Chronological Retrospect of the History of Yarmouth and Neighbourhood. William Finch-Crisp
places for a longer time than was necessary for removing and housing the same.
Nov. 2nd. The Beach from Yarmouth to Wells covered with wrecks and dead bodies after a heavy gale. Another gale and high tide on the 10th, and many vessels and lives lost.
Nov. 14th. Gustavus Adolphus IV., ex-King of Sweden, who had abdicated his throne, landed on the Beach from the sloop “Tartar.” He assumed the title of Count Guttorp, and afterwards proceeded to London.
March 28th. Count Guttorp sailed from Yarmouth on his return to the Continent.
Vice-Admiral Murray appointed to the Naval command of Yarmouth. In 1815 Admiral Drake was appointed Port-Admiral of Yarmouth, the last who held the appointment.
Census taken. Population of Yarmouth, 17,977; with Gorleston and Southtown, 19,691.
The Royal Hospital or Asylum built by Government at a cost of £120,000. Foundation-stone laid by Admiral Billy Douglas in 1809. (See 1815.) The building was erected by Mr. Peto (father of Sir S. Morton Peto), from designs by H. Parkington, Esq., for a naval Hospital. The 11 acres of ground to the east cost the Government £11,000 in 1875.
March 13th. The South Gate sold for £26 to Jonathan Poppy.
July 27th. General Viscount Cathcart’s embassy to the Court of Russia left the Roadstead in the frigate “Aquilon.” Lord Walpole, secretary of Legation to Lord Cathcart, sailed in the “Calipso” to the headquarters of the Russian army.
Oct. 6th. Edmund Knowles Lacon and William Loftus, Esqs., returned to Parliament. Votes – Lacon, 607; Loftus, 387; G. Wilson, 329.
Oct. 26th. Tremendous gale, and eight vessels driven ashore in the vicinity.
A. Royals died, aged 103.
Feb. A high wind blew down and completely demolished the Conventual Church at Gorleston, dedicated to St. Nicholas.
Feb. 18th. Gorleston steeple (about 100 ft. high), which stood near the Haven’s mouth as an immemorial sea-mark, was blown down in a gale.
March 24th. Volunteer Corps of Infantry disbanded, and deposited their arms in store on the establishment of the local Militia.
April 15th. Prince of Orange landed at the Jetty.
April 29th. H.R.H. the Duke of Cumberland arrived at Yarmouth, and embarked on board the frigate “Nymphen” for the Continent.
July 4th. News of Wellington’s victory over the French at Vittoria in Spain received here with great rejoicings.
Aug. 10th. First steam barge proceeded from Yarmouth to Norwich at the rate of five miles per hour.
Sept. 29th. Regent Street formed and opened at a cost of £30,000. Before the opening of this street there was no roadway between King Street and the Quay, except Fuller’s Hill and Friar’s Lane, the latter of which was widened in 1866.
Nov. 14th. Great rejoicing at Yarmouth on the splendid victories gained over the French in Spain and Germany.
The Lancasterian or British School erected; enlarged in 1861.
William III. landed at the Jetty.
North Mayo Militia left the town, and the Wexford Militia the following year.
Sept. 3rd. John Hannah (70) tried at the Yarmouth Sessions for the murder of Elizabeth, his wife, he being the last man executed in the town for murder. A bill issued, with the imprint of Clark, Broad Row, Yarmouth, read as follows: “Monday Morning, Sept. 6th, at about 11 o’clock. Everything being ready, the prisoner, attended by the gaoler and a number of constables, with a great concourse of spectators, moved from the Gaol at 11.15. They went at a slow pace, and at the entrance of Regent Street were joined by the Mayor and other Borough Officers. It was past 12 o’clock when the prisoner arrived at the place of execution; on his way thither he was perfectly composed, turning from one side to the other, viewing the populace. After ascending the scaffold, he spent some time in prayer, and when the hangman had placed the rope round his neck, he was asked if he had anything farther to say. He then confessed as follows: ‘That he was the murderer of his wife by strangling her with his hands, and not with a rope, as had been stated; he said they had lived a very uncomfortable life for many years past, owing to his wife giving her company to other men, which was the cause of his committing the murder.’ The instant before being turned off, he particularly requested to see his daughter, when he was informed it was not possible, as she was confined in Bedlam; he also desired the gaoler to look under the step of the cell, and he would there find four shillings and sixpence. A signal was then given, and the unhappy man was immediately launched into eternity. The body, after hanging the usual time, was delivered to the surgeons for dissection. The gaoler, on his return, found the money as described in the cell.”
