9.—The down parliamentary train was on its way from Thetford to Harling when the engine left the metals, mounted the bank by the side of the line, and, after running forty yards, turned over upon its side, crushing the driver to death. The accident was occasioned by the breaking of the tire of the leading wheel of the engine. A few minutes after the accident a goods up-train ran into the tender of the disabled engine, but only a slight collision resulted.
10.—Mr. Robert Chamberlin was elected Mayor, and Mr. Robert Seaman appointed Sheriff of Norwich.
13.—A sculling match, for £100, between Henry Kelly, of Fulham, and Richard Buttle, of Norwich, was rowed on the Thames, from Putney to Mortlake. Kelly won, by little more than half a boat’s length. Time, 25 minutes. The return match was fixed to take place on the Yare, from Surlingham to Thorpe, on November 25th, but owing to a dispute as to the appointment of referee, the race was postponed until the 26th, when Kelly, who rowed the distance, about 4½ miles, in 37½ minutes, won easily.
19.—Died, the Right Hon. Julia Barbara, Lady Stafford, wife of Henry Valentine, 9th Baron Stafford, daughter of Edward Howard, of Glossop. Her ladyship was born in 1807. The interment took place at the private chapel at Costessey, on November 27th.
29.—Snow began to fall, and soon reached a greater depth than had been recorded in Norfolk for many years previously. At nine o’clock on the morning of December 4th the thermometer stood at 16 deg.; the reading of the same instrument, in the same place, at eleven a.m. on December 6th was 60 deg. In thirty-six hours from ten to twelve inches of snow had disappeared, and the weather thenceforth was very mild.
DECEMBER.
2.—At the Norwich Police Court, George Holl and Stephen Gilbert, of Magdalen Road, were charged by the Commissioners of Inland Revenue with having an illicit still. Holl was fined £50, and Gilbert £200.
3.—The “exercise” written by Mr. Edward Bunnett, of Norwich, “to qualify himself for taking the degree of Bachelor of Music, was performed with great success in the chapel of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.”
25.—Died, in St. Peter Mancroft, Norwich, Mrs. Ann Jean, widow of Mr. Roger Jean, artist, in her 74th year.
26.—Boxing Day was, for the first time, observed in Norwich as a general holiday, “none of the shops being opened in the Market Place or principal streets.” The pantomime of “Bluebeard, or the Demon Curiosity,” was produced at the Theatre, and the other amusements included Brown’s Circus, with the spectacles, “St. George and the Dragon,” and “Mazeppa”; and Wombwell’s Menagerie on Castle Meadow.