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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/44040-0.txt b/44040-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4b04f2c --- /dev/null +++ b/44040-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14564 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Worcestershire in the Nineteenth Century, by +T. C. Turberville + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Worcestershire in the Nineteenth Century + A Complete Digest of Facts Occuring in the County since the Commencement of the year 1800 + + +Author: T. C. Turberville + + + +Release Date: October 26, 2013 [eBook #44040] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORCESTERSHIRE IN THE NINETEENTH +CENTURY*** + + +Transcribed from the 1852 Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans edition by +David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org + + + + + + WORCESTERSHIRE + IN THE + NINETEENTH CENTURY. + + + * * * * * + + A COMPLETE DIGEST OF FACTS OCCURRING IN THE + COUNTY SINCE THE COMMENCEMENT OF + THE YEAR 1800. + + * * * * * + + BY + T. C. TURBERVILLE. + + * * * * * + + LONDON: + LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS, + AND SOLD BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. + 1852. + + * * * * * + + BIRMINGHAM: + PRINTED BY JOSIAH ALLEN AND SON, + 3, COLMORE ROW. + + * * * * * + + THIS VOLUME + + IS, BY KIND PERMISSION, + + DEDICATED TO + + THE RIGHT HON. SIR JOHN SOMERSET PAKINGTON, + + OF WESTWOOD PARK, BART., M.P., + + PRINCIPAL SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES. + + + + +ADVERTISEMENT. + + +IN this day the man who writes a useless book, commits a great sin +against society. The aim of this volume is utility; although the word, +as applied to it, must be interpreted in a very limited sense. Beyond a +circuit of a few miles it will have no interest; and even in respect to +its legitimate sphere it only assumes to be a record of facts by which +the man in public life may refresh his memory as to the particulars of +past events, or by which those who have lived and moved amongst the +occurrences here set down may call up pleasant associations of things and +times gone by. By its means all persons resident in or connected with +Worcestershire may possess themselves of a knowledge of the history of +the County during the century, besides having at their command a +repertory of all the principal events of the locality. It would in many +instances have been more gratifying to the writer to have exchanged the +chronicle for the narrative—the annal for something more pretentious as a +history, but the “utility” of the book would thereby have been impaired, +and he refrained. To have attempted a continuation of _Nash_ would have +been mere pedantry, and the mode would have been wholly unsuitable for a +record of modern Worcestershire. As for the opinions which may be found +scattered here and there on the following pages, the writer is no further +anxious about them than as being naturally desirous that what he believes +to be truth should be accepted and acted upon by others. But as to the +facts professed to be narrated, he hopes that they will be found +scrupulously accurate and undistorted by anything like party bias; of the +faults of omission, no one can be so conscious as the writer himself, but +the book, even now, is larger than he had at first intended. If errors +should be found, those whose censure would be the weightiest will readily +be able to suggest abundance of excuses, and to their forbearance he +unhesitatingly trusts the following pages. + +WORCESTER, OCTOBER, 1852. + + + + +INDEX. + + PAGE +INTRODUCTORY REVIEW 1 +PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS 20 + COUNTY OF WORCESTER 21 + CITY OF WORCESTER 28 + EVESHAM 39 + DROITWICH 45 + BEWDLEY 47 + KIDDERMINSTER 50 + DUDLEY 53 +ELECTIONS OF COUNTY CORONERS 55 +PUBLIC MEETINGS 59 +THE COUNTY MAGISTRACY 88 +REMARKABLE TRIALS 110 + THE ODDINGLEY MURDER 123 + EXECUTIONS 144 +RAILWAYS 150 + BIRMINGHAM AND GLOUCESTER 150 + GRAND CONNEXION PROJECT 154 + THE SCHEMES OF 1845 156 + OXFORD, WORCESTER, AND WOLVERHAMPTON 158 +IMPROVEMENT OF THE RIVER SEVERN 165 +WORCESTER TOWN COUNCIL 177 +WORCESTER INFIRMARY 197 +WORCESTER MUSICAL FESTIVALS 204 +NATURAL PHENOMENA 209 +MISCELLANEOUS OCCURRENCES 216 +THE COUNTY ARISTOCRACY 312 +THE CHURCH 318 +THE EXECUTIVE 321 +APPENDIX 328 + + + + +WORCESTERSHIRE IN THIS NINETEENTH CENTURY. + + +BEFORE entering on a detail of occurrences which possess, comparatively +speaking, only an isolated interest, I shall occupy a few pages in the +consideration of some general facts and statistics, which may enable the +reader to judge of the advance which the County of Worcester has made +during a truly remarkable half-century. No former period in the world’s +history ever witnessed such mental activity and progress. + +The INCREASE OF POPULATION, though not a perfect test of general +prosperity, yet indicates that the employments which engage the attention +of the inhabitants of any given district are flourishing, that there is +no such apprehended deficiency of the articles of wealth as seriously to +check marriage, and that there is an absence of some of those evils which +are constantly at work to retard the replenishment of the earth by the +human family. For the statistics of population in this county I refer +the reader to Table 1, in the Appendix, from which he will perceive that +a continuous, and in some instances a rapid increase has taken place in +the manufacturing districts. Until the last ten years, however, the +increase of population in this county, though exceeding that of many +counties, did not quite come up to the average increase of the entire +kingdom. The rate of increase from 1801 to 1811, was— + +Worcestershire, 15 per cent. England, 14½ per cent. +1811 to 1821 „ 15 „ „ 17½ „ +1821 to 1831 ,, 15 „ „ 16 „ +1831 to 1841 „ 10.4 „ „ 14.5 „ + +From 1841 to 1851, the rate of increase for Worcestershire was slightly +above the average, being as nearly as possible 13 per cent., while that +of England, as a whole, had declined, and was only about 12.7. This is a +fact upon which no interpretation can be put, except such as is +flattering to the condition and prospects of our county. EMIGRATION has +been slowly going on from our manufacturing districts during the last +fifteen years, but there has been no remarkable exodus at any particular +period. Many farm labourers and small occupants of land have also been +seduced by the Mormons to seek an imaginary paradise in the Far West. +Even this desultory emigration cannot but be beneficial. Great Britain +has yet, however, to acquire the practical wisdom of the ancients in +carrying out a systematic colonization, and it still remains for her +people to perform the noble mission which their national advantages and +insular position seem to assign them—that of peopling the solitudes of +the earth with a race which has hitherto proved equal to all +difficulties, and who would carry with them the laws of an Alfred, the +language of a Shakspere, and, above all, the ennobling influences of the +Christian religion. + +A tabular statement of CRIMINALS convicted, and of the nature of the +sentences inflicted upon them, will also be found in the Appendix. When +the improvement in the machinery for detecting crimes and bringing +offenders to justice is taken into account, there would not seem to be +any serious increase in the amount of crime committed; but there +certainly is no room for believing that the intelligence of the age, or +the activity of the police, have been successful in diminishing it. +Neither does the comparative leniency of the punishments inflicted afford +any proof that the crimes committed are less heinous than formerly. The +decrease in severity of punishments is to be attributed solely to the +amelioration of our criminal code, and the humane desire to reclaim +rather than to punish, which now distinguishes our legislature and even +pervades the judiciary. Worcestershire, it must be admitted, holds a bad +preëminence both in respect to the number and character of the offences +committed within its boundaries: a recent return, made by order of the +Privy Council, assigns it the very lowest place amongst the English +counties as to the proportion of criminals to the population, and within +three of the bottom of the list in degree of crime. + +EDUCATION is regarded by many as the panacea which is to empty our +prisons and render the judge’s office a sinecure; and, without being +inclined to attribute to it any such efficacy, it cannot be doubted that +it does act as a check to the commission of many of the grosser offences +against society. A private individual has not at his command the means +necessary to compile complete statistics on a subject like this; it is a +matter of congratulation, however, that Government caused inquiries to be +made, at the last census, which will by and by put us in possession of +much important information on this head. Without pretending to accuracy, +I believe it will be found that there are in Worcestershire about 550 +private and public day and boarding schools, having accommodation for the +instruction of 20,000 scholars. It is not, indeed, want of accommodation +that is now so much to be complained of—for few of the school-rooms are +filled—as inferiority in the quality of the instruction imparted. +Earnest efforts are, however, being made by all educational societies