2.—A meeting was held at the Guildhall, Norwich, for the purpose of furthering the efforts made by Mr. T. W. Richardson and Mr. W. S. Warlters for the formation in the city of a bearer company of the Volunteer Medical Staff Corps. A few weeks afterwards Mr. Richardson was gazetted surgeon, Mr. Warlters acting surgeon, and Mr. Frederic Mills quartermaster.
10.—The Norwich Diocesan Conference met at Noverre’s Rooms, Norwich, under the presidency of the Lord Bishop. The session was concluded on the 11th.
20.—Died, at Northrepps Hall, Mr. John Henry Gurney, in his 71st year. The only son of Joseph John Gurney, of Earlham Hall, so prominently associated with Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton in his efforts to abolish slavery in the West Indies, Mr. Gurney married Mary Jary, daughter of Richard Hanbury Gurney, of Thickthorn. Of the marriage there were two sons, Mr. J. H. Gurney and Mr. Richard J. H. Gurney. In 1854 he entered Parliament as member for King’s Lynn, and sat for that borough until his resignation in 1865. As a naturalist Mr. Gurney was a recognised authority both in Europe and America, more especially on raptorial birds, and the magnificent collection in the Norfolk and Norwich (now the Castle) Museum owes its existence almost entirely to his energy and liberality. He was for many years a member of the East Anglian banking firm of Gurneys and Birkbecks, a justice of the peace for Norfolk, senior member of the Norwich Bench, and a magistrate for Lynn.
23.—Bellringers from all parts of the diocese assembled at Aylsham to ring opening peals on the church bells, which had been re-hung at the cost of £301.
26.—Died, at Cromer, where he was staying for the benefit of his health, Mr. Henry Blake Miller, Town Clerk of Norwich, aged 65. He was a son of Mr. Henry Miller, solicitor, of the Town Close, and had been officially connected with the Corporation since 1853. For upwards of twenty years Mr. Miller was clerk to the Board of Health, and on the death of Mr. W. L. Mendham, in July, 1876, when the two offices were amalgamated, he was appointed Town Clerk and clerk to the Sanitary Authority. Legal work of great importance had devolved upon Mr. Miller. He was entrusted with the drafting of the Norwich Act, 1867, relating to the sewerage and drainage of the city, and after his appointment as Town Clerk he prepared the way for the passing of the Norwich Improvement Act. He acted for the Corporation in the Mousehold Heath litigation, and in the dispute with the freemen as to the Town Close Estate; he had also much to do with the London and Castle Street improvements, the Chapel Field improvement, and the framing of the Norwich Corporation Act, 1889. A Liberal and Nonconformist, Mr. Miller was senior deacon of Princes Street Congregational church, and for twenty years treasurer to the Norfolk Auxiliary of the London Missionary Society. He was also some time president of the Norwich Solicitors’ Amicable Society.
30.—The stables and coach-houses at Merton Hall, a range of buildings sixty yards in length, were destroyed by fire. The horses, including two valuable stallions and twelve carriage horses, were rescued uninjured.
MAY.
3.—A disorderly scene occurred at a fire at the furnishing shop of Mr. H. Cole, St. Giles’s Gates, Norwich. The Chief Constable (Mr. Hitchman) was hooted by the mob, who also impeded the work of the fire brigade. The contents of the shop were destroyed.
5.—A remarkable charge was investigated at Grimston Petty Sessions. Mr. Algernon Charles Fountaine, of Narford Hall, was summoned for obstructing a railway engine “by placing himself in the four-foot-way of the Lynn and Dereham branch of the Great Eastern Railway, and making signals thereon, on March 18th, at East Winch.” The defendant wished to travel to Narborough by a fast train which was not advertised to stop at East Winch, and notwithstanding the warning of the station master, he placed himself in the four-foot-way, and as the train approached made the customary signal for it to stop. The engine-driver obeyed the signal and brought the train to a standstill, whereupon Mr. Fountaine entered one of the carriages and travelled to Narborough. Proceedings were taken against him under Section 36 of 24 and 25 Vic., chapter 95, and the magistrates committed defendant for trial. On July 9th, at the adjourned Norfolk Quarter Sessions, at Swaffham, the defendant pleaded guilty, and was sentenced by Lord Walsingham to pay a fine of £25 and to enter into his recognisances of £100 to be of good behaviour and to keep the peace for six months.
10.—A fire occurred at Messrs. Boulton and Paul’s timber yard at Norwich, and resulted in damage to the amount of between £4,000 and £5,000.