NOVEMBER.
6.—The Norwich Diocesan Conference commenced its sittings at Noverre’s Rooms, Norwich. The proceedings ended on the 7th.
7.—The new building erected on St. James’s Road by the Corporation of Lynn, for the reception of the Stanley Library, was opened. The Bishop of Carlisle (Dr. Harvey Goodwin, son of Mr. Charles Goodwin, of Lynn) delivered an inaugural address, in the course of which he reviewed the changes and improvements in his native town since he last visited it twenty-five years previously.
10.—Mr. John Hotblack was elected Mayor and Mr. William Howard Dakin appointed Sheriff of Norwich.
18.—At a meeting of the Norwich Town Council the Parliamentary and Bylaws Committee reported that counsel was of opinion “that the Corporation should for the present hold its hand and not make any further distribution among the freemen of the funds arising from the Town Close Estate.” The recommendation of the Committee “that the question of payment remain in abeyance until the next meeting,” was adopted by 45 votes against 11. At an adjourned meeting held on December 16th “to consider the case submitted to the Solicitor-General and Mr. Asquith,” Mr. Hackblock moved the adoption of the recommendation of the Parliamentary and Bylaws Committee “that the City Treasurer be directed to carry the amounts of the rents of the Town Close Estate in his hands to a separate account, with the view of affording an opportunity for obtaining a judicial decision as to the rights of the freemen to the estate.” Mr. Joseph Stanley moved “That the freemen be paid as usual.” The amendment was defeated by 26 votes against 21. On the adjournment of the Council a writ issued by Mr. Stanley on behalf of four freemen, and directed against the Mayor, Aldermen, and Councillors and her Majesty’s Attorney General, was served upon the Town Clerk. It claimed for the freemen a declaration that the Corporation was seized and entitled to the receipt of the rents and profits of the Town Close Estate upon trust only for the benefit of the plaintiffs and others the freemen of the city, and an account of the rents and profits of the estate which had been received by the Corporation. The appointment of a receiver was asked for, and in addition the plaintiffs sought an injunction to restrain the Corporation from admitting to the freedom of the city by servitude any persons who had served only under articles of clerkship to a solicitor for not exceeding five years, and had not served seven years’ apprenticeship to a freeman trader. The Corporation was also desired to furnish an account of all persons so admitted from September 9th, 1835, it being contended by the freemen that the profession of law was not a trade or business as required by the Act, and that no man could be admitted under less than a seven years’ apprenticeship. (See March 21st, 1887.)
30.—Died, at Costessey Park, the Right Hon. Henry Valentine Baron Stafford. He was a son of George William, eighth lord (in whose favour an attainder was reversed in 1824), by his first wife, Frances Henrietta, youngest daughter and co-heiress of Mr. Edward Sulyarde, of Wetherdon, Suffolk, and was born January 2nd, 1802. His lordship was twice married, first on February 13th, 1829, to Julia, second daughter of Mr. Edward C. Howard, F.R.S., and niece of the 12th Duke of Norfolk, who died in November, 1856; and, secondly, in September, 1859, to Emma Eliza, daughter of Mr. Frederick S. Gerard, of Aspull House, Lincolnshire, and niece of Robert Lord Gerard, by whom he was survived. He was one of the first Roman Catholics who sat in the House of Commons after the passing of the Roman Catholic Relief Bill, when he was chosen member for Pontefract. On the occasion of the visit of the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Queen of Denmark, and the Duke of Edinburgh to Norwich, in 1866, Lord Stafford entertained them at Costessey Park. In recognition of his munificent liberality on that occasion a subscription was inaugurated by the Corporation of Norwich for a full-length portrait of his lordship, which was placed in St. Andrew’s Hall. Lord Stafford was the courtliest of gentlemen and the most liberal of landlords.
DECEMBER.
2.—Died, at Bacton Grange, North Walsham, in his 67th year, Mr. William Partridge Cubitt. He was born at Bacton, where the Cubitt family had been for many generations tenants under the Wodehouses. As a coal merchant he owned ships which traded between Bacton and the North. For many years he was captain of the Bacton lifeboat crew, and had received medals and certificates for courageously saving life on the Norfolk coast. On one occasion he swam his horse out to a wreck and brought the sailors to shore hanging to the stirrup-leathers of his saddle. “He was not only a good sailor, a good farmer, and a sharp and wise merchant, but he was also a splendid horseman across country.” In politics Mr. Cubitt was strongly Liberal.
2.—A meeting was held at King’s Lynn, at which was formed for West Norfolk a branch of the National Fair Trade League. The principles of the League were, for a time, advocated in this and other parts of Norfolk, but the movement was short-lived.
3.—Died, at the Close, Norwich, Mr. John Orfeur, in his 80th year. He was a son of Lieutenant Abdiel Orfeur, R.N., of Great Yarmouth, a descendant of the family of Orfeur in Cumberland. By business a timber merchant, he devoted his leisure time to scientific pursuits, was one of the promoters of the Norwich Geological Society, and of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society, and a warm supporter of the Norfolk and Norwich Museum.