—At the Norwich Quarter Sessions, before the Recorder (Mr. O’Malley, Q.C.), Edward Durrant (27), grocer, surrendered to his bail on the charge of “having by fraud in playing with cards won the sum of 14s., the money of Samuel Boughton, at the Star Inn, Haymarket, Norwich.” There were other counts, charging the defendant with defrauding other persons by the same means. Mr. Serjeant Ballantyne, specially retained, succeeded in obtaining a verdict of not guilty. The Recorder observed: “Well, prisoner, you have had a most merciful jury; that is all I can say.” The defendant was cheered as he left the Court.
9.—The first of the peripatetic shows of the Norfolk Agricultural Association was held at East Dereham. “The cautious and timid members of the Norfolk Association who prophesied that so many dark and dreadful events would happen to the society if absolved from her marriage vow which wedded her entirely to Norwich, and Swaffham, must have been pleasantly surprised by the entire success of the Dereham meeting.” So great was the rush to the show-ground that more than once the barrier was broken down. The sum of £230 was taken in admission money, whereas it had never before amounted to £150, and rarely exceeded £80.
17.—Mr. Henry Stevenson, one of the proprietors of the Norfolk Chronicle, was driving through Upper Surrey Street, Norwich, with his wife, when the horse started off at full speed in the direction of All Saints’ church, where the phaeton was upset, and Mrs. Stevenson sustained injuries from which she died an hour afterwards.
27.—Died, in St. John de Sepulchre, Norwich, the Widow Rumsby, aged 100 years.
—Died, in London, Mr. H. L. Styleman le Strange. He was the only son of Mr. Henry Styleman, of Snettisham Hall, where he was born in 1815. Educated at Eton and at Christchurch, Oxford, he travelled, on the completion of his University career, in Egypt, and, returning home in 1836, his majority was celebrated at Hunstanton Hall, the ancient residence of the le Stranges. In 1839 he procured the Royal licence to assume the patronymic surname of le Strange, in addition to that of Styleman, and in the same year married Jamesina Joice Ellen, daughter of Mr. John Stewart, of Balladrum, Inverness, by whom he left issue two sons and three daughters. Mr. le Strange, acceding to the request of the Conservative party, stood for the Western division of the county, and was defeated by a small majority. He left the hustings with the promise that at the next election he would again offer himself; he kept his promise, but eventually withdrew, and retired from politics. He then commenced his great work of painting the roof of Ely Cathedral, on the design and execution of which he bestowed many years of hard toil. At his death the work was about half completed, and he had only recently received recognition of his artistic talents by being appointed a member of a commission for investigating the state of the frescoes in the new Houses of Parliament. Hunstanton church is a monument to his taste and skill. Mr. le Strange was senior co-heir to the baronies of Hastings and Foliot, and co-heir to those of Camoys and Strathbolgie. He had served the office of High Sheriff of Norfolk, was a magistrate and deputy lieutenant, and a director of the Lynn and Hunstanton Railway Company.
30.—Mr. Simmons, of Lydney, Gloucestershire, made a balloon ascent from the Orchard Gardens, Norwich, and, after attaining an altitude of 5,000 feet, descended in Spixworth Park. There he lightened the balloon by landing a fellow-passenger, and having re-ascended to the height of 12,000 feet, finally came to earth in Mr. Trafford’s park at Wroxham. Mr. Simmons made another ascent from the Orchard Gardens on September 8th, and descended at Little Plumstead; and after re-ascending, came down among the ruins of St. Benet’s Abbey.
AUGUST.
28.—A cricket match, between twenty-two of Norfolk and Norwich and eleven of United All England commenced on the Cricket Ground, Norwich, and concluded on the 29th. Norfolk and Norwich, 73—75; United All England, 119—31.
SEPTEMBER.
8.—A trial of McCormick’s new reaper took place on Mr. Clare Sewell Read’s farm at Little Plumstead. The experiments were conducted by Mr. McCormick, the inventor, and Mr. Burgess, the manufacturer of the machine, in the presence of Baron Ricasoli, ex-Prime Minister of Italy, and of several other foreigners of distinction.