6.--Norwich Theatre was opened, under the management of Mr. George Owen.
Mr. Sidney, however, retained the lesseeship.
8.--Died at Hingham, in her 100th year, Mrs. Rebecca Houchen.
9.--The new Corn Hall at Norwich was opened for business. The
contractors for the building were Messrs. Ling and Balls, of Norwich, and
for the roof Messrs. Barnard, Bishop, and Barnards. The total cost was
about 8,000 pounds. The work was executed from the designs of Mr. Barry,
of Norwich, and Mr. H. Butcher, of 37, Bedford Row, London; and the roofs
were adapted and carried into detail from the design of the architects by
Mr. E. A. Cowper, C.E., of Westminster. The first brick of the new
building was laid on May 1st, 1861.
--Mr. John Oddin Taylor was elected Mayor, and Mr. Addison John Cresswell
appointed Sheriff of Norwich.
10.--Died at North Runcton Rectory, in his 85th year, the Rev. James
Cumming, M.A., professor of chemistry in the University of Cambridge, to
which office he was elected in 1815. He was a Fellow of Trinity College,
and had held the living of North Runcton for more than forty years.
22.--In the Court of the Lords Justices in Lincoln's Inn, a petition was
presented by Major-General Charles Ash Windham, Capt. Windham, the
Marquis of Bristol, Lord Alfred Hervey, M.P., Lord Listowel, and others,
praying that a writ _de lunatico inquirendo_ might issue against William
Frederick Windham. In support of the petition, affidavits were read
which alleged a variety of eccentricities and extravagances on the part
of William Frederick Windham, and laid great stress upon a marriage he
had contracted with one Agnes Ann Rogers, better known by the name of
Agnes Willoughby. The judges, after hearing the affidavits on the other
side, considered that a _prima facie_ case had been made out, and allowed
the prayer of the petition. On December 4th, in the Vice-Chancellor's
Court, a motion was heard for the committal of Mr. James Bowen May for
contempt of court, in having, during the infancy of William Frederick
Windham, and without the knowledge of his guardian or the sanction of the
Court, drawn or sided and abetted in drawing the said William Frederick
Windham into a promise of marriage with Agues Rogers or Willoughby, in
which promises had been made of settlements or dispositions of his
property in her favour. The motion was refused, with costs. On December
11th the Court of Chancery granted leave to William Frederick Windham to
raise as a mortgage charge on his property the sum of 2,000 pounds, in
order that he might defend himself before the Commission. The Commission
held its first sitting in the Court of Exchequer, Westminster, on
December 16th, under the presidency of Mr. Samuel Warren, Q.C., one of
the Masters in Lunacy. Mr. Windham was the only son of Mr. Howe Windham,
who died in 1854, and the great-grandson of Mr. Windham, the great
politician. He became of age on August 9th, 1861, when he succeeded to
the Felbrigg Hall estate, worth upwards of 1,200 pounds a year, and to
other properties in which he had a life interest, and which, in the year
1869, would yield him 9,000 pounds a year more. During his minority he
was under the guardianship of his uncle, General Windham, and of his
mother, Lady Sophia Hervey. He married a woman of loose character, upon
whom he bestowed jewellery of the value of 1,200 or 1,400 pounds, and
upon whom he settled a present annuity of 800 pounds, with a further
annuity of 1,500 pounds contingent upon his coming in to the whole of his
property in 1869. It was also alleged that he sold, in a wild and
reckless way, and upon terms of the utmost disadvantage, the whole of the
timber, ornamental as well as useful, on the Felbrigg estate. The
inquiry lasted thirty-four days, and upwards of 150 witnesses were
examined. It is said to have cost something like 160 pounds per hour, or
nearly 3 pounds per minute, for all the leading talent of the Bar of
England was engaged in the case. On January 30th, 1862, the jury
returned the following verdict: "That the said Mr. William Frederick
Windham, at the time of taking this inquisition, was a person of sound
mind, so as to be sufficient for the government of himself, his manners,
his messuages, his lands, his tenements, his goods, and his chattels."
The moment the verdict was uttered a loud and enthusiastic cheer rose
from the audience, and was repeated again and again. When Mr. Windham
left the Court he was received outside with the shouts of an admiring
crowd, who almost carried him to the cab in which he drove away, amid a
deafening cheer. In the Court of Equity, on April 23rd, 1862, the Lords
Justices refused to exonerate the alleged lunatic from the payment of the
whole of the costs, amounting to 20,000 pounds, consequent upon the
enquiry.
30.*--"The portrait of Mr. J. H. Gurney, M.P., President of the Norfolk
and Norwich Museum, has this week been placed on the walls of that
institution. It was painted by F. Grant, R.A., at the cost of 200
guineas."