and +the supporters of public schools to remedy the admitted deficiency. +Nearly all the schools now existing in the county, with the exception of +the Grammar and Free Schools of which there are some seventy-six, have +been founded during the present century, and owe their existence, and in +greatest part their continuance, to the voluntary benevolence of persons +residing on the spot. Within the last three or four years, public +attention has been much directed to the lax administration of the funds +of the various charity schools in the county, and should the gentlemen +who have taken the matter so zealously in hand be successful in bringing +about the reforms which these institutions so imperatively need, the poor +of many future generations will have reason to thank them for their +labours. I must not omit to notice here the means which have been taken +in the latter part of this half-century to induce a love and pursuit of +knowledge amongst the working classes, by the establishment of Mechanics’ +Institutions, one of which is now to be found in almost every town in the +county. The elder born of these societies are, unfortunately, already +passing to decay, and, as at present conducted, they do not seem to +possess any inherent vitality. They have undoubtedly been useful in +displaying the more attractive results of study and science—the flowers +by the wayside, which may tempt triflers to venture a short distance on +Learning’s easier paths—but they offer little or no assistance to those +who would resolutely dare its difficult ascents. The efforts of the +friends of education should be directed to making these institutions what +their projector, Lord Brougham, intended they should be—People’s +Colleges. + +An estimate of the provision made for RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION in this +county will be found in the Appendix—Table No. 3. The Established +Church, by new buildings or enlargements, has increased the accommodation +for attendants on its forms of worship, since the year 1800, by one fifth +to one fourth. Upon looking at the large numbers provided for by +Wesleyanism, in its various forms, the thought cannot but occur that if +the Church of England could have retained John Wesley and his followers, +as Rome did St. Francis D’Assissi, to be its evangelists among the masses +of the population, it must have received a vast accession of strength. +The Wesleyans in forsaking their first simple object of evangelism for +that of building up a permanent ecclesiastical polity, seem to have +mistaken the source of their own power, and during the last two years +their numbers have considerably decreased from disaffection in the body. +The Independents and Baptists have been deficient in proselytism, +conceiving their special mission to be to keep in purity the faith +committed to them from their Puritan forefathers. The Unitarians and +Friends are stationary sects. The Roman Catholics have built ten small +chapels in this county during the present century, and as to numbers, +they have barely kept pace with the increase of population. The annual +value of church livings in this county is about £62,000; the income of +the See of Worcester is fixed at £5,000; and the net revenue of the Dean +and Chapter of Worcester is returned at £8,698. The various bodies of +Protestant Dissenters raise at least £20,000 annually for the support of +their ministers, Sabbath schools, missions, and other religious +institutions. + +This county yields at once the richest fruits of the soil and the most +practically valuable mineral productions. The total acreage of the +county, exclusive of roads and rivers, is 431,616; and by far the larger +portion of this surface is devoted to AGRICULTURE. According to Mr. +Fowler’s valuation, made in the year 1842, the total value of property +assessable to the county rate is £912,863; of which £263,000 may be taken +as representing the rental of buildings and land in the towns and +manufacturing districts, leaving £650,000 as the annual value of +agricultural property. In this statement the city of Worcester, the +rateable rental of which is about £75,000, is, of course, not included. +If it is assumed that 380,000 acres are arable and grass land, that will +probably be an approximation to the truth. In the total absence of +agricultural statistics any attempt to compute the present produce of the +county would be quite out of the question, but that it has greatly +increased of late years cannot be doubted. A gentleman, upon whose +practical knowledge and information the most entire reliance may be +placed, informs me that the average yield per acre throughout the Vale of +Evesham is now about 27 bushels in wheat, 32 in barley, 40 in oats, 27 in +beans; and that there has been an increase of fully 15 per cent. in the +wheat and barley crops, and of 10 per cent. in the bean crop, within the +last 20 or 25 years. Hops, however, for which this county has been and +still is so famous, have to a great extent gone out of cultivation; and +while at the beginning of the century some 6,000 acres were devoted to +their growth, there are now not more than 1,625 acres of hop plantation. +With regard to the general progress of agriculture, the half-century may +be divided into three periods. During the war the high prices of +provisions stimulated improvement, and much drainage was then done, +though in so rude and unscientific a way that it has since been found +necessary to replace a great deal of it. The Earl of Plymouth, the Earl +of Coventry, and A. Lechmere, Esq., in this county, very early bestowed +great pains on the drainage of their estates. From 1814 to 1830 +agriculture, comparatively speaking, was at a stand still; {6} but during +the last twenty years many and signal improvements have been made in its +science. Many persons still living can recollect whole hamlets and +villages in this county in which there was scarce an enclosure; and +nearly the whole of the land was cultivated in common by the resident +farmers, to each one of whom would be assigned a certain quantity in +wheat, barley, vetches, and fallow. Between each ploughed land was left +a strip of mere, into which the surface water from the adjoining ridges +all sank and rendered it little better than a constant bog, which +diseased the few poor sheep grazing upon it and made the ague a common +and hereditary ill to farmer and labourer alike. The amount of +unenclosed land now to be found in the county is quite unimportant; +thorough drainage is regarded as essential to all cultivation; burnt soil +has been much used to lighten the heavy clays; manures of all kinds are +extensively employed; and implements of a very improved and economic +description are used in almost every farming operation. The increased +cultivation of the turnip, and better management of the clay fallows, are +marked features in Worcestershire agricultural improvements. Clay lands, +that formerly were allowed to lie fallow every fourth or fifth year, are +now planted with vetches, and sheep-folded. A remarkable advance, too, +has been made in the character of the stock reared, especially in the +size and quality of the sheep. The better drainage of the land has +prevented much of the disease which used formerly to thin out the flocks +year by year, and there has been no serious rot in the county since 1831. +The local agricultural societies, which have been established during the +last fifteen years, have done much by their premiums and annual +exhibitions to stimulate improvement, but our chief confidence for +progress in the future lies in our being able to number amongst our +landowners and occupiers men of intelligence and enterprise, who, in all +quarters of the county, are seriously engaged in adjusting the relations +of landlord and tenant to the circumstances of the times, and by improved +modes of farm management and cultivation seeking to meet successfully +unrestricted foreign competition. + +Our mineral productions are COAL and IRON, both of which are found in +large quantities at the northern extremity of the county, and coal is +also raised in the neighbourhood of Bewdley. The Dudley division of the +South Staffordshire coal field is celebrated for producing what is known +as the ten yard or thick coal—so named because the bed is thirty feet in +thickness. It is, indeed, the largest and most important bed of coal in +the kingdom, and its good qualities are too well known to every +housekeeper in this district to need that I should expatiate upon them +here. With the associated thin coals and ironstone this bed is worth at +least £1,000 per acre. The number of tons of coal raised in the Dudley +district (Worcestershire only) during 1851 may be approximately reckoned +at 700,000, worth perhaps £25,000. It was in this district that coal was +first used for the purpose of smelting iron, in the year 1619. The +duties on the introduction of foreign iron were cither removed or +rendered merely nominal in 1826, and the production has since nearly +quadrupled, and now amounts to 2,250,000 tons annually. The South +Staffordshire and Worcestershire iron district ranks second in +importance, far surpassing Scotland in the manufacture of wrought iron, +and the quality is superior to that of South Wales. The number of +furnaces now in blast in this county is twenty-eight, and eighteen out of +blast. Nearly 150,000 tons of iron were made here in 1851, and prices +ranged from 50s. to 57s. 6d. hot blast; cold