8.--At a meeting convened by the Mayor (Mr. Bignold), and held at the
Guildhall, Norwich, petitions to both Houses of Parliament were adopted
in favour of an Act "for the legal prohibition of the sale of
intoxicating drink during the whole of Sunday (except to _bona fide_
travellers)." A committee was appointed to make arrangements for forming
a Sunday Closing Association.
10.--A troop of the Carabineers marched from Norwich Barracks, to join
the headquarters at Ipswich. The remaining troop left on May 1st.
--In the Rolls Court, before the Master of the Rolls, was heard the case,
the Attorney-General _v._ Hudson, in _re_ the Grammar School and Hospital
at Norwich. This was an information filed by the Attorney-General, at
the relation of certain inhabitants of the city, against the trustees
appointed under the Corporation Act, of two charities called the Free
Grammar School and the Great Hospital. The object of the information was
to show that the Grammar School had not received a fair amount of the
funds of the charity, and that undue preference had been given to the
Hospital in their distribution. A decree was made, directing a scheme to
be settled in Chambers. On December 18th it was stated in the Rolls
Court that when the case was in Chambers a deed of covenant,
contemporaneous with the letters patent of King Edward VI., and to which
the Corporation were parties, had been found, by which the whole surplus,
after the stipulated payments, was to be applied to the sustentation of
the poor. The question then before the Court was how far this varied the
case. It was contended that the Hospital and the poor were entitled to
the entire surplus. The Master of the Rolls was of opinion that the deed
did not control the letters patent, that no predominance or priority was
given to one part of the charity over the other, and that the surplus
rents should be equally divided, and in such a way as would be most
consistent with the intentions of the founder. The case was taken before
the Chief Clerk to the Master of the Rolls on February 6th, 1855. "The
result is that upwards of 1,000 pounds per annum in addition to the
property comprised in the charter will be secured for the general benefit
of the charity, including, of course, the School. The matter now stands
over, in order that a scheme may be prepared for the general
administration of the charity under the sanction of the
Attorney-General." On April 7th, 1855, it was announced that the
following proposal had been made on the part of the "promoters of the new
Grammar School" as to the future division of the funds "hitherto
belonging to the Great Hospital": "That the present salary of the
chaplain of the said Hospital be increased 100 pounds per annum, he
having at present 200 pounds per annum besides his residence; that one
moiety of the net income of the charity be annually applied for the
benefit of the School and the objects thereof, and that the other moiety
be applied for the benefit of the poor in the Hospital; and that no
further election of inmates shall be allowed to take place until the
number shall by death or other causes be reduced to 100, and that until
the numbers shall be so reduced, the expenses occasioned thereby shall be
provided for out of the savings of the trust and now invested in the sum
of 11,500 pounds Consols, or out of any other monies in the hands of the
defendants." Another meeting was held in Chambers on May 9th, 1855, when
the trustees strongly opposed the heads of the scheme; thereupon it was
proposed that the Chief Clerk should proceed to Norwich and hold an
inquiry. The trustees claimed the right to appeal against his decision,
if necessary, and the Chief Clerk then declined to accede to the
proposal. The trustees were invited to carry in the counter claim, but
refused to do so. (_See_ June 16th, 1857.)
13.--Henry Russell gave his entertainments, "The Far West," and "Negro
Life," in the presence of between 2,000 and 3,000 persons, at St.
Andrew's Hall, Norwich.
16.--A meeting of the citizens was held at the Guildhall, Norwich,
presided over by the Mayor (Mr. S. Bignold), at which it was agreed "that
the wives and children of the Army of England called at this time on the
service of their country to the seat of war, claim the sympathy of the
British public, and that a subscription be forthwith commenced to relieve
all such women and children as may be left in destitution and want."
Similar funds were raised in other parts of the county.
23.--At the Norfolk Assizes, before Lord Chief Baron Parke, William
Thompson, aged 21, was charged with the murder of Lorenzi Beha, at
Tittleshall, on November 18th, 1853. Mr. Evans prosecuted, and Mr.
Carlos Cooper defended. The prisoner was found guilty, and sentenced to
death. The execution took place on the Castle Hill, Norwich, on April
8th. "The criminal's struggles continued five minutes." The lowest and
most degraded classes in the city and county assembled on the Hill, "and
more scenes of drunkenness and immorality were exhibited than had been
seen for a long time previously in Norwich."
25.*--"At the Walsingham Quarter Sessions, the Grand Jury, in making
their presentment, called the attention of the Court to the prevailing
nuisance occasioned by carts drawn by dogs, and to the facilities thus
afforded for the commission of felonies. They recommended that some
decisive steps be taken to procure an extension of the Act providing
against this evil in and around London." The provisions of the Act in
force in the Metropolitan district were extended to the United Kingdom,
and came into force on January 1st, 1855.
31.--Died at Haddiscoe, Edward Constance, aged 68, "well known for his
sporting tastes, and for a considerable period a pedestrian follower of
the hounds of the late Lord Berners, distinguished for his industrious
habits and his ardent love of the chase."