1.--At a public meeting, held at Calvert Street chapel, it was decided to
erect a second Wesleyan Methodist chapel in Norwich. A subscription was
opened, and 600 pounds contributed. The foundation-stone of the new
(Lady Lane) chapel was laid on April 14th by the Rev. William Gilpin,
superintendent of the Norwich circuit; and the building was opened for
worship on October 21st by the Rev. R. Newton, president of the Methodist
Conference, the Rev. John Anderson, of London, and the Rev. Mr. Farrar,
of Leeds.
2.--Persistent efforts were made this year to obtain the removal of the
Lent Assizes from Thetford to Norwich. At a meeting of the county
magistrates on January 2nd, it was decided to present an address to the
Lord Chancellor and Mr. Secretary Peel, representing the inconvenience
and ill consequences resulting from the then existing arrangement. At a
quarterly assembly of the Corporation of Norwich on February 24th, a
committee was appointed to co-operate with the county justices, and a
petition to the House of Commons and a memorial to the Lord Chancellor
were prepared. On June 5th the city petition received the seal of the
Mayor, and on June 11th Lord Suffield, in the House of Lords, presented
the petition from the Norfolk magistrates. It stated that the prisoners
were carried in open carts through the towns and villages, guarded by
soldiers, and "it was not long since that they were exhibited as sights,
one shilling being charged to see convicts of the second and third
degree, and two shillings or more for condemned felons." There was a
dungeon at Thetford, thirteen feet below the surface of the ground,
measuring eighteen feet by nine feet, and eight and a half feet in
height, and in this cell upon one occasion no less than seventeen persons
were placed to sleep. The Lord Chancellor intimated that the subject was
under consideration, and the petition was ordered to be printed. On
August 7th the announcement was made that the Lieutenant of the county
had received a letter from the Lord Chancellor, stating that the twelve
Judges had unanimously decided against the removal of the Lent Assizes
from Thetford. At the Summer Assizes on August 11th, the Grand Jury for
the county presented an address to the Judges expressing regret at their
decision, and pointing out that the chief benefits contemplated by the
recent Act of Parliament for the regulation of gaols must be in a great
degree frustrated by a continuance of the then state of things in
Norfolk. "The late city calendar," said the NORFOLK CHRONICLE,
"furnishes no less than three cases of exceptional long confinement
before trial; namely, one person for more than twelve months, who has
been acquitted, and two others in custody upwards of eleven months
against whom no true bills were found."
16.--At the Norfolk Quarter Sessions at Norwich, the magistrates agreed
that the whole of Mr. Wilkin's plan for erecting a new gaol at Norwich
Castle be carried into execution. It was understood that the entire cost
of the Shirehall and prison would not exceed 46,000 pounds.
24.--Great sensation was caused in Norwich by the trial and execution at
Hertford of John Thurtell for the murder of Mr. Wear on October 24th,
1823. The execution took place on January 9th, and on the 24th was
published in the NORFOLK CHRONICLE a letter received by Mr. Alderman
Thomas Thurtell, of Norwich, the father of the culprit, from Mr. Robert
Sutton, High Sheriff of Hertfordshire, in which the writer commiserated
with him in his great affliction. In the same paper was another letter
addressed by Mr. N. Bolingbroke, of Norwich, to the High Sheriff of
Hertfordshire, in which he wrote: "It may appear to some that he (the
father) has not acted with sufficient kindness of feeling towards his
unhappy son; but you may be assured, Sir, that there was no part of his
conduct which could not be satisfactorily explained. He has generally
acted under the advice of Mr. Unthank, a respectable solicitor in this
city, my own, and others. There are many actions in a man's life of
which no correct opinion can be formed without a knowledge of the motives
by which such have been influenced."
29.--At a meeting held at the Guildhall, Norwich, under the presidency of
Lieut.-Col. Harvey, supported by Mr. E. Wodehouse, M.P., and Mr. T. F.
Buxton, M.P., it was agreed to petition Parliament to carry into effect
the resolutions passed in the previous Session of the House of Commons on
the subject of colonial slavery.