2.—The appointment of Dr. Bates, of Edinburgh, as organist and master of the choristers at Norwich Cathedral, was announced.
7.—The county magistrates decided to hire of Mr. James C. Snelling the mansion known as Eaton Hall as lodgings for the judges of Assize, at the yearly rental of £250. On January 20th, Mr. Justice Hawkins, after delivering his charge to the Grand Jury at the Norfolk Assizes, said he could not offer the magistrates his gratitude for their endeavours to provide for the comfort of her Majesty’s judges, unless, indeed, they thought he and his marshal had the habits and tastes of a Polar bear and an Arctic fox. Eaton Hall was well fitted for one or both, as it was simply a bleak house in a frozen waste; it was redolent of putty and paint; workmen were tapping just beyond the dining-room door in precisely the same way as he should expect to hear tapping in the back manufactory of an undertaker’s shop; and the rooms were furnished with the view to economy and discomfort with a show of luxury skilfully but not very judiciously combined. On November 15th Mr. Justice Field, in concluding his charge to the Grand Jury, said he found the accommodation at Eaton Hall exceedingly nice and extremely comfortable, and he added, amid laughter, he had not seen any Polar bears or Arctic foxes.
10.—The jubilee of the Norwich District of the Manchester Unity of Oddfellows was celebrated by a special service held at the Cathedral, and attended by several hundred members, and by the Mayor and Corporation. “The Order was introduced into Norfolk in the year 1835 by five woolsorters from the North of England—John Raven, Walter Meldrum, Thomas Dack, Benjamin Fearnside, and Thomas Lambert. They were the founders of the mother lodge of the district, the Travellers’ Rest, the first place of meeting being at the New Brewery, Pockthorpe.” The Mayor (Mr. John Gurney) entertained to dinner at St. Andrew’s Hall, on May 18th, upwards of 900 members of the Order.
19.—At a meeting of the Norwich Town Council, an application was received from the Norwich School Board for the consent of the Corporation to an assignment of the lease of the Dutch Church from the trustees to the Board, with the view of converting the building into a higher grade school. The Norfolk and Norwich Archæological Society addressed to the Council a strong protest against the application, which was refused by 35 votes against 12. On April 21st a meeting was held, under the presidency of the Mayor, at the Old Bank Buildings, at which it was moved by Mr. Colman, M.P., seconded by Mr. Harry Bullard, and unanimously agreed, “That the provisional contract entered into by Mr. Frederic Oddin Taylor in February last for the purchase of the lease of the Dutch Church be adopted, and that a scheme be formulated assuring the future inalienable use of the building as an adjunct to and in connection with St. Andrew’s Hall, subject to existing rights.” It was further decided to raise by public subscription the sum required (£800) to present the building, “hereafter to be called Blackfriars’ Hall,” to the city after proper renovation. The Town Council on June 29th passed a resolution expressing warm appreciation of the efforts made by Mr. F. Oddin Taylor, and received a deputation composed of the gentlemen who had taken part in the movement, from whom they accepted Blackfriars’ Hall as a gift to the citizens.
21.—Died, at Child’s Hill House, Hampstead, Mr. Joseph Hoare, in his 72nd year. He was the fourth son of Mr. Samuel Hoare, banker, of London, by his marriage with Louisa, daughter of Mr. John Gurney of Earlham. Mr. Hoare, who was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, was a Deputy Lieutenant for the county of Middlesex, and was president of the Hampstead Conservative Association. In May, 1859, he was returned to the House of Commons as member for Hull, but was unseated on petition. He married, in 1847, Rachel Juliana, second daughter of Mr. Charles Barclay, M.P. For many years it was his custom to spend the summer at Cromer, where he was known as a generous supporter of charitable and religious institutions.
22.—At the Norfolk Assizes, before Mr. Justice Hawkins, John Thurston, 30, labourer, was indicted for the wilful murder of Henry Springall, an old man, at Hingham, on December 5th, 1885. The prisoner was found guilty, and received sentence of death. The execution took place at Norwich Castle on February 10th. The culprit was a nephew of Henry Webster, who was hanged at the same prison on May 1st, 1876, for the murder of his wife at Cranworth.
—St. Cuthbert’s church, Sprowston, erected at the cost of £2,000, was opened by the Bishop of Norwich. The building was designed by Mr. A. R. G. Flemming, of Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London, and the contractor was Mr. G. E. Hawes, of Norwich.
26.—A violent explosion, caused by an escape of gas, occurred at Victoria Station, Norwich.
FEBRUARY.
2.—Died, at St. Clement’s Hill, Catton, the Rev. Richard Rigg, M.A., for forty-two years rector of St. Clement’s, and some time rector of St. Michael-at-Coslany and St. Edmund the King, Norwich, in his 81st year. A clergyman of the old school, he was a warm adherent to the Evangelical party, was for forty years secretary of the Norfolk and Norwich Auxiliary of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and one of the founders of the Norwich Church of England Young Men’s Society.