1.—Died, in his 83rd year, the Rev. James Brown, B.D., Hon. Canon of Norwich, and for fifty years vicar of St. Andrew’s, Norwich. “For more than twenty years chaplain of the county prison, he was one of the earliest advocates of educational efforts being directed towards prisoners, and in his practical suggestions may be traced the germ of much that is valuable in our reformatory institutions. He lived long enough to see similar views generally adopted and made compulsory by the State. His duties as chaplain were performed during a period when capital punishments were much more frequent than now, and this gave him the opportunity of seeing vice in its most degrading forms, and to hear from the lips of its victims the repentance which the certain approach of death and judgment generally extracted from them.”
6.—The church of the Holy Trinity, Hempton Green, was opened by the Bishop of Norwich.
—The corner-stone of the new Corn Hall at Aylsham was laid by the Marquis of Lothian.
7.—Died at Calais, aged 60, Capt. Charles Thurtell, R.N., son of Mr. Thomas Thurtell, of Lakenham.
16.—The Earl of Albemarle addressed a large meeting of the industrial class at the Corn Hall, Diss, upon the subject of “Benefit Clubs.” In the course of his remarks, he asserted “the Manchester Unity of Oddfellows is humbug from beginning to end.” The action of his lordship evoked a large amount of newspaper correspondence, and on November 6th Mr. Samuel Daynes, a former “Grand Master” of the Unity, introduced at Diss a Mr. Reeve, who delivered an address to rebut the assertions of Lord Albemarle.
20.—Mr. Fred Phillips’ dramatised version of Mrs. Beecher Stowe’s romance of “Dred” was produced at the Surrey Theatre, and was favourably noticed by the critics. At the same theatre, on January 19th, 1857, was produced the comedy, “A Bird in the Hand is worth Two in the Bush,” by the same author.
29.—At a meeting held at Yarmouth, it was resolved to take the necessary steps towards placing the Nelson column in a proper state of repair.
NOVEMBER.
1.—Mr. T. D. Eaton, president of the Choral Society, was presented by the members, at St. Andrew’s Hall, Norwich, with a silver snuff-box and silver inkstand. “Mr. H. Pierson, the author of the oratorio ‘Jerusalem,’ and of the opera ‘Faust,’ was present, and wrote a drinking song for the occasion, dedicating it to the president.”
5.—Died at Liverpool, Mr. Charles Hodgson, formerly of Norwich. He was one of the mathematical tutors at Norwich Free Grammar School during the headmastership of the Rev. Edward Valpy, and nearly the last surviving member of the Norwich Society of Artists, established in 1803.