July 6th. Peace proclaimed at Yarmouth; Mayor and Corporation went in procession, and at night the town was illuminated.
The Duke of Clarence (afterwards King William IV.), accompanied by his Duchess (Queen Adelaide), landed at Yarmouth, and stayed one night at the “Angel Hotel.”
March 11th. Henry Joddrell, Esq., Bayfield Hall, many years Recorder and Representative of Yarmouth, Chairman of the Norfolk Quarter Sessions, died in London.
April 21st. Restoration of Louis XVIII. to the throne of France. The inhabitants of Yarmouth subscribed £1,106 8s. 6d., for providing a grand dinner to all the inhabitants who chose to partake of it. Fifty-eight tables were spread in the open air along the Hall and South Quays, at which 8,028 persons were seated, and made an excellent dinner of roast beef and plum-pudding. A man personating Neptune in a car attended by Tritons and other deities paraded the town, headed by a band of music. In the evening a large bonfire was made on the North Denes, in which the effigy of Napoleon was consumed amidst much rejoicing, and in the presence of nearly 30,000 persons.
July 14th. First division of West Norfolk Militia landed at Yarmouth from Edinburgh, and marched to Norwich, and joined their Colonel, the Earl of Orford.
Aug. 11th. The Hon. John Wodehouse proposed, and T. W. Coke, Esq., seconded, resolutions recommending that a subscription should be opened for erecting a monument at Yarmouth to the memory of the late Lord Nelson. Lord and Lady Wodehouse, the Hon. Colonel Wodehouse, and Mr. and Miss Coke headed the list with £700. The Corporation of Norwich subscribed £200. (See Aug. 15th, 1817.)
Jan. 24th. A sea-eagle shot at Rollesby, which measured from tip to tip of its wings 7 ft. 6 in.
May 10th. Sharp press for seamen at Yarmouth.
John Thomas Townshend, Viscount Sydney, High Steward of the Borough. He died in 1831.
Six hundred wounded men from Waterloo lodged in the Naval Hospital. (See 1811.)
March 29th. The Nelson Monument Committee at Thetford, after inspecting 44 beautiful plans and designs, selected an Athenian Doric Column, sent by William Wilkins, Esq., architect, of London, a native of Norwich, and author of “Magna Græcia.” Nearly £7,000 was subscribed.
Feb. 16th. Very high tide, the sea and river meeting over the South Denes. A similar event had not occurred since Feb. 3rd, 1791.
Feb. 19th. Corporation petitioned Parliament for a continuance of the Property Tax.
Feb. 26th. Mr. Incledon, Master Taylor, and Mr. Collyer appeared at the Theatre Royal, in The Minstrel; or, a Tour Through England and Ireland. Prices – 4s., 3s., 2s. 6d., and 1s.
Nov. 2nd. Thomas Penrice, Esq., of Yarmouth, to whom the late Lord Chedworth, of Ipswich, left the bulk of his immense property, died at Narford Hall, the seat of A. Fountaine, Esq., his son-in-law. (See Oct. 28th, 1804.)
Jan. 1st. £1,000 subscribed at Yarmouth to relieve and employ the labouring poor; 460 men were employed to form roads to the Bath House, Jetty, &c.
Feb. 4th. The Corporation voted a loyal address to the Prince Regent, expressive of their abhorrence of the attack made upon his Royal person on his return from opening Parliament on the 28th ult. Presented at the levée by Isaac Preston, Esq. (Mayor), accompanied