5.—At the annual meeting of the Norfolk Agricultural Association, held at the Swan Hotel, Norwich, Mr. Clare Sewell Read moved that the annual show for 1861 be held at East Dereham, instead of at Swaffham. This effort to abolish the system of holding the exhibitions alternately at Norwich and Swaffham was defeated by 19 votes to 15.
6.—The frost continued with unusual intensity, and on this day snowstorms, which covered the ground to the depth of twelve inches, occurred. On the 10th a public meeting was held at Norwich, under the presidency of the Mayor (Mr. W. J. Utten Browne), at which a fund was inaugurated to relieve the distresses of the poor. In a few days the sum of £4,139 12s. 11d. was subscribed. The river was frozen from Norwich to Yarmouth, and on the 16th a large party of ladies and gentlemen assembled on the ice on Breydon and “skated” quadrilles. The frost continued for more than five weeks, during the whole of which period the ground was covered with snow.
11.—Walsingham Quarter Sessions were held for the last time. Sir Willoughby Jones, who presided, informed the Grand Jury that the Sessions would be removed part to Swaffham and part to Norwich, “on account of the expenses being so great in proportion to the number of prisoners for trial.” On March lst the Bridewell ceased to be used as a house of correction, and the prisoners were removed to Norwich Castle.
16.—Died, aged 85, Mr. Kinnebrook, for many years a proprietor of the “Norwich Mercury.”
18.—Died, in his 60th year, Mr. Thomas Lound, for 35 years confidential clerk at King Street Old Brewery, Norwich. “As an artist, but principally as a painter in water-colours, he had maintained a high reputation for many years. The local river and rural scenery afforded materials for a large proportion of his works. He occasionally painted street scenes and monastic ruins, and of late years he made excursions into Wales and Yorkshire, bringing home with him a vast variety of subjects.” In addition to his own collection, he left many water-colour drawings by Bright, Thirtle, Cox, and others, some of them of considerable value.
26.—At Norwich Castle, James Blomfield Rush, aged 30, “eldest son of the Rush,” was committed for trial on the charge of breaking into the dwelling-house of Mr. Abraham Cannell, farmer, Cringleford, on the night of January 12th. At the Norfolk Assizes, on March 27th, before Chief Baron Pollock, the prisoner was acquitted. At subsequent dates he was twice acquitted for housebreaking, but at the Norfolk Quarter Sessions on March 11th, 1862, was sentenced to four years’ penal servitude for breaking into a house at North Tuddenham.
FEBRUARY.
13.—In the Court of Queen’s Bench, before the Lord Chief Justice and a special jury, an action was brought by Mr. Costerton, solicitor, of Yarmouth, against Sir Edmund Lacon, M.P., for a scandalous attack made upon the plaintiff by the defendant in the course of an election speech. The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff, damages 40s.
25.—Judgment was given by the Barons of the Exchequer in the cause Morant v. Chamberlin. It was an action between the Corporation of Yarmouth and Mr. G. D. Palmer, who claimed a right to a portion of the south end of the public quays. Judgment was for the plaintiff, damages £5 5s. “This decision thus settles this long-pending dispute, now nearly three years from its commencement, and decides the right of the Corporation to the soil of the quays and the right of the public to the free use of the same without any of the inconveniences which for so long a time prevented the proper enjoyment of the part in dispute. The verdict gives the plaintiffs the costs of this heavy litigation, except on two unimportant issues. The defendant will have to pay somewhere about £2,800.”