1.--The Yarmouth and Gorleston tramway was formally opened by the Mayor
of Yarmouth (Mr. R. D. Barber).
5.--At the Norfolk Assizes, before Mr. Justice Grove, William Sillis, 25,
labourer, was found guilty of feloniously assaulting Miss Ann Elizabeth
Blyth, at Great Massingham, on October 12th, 1874, and was sentenced to
eighteen years' penal servitude and twenty lashes of the "cat." The
whipping was inflicted at Norwich Castle on April 20th. "The prisoner's
back having been bared, he was securely fastened by the hands and feet to
the whipping-post and the flagellation duly administered by Mr. Pinson,
the Governor, with a 'cat' having nine tails of braided whipcord. When
the third lash had been given the prisoner turned his head round and
implored, 'For God's sake, don't hit twice in the same place,' and,
howling and wincing, threatened to break down at the eighth lash; but the
whipping proceeded until the punishment was completed. When released
from the post he appeared faint, and required assistance to get on his
shirt. 'A poor devil had better be hanged than punished like that,' he
said."
9.--At a military tournament given by the 7th Hussars at Norwich, the
"cavalry ride," now known as the "musical ride," was performed for the
first time. It was introduced by the bandmaster, Van Der Huevil, who was
afterwards transferred to the Household Cavalry, and under his direction
the display became one of the most prominent features of the Royal
Military Tournament.
17.--Died at her residence, Surrey Street, Norwich, Miss Cecilia Lucy
Brightwell, eldest daughter of Mr. Thomas Brightwell. For nearly forty
years she was the devoted and inseparable companion of her father. Miss
Brightwell was a voluminous writer, and more than twenty works of hers
had issued from the press, the first of which was a biography, the only
one extant, of her old friend, Amelia Opie, whose diary and
correspondence she had access to through her father, Mrs. Opie's
executor. Amongst her other works was a "Life of Linnaeus," "Early Lives
and Doings of Great Lawyers," "Annals of Curious and Romantic Lives,"
"Palissy, the Huguenot Potter," "Footsteps of the Reformers," "Heroes of
the Workshop," "Men of Mark," "Annals of Industry and Genius," &c.
Proficient in the use of the etching needle, she illustrated her father's
works on "Infusoria." "A singular evidence of Miss Brightwell's skill in
etching may be found in the British Museum, where, side by side with the
work of Rembrandt, known as 'The Long Landscape,' is a copy by her which
the gentleman then in charge of that department could not believe to be
such until vouched for by others."