6.--Died at Great Yarmouth, Sir Thomas Branthwayt Beevor, Bart., of
Hargham. Born on April 7th, 1798, he was thrice married--in 1819, to
Elizabeth Bridget, daughter of Dr. Richard Lubbock, of Norwich; in 1832,
to Martha, daughter of Mr. Archibald Hardiment, of Old Buckenham; and in
1845, to Mary, daughter of Mr. F. Davies. Sir Thomas had for some years
resided in a quiet and unostentatious manner at Yarmouth, but in his
early years, as a Liberal of the advanced school, he took a leading part
in the political contests of the county.
7.--Mr. T. W. Robertson, son of the author of "Caste," and other
favourite comedies, made his first appearance with the Caste Company at
Norwich Theatre. The company made a return visit on November 3rd. Mr.
Robertson, junior, who had been articled to a veterinary surgeon in the
city, afterwards became very popular as an actor.
11.--Died at Hereford, Miss Christiana Glover, second and last surviving
daughter of the Rev. Edward Glover, M.A., of Norwich, aged 91. For
several years she lived with the family of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, and
afterwards became a devoted coadjutor of her talented sister, Miss Sarah
Glover, in the work of imparting Christian education in accordance with
the principles of the Church of England to the poorer classes in the
city. The sisters originated the Norwich Sol-Fa System of Psalmody,
"which may be said to be entirely unrivalled in its results, as producing
perfect intonation and good harmony at comparatively small expense of
time and labour. The system in a somewhat modified form has been very
widely and successfully diffused by Mr. Curwen."
15.--A new oratorio, "Nehemiah," by Dr. Hill, of Norwich, was performed
for the first time. It was produced at the Corn Hall, Diss, by the
members of the Diss Choral Society.
--Considerable excitement was caused at Thorpe, near Norwich, by the
action of Mr. Henry Blake, who had enclosed the strip of grass land known
as Thorpe Green, by the side of the river. Mr. William Birkbeck, as lord
of the manor, announced that if the palings, &c., were not removed by
noon on this day they would be forcibly taken down. The notice was
disregarded, and Mr. P. E. Hansell, as steward of the manor, directed the
removal of the obstruction. After the posts and palings had been taken
down, Mr. Hansell intimated that Mr. Birkbeck was prepared to take the
matter into the law courts, and to the House of Lords, if necessary.
16.--A remarkable scene was witnessed at a meeting of the Norwich School
Board. A motion to increase the staff was supported by the majority and
opposed by the Denominational minority, the latter of whom asserted that
the proposal could be carried out only by rescinding a resolution passed
almost unanimously at a previous meeting. "Finding their last effort
useless to stem the current of expenditure into which the Board had
plunged, and justly indignant at the treatment they received, the
minority left the room, and Canon Heaviside intimated that it would be a
matter for consideration whether they ever again entered it." On May 8th
a deputation went to Canon Heaviside's residence and presented to the
gentlemen constituting the minority a memorial, signed by the ratepayers,
urging that by their presence at the Board they could "continue to
protest against reckless extravagance, and so keep the ratepayers better
informed of what is going on." Ultimately the minority agreed to resume
their duties, "at the request of their constituents, and in the hope that
the public attention called to the proceedings which led to their
withdrawal would have the effect of strengthening their hands in the
endeavour to discharge effectively the duties that devolved upon them."
28.--Mr. Sims Reeves sang at St. Andrew's Hall, Norwich. His engagement
was originally announced for April 17th, but the usual postponement
occurred.
--Application having been made by the Norfolk Court of Quarter Sessions
that nine disturnpiked roads in the county should, by a provisional
order, be declared ordinary, not main, roads, Mr. Courteney Boyle, an
inspector of the Local Government Board, attended at the Shirehall, to
hear the grounds of the application and any objections thereto. The
application had been made on the following grounds: (1) That in
consequence of the increase of railways, there was comparatively but
little through traffic along the disturnpiked reads; (2) there being no
highway districts in the county, the Court was not prepared to encounter
the difficulty and expense of dealing separately with the surveyors of
the large number of parishes through which the disturnpiked roads passed;
(3) that should a highway board be established in the county, the unions
through which the disturnpiked roads passed would not be unfairly
burdened by their maintenance, while it would be hard upon outlying
districts of the county to contribute to the repair of roads which they
never used; and (4) that the Court having previously expressed itself in
favour of county boards, hesitated to sanction so novel and large an
expenditure for the county rate as would be involved in paying half the
cost of repairing the disturnpiked roads until the ratepayers were more
directly represented in the county authority. Mr. C. S. Read, M.P.,
stated his reasons for moving these resolutions at the Court of Quarter
Sessions, and after evidence had been taken in regard to each road in
question, the Inspector said that he should make his report.