Bro. James Carter had been installed W.M. of Lodge "Friendship."
A new route (the loop line) was being constructed between Yarmouth and Lowestoft at a cost of 15,000.
Feb. 14th.-Mr. F. Danby-Palmer had been unanimously elected Clerk to the Board of Guardians.
Feb. 17th.-At the Council meeting Mr. W. Laws proposed, and Mr. T. M.
Baker seconded, Mr. I. Preston, junr."s appointment as Clerk of the Peace, and Mr. J. W. Foreman proposed, and Mr. J. Bracey seconded, Mr. H.
R. Harmer for that office.
The voting was-For Mr. Preston: The Mayor and Messrs. J. T. Bracey, Laws, Mabson, Teasdel, Purdy, Nightingale, Bly, Barnby, Norman, Preston (Isaac junr.), Baker, Wright, George, Woolverton, Burton, Ferrier, Todd, Veale, Fenner, Gooda, and W. Hammond (22),
And for Mr. Harmer: Messrs. Bunn, Harmer, Youell, William Danby-Palmer, Worship, Hilton, Neave, Nuthall, Fyson, Barber, Tomlinson, Foreman, do Caux, F. Danby-Palmer, Scott, J. Bracey, Stone, Woodger, Combe and Baumgartner (20).
Mr. Attwood declined to vote. After the voting the following "scene"
took place between the Mayor and Mr. Harmer:-
Mr. Harmer said he had come forward as a candidate, considering his long connection with the party ent.i.tled him to their support. He could not let that opportunity pa.s.s without expressing his thanks to those gentleman who had accorded him their votes. He could but think if the Mayor had fought a "manly and open game"-(cries of "no, no,"
and uproar)-and postponed his canva.s.sing from the Sat.u.r.day to the Monday, he should have been in a very different position there that day. (Renewed cheers and uproar.) He believed he should have had most of those promises which the Mayor had obtained on the Sunday.
(Cries of "no, no," and general uproar.) He felt certain that a great many of his friends in the Council whom he had known many years, and who had been induced to vote against him, were sorry for it, and had only been led to do so by the promise given the Mayor on Sunday. (Cries and groans and general tumult in the gallery.) He met an old friend the other day, and on asking him for his vote, he replied, "I am very sorry I cannot give it you, as I promised the Mayor on Sunday-(cheers and laughter)-but you have my sympathy, and I hope you may win." He (Mr. Harmer) could not help replying, "Hang your sympathy; give me your vote."
The Mayor said he could not let Mr. Harmer"s remarks upon himself pa.s.s without comment. Coming home quietly from church on the Sunday morning referred to following the mace-bearers, Mr. Harmer came up to him and canva.s.sed him for the Clerkship of the Peace, Mr. Cufaude not being then dead. (Hear, hear, and uproar.) He told Mr. Harmer that Mr. Cufaude was not dead and (he might as well tell them all that pa.s.sed), said he hoped to G.o.d he might live till after March, so that they (the Conservatives) might have the opportunity of fighting the Guardians. (Cheers and counter cheers.) In walking down to the Station-house he said to Mr. Harmer, if that should be the case, and they should get a majority at the Board of Guardians, Mr. Harmer could go in for the Clerk of the Guardians, and he (the Mayor) for the Clerk of the Peace,-(loud laughter)-and that they could work together. Mr. Harmer replied by saying that he should go in for both appointments-(cheers and laughter)-and he (the Mayor) replied that he could not do so, but if he (the Mayor) won one, he would support Mr.
Harmer in the other, and if Mr. Harmer was successful in one, he could give him his help in trying to obtain the other appointment for his son. (Hear, hear.) In the afternoon of that day Mr. Cufaude died, and as he knew Mr. Harmer was canva.s.sing, did they think he was such a fool as to let him outstep him. (Cheers and uproar.)
Mr. Harmer rose to reply, but the confusion became so great owing to the shouting and recrimination, backed up by the adherents of the respective parties in the gallery, that scarcely anything could be heard amid the din of words. During a temporary lull in the storm,
Mr. Harmer, who was still speaking excitedly, was understood to say that he did not go between the bark and the tree, but that he wished to tell the whole truth about the conversation between him and the Mayor. He asked the Mayor how Mr. Cufaude was, and he replied that he was very bad indeed, and not expected to live. (At this juncture of Mr. Harmer"s reply several of the Councillors vacated their seats, and left the room, and the disorder which had calmed down a little again broke out. Mr. Harmer, thus interrupted, stopped in his speech, but in response to cries of "go on, go on," from the public, he turned himself to the gallery, and addressing the occupants of that place, continued his remarks.) He said he observed to the Mayor-"In case anything happens, what do you intend to do?" The Mayor replied "If my son comes forward I must support him," to which he (Mr. Harmer) replied "very naturally, too." He then told the Mayor that he should be a candidate for the Clerkship of the Peace, and as they walked down Regent-street the Mayor remarked to him, "If we can only keep the poor fellow alive till after the next election of Guardians, then we must all put our hands into our pockets and turn them (the Liberals) out." (Cries of "Shame," "Bribery," and general uproar.) The Mayor then said "I will propose that you shall be Clerk of the Peace and Isaac, Clerk of the Guardians." (Cheers and laughter.) His answer to that generous proposition was, "I shall not stand that; I shall expect the better berth of the two."
(Renewed laughter, and cries of "Go in Harmer.") The Mayor said "Well, after all, perhaps Isaac would rather have the Clerkship of the Peace, as there is not much to do, and as he is going to be married, and will be very well off, he won"t want it." (Loud laughter.)
