1.--At the justices' room of the Mansion House, London, John Henry
Gurney, Henry Edmund Gurney, Robert Birkbeck, Henry Ford Barclay, Henry
George Gordon, and William Rennie, directors of Overend, Gurney, and
Company, Limited, were summoned for having, in July, 1865, and at divers
other times, conspired to defraud Dr. Adam Thom and others who became
shareholders in the company, of money to the amount of three millions
sterling. The defendants, on the 27th, were committed for trial, and
were admitted to bail, each of them in the sum of 10,000, with two
sureties of 5,000 each. The trial commenced in the Court of Queen's
Bench on December 13th, before the Lord Chief Justice, who summed up on
December 22nd, and the jury, after a few minutes' deliberation, returned
a verdict of not guilty. Intense excitement prevailed in Norwich during
the trial, and on December 22nd, when the result was telegraphed to the
city, it was everywhere hailed with great satisfaction. A remarkable
scene occurred at Norwich Corn Hall, where a sale was in progress when
the intelligence was received. The proceedings were stopped by cheering,
the waving of hats, and other demonstrations of approval, and the
auctioneer, addressing the company, said, "The name of Gurney was an
honoured name in Norwich. The Gurneys had ever been friends of the poor
and kind and good to all classes, and all were glad that the trial had
resulted in the honourable acquittal of all the defendants."
2.--At the Lambeth Police Court, William Sheward, aged 57, was charged
upon his own confession with the wilful murder of his wife, Martha
Sheward, at Norwich, on June 15th, 1851. On the night of January 1st the
prisoner went to the Carter Street Police Station and said to the officer
in charge, "I have killed my wife. I have kept the secret for years, but
I can keep it no longer." In a further statement he said he had intended
to destroy himself, "but the Almighty would not let him do it." He added
that he had cut up his wife's body, and that a portion was kept in
spirits of wine at the Guildhall at Norwich, by order of the magistrates.
At the Norwich Police Court, on January 4th, the Chief Constable (Mr.
Hitchman) detailed to the magistrates the particulars reported to him by
the London police, and stated that on June 21st, 1851, portions of a
human body were found in different parts of the city and deposited at the
Guildhall. The magistrates issued a warrant for the apprehension of
Sheward, who, on January 7th, was brought to Norwich, and appeared before
the Bench on January 8th. He was described as a licensed victualler, of
the Key and Castle public-house, St. Martin-at-Oak, and it was proved
that he married his first wife, a Norfolk woman, who formerly lived at
Wymondham, at Greenwich, on October 28th, 1836. In 1838 he came to
Norwich, opened a pawnbroker's shop in St. Giles', and became bankrupt.
When living in Tabernacle Street, in 1851, his wife suddenly disappeared,
about the 9th or 10th of June. Upon this evidence the prisoner was
remanded, and at subsequent hearings witnesses were called who deposed to
finding various portions of human remains in different parts of the city
and suburbs in the summer of 1851. Relatives of the deceased woman
stated that the prisoner accounted for her disappearance by saying that
she had left Norwich for a time. On February 1st the prisoner was fully
committed for trial. At the Norwich Assizes, on March 29th, before Mr.
Baron Pigott, Sheward was placed upon his trial, and on the second day of
the hearing Mr. Metcalfe, Q.C., for the defence, contended that the
accused was labouring under delusions when he made the confession. The
jury, after three-quarters of an hour private deliberation, returned a
verdict of guilty, and the prisoner, who had nothing to say, was
sentenced to death. Immediately after the trial anonymous letters were
published in the London newspapers asserting the innocence of the
prisoner; similar letters were addressed to the Magistrates' Clerk at
Norwich, and one communication actually purported to have been written by
Mrs. Sheward herself. Efforts were made to obtain a commutation of
sentence, on the ground of the long interval that had elapsed between the
perpetration of the murder and the trial of the accused. These efforts,
however, were of no avail, and the capital sentence was carried out by
Calcraft at the City Gaol on April 20th. This was the first private
execution that had taken place in Norwich. It was announced that on
April 13th the culprit made a full confession of his crime, and gave
detailed particulars of the manner in which he had disposed of the body
of the murdered woman. In a letter to his second wife he also admitted
his guilt.
14.--The trial of the election petition presented by Mr. Jacob Henry
Tillett against the return of Sir Henry Josias Stracey, Bart., as member
of Parliament for Norwich, commenced at the Shirehall, before Mr. Baron
Martin. Counsel for the petitioner were Mr. Serjeant Ballantyne, Mr.
Keane, Q.C., and Mr. Simms Reeve; and for the respondent, Mr. Rodwell,
Q.C., Mr. Serjeant Sleigh, Mr. E. L. O'Malley, and Mr. J. C. C. Wyld.
