15.--Mdlle. Beatrice's Comedy-Drama Company commenced an engagement at
Norwich Theatre. The repertory included "The School for Scandal," "Mary
Stuart," "Frou-frou," "Nos Intimes," "The Ticket-of-Leave Man," "John
Jasper's Wife," and "East Lynne."
18.--Died at his residence, Theatre Street, Norwich, in his 82nd year,
Mr. William Butcher, a well-known land surveyor and auctioneer. He was a
native of Brooke, and entered the office of Mr. Robert Corby, of
Kirstead, a land surveyor, who had one of the largest practices in the
district, if not in the kingdom. Mr. Butcher had unusual opportunities
of acquiring a practical knowledge of the business at the time when
enclosures of commons in Norfolk and Suffolk were being carried out, for
Mr. Corby was the surveyor employed. For nearly sixty years he carried
on a most lucrative practice, which was not confined to local limits, but
extended throughout the kingdom, from the remotest parts of Scotland to
the Land's End. Mr. Butcher served one term as an alderman of the city,
and was Sheriff of Norwich in 1870-71.
24.--The Queen's birthday was celebrated in Norwich by an entertainment
given to the inmates of the Workhouse by the Sheriff (Mr. Stevenson). It
was stated that the Easter Monday and Whit Monday holidays provided by
the Bank Holidays Act had affected the public observance of the day, and
Volunteer reviews, sham fights, and civic feasts were no longer held to
commemorate the occasion.
27.*--"The early closing of our shops on Thursdays in the summer months
seems now to be the universal custom in Norwich, with the solitary
exception of the chemists and druggists." (_See_ March 26th, 1879.)
--*"Some days since some men at work on Feltwell Fen found a quantity of
Roman silver coins, many of them distinctly bearing the names of Hadrian,
Antoninus, Trajan, Marcus Aurelius, Divas Antoninus, Vespasian, &c. They
were contained in a vessel which was broken to pieces by the plough which
turned it up."
31.--The ceremony of laying the foundation-stone of the new building in
Little Orford Street, of the Norwich Church of England Young Men's
Society, was performed by the President, Mr. F. E. Watson. The building,
which was designed by Mr. Edward Boardman, architect, and erected by Mr.
G. E. Hawes, was formally opened on December 6th.