DECEMBER.
3.—Mr. David James commenced a six nights’ engagement at Norwich Theatre in the character of Perkyn Middlewick (“Our Boys”).
18.—At a meeting of the Norwich Town Council an important letter was read from Mr. John Gurney, of Sprowston Hall, referring to the opportunity then afforded to acquire Norwich Castle and the surrounding grounds for the use and recreation of the citizens. (See February 19th, 1884.)
26.—The holiday attraction at Norwich Theatre was the production of the Drury Lane drama, “Youth,” by Messrs. Holt and Wilmot’s company.
28.—The Mayor and Mayoress of Norwich (Dr. and Mrs. Eade) entertained 820 aged men and women at St. Andrew’s Hall.
1884.
JANUARY.
5.—A great meeting of Norfolk farmers was held at the Agricultural Hall, Norwich, at which was passed a series of resolutions affirming that they viewed with alarm the serious loss imposed upon the nation by the importation of live stock from countries where foot and mouth disease was known to exist, and calling upon the Government to order the withdrawal of existing restrictions on the removal of stock in England. On the 29th a similar meeting, presided over by Lord Walsingham, was held at Lynn, and a third meeting took place at Fakenham on the 31st. Deputations from the Corporations of Norwich and Lynn waited upon the local authority at Norwich on February 23rd to discuss what steps should be taken to effect the re-opening of the cattle markets in the city and borough, and it was decided to send a deputation to the Privy Council. This deputation, consisting of representatives of the county authority, and of the Corporations of Norwich and Lynn, waited upon Lord Carlingford on February 28th, and asked for the immediate opening of the markets and the removal or modification of other restrictions. At the quarterly meeting of the county magistrates on April 10th, Mr. C. S. Read, M.P., reported that the sum of £2,586 had been expended during the three months for inspection and expenses in carrying out the provisions of the Act. The Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act Amendment Bill was read a second time on March 21st and a third time on May 3rd, and on May 19th it received the Royal assent and became law.
20.—Died, at King’s Lynn, Mr. James Fiddaman. He began life in very humble circumstances and without the advantages afforded by education. The son of a tailor in a small way of business, he first acted as an assistant to his uncle, who was ostler at a tavern in Lynn. He was afterwards ostler or “boots” at inns and hotels in neighbouring towns; subsequently he tramped the country for a time, visiting London, Brighton, and other places in quest of a good situation. Eventually he returned to Lynn, took a public-house known as the Wheatsheaf, in Norfolk Street, and made it the local centre of the sporting interest in West Norfolk. After a time he bought the house, converted it into an hotel and wine vaults, and rapidly made a fortune. Mr. Fiddaman was a munificent donor to many benevolent institutions, and his private acts of charity were numerous. An enormous concourse of persons attended his funeral.
30.—Died, at his residence, Thorpe St. Andrew, Mr. Richard Noverre Bacon, aged 85, probably the oldest journalist in the kingdom. At an early age he was engaged in newspaper work under his father, Richard Mackenzie Bacon, whom in 1845 he succeeded as proprietor and editor of the “Norwich Mercury.” A Whig of the old school, Mr. Bacon in his editorship of the “Mercury” was tenacious in the maintenance of his opinions, and held them with a firmness which did not always please the more advanced section of the Liberal party—hence the establishment of the “Norfolk News” as the representative organ of Liberal Nonconformity in county and city. Mr. Bacon served his fellow-citizens in the Town Council, on the Hospital board, and in other capacities, and assisted in founding the Jenny Lind Infirmary for Sick Children. As a journalist he was decidedly inferior to his distinguished father, and his only literary work was his “Essay on Norfolk Agriculture,” written in 1844, which won for him the prize offered by the Royal Agricultural Society, besides bringing him prominently forward among the agriculturists of the county, a connection he was assiduous in maintaining to the close of his career.