1860.
JANUARY.
5.—At the County Sessions, at Norwich, the Committee appointed at the previous Sessions recommended that the Chief Constable, on the application of the High Sheriff, be allowed to supply police-constables for keeping order in the Assize Courts, in place of the javelin men previously employed, the High Sheriff engaging to pay the additional expense. The Chairman (Sir Willoughby Jones) remarked that theoretically the javelin men kept the Courts, but practically they kept the neighbouring public-houses. The recommendation was agreed to. On March 27th, Mr. Justice Williams was received at Victoria Station by the High Sheriff (Mr. Henry Birkbeck) and a posse of policemen, “in the place of the time-honoured body which had long constituted a conspicuous part of the pomp and circumstance of our Assizes, having at length succumbed to the utilitarian tyranny of the age. His arrival at the Shirehall and Guildhall was signalised, however, by the customary fanfaronade on a couple of inharmonious trumpets.”
15.—St. Giles’ church, Norwich, was for the first time lighted with gas, and evening services were held there from this date.
17.—Mr. E. E. Benest, City Surveyor, tendered his resignation to the Norwich Town Council, after eight years’ service. He was succeeded, on March 14th, by Mr. Thomas D. Barry.
20.—Lord Sondes was presented by his Norfolk tenantry with a piece of plate, of the value of 140 gs., as a birthday gift and as a testimony of the esteem in which he was held by them as a landlord and nobleman.
FEBRUARY.
7.—A fire occurred on the premises of Mr. W. C. Aberdein, pastry cook, Dove Street, Norwich. The outbreak itself was not of a serious character, but in a room upon the adjoining premises of Mr. Cubitt, ironmonger, was stored upwards of 400 lbs. of gunpowder, which was safely removed in wet blankets. The circumstance caused much sensation, and the practicability of establishing a public powder magazine was discussed by the magistrates.
20.—Died at King’s Lynn, Mr. J. F. Reddie, many years organist at St. Margaret’s church, in that town.
24.—A petition against the return of Sir Edmund Lacon and Sir H. Stracey, as members of Parliament for Great Yarmouth, in April, 1859, commenced before a Special Committee of the House of Commons. The petitioners, Mr. Joseph Bayly, surgeon, and Mr. Robert Pilgrim, linen draper, alleged bribery, undue influence, treating, and intimidation. On March 1st the Committee declared the members to have been duly elected, and were of opinion that one of the witnesses, Henry Fayerman, had been guilty of wilful and corrupt perjury. The members were received with great enthusiasm on their return to Yarmouth, and were entertained at a public dinner, given at the Theatre, on April 12th. At the Westminster Police Court, on June 11th, Fayerman was committed for trial on the charge of perjury, but at the Old Bailey, on July 12th, the jury gave a verdict of acquittal.