Charles Mackie

“ The news of the final success of the measure was received in Norwich with great rejoicing. On the 23rd a procession was organized to meet the promoters on their arrival from town. The Times coach, by which they travelled, was met at Harford Bridges, and at St. Stephen’s Gates the horses were removed from the vehicle, which was dragged in triumph through the city, preceded by bands of music and by men carrying models of ships and naval emblems. At night a bonfire was lighted in the centre of the Market Place, and was fed with wooden spouts, palings, and watch-boxes. ”

“ We have lately had exhibited in Norwich a new system of skaiting on the saloon in the Ranelagh Gardens and at the Corn Exchange. It is called Tachypos, and is a kind of skait each running on two iron wheels about six inches in diameter, and fastens on to the foot in a similar way to the common skait, with protection to the legs up to the knees. With these persons may travel at the rate of nine miles an hour upon the common road. ”

“ JANUARY.
2.—A party of thieves, known as the “Cossey gang,” committed great depredations in the neighbourhood of Norwich. On the night of the 2nd they broke into the Half Moon public-house, Stone Hills, and stole sixteen gallons of spirits and other property. “Tired of committing depredations on foot, about ten o’clock at night, as soon as they find those who keep horses are gone to bed, they resort to the stables and take out what horses they want, ride to the spot of depredation, whether for game, poultry, sheep, &c., and when done return the horses almost jaded and harassed to death.” ”

“ At Norwich, the 13th Regiment of Light Dragoons and the East Essex Militia fired a feu de joie in the Market Place, and the Union flag was displayed upon the tower of St. Peter Mancroft. At Yarmouth, there was a ceremonial parade of the Durham Militia, and the vessels in the Roads fired a royal salute and hoisted their new colours in honour of the Union. ”

“ On April 14th the Norwich Corporation petitioned his Majesty in favour of two gaol deliveries each year. (The Norfolk Chronicle contained the following editorial note: “The holding of the Lent Assizes for Norfolk at Thetford has been long and justly complained of as a serious grievance. It is high time to put an end to the disgraceful scene annually exhibited of a body of criminals being exposed in open waggons from Norwich to Thetford, and there congregated for a week without regard to age or crime.”) ”

“ In the year 1786 Cabel and a female prisoner were in Norwich Castle under sentence of transportation. During the two years that elapsed between the trial and the departure of the first batch of convicts, the woman gave birth to a child. Cabel, the father, was passionately fond of the infant, and appealed to the authorities to allow him to marry the mother. This was refused. The female and her infant were sent with the first contingent of convicts, and after a wearisome journey by coach in the depth of winter arrived at Plymouth in charge of Simpson, the turnkey of the prison. ”

“ A general court-martial, of which General Sir Robert Macfarlane, K.C.B., G.C.H., was president, commenced an inquiry at the Cavalry Barracks, Norwich, into charges preferred against certain privates for disobeying the lawful commands of the Colonel of the 7th Hussars. At a parade of the regiment for ball practice on September 27th, Col. Keane gave the word “Attention,” when, to his surprise, not a man obeyed the command. Seizing one of the men, Private Philip Pitman, he marched him to the officers’ quarters, and had him tried by court-martial for insubordination. ”

“ The Queen’s birthday was celebrated at Norwich by the Pockthorpe “Corporation” parading in the Market Place, “the ‘Mayor’ and ‘Aldermen’ wearing their scarlet gowns and bearing themselves with all the conscious dignity of office.” The Sheriff of Norwich (Mr. James Colman) entertained the inmates of the Workhouse, the Infirmary, and the Boys’ Home to dinner at St. Andrew’s Hall, and the Mayor (Mr. Woodcock) gave a dinner at the Assembly Rooms. ”

“ All the coaches between Norwich and London have ceased to run, the last being the mail through Bury St. Edmund’s, which was discontinued on the 6th inst. Six or seven coaches direct to London from Norfolk have been discontinued, and about 700 horses thrown off the road. There are, however, about 30 coaches constantly running from various towns to the principal stations between Yarmouth and London. There are many omnibuses, cabs, and flys. The railway has very much increased the number of horse conveyances to and from all the towns along the line. ”

