6.*—“Within the last few days a stone has been placed in the churchyard at East Dereham, in memory of Jean de Narde, a French prisoner of war, who, in the year 1796 while en route from Yarmouth to Norman Cross prison, was lodged in the lower chamber of the bell tower of the church, and escaped therefrom. He was pursued by the guard, and, after some search, was espied in a tree on the Scarning Road, and when summoned by a soldier to descend and surrender he did not comply. His non-compliance forfeited his life, for he was shot off it like a crow. The stone was erected by the vicar and two other gentlemen.”
8.—Miss Vandenhoff, tragic actress, from Drury Lane and Haymarket Theatres, commenced an engagement at Norwich Theatre, in her play, “Woman’s Heart.” She also appeared in “Love’s Sacrifice,” “Ingomar,” “Macbeth,” and “The Stranger.”
22.—In the House of Lords, Lord Sondes presented a petition from the Town Council and certain magistrates of Yarmouth, praying for an inquiry into a recent appointment of justices for that borough. It was stated that the magistrates were constant in their attendance upon the Bench, and were sufficiently numerous. The borough contained 31,000 inhabitants, there were 31 magistrates, and 31 policemen. Upon the Bench every shade of political feeling was represented, but all the newly-appointed magistrates were of one political party. The Mayor of Yarmouth had interviewed the Lord Chancellor, and his lordship had intimated that it was his intention to persist in the appointment, and, moreover, he felt it his duty to appoint new magistrates of one particular party. The action of the Lord Chancellor had excited much feeling in the borough. Lord Cranworth now informed the House that he felt bound to put the magistracy in a position in which justice should not be partially administered, and if an inquiry were instituted it should have his entire concurrence. No further action resulted.
23.—At a special meeting of the Norwich Town Council, a resolution was adopted expressing surprise and indignation that a covert attempt had been made to pervert the Grammar School and the Commercial School proposed to be established into exclusive institutions, which would not only deprive a large proportion of the inhabitants of the advantage of the schools, but would condemn them in public estimation, and tend to the frustration and utter subversion of the proposed scheme. The Charity Trustees were requested to resist this proceeding, to ascertain at whose instance the suggestion was made, and to consider whether recent complaints did not imperatively demand that a searching inquiry should be instituted into the conduct and management of the Grammar School. The Master of the Rolls, on July 17th, gave his decision upon the Grammar School case, which had long been before the Courts. It was ordered that twenty-one governors be appointed; the sum of £1,000 per annum derived from land and house property was to be appropriated to the maintenance of the Grammar School and Commercial School; the benefits of the Grammar School were to be open to all England; and all the expenses to which the Corporation and those who represented Norwich had been put were to be paid by the Charity Trustees. On December 4th the Norfolk Chronicle made the following remarkable statement in relation to the treatment of boys at the Grammar School: “We have recently been informed of a circumstance connected with the Grammar School which we could scarcely have credited but for the authority upon which we have received it. It is that there exists in that school a form of punishment which ought long since to have been unknown in a civilised country, amounting very nearly to bodily torture. We have been assured that for offences of a not very serious character boys are placed for hours between shelves so constructed that they cannot stand upright, but are obliged to stoop until the head is brought nearly level with the knees.” At a meeting of the Governors of the School, on December 8th, it was resolved, “That in consequence of the informant declining to come to the Governors and substantiate the charge referred to in the Chronicle newspaper of last Saturday, we proceed no further in the matter; but that we intimate to Dr. Vincent that we strongly disapprove of the mode of punishment alluded to in that newspaper, and if it has been practised, we request it may be discontinued.” The accusation was not denied, either by Dr. Vincent or by anyone on his behalf. On December 27th Dr. Vincent resigned his appointment as headmaster.
25.—Died at Hempnall, John Holmes, aged 104. “The deceased leaves behind him a son, Thomas, aged 87 years, and a grandson, aged 60 years, the latter himself being a great-grandfather, thus presenting the remarkable fact of a man living to witness the sixth generation, and to see his great-grandson become a grandfather.”
30.—The first annual dinner of the Norfolk and Norwich Anglers’ Society was held at the Bell Hotel, Norwich, under the presidency of Mr. R. N. Bacon.
APRIL.
3.—Mr. R. Rising, of Costessey, rode his horse for a wager over nine consecutive single hurdles set up in the centre of a field. “This was performed in excellent style, coming back also over the same ground, and not refusing one. The spectators were rather astonished to see Mr. Rising repeat the feat with cap in hand. The judge of the bet, one of the first riders in the Norfolk Hunt, asked permission to ride the horse himself, saying he had ridden many good horses, but never one that would take a single hurdle. Upon Mr. Rising consenting, he rode the same round, thus making the animal in all leap 54 single hurdles.”
11.—Died, in his 82nd year, Mr. John Venning, of Surrey House, Norwich. A native of Totnos, Devonshire, he spent several years in Russia, as the representative of a firm of merchants. He became a member of the church at which the Rev. R. Knill officiated in St. Petersburg, and devoted his time and means to improving the wretched condition of the neglected and depraved populace of the Russian metropolis. He founded a school on the Lancasterian system for poor Russian children, a free school for the children of foreigners, a refuge for the reception and care of the helpless and destitute, a lunatic asylum in which the best modes of treatment were introduced, the Litofsky prison, constructed to admit of the classification and separation of prisoners; and he remodelled the great hospital for the reception of invalids. Mr. Venning gained the esteem of the Emperors Alexander and Nicholas, and the hearty co-operation of the Empress Dowager, as well as of other members of the Imperial family. Through his instrumentality all exiles starting for Siberia were furnished with copies of the Scriptures. When the destructive inundation of November, 1824, overwhelmed the city with the waters of the Neva, the Grand Duke Michael sent General Politica with 20,000 roubles to Mr. Venning to distribute among the suffering populace. “Throughout his long life Mr. Venning was a conscientious Dissenter—an Independent—but he saw without regret his nearest and dearest relations staunch members of the Church of England.” He married a daughter of Mr. Meybohm, of St. Petersburg, by whom he was survived.
22.—St. John’s church, Yarmouth, erected at the estimated cost of £1,700, was consecrated by the Bishop of Norwich.