blast, 60s. to 67s. 6d.; +best makes, 120s., and second ditto, 110s. per ton. The make of iron has +not greatly increased in Worcestershire during the last few years, but no +branch of our productive industry rests on surer foundations, or has more +prospect of continuous extension, than the iron trade. + +The GLASS manufacture, of which Stourbridge is a principal seat, affords +a most striking instance of the tendency of excessive duties, collected +under regulations which interfere with and cramp industrial processes. +In 1811 the home consumption of glass amounted to 417,911 cwt.: in 1812 +the excise duties on this article were doubled; the average consumption +of the next three years was but 264,931 cwt.; and up to the time of the +reduction of the duties by two-thirds, in 1835, there had been no +increase whatever in the consumption of British glass since the +commencement of the present century. Since the entire abolition of the +duties, in 1845, the consumption has increased to a surprising extent, +and glass has been applied to uses previously undreamt of. The +manufacture was introduced into Stourbridge, about 1556, by refugees from +Lorraine, and has continued to flourish there ever since. The +descriptions principally made here are flint, bottle, and chemical +utensil glass. There are now twelve glass manufactories in the town and +neighbourhood, employing about 1,050 pairs of hands, and the trade +generally is in a prosperous state. The manufacture of FIRE BRICKS, and +the sale of clay for glass works, is a trade at Stourbridge, now almost +as important as the manufacture of glass itself; and as it is one with +the details of which the public are not generally conversant, I shall +enter somewhat into particulars. Beneath all coal strata is found a +clay, which, from the peculiarity of its ingredients, is remarkably well +adapted to stand the action of intense heat. An analysis of the best +clay raised at Stourbridge, gives + +Silica 72.516 +Alumina 20.264 +Lime 0.891 +Peroxide of Iron 3.308 +Protoxide of Manganese 1.488 +Phosphate of Lime 1.533 + 100.000 + +The presence of lime or iron in any considerable quantities would render +the clay fusible, but when the silica and alumina so greatly +preponderate, it will stand any amount of heat that can be raised in +ordinary furnaces. The best clay fetches about 55s. per ton, and is used +for glass-house pots and the bricks used in making glass furnaces, not +only in England but other countries; it is exported to North America in +large quantities, and to South America, France, Holland, and Germany. +Besides the best clay, inferior descriptions called “seconds,” “black,” +and “offal” clay are raised to a considerable extent. The first (black), +mixed in certain proportions with “seconds,” potsherds, &c., is chiefly +used for making crucibles, in which metals are melted; and of these +Birmingham alone takes about 100 dozen weekly from this district. The +“offal clay,” or that which is raised from the mine in the mixed or +broken state, is not “picked” (or selected), but ground and sold at 10s. +per ton: with this the great bulk of fire bricks are made. The trade is +one of ancient date; Rufford’s clay works have been carried on during the +whole of this century under the same name, but its principal development +has taken place within the last forty years. Formerly the owners did not +get half the best or other clays, and forty years ago there was no better +speculation than taking to what was then considered a broken, or +worked-out mine. Nor did they attempt any but square or roughly-made +bricks, whereas the trade now can model and finish neatly. Even now the +capabilities of Stourbridge fire clay are not generally understood. It +has had a steady unfluctuating demand, and notwithstanding the discovery +of fire clay in various parts of the island, Stourbridge never did a +larger business than at present. The Stourbridge clays and bricks are +sold freely both in the north and in Wales. About 15,000 tons of best +clay are raised annually in the Stourbridge district. There are four +proprietors of clay mines in Stourbridge, and two firms renting mines; +five out of the six being also manufacturers of fire bricks and other +articles in which the clay is used. The fire bricks are made of all +sizes; the largest kept in regular stock weighs 635lbs. The glass-house +bricks are sold “green” (dry) and but seldom burnt. The common +description for gas works, iron works, and all other purposes, are burnt. +About 14,000,000 of bricks of all descriptions are made annually in the +Stourbridge district, consuming about 46,000 tons of clay, and may be +valued at £50,000. An important branch of the trade, and one which has +been gradually increasing