The members of the “Loyal Prince of Wales” Lodge of Oddfellows, which had then been “newly formed,” dined together at the Black Lion, Bro. W. N. Turner, N.G., presided, supported by Bro. Loft, P.G.M., and Bro. Raven, P.D.G.M.; F. Palmer, Esq., surgeon to the Order, occupied the Vice-chair, and about 50 Brethren were present; the following toasts were drunk:—“The Queen,” “Prince Albert,” “The Princess Royal and the Prince of Wales,” “The Duke of Sussex and the rest of the Royal Family,” “The Army and Navy,” “Our Glorious Institutions,” and “The Loyal Prince of Wales’ Lodge of O.F. of the M.U.”
Jan. 27th.—The Christening of the Prince of Wales had been commemorated by a dinner at the Crown and Anchor Hotel, where the Mayor and a large number of his friends dined together, and by a ball at the Town Hall (opened by C. J. Palmer, Esq., and the Mayoress), at which about 200 persons were present.
A meeting had been held to consider the question of the erection of a Corn Exchange.
The inmates of the Workhouse and Fisherman’s Hospital returned thanks to S. Palmer, Esq., for an excellent dinner provided for them by that gentleman on the “Christening Day.”
Feb. 3rd.—The London Mail did not get in until 12.38; the frequent delays in these Mails were a source of serious inconvenience.
Feb. 10th.—The Vicar had issued an address, calling attention to the spiritual destitution of the town, and the restoration of St. Nicholas’ Church.
A correspondent states, “Never, perhaps, has a church been so disfigured; the introduction of that deformity, the Fisherman’s Gallery, that wretched ‘gew-gaw’ the Mayor’s seat, those laternal deformities, the desk and pulpit, and in a word those violations of every principle of taste by which the building has been defaced, have rendered it the ugliest as well as the dirtiest church in the Kingdom.”
Feb. 17th.—Great excitement had been caused in the town by the death of James Duck, aged 69, after having been pushed or knocked down by Mr. Francis Paget. The Coroner’s Jury found, “That deceased died of apoplexy, aided and accelerated by a fall he received shortly before his death, but how or in what manner the fall was received doth not appear to the said Jurors,” only 12 (of the 18 Jurors) signed this inquisition.
Feb. 24th.—From a petition presented as to the Mail service, it appeared there were then 574 ships of an aggregate burden of 50,325 tons, belonging to this port.
Mr. Christopher Taylor had been appointed agent and surgeon to the sick and wounded seamen, in the place of Wm. Taylor, Esq., deceased.