“ William Smith, in the House of Commons, presented a petition from the inhabitants praying leave to bring in a Bill to regulate the state of the poor in Norwich. The Norwich Court of Guardians Amendment Bill was brought in and read a first time on March 1st. On March 24th it was stated that the promoters of the measure had effected a compromise with the Court of Guardians as to the proportion of representation; persons assessed £10 and upwards were to have two votes, and those above £5 one vote; the Recorder, Steward, and Aldermen not to be Guardians ”

“ The inquiry lasted twenty-two days, and concluded on December 19th.
18.—Ducrow advertised the representation of a Spanish bull-fight at his Norwich circus. “To prevent any misconception on the part of visitors to the arena, and at the same time to add to the surprising nature of the performance, ladies and others are informed that the bull is impersonated by one of Mr. Ducrow’s horses, tutored by him for the purpose, enveloped in an elastic skin, and so managed as to deceive even the keenest eye.” ”

“ John Borrow, many years adjutant of the First or West Norfolk Regiment of Militia.
MARCH.
3.—At a meeting of manufacturers and others at the Guildhall, Norwich, under the presidency of Mr. John Harvey, resolutions were adopted expressing satisfaction with the proposal of the Government to reduce the duties on raw and thrown silks as well as on foreign wools; but they viewed with surprise and alarm the proposal to allow the free exportation of British wool, “as a consequence of supplying foreigners with the raw material must be to throw out of employment many thousands of the labouring poor.” ”

“ On the 19th occurred a heavy fall of snow, which blocked the roads and prevented traffic. The mail bags were brought to Norwich on horseback; the London waggons which should have arrived on the 19th came in on the evening of the 20th, drawn by teams of twelve or fourteen horses. Carriers who had arrived in the city were unable to return; the Yarmouth coach was preceded by an empty waggon which, drawn by six horses, made a road for it. A second sharp frost occurred on February 15th, and continued to the 25th, when the thermometer registered 17 degrees below freezing point. ”

“ At the adjourned Quarter Sessions for the county, held at Norwich on the 6th, the rioters were tried and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment in the Bridewells and houses of correction in the county. A guard of the West Norfolk Militia was stationed at the Castle, and a squadron of the Norwich Light Horse Volunteers did duty at the Cavalry Barracks until relieved by the 16th Lancers. The Lancers and Light Horse afterwards acted as escorts to the vans by which the prisoners were conveyed to the different prisons. On the march the military were repeatedly stoned by the mobs. ”

“ On the prisoner asking for “a longer period than two days in which to prepare for eternity,” the judge ordered death to be postponed until the following Monday, on which day the execution took place on the Castle Hill, Norwich, in the presence of 5,000 spectators. “Mr. Wilson, a gentleman from London, and Mr. Austen, a pupil of Mr. Dalrymple’s, performed the dissection and prepared the subject for the lectures which have been daily delivered by Mr. Crosse.” At the trial an indictment was preferred against an accomplice of the prisoner, one William Hardiment, not in custody. ”

“ Wombwell’s Menagerie arrived at Norwich, and was exhibited on the Castle Hill. The collection included a pair of giraffes, one of which was killed by an accidental fall. “The elephant is a magnificent animal, but we think the walking exercise which Van Amburgh’s elephant is obliged to take, instead of being drawn from place to place by some twelve horses, conduces to a clearer complexion and a better state of health.” For the first time, Wombwell advertised that he had a keeper “who goes into the den of the trained lions and tigers.” ”

“ At the Norfolk Assizes at Thetford, in March, six of the poachers, indicted under the Black Act, were found guilty and sentenced to death. Lord Suffield and the Hon. Edward Harbord pleaded that their lives might be spared, and the sentence was ultimately commuted to transportation. When the gang were being conveyed by the Expedition night mail coach from Norwich, on their way to Portsmouth, the convicts got free from the chain and made a desperate attempt to escape, but were too heavily ironed. ”