for the last seven years, is the manufacture of +clay retorts for gas works, and they are now generally preferred to +metal. The most striking purpose to which the fire clay has been turned +is the manufacture of large baths in one piece. At the suggestion of +Prince Albert, the Society of Arts in 1846 offered a premium for the +production of such an article, and in 1850 one was made at the works of +F. T. Rufford, Esq., which gained the Gold Isis Medal. It had been +thought impossible to manufacture such an article in one piece because of +the great contraction which all pottery undergoes in burning, but after +much patient experiment, the ingenuity and skill of the practical men in +Mr. Rufford’s works produced a perfect and beautiful vessel which may be +said to be imperishable, will never discolour, is cleansed without +labour, and is incapable of retaining the poison of any contagious +disease in an active form. The clearness of the colour (white or +marbled) is effected by veneering china on the inner surface of the fire +clay, and the contractile effect of burning is overcome by assimilating +the two clays. Many public baths are now supplied with this useful +article, which bids fair altogether to supersede the metallic baths. The +number of hands employed at Stourbridge in the manufacture of bricks and +other articles from fire clay is about 900. The town has been +considerably improved since 1820: the bridge over the Stour was widened +in 1840; a new market hall has recently been erected, and the inhabitants +generally seem to have somewhat of the spirit and enterprise expected in +a flourishing manufacturing place. + +The manufactures of KIDDERMINSTER are of many years standing. In 1536 it +was enacted that “No person of what degree or quality soever they be, +shall make within the shire of Worcester any manner of woollen cloths, +except only within the city of Worcester, the borough and towns of +Kidderminster, Evesham, Droitwich, and Bromsgrove, under pain of +forfeiting, for every broad cloth elsewhere made, the sum of ten pounds;” +and in the time of Charles II an act was passed “for regulating the +manufacture of Kidderminster stuffs.” Arras, frieze, cheneys and +ratteens, poplin, prunellas, rich brocades and quilted stuffs were all +made here in their turn, but the CARPET MANUFACTURE, to which the town +has entirely owed its prosperity and fame in later years, was not +introduced till the middle of last century. At first the Scotch carpets +only were made, but afterwards Wilton and Brussels, and the Kidderminster +goods at once acquired celebrity for substantial workmanship and +brilliancy of colouring. At the beginning of the present century there +were probably about 400 looms at work here, but there are now at least +3,000. The trade has of course been subject to many fluctuations, and +there have been several seasons of severe distress amongst the weavers, +which have been for the most part coincident with stagnation in other +departments of manufacture, and are traceable to the same general causes. +During the last ten years the business has been comparatively prosperous, +there has been a great increase of production, and the tapestry carpeting +is largely exported to the Continent, where its cheapness secures sale in +the teeth of the elegant, but costly, “velvets” of France. The many +improvements which have been introduced into the method of manufacture +during the present century, have principally had reference to the +construction of the looms, and economy in the amount of wool used; in +design there is still something to be accomplished. The principal +varieties now made are the ordinary Venetian carpeting, the Scotch or +Kidderminster, Brussels, Wilton, Genoa velvets, Axminster, Saxony, and +the patent tapestry carpetings, which last are among the most recent and +important introductions. Some of the yarns employed in the fabrication +of these were printed and arranged in Halifax, under a patent from +Messrs. Crossley, which however expired in September last. Steam looms +for tapestry under patents from the same firm are already at work in the +town, and steam looms for the manufacture of Brussels carpeting are about +to be introduced, the effect of which, upon the general character of the +trade, must needs be exceedingly important; but though the change can +scarcely fail to occasion temporary distress, it may fairly be hoped +that, like all other improvements, it will result in a large increase of +the manufacture, and add to the demand for labour and its remuneration. +The other manufactures carried on here, principally relate to the +preparation of leather; damask silks are made by one manufacturer; and +there are one or two spinning mills. There are various