—The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Volunteer Battalions Norfolk Regiment, encamped at Great Yarmouth under the command of Brigadier-General Bulwer.
27.—Lord Walsingham presided at a meeting of the subscribers to the Norwich Castle Museum scheme, at which it was decided to extend, at an additional cost of between £4,000 and £5,000, the original scheme for converting the Castle and the surrounding buildings to the purposes of a Museum. It was announced that the Prince of Wales had contributed to the fund a further donation of fifty guineas. (See August 4th, 1894.)
30.—A thunderstorm of extraordinary severity burst over Ellingham Park, the seat of Mr. Henry Smith. “The lightning seemed literally to sweep the park with a sheet of fire, and immediately after the storm six bullocks and heifers were found lying dead under an elm tree. Other cattle were injured, and the tree itself was split in half, and some of the branches hurled a considerable distance.” Further thunderstorms occurred in other parts of the county on August 2nd.
AUGUST.
3.—Norwich Cricket Week commenced. Matches were played against the Eton Ramblers, and the Lincolnshire and Hertfordshire Clubs, and in each instance the Norfolk County Cricket Club was victorious. “The achievement of three victories in the week had not previously been accomplished since the institution of the festival in 1881.” On the 6th and 7th Sir Kenneth Kemp’s company of amateurs gave performances of “The Bookmaker” at the Theatre Royal.
7.—The Norwich School Board decided to abolish the fees in all their schools, the Higher Grade School excepted, from September 1st, the date on which the Free Education Act came into operation.
8.—Lord Ashbourne, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, addressed a great Primrose League gathering at Didlington Park, held in celebration of the inauguration of the Margaret Tyssen Amherst Habitation.
SEPTEMBER.
5.—The Norfolk County Council decided to found an agricultural side for technical education in connection with the County School at Elmham.
7.—The Countess of Leicester laid the foundation-stone of a public hall to be erected at Burnham Thorpe as a memorial of Lord Nelson, who was born in the parish, where his father was rector, in 1758. The hall, which formed part of a scheme initiated by the Prince of Wales, the main feature of which was the restoration of the parish church at the cost of £10,000, was opened on June 9th, 1892.