9.--Mr. Charles Edward Tuck was elected Mayor, and Mr. Charles Jecks
appointed Sheriff of Norwich.
9.--Died at Keswick, near Norwich, in his 90th year, Mr. Hudson Gurney.
He was the eldest son of Mr. Richard Gurney, who died at Keswick in 1811.
Educated by Dr. Thomas Young, of scientific celebrity, he became
connected early in life with the great banking firm of the Gurneys, of
which he was for many years senior partner, as well as with the noted
London brewery of Barclay and Co., his mother being the daughter and
heiress of Mr. David Barclay, of Youngbury, Herts. In 1809 he married
Margaret, daughter of Robert Barclay, of Ury, descended from the
celebrated Barclay, the Apologist for the Quakers. Mrs. Gurney died at
Keswick on December 16th, 1855. In politics Mr. Gurney was, in many
respects, decidedly Conservative, though on some points he held opinions
more in accordance with the most advanced Liberalism, and, as a perfectly
independent member, allied himself to no party in particular. His
Parliamentary career commenced in 1812, when he was elected for
Shaftesbury; from the year 1816 he represented Newport, Hants., in six
successive Parliaments. In 1835 he served the office of High Sheriff for
the county of Norfolk. He was a man of high literary attainments, and
was vice-president of the Society of Antiquaries, a Fellow of the Royal
and Linnaean Societies, vice-president of the Norwich Museum, the
Literary Institute, and of the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological
Society. As an author his chief production was probably the beautiful
poem in English verse under the title of "Cupid and Psyche," a
mythological tale from the "Golden Ass" of Apuleius; in 1801 it had
reached a third edition, and was afterwards reprinted in Mr. Davenport's
"Poetical Register." He also published, for private distribution, in
1843, a translation into English verse of the "Orlando Furioso" of
Ludovico Ariosto; and in 1847, in a letter to Mr. Dawson Turner, "Proofs
that Norwich, and not Caistor, was the Venta Icenorum." In his latter
years, confined almost entirely to his own residence, "he reversed in his
hours the usual custom, amusing himself with his books and writings till
four or five o'clock in the morning, and, of course, rising comparatively
late in the day." His estate, real and personal included, was valued at
1,200,000.
--The Lynn Town Council resolved to put an end to the absurd and
obnoxious impost known as "the Lady Mayoresses' Pin Money." "For many
years the custom has prevailed in the town of the constables (who perform
no other duties) going round to all the inhabitants in October and
November and collecting from all who were foolish enough to pay it a kind
of blackmail, under the ridiculous title of the Lady Mayoresses' Pin
Money, pretending that it was legally payable under the charters, and
that those who did not pay would be summoned before the magistrates or
the County Court. It appears that the custom has grown out of the
collection of fines for non-attendance at the Court Leet held annually by
the Mayor as Lord of the Manor; but for many generations past no such
attendance has been either any use or capable of enforcement. The fines
have also completely lapsed, and those who collect the 'pin money' are
completely ignorant of its origin. The pretence has been that the money
was to buy a piece of plate for the Mayoress, but in reality the greater
part of it has been appropriated by the collectors themselves, and of the
many pounds obtained not more than some fifty shillings annually found
its way into the borough fund."
12.*--"There appears to be some probability that the absurd system of
inspection of weights and measures at Lynn by a 'jury of headboroughs'
going round the town in a posse and discharging their functions in such a
manner that the innocent only are punished and the guilty easily escape
detection, is about to come to an end. Several persons have refused to
admit the headboroughs on their premises, and others have declined to pay
the fines imposed on them by the 'jury'; and as the authority of this
jury is based on ancient charters of very doubtful legal force, and there
is no prospect of that authority being respected or enforced, the jury
have refused to be sworn in again on the Court Leet by which they are
appointed. It may be hoped, therefore, that the farce has come to an
end, and that very shortly a proper and efficient officer will be
appointed under the provisions of the Weights and Measures Act."
14.--The newly-erected chancel of St. Mark's church, Lakenham, Norwich,
built at the cost of about 1,000, was consecrated by the Bishop of
Norwich.
24.--A severe gale occurred off the Norfolk coast. Many shipping
casualties were reported. The screw steamer William Hutt, 530 tons,
employed as a transport during the Crimean War, was lost off Yarmouth
with her crew of sixteen hands, whilst on a voyage from Sunderland to
London, with coals.