tin forges in the +neighbourhood, and iron, tin, and screw works at Cookley employing many +hands. + +REDDITCH and its neighbourhood is the principal seat of the needle and +fish hook manufactures in this kingdom, and has been so for upwards of a +century. In 1800 perhaps 500 persons found employment in this business +at Redditch, while the present number, including children, is at least +2,300, and the quantity of needles made has increased from 150 to 1,000 +millions per annum. A very large population is also engaged in the +manufacture, at Astwood Bank, Feckenham, Crab’s Cross, &c., but all the +needles so made are known as Redditch needles. The superiority of the +article manufactured here ensures it a sale all over the world, and it is +only in the common and inferior descriptions that the German makers come +into competition with those of this county; in fact, the Germans +themselves send to Redditch for their best goods. Some very important +improvements have been lately introduced into the manufactories, and +especially a contrivance for carrying off the fine steel dust created in +the operation of grinding the needles, which was formerly very +destructive of the lives of the persons employed. The fish hook trade is +carried on to a considerable extent in this neighbourhood, and large +quantities of barbs, from the fly fisher’s delicate tackle to the +whaler’s harpoon, are annually exported to all quarters of the globe. +There is also one pin manufactory in the town. The operative needle +makers are amongst the most intelligent of our artizans, and the future +prospects of the trade are in most respects encouraging. + +NAIL MAKING employs a large number of people both at Bromsgrove and in +the neighbourhood of Stourbridge. In the former town and district there +were, some sixty years ago, only five or six nail masters or factors, and +not more than 400 or 500 persons engaged in the business, but it now +furnishes occupation for ten times that number. Twenty-five years since +the trade was in a prosperous state, but about this time, owing to the +demand being good, an inferior article was made, with which the customers +were dissatisfied; and the result of this state of things was the +invention of a machine which, by singular ingenuity and application of +mechanical skill, cuts every part of the nail at once out of a solid +sheet of iron. The rapidity, ease, and cheapness with which nails were +thus multiplied, of course caused a great change in the condition and +prospects of the nail-making districts. The demand, however, still +continues for many descriptions of the article which cannot be made, or +so well made, by machine, and supplies a tolerable amount of employment. +The French and Germans now successfully compete with us in the +manufacture, and the export trade to America is decreasing in consequence +of the prohibitory duty imposed by the government of that country. The +nailors, as a class, are almost as destitute as the colliers of +everything like intelligence, and this is chiefly owing to the early age +at which the children work at the trade and are able to earn a livelihood +for themselves. The truck system—by which the employer pays the wages of +his workpeople, not in money, but in goods of his own providing, and at +prices of his own fixing—is an evil of monstrous growth, which has +greatly assisted in the degradation of the workpeople. Recently, +however, many benevolent efforts have been made to provide them with +education and to remedy the social evils which exist amongst them. +Thirty or forty years ago there was a considerable linen trade carried on +at Bromsgrove. A good deal of flax was once grown in this neighbourhood, +and the manufacture by the hand loom was considerable, but the +introduction of machinery superseded this mode of making, and enterprise +and capital, necessary to the establishment of factories with the latest +improvements in machinery, were wanting. Moreover Bromsgrove linens got +into disrepute, because those of inferior make were sent here for +bleaching and sold as of Bromsgrove manufacture. Bromsgrove itself has +been much improved within the last twenty years. In the year 1846 an Act +of Parliament was passed for paving, cleansing, draining, and improving +the town, and for the better assessing and collecting the parochial +rates. + +The SALT MANUFACTURE of Droitwich is one of the most ancient businesses +in the kingdom, having been carried on for upwards of 1,000 years, and +the salt made here has always been celebrated for its strength and +purity. From the year 1805 until 1823 salt was subject to a duty of 15s. +a bushel or £30 a ton, and this impost was collected by the excise every +six weeks. A large capital was therefore required to carry on the trade, +and the price of fine salt was at least £32 per ton. In that year, +however, the duty was reduced to 2s. a bushel, and in 1825 it was removed +altogether; and the highest price of fine salt, since its repeal, has +been £1. 