2.--Died, at Bacton Grange, North Walsham, in his 67th year, Mr. William
Partridge Cubitt. He was born at Bacton, where the Cubitt family had
been for many generations tenants under the Wodehouses. As a coal
merchant he owned ships which traded between Bacton and the North. For
many years he was captain of the Bacton lifeboat crew, and had received
medals and certificates for courageously saving life on the Norfolk
coast. On one occasion he swam his horse out to a wreck and brought the
sailors to shore hanging to the stirrup-leathers of his saddle. "He was
not only a good sailor, a good farmer, and a sharp and wise merchant, but
he was also a splendid horseman across country." In politics Mr. Cubitt
was strongly Liberal.
2.--A meeting was held at King's Lynn, at which was formed for West
Norfolk a branch of the National Fair Trade League. The principles of
the League were, for a time, advocated in this and other parts of
Norfolk, but the movement was short-lived.
3.--Died, at the Close, Norwich, Mr. John Orfeur, in his 80th year. He
was a son of Lieutenant Abdiel Orfeur, R.N., of Great Yarmouth, a
descendant of the family of Orfeur in Cumberland. By business a timber
merchant, he devoted his leisure time to scientific pursuits, was one of
the promoters of the Norwich Geological Society, and of the Norfolk and
Norwich Naturalists' Society, and a warm supporter of the Norfolk and
Norwich Museum.
6.--The Norfolk Chamber of Agriculture adopted a resolution affirming its
belief that the long-continued depression in agriculture injuriously
affected all other industries, and its desire that a Committee of the two
Houses of Parliament should enquire into the causes of the distress and
recommend such practical remedies as might be found advisable. Mr. C. S.
Read, M.P., moved a similar resolution at a meeting of the Central
Chamber of Agriculture, on December 10th.
16.--Died, at Houghton Hall, his seat in Norfolk, the Marquis of
Cholmondeley. His lordship, who was born August 31st, 1800, was the
younger of the two sons of George James, fourth earl and first Marquis of
Cholmondeley, by his marriage with the Lady Georgina Charlotte Bertie,
second daughter and co-heiress of Peregrine, third Duke of Ancaster. He
was educated at Eton and Christ Church, and at the age of 22, as Lord
Henry Cholmondeley, he entered the House of Commons as one of the members
for the pocket borough of Castle Rising, in the place of his brother,
Lord Rocksavage, who was called to the Upper House in his father's Barony
of Newburgh. In 1832 Castle Rising was disfranchised under Lord John
Russell's Reform Act, and Lord Henry remained out of Parliament until
1852, when he was returned as one of the members for South Hampshire. In
May, 1870, on his elder brother's death, he succeeded to the Marquisate
and the rest of the family honours, and to the estates of Cholmondeley
Castle in Cheshire, and of Houghton Hall, Norfolk. He was an excellent
and considerate landlord, and did his best to encourage agricultural
improvements on his estates.
17.--An extensive fire occurred in the drapery establishment of Mr.
Alfred Jermyn, High Street, Lynn. A range of buildings was entirely
destroyed. The premises were valued at 6,500, and the stock in trade at
20,000.
26.--Messrs. T. W. Robertson and H. Brace's Comedy Company appeared at
Norwich Theatre in the farcical pieces, "Nita's First" and "My Milliner's
Bill." At Messrs. John Sanger and Son's Circus, at the Agricultural
Hall, was produced the Christmas spectacle, "Aladdin, or an Old Lamp with
a New Face."
29.--Died, at Bridewell Alley, Norwich, aged 53, Mr. Arthur Dale Ventnor,
a well-known portrait painter.
30.--Died, at his residence, Surrey Street, Norwich, Mr. Richard
Makilwaine Phipson, F.S.A., aged 57. He commenced practice as an
architect in London, and in 1849 took an office at Ipswich. In 1859 he
was appointed to the post of County Surveyor of Norfolk, and afterwards
became one of the diocesan surveyors under the Ecclesiastical
Dilapidations Act, 1871. Much of the work of church restoration carried
out during the quarter of a century preceding his death had been
entrusted to him, and he was the architect of the Norwich City Asylum.
Mr. Phipson was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Antiquaries, and took
great interest in the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society.
1885.