Here the confusion became so great that nothing could be heard, and as by this time the majority of the Councillors had dispersed, the proceedings closed amid wild uproar.
Feb. 24th.-Mr. Henry E. Buxton had been elected Commodore and Mr. I.
Preston, jun., Vice-Commodore of the Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club. Mr.
T. M. Read was building a new yacht at Beccles.
Feb. 28th.-Mr. I. Preston, jun., the newly-elected Clerk of the Peace, had entertained the Recorder and Bar at the Sessions.
In the Market Ward, Mr. R. Dumbleton and Mr. J. Garratt had been candidates for the seat vacated by Mr. Preston, when the former gentleman was elected by a majority of 191.
April 6th.-Mr. C. S. D. Steward and Captain Gilbertson had been re-appointed Churchwardens, and Messrs. Ellis, Skoulding, Lay and Pestell, Overseers.
April 3rd.-Nathaniel Palmer, Esq., Recorder, had died at Coltishall, aged 79; it was stated that "The deceased was at one period of his career a prominent member of the Whig party, and was generally known as "Orator Palmer." He acted with the other members of the Palmer family and their cousins-the Stewards and Hurrys-and was with them instrumental in opening the borough of Great Yarmouth in 1818."
The following officers were then with the E.N.M. at its annual training:-Colonel Sir E. H. K. Lacon, Bart., Lieutenant-Colonel Glover, Major Matthew, Captains Dods, Ensor, Applewaite, Ambrose, and McEnry, and Lieutenants Haly, Howes, Long, Lacon, Haggard, Fryer, Barber and Napier.
Captain Lacon being absent.
April 13th.-The following had been the result of the Guardians"
Election.-
_North Ward_.
Stafford (C.) 1,163 Neave (L.) 861 Skoulding (C.) 758 Buston(C) 664 Blyth (L.) 562 Rant (L.) 365 _Market Ward_.
Norman (L.) 679 Dumbleton (C.) 675 Laws (C.) 599 Overend (L.) 524 Ellis (C.) 515 Brand (L.) 472 _Regent Ward_.
Barber (C.) 540 Norman (L.) 486 Diver (C.) 428 Preston (C.) 426 Bryant (L.) 337 Rant (L.) 299 _St. George"s Ward_.
de Caux (L.) 613 Scott (L.) 522 Rivett (L.) 400 Foreman (C.) 266 Bunn (C.) 250 Todd (I.) 214 Gooch (C.) 204 _Nelson Ward_.
Palmer (L.) 1,166 Woodger (L.) 1,090 Clowes (L.) 921 Fisher (L.) 770
Woolverton (C) and Bracey (C) (numbers not given.)
The result was that 10 Liberals to 4 Tories had been elected.
The Town Council had recommended Mr. Mills for the office of Recorder, he having acted for several years as the late Mr. Palmer"s deputy in that office.
April 24th.-The first week in June had been fixed for the Prince of Wales" visit to the town.
Mr. Frederick Palmer had been re-appointed chairman, and Messrs. J. A.
Norman and J. F. Neave, vice-chairmen of the Board of Guardians.
Mr. Simms Reeve had been appointed Recorder in the place of Mr. Palmer deceased; it was stated that he was called to the Bar in 1850 and was a member of the Norfolk Circuit.
May 8th.-Funds were being raised for the purpose of decorating the town on the occasion of the Prince of Wales" visit.
May 11th.-The Town Council had formed itself into a committee to consider the public steps to be taken with regard to that event.
May 25th.-Simms Reeve, Esq., had been appointed Judge of the Borough Court of Record.
May 29th.-Mr. de Caux had met with an accident through falling from a cart on the Drive.
June 1st.-James Scott, Esq., J.P., and one of the Councillors for the St.
George"s Ward, had died.
June 8th.-Records the first visit of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales to the town, when he lodged at Mr. Cuddon"s house (Shaddingfield Lodge). The town was very handsomely decorated, and His Royal Highness was received at the Southtown Railway Station by the Reception Committee which consisted of Lord Sondes, the Mayor, the Recorder, the Town Clerk, and Messrs. William Mabson, W. T. Attwood, R. D. Barber, F. Dendy, H. R.
Harmer, Frederick Ferrier, E. H. H. Combe, F. Danby-Palmer, E. P. Youell, S. Nightingale, R. S. Watling, and Bessey. After the Recorder had presented the Corporate address, His Royal Highness and the Committee proceeded to the Town Hall, where 200 guests were entertained.
Subsequently His Royal Highness proceeded to the Grammar School and opened the newly-erected hall there. In the evening the town was illuminated.
June 15th.-Mr. S. K. Smith had been elected a Councillor for St. George"s Ward in the place of Mr. J. Scott deceased.
June 19th.-"Notes and Queries" contained a notice of Palmer"s "Perl.u.s.tration of Great Yarmouth," 400 pages of which had then been issued from the press.
A man named Howes had been killed through the bursting of a rocket at the Coastguard Station during the Prince"s visit.
June 22nd records the funeral of the late Mr. Edward Fyson, a member of the Town Council and Captain in the Rifle Volunteers.
The Rev. J. J. Raven had had the degree of D.D. conferred upon him by the University of Cambridge.
June 26th.-Mr. Simms Reeve had sat as Recorder for the first time at the Quarter Sessions.
The Town was filling rapidly with visitors.
June 29th.-The polling in the Market Ward had resulted as follows:-