colonel FitzRoy was an active county magistrate, and chairman of the Great Yarmouth Haven and Pier Commissioners.