“ Peter Mancroft, Norwich, were ringing on the occasion of the receipt of the intelligence of the defeat of the French by the Russians, and of the recapture of Moscow, the Prince Regent passed through the city from Houghton on his way to Saxmundham. His Royal Highness changed horses at the Angel Inn, but did not alight. On the 14th the Duke of Clarence, accompanied by the Earl of Yarmouth, arrived at Norwich, and after dining at the Angel Inn, proceeded to join the Prince Regent at Saxmundham. ”

“ In 1814 he took his degree in physic. Dr. Rigby in 1786 established the Benevolent Medical Society for the relief of the widows and orphans of medical men; and in 1789 became a member of the Corporation of Surgeons and of the Medical Society in London. He was assistant surgeon of the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital on its establishment in 1771, surgeon in 1790, and physician in 1814. For many years he kept a private lunatic asylum; and made constant and unremitted exertions in the cause of vaccination. ”

“ Andrew’s Hall, in furtherance of the movement for suppressing the slave trade in Africa. The High Sheriff (Mr. H. Villebois) presided. The Chartists attended in force, and “gave groans for the Whigs of Norwich, for Mr. J. J. Gurney, the Bishop of Norwich, and Sir T. Fowell Buxton.” The ringleader, Dover, moved a resolution affirming that the meeting “views with deep regret the many proofs of despotic slavery now increasing at home, and it therefore pledges itself to use all its exertions to put a final stop to slavery wherever it is found to exist.” ”

“ James Bennett, a man of great scientific attainments. By trade a watchmaker, “he invented an instrument for performing the operation of the trepan, which was mentioned with much praise by Sir Astley Cooper in his lectures, and ever afterwards used by that distinguished surgeon. He was the first man who made an electrical machine in Norwich. To different societies he sent original contributions, and presented articles of value, particularly the splendid anatomical preparations of the late Mr. Stevenson, veterinary surgeon, Castle Meadow, which were given to a museum in London. ”

“ Heavy goods in large quantities have lately been sent from Norwich to London and from thence to Ipswich by rail, 196 miles, instead of the direct route of 40 miles p. 460by road, the rail conveyance being cheaper and quicker. It would be a great advantage in this and other counties if a general Act were passed for widening and levelling the turnpike roads and for laying down tramways on which carriages could be drawn by horses or by engines of small power to the principal railway. ”

“ He was in the action of Bunker’s Hill, at the battle of Bedford, at the taking of New York, at the battles of Pelham Manor and the White Plains, and led the Hessian Grenadiers across the river Brunx, where he was wounded. He was wounded again in the attack on the lines at King’s Bridge. In 1794 he raised the 24th Light Dragoons, largely composed of Norfolk men; in 1796 was made Major-General and appointed to the English staff, and in 1797 was transferred to the Irish staff, and commanded a brigade at the battle of Vinegar Hill. ”

“ The neighbouring farmers, armed with guns, and the labourers with pitchforks, went in pursuit of the beast. An unsuccessful endeavour was made to entangle him in a sheep-net. “A large hamper containing a piece of flesh was then placed in his way. Upon his jumping in to seize the food the lid was drawn down and soon secured, the animal uttering the most hideous yells.”
24.—A serious accident occurred on the Norfolk Railway near Thetford. The up-train from Norwich was proceeding at a rapid rate when the engine left the line and fell down the embankment. ”

“ Eight horses belonging to Mr. William Slack, of Norwich, died between the 25th August last and the 10th September, six soon after their return from Attleborough (one of the depôts for horses drawing the London vans) to Norwich, one at Attleborough, and the other at Newmarket, and upon being opened it has been ascertained that they died by mineral poisoning, supposed to have been administered in water or in some liquid form. The Government offer the above reward. ”

“ The question of the practicability of paving Guildhall Hill, Norwich, with wood, “in order to prevent the noise and interruption from carriages passing up and down the hill during the holding of Quarter Sessions, Assizes, and magistrates’ sittings,” was introduced by the Mayor (Capt. Money) and referred to a Committee of the Paving Commissioners, who, on October 13th, reported that “a wood pavement was not suitable for declivities.” ”