July 1—A party of pleasure, consisting of the two sons and four daughters of Mr. Joseph Hill, farmer, of Lintridge, near Dymock, and Miss Helen Woodyatt, daughter of a Hereford confectioner, ascended Malvern Hills, and being overtaken by a thunderstorm, took refuge in an alcove, on the Worcestershire Beacon, which was roofed with iron. This attracted the electric fluid, and in one discharge of lightning the whole party were laid prostrate on the ground: three of the Misses Hill and Miss Woodyatt were killed, and the others were seriously injured.
July—Captain Brace, R.N., presented to the Corporation of Worcester the second brass gun which now stands in the Guildhall—one which was taken from a French battery near Toulon, in 1813, by H.M. ship Berwick, of which Captain Brace was then Commandant.
August 21—Lord Foley laid the foundation stone of Holt Fleet bridge.
August—The growing importance and populousness of the town of Dudley induced the Lord Chancellor to order an additional coroner to be elected for that part of the county. Mr. W. Robinson, solicitor, of Dudley, who had been very instrumental in obtaining the order, was elected to the office without opposition.
September 26—Mr. Cobbett, the “lion” of the day, visited Worcester, and spent a short time with some agriculturists in the neighbourhood, afterwards staying with Sir Thomas Winnington, Bart., at Stanford Court, for one night. Mr. Cobbett’s opinion of Worcester and Worcestershire people may be found in the account which he gives of this trip in his Register for October 7 of this year.
Local Act—For building Holt Fleet bridge.
1827.
That the elections had caused considerable change in the constitution of the House of Commons was made apparent by their coming, early in the session, to a vote adverse to the Catholic claims—the votes of the Lower House on this question having for many years past been favourable to their consideration. A motion of Sir Francis Burdett to remove penalties from the Catholics, though warmly supported by Mr. Canning, was lost by 276 votes to 272. Lord Liverpool’s illness requiring the reorganisation of the cabinet, so much difficulty was experienced in the choice of a prime minister that the country was virtually without a ministry for some weeks. The Catholic question was put forward as the principal difficulty—the chief members of Lord Liverpool’s administration refusing to take office under a Premier who was favourable to the Catholic claims. Immediately that Mr. Canning—whose talents unequivocally marked him out for the position—kissed hands, the Duke of Wellington, Lord Eldon, Mr. Peel, and others of the old cabinet resigned, and Mr. Canning could only hold office by an unprincipled coalition with the Whigs—unprincipled because such a ministry could only be carried on by one party or the other totally belieing their previous political creed. Mr. Canning had always avowed himself the determined foe of Parliamentary Reform and the repeal of the Test Acts, but was popular because of his adhesion to the Catholic claims and the policy he had adopted as Foreign Secretary—separating this country from the Holy Alliance, recognising the South American States, and interfering in defence of the independence of Portugal. Earl Grey was the only member of the Whig party who openly and honestly stood aloof from the new ministry. Immediately after the close of the session, Mr. Canning—irritated, perplexed, exhausted, by the forsaking of all his former friends—died. The new ministry was then reorganised under the leadership of Viscount Goderich—formerly Mr. Robinson. Three per Cents. averaged 84; wheat, 58s. 6d.
January—The celebrated “Horace Bentley” controversy originated in a paragraph which appeared this month in Berrow’s Worcester Journal, stating that the Roman Catholics in Cavan, Ireland, were renouncing the errors of their Church in considerable numbers. In the Journal of February 7, a person signing the initials “W. L.” begged, as an English Catholic, to be informed what were the errors that the Catholics of Cavan were renouncing, and pledged himself that, if any one would point out to him only one error, either in morals or doctrine, which the Catholic Church taught, he would, as soon as possible after, publicly read his recantation in the parish church of B—. In a fortnight after W. L.’s letter had appeared, one was inserted in reply, signed “Horace Bentley,” offering, if the Bible was accepted as the test, to prove that the Church of Rome taught “several fundamental and fatal errors.” W. L. replied that he would “leave Mr. B. to take his own course. He might prove his allegations from the Holy Scriptures, or from any source he might deem expedient—he was ready to join the issue with him.” This, Horace Bentley contended, was an evasion of the requirement—that an absolute test of truth and error should be agreed upon; but, nevertheless, proceeded to prove the existence of what are considered by Protestants to be the principal errors of the Roman Church, by an extraordinary array of quotations from Catholic authors and authorities themselves. The letters were, on all hands, admitted to display singular ability. W. L., at first, questioned the correctness of the quotations, and was evidently astonished at their production. An offer was made by the Catholic party to change their champion, on the ground of W. L.’s incompetence; and, though this was not accepted, yet the last two letters under that signature were plainly from another hand. In these, endeavour was made to show that the doctrines of the Church of England were, in many respects, identical with those of the Church of Rome, and that “every consistent Protestant must be an infidel.” The Protestant party were so delighted with their disputant, that a proposal was made to purchase a piece of plate by subscription. The incognito was, for a long time, most admirably preserved, and the letters of Horace Bentley were pretty generally ascribed to the Rev. Dr. Hook, then Dean of Worcester. It has now, however, long been known that they were written by the Rev. G. Redford, D.D., LL.D., minister at Angel Street Chapel, Worcester. The original W. L. was a machine manufacturer at Bromsgrove.
March 3—A duel took place on Kempsey Ham between John Somerset Russell, Esq., of Powick Court, and Mr. John Parker, master of the Worcestershire Fox Hounds. They fired at each other, but neither of the balls took effect; and the seconds then interfered and effected a reconciliation. An officer came on the ground, armed with a warrant, to arrest the disputants, but of course he was “too late.” The quarrel arose about some matter connected with the hunt.