1.--The weather on this day was of a beautiful and spring-like character.
During the remainder of the week "the moon in her first quarter and the
planet Venus made the evenings most brilliant. Never in the memory of
man did the old year go out or the new one come in with such splendour as
the last and the present. Both days in all respects resembled April or
even May much more than December or January."
3.--A public meeting was held at St. Andrew's Hall, Norwich, "for the
purpose of taking into consideration the present dreadful condition of
the negroes, with the view of petitioning both Houses of Parliament for
the abolition of the system of apprenticeship." The Mayor presided, and
the principal speakers were Mr. George Thompson, the eloquent advocate of
the negroes' cause, and Mr. Thomas Fowell Buxton. Similar meetings were
held in various parts of the county.
5.--The new District Schools at St. Augustine's Gates, Norwich, were
opened by the Lord Bishop. They were intended to accommodate 450
children, and were supported by voluntary subscriptions.
6.--Wintry weather set in with great severity. The frost commenced on
the 7th, and continued to increase in intensity till the 20th, "when the
thermometer recorded 30 degrees below freezing point, a depression
greater than in the intense frost of 1814, when, on January 9th, it stood
at 28 degrees below freezing." There was a thaw on the 21st, but on the
23rd the frost recommenced, and on the 24th the weather was bitterly
cold. Remarkable snowdrifts occurred on roads near the coast. "The
river at Lynn was a solid bed of ice. From the eastern side to the
opposite shores of West Lynn and North Lynn persons passed and re-passed
with the same facility and safety as if it had been land. A similar
circumstance had not occurred for half a century." A second thaw, with a
southerly wind, commenced on the 29th, but on February 1st the wind
veered to the east, and another frost set in. From February 13th to the
15th the weather was so severe that water indoors was frozen, and on the
16th the thermometer stood at 16 degrees below freezing point. A decided
thaw took place on the 22nd, but on the 23rd a fourth frost occurred. In
the week commencing March 4th a rapid thaw was followed by heavy rains,
ice and snow vanished with surprising rapidity, and business was resumed
on the navigable streams, which for so long had been impassable.
Throughout the frost "the poulterers were abundantly supplied with
British and foreign wild fowl of all descriptions."
12.--Died at Downham Market, in his 69th year, Mr. G. W. Lemon, son of
the Rev. G. W. Lemon, formerly vicar of East Walton and rector of Gayton
Thorpe. He was for 40 years an annual contributor to "Fulcher's Ladies'
Pocket Book," and wrote for the newspaper Press many articles on a
variety of subjects.
15.--The members of the Norwich Madrigal Society held their first public
meeting at the old Library Room, St. Andrew's Hall. The programme
contained a composition by Mr. J. F. Hill, son of Mr. John Hill, the
Festival chorus master, entitled, "I saw fair Chloris." "It is a
madrigal truly worthy of the Elizabethan age, and has been recognised as
such by the London Madrigal Society, into whose stock it has been
received. Not a single modern phrase is to be detected."
18.--The old Norwich Glee Club, revived under the title of "The Norwich
Glee and Harmonic Society," gave its first concert under the
conductorship of Mr. Harcourt, organist of St. Stephen's church.
22.--The tide in Yarmouth Harbour was the lowest ever recorded. "The bed
of the river was left dry more than 20 feet from the quay head."
27.*--"The severity of the weather has induced several families in the
neighbourhood of Holt to adopt the American fashion of travelling in
sledges. The greatest curiosity is caused among the natives."