1.—The Annual Moveable Committee of the Manchester Unity of Oddfellows commenced its sittings at Norwich. There were 110 delegates present, and Mr. Cox (“Grand Master”) presided. The meetings, which were held daily at the Bazaar (afterwards known as Victoria Hall), concluded on the 6th. The dinner, held at St. Andrew’s Hall on the 3rd, was presided over by Sir Samuel Bignold, and in the course of the proceedings, Mr. Samuel Daynes was presented with a gift of 160gs., in recognition of the valuable work he had done for the Order.
1.—Died at Costessey, aged 88, Mr. John Culley, one of the leading agriculturists of the county. “It was to him and a few others that the farmers in this locality are indebted for the establishment of the Hail Storm Society, and the subscriptions which followed the memorable hailstorm in this county a few years since.” Mr. Culley took a prominent part in the movement for the erection of the Norwich Corn Exchange.
11.—A familiar object, known as the “Bassingham Gateway,” in London Street, Norwich, was sold by auction. The purchaser was Mr. William Wilde, and the price £12. The hope was expressed that this relic of antiquity would not be removed from the city. On September 5th it was announced: “The Bassingham Gateway has been erected at the magistrates’ entrance at the Guildhall, where it is quite out of character with the building, or, at any rate, that part of it. Above the gate are the arms of Henry VII., the arms of the Goldsmiths’ Company, to which its builder, Mr. John Bassingham, belonged, and of the city of Norwich. Having been cleaned, the carved work is brought out in bold relief.”
—An amateur sculling match took place for £10, from Bramerton to Whitlingham (about three miles), between Mr. Henry Watling and Mr. Henry Balls. A foul resulted, Mr. Watling claimed stakes, and the referee, Mr. Vyall, decided in his favour.
13.*—“The Marine Parade (Yarmouth) may now be looked upon as completed, and certainly in almost every particular it has exceeded the expectations formed of it. It was planned and carried out under the immediate superintendence of the Town Surveyor, Mr. A. W. Morant, and the cost will not exceed the sum estimated, £1,700.”
16.—At a special meeting of the Norwich Town Council, the Grammar School Committee reported that the hearing took place, before the Master of the Rolls, on June 10th, of the suit, the Attorney-General v. Hudson, when the principal differences which had existed in reference to the new scheme for the administration of the School and Hospital had been amicably adjusted. The sum of £1,000 per annum, exclusive of the cost of buildings, was to be taken from the Great Hospital funds and appropriated, under the management of separate trustees, to the purposes of education. Two schools were to be established—a Grammar School and a Commercial School. The course of instruction in the Grammar School would embrace English, Latin, French, and German, &c., and in the Commercial School, English, French, and the rudiments of Latin, &c. Prizes and scholarships were to be given to both schools, and the boy who obtained an upper class scholarship in the Commercial School would be entitled to education in the Grammar School without cost. The payments for boys educated in the Grammar School were to range from 6 gs. to 8 gs. per year, and in the Commercial School 30s. per year. The masters were to be paid a fixed salary, besides which their stipends would be augmented in the Grammar School by four-sixths of the money received from the pupils, and in the Commercial School by three-sixths. (See March 23rd, 1858.)
17.—A revival of the Dereham Race Meeting attracted thousands of spectators to the Common. The subscriptions amounted to £150, and horses were run by Lord Suffield and other sportsmen of the county.
18.—Workmen engaged in deepening a dry dock belonging to Mr. Ambrose Palmer, at Yarmouth, turned up in one spadeful from 700 to 1,000 silver pennies of Edward I. and of Alexander III., the contemporary King of Scotland. The coins were discovered 17 feet beneath the level of the quay.
23.—Mr. A. A. H. Beckwith, Governor of the Norwich Court of Guardians, performed the ceremony of turning the first sod upon the line marked out for the main front of the new Norwich Workhouse.
24.—Mr. Spurgeon, “the celebrated revivalist,” preached two sermons at the Corn Exchange, Lynn, in aid of a fund for repairing the local Baptist chapel. Two thousand six hundred tickets were issued, and the collections amounted to £110 15s.