26.—The nomination of candidates to fill the vacancy in the representation of East Norfolk caused by the death of Sir E. N. Buxton took place at the Shirehall, Norwich. Sir Henry Josias Stracey was nominated by the Conservatives, and Major Coke by the Liberals. The polling took place on the 29th,—the first time in twenty years,—and on July 1st the result was officially declared as follows: Coke, 2,933; Stracey, 2,720.
JULY.
5.—A largely advertised “monstre fête and fancy fair,” under the management of Mr. J. W. Hoffman, was held on the old Cricket Ground, Norwich, under the patronage of the Mayor and Sheriff, the officers of the 15th Hussars, &c. Hoffman, who had already visited Norwich as the manager of an “organophonic” band, announced himself as the representative of “the Society for the Promotion of Public Amusements”—an entirely fictitious organization. Business was suspended in Norwich, the railway companies ran excursion trains, and the streets were thronged by many thousands of persons anxious to witness the “grand Middle-age pageant.” This consisted of a procession of between thirty and forty persons on foot and one horseman. It was everywhere received with groans and hisses. Ten thousand persons were present on the Cricket Ground to witness the “Old English Sports”; every item in the programme resulted in failure, and a bal champêtre was described as “a disgraceful affair, which ended in indiscriminate fighting among the blackguards on the ground.” For many years afterwards this “fête” was popularly known in Norwich as “Hoffman’s Humbug.”
7.—The headquarters of the 15th Hussars marched from Norwich, and were replaced, on Sept. 11th, by a detachment of Royal Horse Artillery, under the command of Major Brandling, C.B.
30.—A cricket match, Norfolk and Norwich v. Oxford and Cambridge Universities, was played on the Norwich ground. Norfolk and Norwich, 148—79; Oxford and Cambridge (1st innings), 122. The return match was played at Gunton Park on August 9th. Universities, 96—45; Norfolk and Norwich (first innings), 138.
AUGUST.
3.—The Mayor and Corporation of Lynn claimed, under the privileges extended by ancient charter, their right to a sturgeon weighing twelve stones, captured on the previous day by a fisherman named Norris. The man compounded with the Mayor by payment of the nominal sum of one penny.
5.—The residence of the Rev. Sir George Stracey, Bart., deceased, with eleven acres of land, at Thorpe, was sold by Messrs. Spelman, at the Norfolk Hotel, Norwich, for £6,035.
7.*—“The date of the present harvest will be remembered as the year in which reaping machines were fully established in Norfolk. It was only last year that they were introduced, for although there had been one or two in the county previously, they were not of the right sort, and it was not until M’Cormick’s reaper, as now made by Burgess and Key, that their number increased or their merits were appreciated by Norfolk farmers. The fact that the chief part of the Hussey machines, with their back delivery, have been returned or laid aside, and that on most large farms there was one of Burgess and Key’s last year there are two this harvest, will at once point out which machine is best adapted to Norfolk agriculture.”
16.—Died at Oulton Hall, Suffolk, Ann Borrow, widow of Captain Thomas Borrow, aged 87.