27.—The Norwich Town Council, on the motion of Mr. George White, adopted the following resolution: “Several months having elapsed since this Council requested the Parliamentary and Bylaws Committee to consider the legal position in which the Corporation stands with the British Gaslight Company, and, considering the enormous interests at stake, the Council urges upon the Committee the necessity of at once reporting as to what steps, if any, they advise to be taken, in order to relieve the citizens from the unjust and unnecessary burdens imposed upon them through the extravagant charge made for gas.” The Committee were also instructed “to take into consideration the question of electric lighting, as lately adopted by several corporations.” (See August 30th, 1881.)
27.—A grand bazaar was held in Holkham Park, in aid of the restoration fund of Wells church. The proceedings realised a profit of £845.
28.—Died at Castle Rising, the Hon. Theophilus Howard, second son of Charles John, Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire. Mr. Howard entered into possession of the estate of Castle Rising at the close of 1876, having received it by deed of gift from Mrs. Howard, of Ashstead. By his succession this property, which came into the possession of the Howard family in 1545, again reverted to the Suffolk and Berkshire line, from which it was separated by the death of Henry, twelfth Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire, in the year 1779. Mr. Howard married Lady Audrey Townshend, youngest daughter of the Marquis Townshend, in 1873, and left two sons and two daughters. He was called to the Bar in 1863, and in 1873 was appointed a Commissioner in Lunacy, a post which he resigned in 1878. “He was the first of the great Howard family who made Castle Rising his permanent residence and home, for though the estate had been possessed by the Howards since 1545 it was always as a political occupation when Castle Rising was a Parliamentary borough, or as a temporary residence for the shooting. Consequently, through the long period of 335 years not one of the family is known to have died there, and certainly none, with the exception of Mr. Howard, have been buried in the parish church or churchyard.”
AUGUST.
9.—At the Norwich Police Court, William Davies, of the Army Hospital Corps, Henry Pritchard, and William Solly, privates in the 6th Inniskilling Dragoons, and Staff-Sergt. Alexander W. Browne, Army Hospital Corps, were charged with attempting to kill and murder John Smith, a private of the 17th Regiment of Foot, at the Cavalry Barracks, on August 3rd. Smith had been left in the military hospital by a detachment of the 17th, who had handed the barracks over to the Inniskillings. Smith was suffering from a loathsome disease, and it was alleged that the orderlies of the dragoons and Davies, who had charge of him, with the cognisance of Browne, stuffed up the fireplace of the ward with straw, closed the windows and door, and placed plates of burning sulphur upon the floor, for the purpose of suffocating him. The man died a few days subsequently from the effects of the disease from which he was suffering. The prosecution alleged two motives against the prisoners—first, that some of them were interested in a will made by Smith in their favour, and, secondly, that they were desirous of getting rid of an unpleasant patient. After several remands, the prisoners were committed for trial at the Assizes. The case was heard before the Lord Chief Justice on November 12th, when the jury acquitted the prisoners. Sergt. Browne was shortly afterwards promoted to the post of Acting Sergt.-Major in the Army Hospital Corps at the North Camp, Aldershot, and headmaster of the 3rd District Station Hospital.
16.—Mr. Traverner’s English Opera Company commenced a six nights’ engagement at Norwich Theatre, in the opera of “Martha.” The company included Miss Annette Albu, Mdlle. Joyce-Maas, Mr. Michael Dwyer, Mr. William Parkinson, and Madame Arabella Smythe.
—The annual meeting of the National Association of Architects commenced at Norwich. Visits were made to different parts of the county, for the inspection of the church architecture of the district.
30.—The extension of the East Norfolk Railway from Aylsham to Cawston was inspected by General Hutchinson, and was opened for public traffic on September 1st.
31.—The Norwich Town Council received a report from a special committee recommending a scheme for repairing the main streets of the city with wood, at the cost of £19,284. The scheme was adopted on September 15th. On October 13th Mr. Arnold Taylor, an Inspector of the Local Government Board, held an inquiry at the Guildhall as to an application by the Corporation for powers to borrow £30,300 for street improvements and wood paving. It was stated that of the amount named, £25,000 would be required for the latter work. The Town Clerk reported, on November 16th, that the Local Government Board had sanctioned a loan of £25,000, repayable with interest within a period not exceeding twelve years. (See January 22nd, 1883.)