March 27—Colonel Davies voted in a minority of nineteen on an amendment, moved by Mr. Hume, to admit wheat at all times at a fixed duty of 10s. a quarter. Colonel Davies also succeeded in obtaining the appointment of a committee to inquire into the mode of taking the poll at elections for cities and boroughs.
March—An eccentric fellow at Droitwich cut his throat, having previously left some most singular instructions respecting his funeral, which were obeyed to the letter. He was buried with his shoes on, with a penny in one hand and a halfpenny in the other. Some of the earth surrounding his mother’s coffin was put into his, and his body was wrapped in the sheet on which she had been laid out. The carriers of the coffin and mourners ran, as soon as the funeral was over, at their topmost speed, to a public house, where they sang one song and two psalms, afterwards drinking peace to the soul of the departed till they were all drunk.
June 29—At a meeting of the Worcester Corporation, on the motion of Henry Clifton, Esq., the freedom of the city was unanimously voted to the Right Hon. Robert Peel, “late principal Secretary of State for the Home Department, in testimony of the high sense they entertained of his consummate abilities and inflexible integrity as a statesman, and his unshaken fidelity and attachment to the Constitution in Church and State.”
November 29—Mr. T. A. Knight, only son of T. A. Knight, Esq., of Downton Castle, accidentally shot by John Barneby, Esq., of Brockhampton, while they were both sporting on Mr. Knight’s demesne.
December—The Worcestershire Yeomanry disbanded by order of Government, in common with all those corps which had not been engaged in actual service of any kind for the previous ten years. The regiment was first raised in 1794, by the Hon. Somers Cocks. The Kidderminster troop, which was a separate body, raised in 1798 and commanded by Captain Boycot, was also disbanded.
1828.
The discordant materials of which the Canning ministry was composed after his death, soon brought it to an end: before Parliament met this year Lord Goderich had resigned, and the Wellington and Peel cabinet was formed. The most important measure of the year was the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts; the principle of which having been affirmed in the House of Commons, on the motion of Lord John Russell, by a majority of 237 to 193, was adopted by the Government, and they carried through the bill as their own measure. Consols averaged 86; wheat 60s. 5d.
January 1—The tolls on carriages and horsemen passing over Worcester bridge discontinued—the bridge having been erected forty-six years, and the trustees having now paid off the debt, and laid by a fund yielding a revenue of £125 a year to be applied in the repairs of the bridge and its approaches.
January 3—Holt Fleet bridge opened to the public. Its extreme length is 226 feet, and consists of one arch of 150 feet span; the centre being 35 feet above the river at ordinary periods. The design was furnished by Telford. The entire cost was £8,300.
February 26—Four elegant silver corner dishes and covers, weighing nearly 300 ounces, presented to the Rev. George Turberville of Hanley Castle, for his long and valuable services as an active magistrate of the county. The presentation took place at a dinner at the White Lion, Upton, at which Sir Anthony Lechmere, Bart., presided.