1869
Jan. 25th. The Chancellor (E. Howes, Esq., M.P.) decided the long-pending question of removing St. Nicholas’ Church organ from the west end of the south aisle to the North transept, in the affirmative. This grand old organ, built by Jordan, Bridge, and Bayfield, in 1733; repaired by England (Jordan’s grandson) in 1812, and by Gray in 1840; was removed to the north transept in Feb., 1869.
Jan. Gaol Street Congregational Chapel (built in 1773) closed, and pulled down for the purpose of building the Middlegate Church.
Feb. 9th. The North-end Church Mission Room opened. Cost about £100. Mr. W. Wright was the architect.
Feb. 16th. The Fish Wharf, 2,251 ft. in length, shed 750 ft., completed. Total cost, £20,627. The sum borrowed and advanced by the Corporation for the works was £20,502 6s.; total amount of annual outgoings estimated at £1,587 17s. Offices and premises let at £565 16s.
Feb. 23rd. While the s.s. “Buccleuch,” was on the point of leaving the wharf in Yarmouth Harbour for Hull, with 20 passengers on board, her boiler burst, and several persons were scalded and otherwise slightly injured, the Captain (W. Wright) being seriously hurt. The steamer was much damaged, and her fittings amidships blown to a considerable distance.
March 1st. The full-rigged ship “Hannah Pattersen,” laden with 1,500 tons of coal, came ashore abreast of the Workhouse, where she became a total wreck. Insured for £2,000.
March 2nd. Ten tenders opened for re-building the south aisle of St. Nicholas’ Church, and Mr. Williams, of Cardiff, was selected, his estimate for the work being £4,755, out of which sum £480 was deducted for old materials.
March 9th. Mr. C. L. Chipperfield presented by Major Foreman with a handsome timepiece, in acknowledgment of his valuable services as Secretary of the Yarmouth Building Society.
March 10th. The smack “Silver Cloud” run into by the steamer “Earl of Durham,” off Winterton, and foundered with loss of all hands.
April 3rd. Schooner “Hickman,” 98 tons, struck by lightning.
April 15th. The Great Yarmouth Water Works Bill, for further extending its powers in a drainage scheme, passed in the House of Lords.
April 20th. The King of Prussia, through the Ambassador at the Court of St. James’, awarded Capt. Balls, of the schooner “George,” of Yarmouth, a gratuity of £10 for rescuing the crew of the Prussian schooner “Christine.”
April 22nd. New organ opened at Belton Church by Mr. F. W. Rolfe, organist of St. Peter’s, Yarmouth.
April 28th. Duke’s Head Hotel sold to Mr. J. Davy for £1,525.
April 29th. The iron s.s. “Lady Flora,” 1,000 tons burthen, 250 feet in length, ran ashore on Caister beach, and after unremitting efforts on the part of Mr. T. B. Carr, of Hull, Mr. Beeching, of Yarmouth, and a numerous gang of men, who bodily raised her massive weight on to blocks, she was again successfully launched on July 8th in the presence of several hundred spectators. In Dec. this steamer was totally lost in the Baltic.
May 19th. The Gorleston Company of the Yarmouth Rifle Corps first met for recruit drill. First competition prize match, Oct. 14th.
May 26th. First stone of the St. James’ Church laid by the Very Rev. Dr. Goulburn, Dean of Norwich.
June 4th. Violent explosion of gas at Mr. Gambling’s office at Southtown, doing damage in and around the premises to the extent of £200 or £300.
June 9th. Charles Cory, Esq., 18 years Town Clerk of the Borough, died at Lugano, Switzerland, aged 54 years. It was decided on June 28th to place a memorial window to his memory in St. Nicholas’ Church. His father and grandfather both held the office of Chief Magistrate of the Borough; the former died in 1840.
June 24th. Charles Diver, Esq., appointed as Town Clerk at a salary of £200, and £50 extra as Clerk to the Local Board of Health. (See Nov. 30th, 1875, and Dec. 5th, 1883.)
Aug. 24th. Comer stone of the residence of the Head Master of the Grammar School laid next the site for the intended new Grammar School.
Aug. The Hon. and Rev. Edward Pellew, M.A. (about eight years Incumbent of St. Nicholas’ Church, and which he resigned in 1844 in favour of the Ven. H. Mackenzie, M.A.), died at Crowe Hill, Nottinghamshire, aged 69.
Sept. 6th. Two gentlemen started on a voyage by the rivers and streams, a distance of about 130 miles—from Hitchin to Yarmouth, via Norwich and Reedham—in the canoes “Wanderer” and “Ruby,” which adventurous journey was completed in six days.
Sept, 9th. The French iron steamer “Fulton,” worth about £5,000, and cargo £650, through collision with the brig “Thomas Gales,” opposite the Monument, foundered, but her crew were saved. Insured for £3,200.
Sept. 15th. Mr. T. Todd’s smack “Ann” foundered.
Sept. 20th. Mr. H. Stonex presented by the Yarmouth Musical Society with a gold-mounted ivory baton and an inlaid walnut music-stool as a token of their appreciation of him as their conductor.
Sept. 23rd. Mr. William James Palmer admitted a licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries.
Sept. Commander T. S. Gooch, R.N., son of Admiral Gooch of Yarmouth, appointed to the command of H.M.S. “Beacon,” on the coast of Africa.
Oct. 5th. Mr. Thomas H. Colley, on resigning the office of House Surgeon at the Yarmouth Hospital, after 14 years’ service, was presented at the Town Hall with a gold watch and chain, value about £40, and a purse of 250 guineas, by 500 subscribers, for his zeal and kindness in the discharge of his duties.
Oct. 19th. Terrific gale. More than 70 smacks put in disabled, and some seven lost their crews (41 men), besides 14 other men washed overboard; 13 widows and 25 children left destitute.
Oct. 29th. The Italian barque “Oceana Antonio,” 529 tons, ran ashore south of the Wellington Pier.
Dec. 20th. Gas explosion at Messrs. Bracey and Son’s counting-house, whereby two persons were injured.
Launches: Feb. 1st, the schooner “Maria,” from Mr. Rust’s yard after extensive repairs.—Oct. 11th, the smack “Alice,” 40 tons register, from Mr. Rust’s yard.—Nov. 12th, the self-righting lifeboat “Penny Readings,” 33 feet long, cost £500, launched at Lynn, the boat having been built in Yarmouth.—Nov. 25th, the smack “Cambria,” from Messrs. Smith’s yard.
Deaths: Jan. 11th, Arthur Steward, Esq., aged 68.—March 4th, William Jex, Esq., Master of the Hopton Hunt, aged 68.—April 14th, William Hill Winmill, Esq., of Gorleston, aged 35.—Aug. 10th, Edward Trafford, Esq., of Wroxham.—Dec. 8th, Mr. Stephen Hardingham, aged 74.