Bribery, treating, personation, and other matters were alleged. In his
opening address, Mr. Ballantyne asserted "that the bribery was most
profligate and most wholesale, and that houses were opened by persons of
apparent respectability for the mere purpose of carrying out this
bribery, and men of position who ought to have known a great deal better
were concerned in it." After three days' hearing, the trial resulted in
the unseating of Sir Henry Stracey. The learned judge, in his report to
the Speaker of the House of Commons, stated that although no corrupt
practice was proved to have been made with the knowledge or consent of
any of the candidates, and, further, it was proved to his entire
satisfaction that neither Sir Henry Stracey nor the other candidates at
the said election had any personal knowledge of or connection whatever
with bribery or any other illegal or corrupt practice, he had determined
that Sir Henry Stracey was not duly elected, and that his election was
rendered void by the acts of his agents. The persons reported for being
guilty of corrupt practices were Robert Hardiment, Arthur Hunt, Robert
Callow, and Thomas Hutchings. The first-named absconded after the
petition was presented. It was also stated in the report that a number
of persons went to the poll in a gross state of drunkenness. (_See_
April 1st.)
15.--A trout weighing 15 lbs. was captured in a drop net near the New
Mills, Norwich.
16.--Messrs. Jolly and Son, coachbuilders, Norwich, advertised that they
had "arranged to supply from a noted French maker the celebrated bicycle
velocipede, so much in vogue in Paris." The price of the machine was
from 8 gs. upwards. On the 30th there was an editorial announcement to
the effect that "an attempt is being made to introduce this latest
novelty in locomotive machinery, now so fashionable in Paris, to the
Norwich public, by Mr. C. Thorn, who has two at his establishment, for
the inspection of the curious." The "first velocipede journey of any
considerable distance from Norwich" was performed on March 30th by Mr. B.
W. Jolly, who travelled from Norwich to Yarmouth, including a stoppage of
fifteen minutes at Acle, in 2 hours 30 minutes. "The progress of the
traveller was considerably retarded by the roughness of the roads and a
powerful gale." A short time previously Mr. G. W. Bellamy, of
Saxlingham, on a velocipede built by Messrs. Jolly and Son, but under
much more favourable conditions as to roads and weather, accomplished a
distance of 56 miles in 6 hours 25 minutes, exclusive of a short delay
midway on the journey. A Norwich Velocipede Club was established in the
month of April, and on the 29th an exhibition of the machines was held at
the Corn Hall, under the management of Mr. Thorn. On the same occasion
was exhibited "one of the old-fashioned dandy horses, the original or the
velocipede tribe," but, it was added, "the now velocipede is more easily
managed." The first velocipede races took place at the athletic sports
of the Norwich Gymnastic Society, held on Newmarket Road Cricket Ground,
on May 24th. A "slow race," ridden by Messrs. Jolly, Griffiths, and
Goldsmith, was won by the last-named. A "plank race," in which the
bicycles were ridden upon a seventy yards' length of plank, was won by a
competitor named Ewing. A one mile "fast race" was ridden in heats, the
first of which was won by Kent, of Beccles, and the second by Bellamy.
Kent was the winner of the final heat, in 4 minutes 49 seconds. "He came
over on his bicycle from Beccles in the morning, and returned the same
way after the sports." By the end of the year there was a marked
increase in the number of local cyclists. Accidents to inexperienced
riders were frequently recorded, and many complaints were made by drivers
of the alarm occasioned to horses by the appearance of these new-fangled
machines.
16.--The so-called monastic chapel erected at Elm Hill, Norwich, by
Father Ignatius, was the subject of further discussion. Miss Robinson, a
"lady preacher," had hired the "monastery," and named it the "Jehovah
Jireh chapel," whereupon Ignatius issued a notice warning her and others
concerned that he was the owner of the building. On this date "Brother
Philip" and one or two other members of the confraternity came to
Norwich, under instructions from Ignatius, and demanded the keys of the
building from Mr. Liddlelow, who refused to give them up unless
authorised by his principal, Mr. Backhouse, surveyor, of Ipswich. At
midnight on the 18th Ignatius, who had arrived in Norwich a few hours
previously, with other brethren, gained access to the old sanctuary by,
they asserted, miraculous intervention, and thence made their way to the
new chapel. The police were sent for, and Ignatius was informed that he
had no right there; as he declined to leave the building, the police
refused to interfere. Mr. Liddlelow, on the 19th, applied to the
magistrates for an order of ejectment, but as a question of right was
involved, they would have nothing to do with the matter. On the same
evening Ignatius performed service in the chapel, and stated, in the
course of his address, that Miss Robinson had acted in the most
honourable manner, but had been misled by others. He alluded to her as
his "sister in Christ," and Miss Robinson, who preached in the chapel on
the evening of the 20th, spoke of Ignatius as her "brother in Christ."
Ignatius addressed the congregation at the close of the proceedings, and
informed them that he should never allow the chapel to be used for any
other purpose than that of monastic worship. "Although the members of
Father Ignatius' congregation and the members of Miss Robinson's flock
could not be more opposed in their mode of thought, yet the greatest
harmony prevailed, and at the close they offered up the Lord's Prayer in
perfect unison."
18.--The new Cemetery at Diss was consecrated by the Bishop of Norwich.
The total cost of the chapels, lodge, &c., was about 1,750, but this sum
was exclusive of the price of the land.