1.--A gunpowder explosion occurred at the shop of Mr. Marrison, gun
maker, Little Orford Street, Norwich. The entire shop front was wrecked,
as also was that of the adjoining shop, occupied by Mr. Frankland,
photographer and dealer in art materials. Two lives were lost. Mrs.
Dady, sister of Mr. Frankland, was sitting in a room over Mr. Marrison's
shop, and was dashed by the force of the explosion to the ceiling. She
fell through the chasm in the floor to the burning ruins beneath, where
she was fearfully injured. Charles Hill, a shop boy in the employment of
Mr. Marrison, was killed outright, and terribly mangled. The force of
the explosion shattered the windows of the Bell Hotel and of other houses
in the vicinity. At the Norwich Assizes on March 26th, 1861, before
Chief Baron Pollock, Mr. Marrison brought an action against the London
Union Fire Office, for the recovery of 300 pounds under a policy of
insurance on his stock and furniture. The plaintiff had been offered and
had refused 100 pounds in settlement of the claim. The company then
proved that the plaintiff had kept more gunpowder on his premises than
was allowed by the terms of his contract, whereupon the judge ordered a
non-suit.
3.--Died at Brighton, in his 61st year, Capt. Frederick Loftus, formerly
of the 17th Lancers, youngest son of General and Lady Elizabeth Loftus,
and grandson of George, first Marquis Townshend and Charlotte, Baroness
De Ferrars and Compton. His remains were interred at Rainham, on
December 11th.
5.--The suit, Gurney _v._ Gurney and Taylor, came before the Divorce
Court, Westminster. The husband sought dissolution of marriage, on the
ground of misconduct by the wife. A petition had been presented for the
settlement of property then vested in the wife in favour of the children,
the issue of the marriage, and the Solicitor-General applied for a rule
_nisi_ calling on the respondent, Mrs. Gurney, to show cause why a plea
or a pleading in the nature of or intended to be a plea should not be
taken off the file, and why the petition for settlement should not be
treated as unanswered or unopposed. Sir C. Cresswell granted a rule
_nisi_. Evidence was given in the case on January 22nd, 1861, and the
decree was made absolute on May 22nd.
11.--In the Vice-Chancellor's Court was heard the action, Berney _v._ the
Norfolk and Eastern Counties Railway Company. By an agreement dated June
6th, 1843, the plaintiff sold certain land to the Norwich and Yarmouth
Railway Company, and it was provided that such company should establish
and for ever maintain a station in connection with their railway at
Reedham, on part of the land sold to them by plaintiff. Nothing was said
in the agreement in reference to stopping trains at the station. In 1844
the Norwich and Yarmouth railway was completed, and a station was
constructed in accordance with the agreement, and called the Barney Arms
Station, at which certain trains stopped. In 1845 the Norwich and
Yarmouth Company was incorporated with the Norfolk Railway Company, and
trains continued to stop at the station until 1850, when the Norfolk
Company discontinued the practice. The plaintiff thereupon instituted
this suit, praying for a specific performance of the agreement of June,
1843, and an injunction to restrain the Norfolk Company from permitting
the trains on their railway to pass the Berney Arms Station without
stopping thereat, which was, in effect, to compel the company to stop the
trains at that station. The motion for the injunction did not come on,
in consequence of an arrangement whereby the Norfolk Company agreed to
stop at Berney Arms Station one train from Norwich and one from Yarmouth
on every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. The Norfolk Railway was now
worked by the Eastern Counties Railway on an agreement dated in 1854,
which had received the sanction of the Legislature. The Eastern Counties
Company were then made parties to the suit. Although the trains then
stopped in a manner satisfactory to the plaintiff, there was no security
that they would continue to do so. The Vice-Chancellor said there must
be a specific performance of the agreement of June, 1843, and an order
that one train from Norwich and one from Yarmouth should stop at Berney
Arms Station on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday in every week; but he
should also order that each of the companies should pay 100 pounds to the
plaintiff by way of costs. But for the plaintiff's forbearance in this
respect, it would be difficult to say whether the Eastern Counties
Company would have escaped from the litigation with having nothing else
to pay than the plaintiff's ordinary costs.
14.--The Norwich Operatic Union gave its second concert, at St. Andrew's
Hall. The programme included "Norma" and selections from "Il Trovatore."
The principal vocalists were Mdlle. Paripa, Mdlle. Vaneri, Mr. Santley,
and Mr. Swift. Mr. Bunnett, B.M., conducted.
16.--The first of a series of special services was conducted at Norwich
Theatre, by the Rev. T. B. Stephenson, Wesleyan minister. "The boxes
were reserved for the most respectable-looking, and the unmitigated
plebs. were relegated to the pit and gallery. The occupants of the
gallery conducted themselves as the gods usually do, and were rebuked by
the preacher, who took up his position on the stage in front of the drop
scene, surrounded by a number of persons of both sexes."
25.--This was the coldest Christmas that had been experienced for at
least a century. "At the Literary Institute at Norwich the minimum
registered was 3 degrees above zero. At Costessey the register was 7
degrees below zero, or 39 degrees lower than the point at which water
freezes. A peculiarity of the temperature on Christmas-day was the fact
of its being colder in the morning than during the night. The coldest
register was between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m., and there was scarcely any
appreciable variation till after two o'clock. Ice was about four inches
thick."
26.--The pantomime at Norwich Theatre was entitled, "Cinderella, or the
Little Glass Slipper and the Fairy Godmother from the Realms of Golden
Palms." Wombwell's Menagerie was stationed on the Castle Meadow, and
performances were given at the Royal Crystal Palace Amphitheatre, Golden
Ball Street, under the management of Messrs. Emidy and Moffatt. The
lessee was Mr. C. Testar.
27.--Died at 36, Berkeley Square, London, in his 57th year, Dr. Edward
Rigby. He was the eldest son of the celebrated Dr. Rigby, of Norwich,
and was educated at the Grammar School, under Dr. Valpy. He graduated at
Edinburgh, and subsequently commenced practice in London, where he
gradually raised himself to the very highest branches of his profession.
1861.