—Great festivities took place at Ellingham Hall, in celebration of the coming of age of Mr. Henry Smith, son and heir of Lieut.-Col. Smith. A dinner, at which 160 guests were present, was followed by sports, and in the evening dancing was opened upon the lawn by Mr. Smith and Miss Foster in a “Sir Roger de Coverley.”
5.—The marriage took place at East Dereham, of Captain William Earle Gascoyne Bulwer, late Scots Fusilier Guards, eldest son of Mr. William E. Lytton Bulwer, of Heydon Hall, and Mary Anne Dering, only daughter of Mr. William Wilson Lee Warner, of Quebec House. The officiating clergy were the Rev. G. Dashwood, rector of Stow Bardolph, and the Rev. B. J. Armstrong, vicar of East Dereham.
7.—Mr. Edmond Wodehouse, M.P., announced that it was his intention to retire from the representation of East Norfolk, in consequence of his continued ill-health. Mr. Henry Josiah Stracey was adopted as the Conservative candidate, and was returned unopposed on the 17th.
8.—Died at Ems, Sir William Edward Parry, R.N., Lieut.-Governor of Greenwich Hospital. He was an LL.D. of Oxford, a F.R.S. of London and Edinburgh, a member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg, and author of a work entitled, “Thoughts on the Parental Character of God.” He married first, on October 23rd, 1826, Isabella Louisa, fourth daughter of Lord Stanley of Alderley, by whom he had issue two sons and two daughters. She died on May 13th, 1839. On June 29th, 1841, he married, secondly, Catherine Edwards, daughter of the Rev. R. Hankinson, of Walpole, and widow of Mr. Samuel Hoare, jun., of Hampstead, by whom he had issue two daughters. Sir William was an honorary freeman of the city of Norwich. He had commanded four Arctic expeditions, in all of which he gained high professional renown. For these services he received the honour of knighthood, and was presented by the Government with £1,000, his portion of a reward for reaching the meridian of 110 degs. W. within the Arctic circle.
18.—Died, at an advanced age, at Norwich, John Osborne. “He was a well-known character, and for many years drove the Yarmouth coach, and for some time the mail coach between Norwich and Ipswich. The railway, however, put an end to his vocation. Every morning he attended service at the Cathedral. Even when he was the driver of the coach to Yarmouth he stipulated he should have his Sunday, in order that he might be in his accustomed place at the Cathedral.”
26.—At the Norfolk Assizes, before Mr. Baron Parke and a special jury, was tried the action, Fisher v. Nisbett. This was a will case, which excited considerable interest on account of the large amount of property in dispute and the number of persons concerned. The plaintiff was Miss Mary Ann Fisher, and the nominal defendant Mr. Philip Blundell Nisbett. The actual defendant was Mr. Richard Blundell Nisbett. The question at issue was the validity of the will of a lady named Nisbett. The amount in dispute was between £20,000 and £30,000 in real property, and a larger amount in personal property. The father of Mrs. Nisbett was a Mr. Fisher, a banker, of Yarmouth. Mary Ann Fisher, the plaintiff, was one of his daughters. All the children were dead in 1854 with the exception of Mary Ann Fisher. In the year 1811, when the deceased Mrs. Nisbett married, her father settled on her the sum of £10,000, and gave her during life an annuity of £500, while all that Mr. Nisbett brought was the sum of £7,000. In 1824 Mr. Nisbett died. Of the marriage there were three sons; two had died, and at the time of the trial the only one living was the eldest, Philip Blundell Nisbett, a confirmed lunatic. In the year 1835 Mr. Fisher died, leaving property to the amount of about £100,000. Mrs. Nisbett, after her father’s death, left the bulk of the property to Philip Blundell Nisbett. There now appeared on the scene Mr. Richard Blundell Nisbett, a son of Mr. Nisbett’s brother, and nephew by marriage to Mrs. Nesbitt. He took out a commission of lunacy against Philip, who was found to be a lunatic and incapable of managing his own affairs. Then he endeavoured to get a commission of lunacy against Mrs. Nisbett, but the Lord Chancellor, on receiving the report of the medical men who examined her, dismissed the petition, with costs. As soon as Mrs. Nisbett discovered the course that Richard was pursuing, she made a new will, the effect of which was that the property went to Miss Fisher, the plaintiff, for life, and after her death to blood relations. On November 10th, 1854, Mrs. Nisbett died suddenly, and these legal proceedings commenced. After evidence had been given by medical men and others, the Attorney-General (Sir Alexander Cockburn) who appeared for the defendant, unexpectedly withdrew from the case, and a verdict was entered for the plaintiff.
AUGUST.
1.—Died at Malta, of wounds received before Sebastopol, on June 18th, in the attack upon the Redan, Lieut. Charles A. P. Boileau, of the Rifle Brigade, aged 19, fourth son of Sir John P. Boileau, Bart., and Lady Catherine Boileau, of Ketteringham Park.
15.—Stalham Corn Hall, erected at the cost of £300, raised by 82 shares of £5 each, was opened.
16.—A public dinner was held at Fakenham, under the presidency of Sir Willoughby Jones, Bart., to celebrate the opening of the Corn Hall. A capital of £4,000 was raised in 160 shares of £25 each. The building was designed by Mr. Brown, architect, of Norwich, and built by Mr. Pettitt, of Ipswich, for £3,000.