1.--Died at Stanley Avenue, Thorpe, Norwich, Mr. Edwin Plumer Price,
Q.C., formerly Recorder of York, and judge of the Norfolk County Court,
aged 81. In his younger days he unsuccessfully contested Sheffield in
the Conservative interest.
2.--The Norfolk and Norwich Library was opened after reconstruction at
the cost of 1,719.
7.--A fire occurred at Messrs. Leake and Sons' oil mill at Lynn. The
damage was estimated at from 10,000 to 12,000.
--Mr. Robert Borrett sold by auction at Wacton the wheat and barley on
about 170 acres of land in the parishes of Moulton St. Michael, Pulham
Market, Tivetshall St. Margaret, and Wacton, in the occupation of Mr.
Fisher. The auctioneer's advertisement stated that the growing crops
were offered in consequence of there being a scarcity of labour--a
circumstance unprecedented in Norfolk.
11.--Died while on a yachting cruise off the coast of Iceland, Sir Edmund
Broughton Knowles Lacon, Bart., head of the banking firm of Lacons,
Youell, and Kemp. He was born May 9th, 1842, and in 1892 served the
office of High Sheriff of Norfolk.
17.--The 50 miles' championship of the National Cyclists' Union, Eastern
Counties Centre, was won on the Earlham Road Recreation Ground, Norwich,
by C. F. Morley (champion 1897-98) in 2 hours 20 minutes 49 4-5ths
seconds.
19.--Died at Hilgay rectory, Downham, the Rev. St. Vincent Beechey,
rector of the parish, and honorary canon of Manchester, in his 94th year.
Canon Beechey was born August 7th, 1806, at Harley Street, Cavendish
Square, and was the son of Sir William Beechey, the eminent painter and
friend of Lord Nelson, whose portrait, limned by him, is one of the most
valuable of the pictures in St. Andrew's Hall, Norwich. Young Beechey
was educated at Boulogne, where he not only acquired a thorough knowledge
of the French language, but became an expert swordsman. Thence he
proceeded to a school at Sidcup, kept by the father of Sheridan Knowles,
and at the age of 16 he matriculated at Gonville and Caius College,
Cambridge, and obtained two scholarships. While preparing for Holy
Orders he studied medicine at the Western Hospital. In 1829 he was
ordained by the Bishop of Rochester, and received the curacy of
Aylesford, near Maidstone. He next became curate of Hilgay, and in 1841
was appointed to the living of Thornton le Fylde, with Fleetwood,
Lancashire. Acting on the suggestion of a Corsican named Vantine, he
established Rossall School, one of the most successful educational
institutions in the north, and of which he was secretary for 28 years.
In 1852 he was appointed to the vicarage of Worsley, near Manchester, and
in 1872, at the age of sixty, he accepted the living of Hilgay, where for
27 years he faithfully ministered to the parishioners. Canon Beechey
took great interest in astronomical studies, and was a popular lecturer.
His favourite topics were the expansion of the empire, the origin of
writing, and, in the last years of his life, the Rontgen rays.
20.--A serious fire occurred on the premises of Mr. Thomas Wright, boot
manufacturer and clothier, High Street, East Dereham. The damage was
estimated at upwards of 1,000.
26.--Kimberley Hall, the seat of the Earl of Kimberley, narrowly escaped
total destruction by fire. The outbreak was confined to one portion of
the house, and the damage was estimated at 2,000.
27.--North Walsham Town Hall was destroyed by fire.