2.--At a meeting held at the Assembly Rooms, East Dereham, under the
presidency of Lord Sondes, it was agreed "that in consequence of the
unprincipled attacks made upon the owners and cultivators of the soil by
the employment of hired agitators to inflame the minds of the lower
orders of society against them, it is expedient that some steps be
adopted for the protection and defence of those interests." It was also
decided to form an association which was known as the Central Norfolk
Society for the Protection of Agriculture, and was affiliated to the
British Agricultural Protection Association, an organization which worked
in opposition to the Anti-Corn Law League.
2.--A meeting was held at St. Andrew's Hall, Norwich, in pursuance of a
requisition addressed to the Mayor, stating that "her Majesty's Ministers
had been guilty of an act of gross and wanton injustice and spoliation in
depriving the freemen of this and other cities and boroughs of their
vested municipal rights; that by their unremitting endeavours to uphold
and perpetuate in all their unmitigated harshness and severity the
heartless and oppressive provisions of the new Poor Law they had evinced
an utter disregard to the wants, feelings, and rights of the poor, and
that their recent attempts to deprive the colonial and agricultural
interests of the empire of a just protection under the specious and
delusive pretext of supplying a deficiency in the revenue which their own
mismanagement had occasioned, had rendered them wholly unworthy of the
confidence of the country." Between two thousand and three thousand
persons were present, and the greatest confusion prevailed, owing to the
action of a large body of Chartists, led by the notorious John Dover. It
was proposed that Col. Harvey should take the chair, but the Chartists
elected one Matthew Smith, a working man. On the latter assuming the
presidency of the meeting, Col. Harvey, Mr. Bignold, and other gentlemen
left the hall. A number of resolutions of a revolutionary character were
adopted, and Dover, at the conclusion of the meeting, congratulated his
followers on the success of the gathering, remarking that "it had cost
the Tories 20 pounds for bills, and the Whigs 20 pounds for bullies."
The proceedings, which were of a very orderly character, concluded with
three cheers for Fergus O'Connor. Meanwhile the gentlemen who had
convened the original meeting adjourned to the Norfolk Hotel, where they
passed a series of resolutions emphasising the statements contained in
the requisition. During the whole of the proceedings the hotel was
besieged by a riotous mob, several serious assaults were committed, and
on the 3rd some of the rioters were charged before the magistrates.
9.--Litcham Races took place on this date. Among the other local
meetings was that at East Dereham, on June 23rd, where the commencement
of the sport was announced by the ringing of the church bells, and the
cup was won by Mr. Column's c.g. Day Star. The trophy "weighed 41 oz.,
and contained by admeasurement eight pints of Howard's sparkling
champaign, which the fortunate winner twice filled, and the company
partook of it with true English feeling." The Yarmouth meeting took
place on July 20th and 21st, the Norfolk and Norwich Races were held on
Mousehold Heath, Norwich, on September 8th and 9th, and Swaffham Races on
September 15th.
19.*--"For nearly the middle of June, so cold a season has never perhaps
been experienced as during all last week. Fires and great coats were in
general requisition, and coachmen and guards were to be seen muffled up
as if we had been in the depth of winter."
28.--The Marquis of Douro and Mr. Benjamin Smith, the retiring members,
were nominated for the representation of Norwich in Parliament. Dover,
the Chartist, nominated a third candidate, Mr. William Eagle, of
Lakenheath, Suffolk. "Conservatives and Whigs, in the show of hands,
voted against Eagle, and the Sheriff declared the Marquis of Douro and
Mr. Smith duly elected." Dover thereupon demanded a poll for Eagle, but
was unable to deposit one-third of the expense (about 200 pounds). The
proceedings were temporarily adjourned. "Dover then went out of the
room, and, after the lapse of half an hour, _something_ took place which
our readers will guess by the result. When Dover came back there was no
further demand for a poll--we believe Dover received 50 pounds to
withdraw the nomination." The rumour quickly spread among the Chartists
that Dover had "sold" them. The mob waylaid him in Dove Lane, and he
retreated to the Guildhall for protection. The windows of the room in
which he was supposed to have taken refuge were demolished by the stones
thrown by the mob, and the police who went out to quell the disturbance
were assailed by volleys of brickbats and other missiles. The 7th
Dragoon Guards were called out, the Mayor read the Riot Act, and in the
excitement and confusion Dover left the Guildhall unnoticed. On the 29th
the Chartists assembled in force and went to the King's Head, St.
George's Colegate, where Dover lived with a woman named Charlotte
Humphrey. They burst into the house and found him armed with his
Chartist weapons, which were wrested from him; he was knocked down,
brutally belaboured, and hurried to the river, and would have been thrown
from the bridge had it not been for the piteous intercession of one of
his children. The mob were moving towards the Market Place with their
prisoner when he was rescued by the police. At the same time a
detachment of dragoons, commanded by Cornet Crofts, with the Mayor at
their head, rode up, a coach was procured, and Dover, having been placed
inside, was conveyed, under military escort, to the City Gaol, where his
serious injuries were attended to by the surgeon of the prison. On the
30th several persons appeared before the magistrates and were punished
for taking part in the disturbances. Public tranquillity was somewhat
restored the same day by a procession in which "Philip Augustus, the
musical pieman," and "Jerry, the lucifer match seller, in a military
costume, with an immense plume of feathers in his cap," were "chaired."
28.--Lord George Bentinck and Sir Stratford Canning were returned
unopposed for the borough of King's Lynn.
--Mr. W. Wilshere, Mr. C. E. Rumbold, Mr. Thomas Baring, and Mr. Joseph
Soames were nominated candidates for the representation of Yarmouth. The
proceedings were marked by great disorder. The polling, on the 29th,
resulted as follows:--Wilshere, 945; Rumbold, 943; Baring, 501; Soames,
494. The two first named were declared elected.
30.--Thetford election took place. The Hon. W. Bingham Baring
(Conservative), 86; Lord Euston (Whig), 71; Sir James Flower
(Conservative), 71. Before a Committee of the House of Commons, on May
4th, 1842, a petition was presented on behalf of Sir James Flower, on the
ground that several votes polled for Lord Euston were bad, as the voters
had lost their qualifications. His lordship declined to take any part in
these proceedings. The objection against one voter having been
sustained, Sir James Flower was placed in a majority, and the Committee
then passed the following resolution:--"That the Right Hen. Henry
FitzRoy, commonly called the Earl of Euston, was not duly elected member
for the borough of Thetford; that Sir James Flower, Bart., was duly
elected, and ought to have been returned; and that the Committee have
altered the poll by striking off the vote of William Burlingham from the
poll of the Earl of Euston."