13.—Died at his residence, Unthank’s Road, Norwich, the Rev. George Gould, minister of St. Mary’s chapel, aged 63. Mr. Gould was a native of Bristol, and, on entering the Baptist ministry, took charge of the Abbey church, Abbey street, Dublin. Thence he removed to Exeter, and in the spring of 1849 succeeded the Rev. W. Brock in the Norwich pastorate. He was president of the Baptist Union in 1879–80, chairman of the Norwich School Board, and for several years a governor of the Grammar School and Commercial School. Mr. Gould was very decided in his religious and political opinions, and firm in upholding them; in private life he was greatly esteemed.
MARCH.
1.—A fine steamer, named the Levadia, of Newcastle, bound from Shields to Alexandria, with coals, was wrecked on the Middle Cross Sand, five miles off Yarmouth. Several men were drowned by the upsetting of one of the ship’s boats, others who had lashed themselves to the masts of the vessel perished from cold and exposure, and of the crew of twenty-five a solitary survivor, Thomas Sewell, a Yarmouth man, was rescued by the Gorleston lifeboat.
2.—Mr. Arthur H. Mann, B.Mus., of New College, Oxford, organist at King’s College, Cambridge, whose exercise, “Ecce Homo,” had been performed on the previous day in the Sheldonian Theatre, was admitted to the degree of Doctor of Music.
7.—The first Good Friday performance of “The Messiah,” took place at St. Andrew’s Hall, Norwich. Mr. F. W. B. Noverre was leader of the band, Dr. Bunnett organist, and Dr. Hill conductor.
21.—The Norwich Town Council adopted a memorial to the Secretary of State for War, in which the War Office was petitioned to retain Norwich as a cavalry station. The Mayor, Sheriff, and the members of Parliament for the city, on May 5th, waited upon the Secretary of State for War, and urged the retention of cavalry headquarters in the city, in addition to its being made the brigade depot of the Norfolk Regiment. (See March 24th, 1883.)
25.—The Spring Show of the Norfolk Agricultural Association was held on the Lakenham Cricket Ground, Norwich.
—The Earl of Leicester performed the ceremony of laying the foundation-stone of the Norfolk and Norwich Agricultural Hall, at Norwich. On April 27th, in the High Court of Justice, Chancery Division, before the Vice-Chancellor, Sir C. Hall, application was made on behalf of Mr. Philip Back for an injunction against the Corporation of Norwich and the Agricultural Hall Company, Limited, to restrain them from erecting the hall, on the ground that the Corporation had no power to let the land, which had been dedicated from time immemorial to fairs and markets. The hearing was adjourned until May 20th, when the Court refused the application; and on November 11th it was announced that Mr. Back had consented to abandon the action. (See November 16th.)
31.—In the House of Commons, the opposition of the Dean and Chapter and other residents in the Cathedral Close, Norwich, to the invasion of the precincts of the Cathedral by the Lynn and Fakenham Railway Company was successful, the company being compelled, by the strong feeling expressed against the proposed route, to withdraw that portion of their Bill affecting the Close.