1.--The restored chancel and newly-erected organ of Diss church were
opened. The instrument was built by Messrs. J. Rayson and Sons, of
Ipswich, at the cost of 360.
--At Ipswich Assizes (where Norfolk prisoners were, on this occasion,
tried), before Mr. Justice Hawkins, Henry March (59), blacksmith, was
indicted for the wilful murder of Henry Bidewell, blacksmith, and Thomas
Moys, shoeing-smith and farmer, at Wymondham, on October 20th. The
prisoner was found guilty and sentenced to death. The execution took
place at Norwich Castle on November 20th. Marwood was the executioner.
3.--Died at Camperdown Place, Great Yarmouth, Mr. William Thurtell, in
his 83rd year. Mr. Thurtell, who was a staunch supporter of Conservative
principles, was appointed a magistrate for the borough in 1846. His
father was Mayor of Norwich in 1828.
6.--In the House of Lords, before the Lord Chancellor, Lord Penzance,
Lord Blackburn, and Lord Gordon, the action, Read _v._ Bailey, was heard,
on an appeal from a decision by the Lords Justices. On an inspection of
the books of the Bank on the failure of the firm of Harveys and Hudsons,
in 1870, it was discovered that Sir Robert Harvey had abstracted large
sums of money from the coffers of the Bank, and had sought to cover the
deficiency by the opening of fictitious accounts, and by crediting forged
bills to his private account. In consequence, the trustee under the
bankruptcy of the firm preferred a claim against the separate estate of
Sir Robert Harvey, amounting to the sum of 600,000, for the moneys so
abstracted by Sir Robert Harvey in his lifetime. This claim was, in
1876, supported by a great mass of evidence before the Master of the
Rolls, who decided in favour of the claim, and gave the trustee of
Harveys and Hudsons the right to rank as a creditor against the private
or separate estate of Sir Robert Harvey, in competition with the
stockbrokers and other private creditors. The importance of the decision
of the Master of the Rolls, as affecting the interests of the
stockbrokers, was great. But for this claim of 600,000 they would have
received 20s. in the pound on their debts, whereas the allowance of the
claim to rank in competition with their debts prevented Sir Robert
Harvey's private estate paying more than 6s. 8d. in the pound. The
stockbrokers accordingly appealed to the Lords Justices against the
decision of the Master of the Rolls, and their lordships upheld the claim
of 600,000, and dismissed the stockbrokers' appeal, with costs. The
stockbrokers now appealed to the House of Lords, who confirmed the
judgments of the Lords Justices and the Master of the Rolls, and
dismissed the appeal, with costs; in other words, admitting the trustee's
claim for 600,000. (_See_ December 3rd, 1880.)
9.--Mr. Joseph De Carle Smith was elected Mayor, and Mr. Harry Bullard
appointed Sheriff of Norwich.
10.--It was announced that Mr. Francis Edmund Gladstone, Mus. Bac.,
Cantab., had been appointed organist of Norwich Cathedral, in the room of
Dr. Buck, who resigned the appointment in the month of June. Regret was
expressed that Dr. Bunnett's claims for the post should have been "so
strangely and perversely ignored." Much adverse feeling was manifested,
and on November 28th a complimentary concert was given to Dr. Bunnett,
under the patronage of the leading inhabitants of the county and city.
11.--During a heavy gale at Yarmouth, six vessels were driven ashore, and
many other shipping casualties were reported.
21.--A meeting of the promoters of the Lynn and Fakenham Railway was held
at Fakenham, and the necessary steps taken in furtherance of the scheme.
(_See_ May 21st, 1880.)
24.--Died, suddenly, at Norwich, in his 65th year, Mr. Thomas Jarrold,
the last survivor of the three brothers who comprised the well-known firm
of Jarrold and Sons. Mr. Jarrold took especial interest in the education
of the poor, in acknowledgment of which his friends, shortly before his
death, presented him with his portrait.
26.--The new Middle Level Sluice, at Wiggenhall St. Mary, near King's
Lynn, was opened by Mr. E. Fellowes, M.P., chairman of the Middle Level
Commission. This sluice replaced the one designed by Mr. J. Walker and
constructed by Brogden, of Manchester, at the cost of 30,000, in 1842,
which gave way on May 4th, 1862, with the widespread and disastrous
consequences known as the Middle Level inundation. After many
unsuccessful attempts to construct a dam across the drain, Sir John
Hawkshaw, C.E., was called in, and he eventually succeeded in that
object, and under his advice sixteen large iron syphons, with the
necessary engine and apparatus for exhausting air from them, were
constructed upon the dam, so as to secure an outlet of the drainage
without admitting sea water from the Ouze. These syphons answered very
well for years, but were not equal to the task. The Commissioners went
to Parliament in 1874, and obtained powers to raise money to construct a
new sluice, from designs by Sir J. Hawkshaw, at an estimated cost of
between 50,000 and 60,000, and the work was commenced by the contractor,
Mr. Webster, in September, 1874.