JUNE.
5.—The “members of Reffley” celebrated the 62nd anniversary of the building of their temple, “the society having existed before the memory of the oldest inhabitant” (of Lynn).
21.—The hand of a female was found in Miss Martineau’s plantation, Martineau’s Lane, Norwich, by a lad named Charles Johnson. Other portions of human remains were discovered between this date and the end of the month, in various suburbs of the city, namely, at Lakenham, Hellesdon, Mile Cross, &c. The remains were deposited at the Guildhall, where they were examined by Mr. Nichols, Mr. D. Dalrymple, and Mr. Norgate, surgeons, who pronounced them to be those of an adult female. (See January, 1869.)
JULY.
12.—The Yarmouth magistrates issued a warrant “to apprehend the bodies of George Danby Palmer and James Cherry, charged on the oath of William Norton Burroughes with being about to commit a breach of the peace by fighting a duel.” The incident arose out of an extraordinary scene at a public meeting, where “Mr. Palmer gave the lie to Mr. Cherry.”
14.—Died at Rackheath Hall, in his 83rd year, Sir Edward Hardinge John Stracey, second baronet. He was born in India, came to this country as a boy, and was educated at Norwich Grammar School and Christ Church, Oxford. He was subsequently called to the Bar, was for a time Clerk of the House of Commons, and succeeded his uncle, Mr. Hardinge Stracey, as counsel to the Chairmen of Committees of the House of Lords on Mr. Pitt’s appointment to office. For several years he was Chairman of Quarter Sessions for Cheshire, and a magistrate for that county as well as for Norfolk and Suffolk.
26.—At the Norfolk Assizes, before Lord Chief Baron Pollock and a special jury, was tried the action, Baldry v. Ellis. This was an issue directed to be tried by the late Master of the Rolls, and involved the disposal of a sum of about £25,000. The jury had to decide whether one Bailey Bird, deceased, who contracted marriage in the year 1818, was competent to make that contract. A large number of witnesses deposed that Bird was of perfectly sound mind at the time of his marriage; an equally large number, including several medical men, asserted that he was an idiot. The jury were of opinion that Bird was not of sound mind at the time of the celebration of his marriage, and returned a verdict for the defendant.
28.—Henry Groom (42) was indicted at the Norfolk Assizes, before Mr. Justice Cresswell, for the murder of John Ayton, by shooting him with a pistol, at Burnham Thorpe, on July 4th. He was executed on the Castle Hill, Norwich, on August 16th.
AUGUST.
8.—The steeple of St. Cuthbert’s, Thetford, fell upon the roof of the church, carrying away one of the arches and destroying the organ.