2s. 6d. per ton. That such a reduction in price must have led +to a greatly increased consumption is self-evident, but there was no very +immediate or considerable increase in the make. The proprietors of the +original salt works in this borough sought to protect themselves against +competition, by buying up most of the land that would be available for +the erection of new works, and for a time they kept up their profits. +Rival companies, however, did at length find means of establishing +themselves, and about twelve or fourteen years ago a large increase of +production took place, but the price of the article has been so reduced +by this competition that the business has become very unremunerative. +Repeated failures have taken place amongst the more recent firms; and +half a million of capital, invested in the manufacture within the last +twenty-five years, has been entirely lost. Within the last fifty years +the primitive method of simply boring for the brine has been improved +upon by casing the pit with wood, and more recently shafts have been sunk +quite through the fresh water springs, the bottom and sides of which are +secured with iron cylinders before boring down to the brine springs. By +this means the brine (which lies 173 feet from the surface) is obtained +at its full saturation of 42 parts of salt to 100, while formerly it +varied between 28 and 37 percent. The present annual make at Droitwich +of all kinds of salt is about 80,000 tons, and at the works at Stoke, +from 25,000 to 30,000 tons; the average price per ton is scarcely more +than 10s. The Droitwich trade labours under considerable disadvantage in +the heavy tonnage which the manufacturers have to pay for the carriage of +the article to the outports, and the iniquitous tax imposed upon the +article in the East Indies, where it is almost a necessary of life, is a +great hindrance to an extension of sale. + +The manufactures with which WORCESTER itself is associated, during the +half-century just closed, have reached their meridian and have seriously +declined. Our porcelain factories were once almost as famous as those of +Sévres, and notices will be found in the following pages of continual +visits from Royal and distinguished personages to witness the art of the +potter, and to give large orders for splendid services of China; but this +is one of those articles the demand for which has been greatly affected +by a change of fashion, and plate has now almost wholly superseded China +for dinner services amongst people of wealth. Truth requires it to be +said also that our manufacturers have allowed themselves to be +outstripped, in spirit and improvement, by those of other places. At the +beginning of this century there were forty or fifty master glovers in +Worcester. The trade received a serious check by the suspension of our +intercourse with America in 1812, nevertheless, the number had increased +in 1826 to 120; but the repeal of the import duty in that year, together +with the more general use of Berlin and silk gloves, has had such a +damaging effect upon the trade, that there are at present only twenty +master glovers in the city. One firm, however (known as the Messrs. +Dent’s), has a world-wide celebrity, and manufactures on a very large +scale. It was not so much in price as in quality that the Worcester +makers had to dread foreign competition; the article sent out from their +workshops before the repeal of the duty was clumsily and badly made. +Worcester gloves are now equal in every respect to those imported from +France, and are often sold as French to accommodate the prejudice of the +customer. It seems hard to say why Worcester, a city so centrally +situated, and, before the railway era, so advantageously situated as +regards the means of communication with other parts of the kingdom, has +not become a manufacturing emporium and a place of much greater +importance. In my belief, one principal reason has been the hindrance to +speculative or _bonâ fide_ building, which exists in the bad tenure of +land everywhere around the city; there can be no doubt that this has +driven enterprising men to settle in places which in other respects were +less suitable for their undertakings. There has, moreover, been a lack +of unity and coöperation amongst the inhabitants in the promotion of the +general good which has been “the worm i’ the bud” to many schemes which +would in all probability have greatly advanced the prosperity of the +city. Considerations of the common weal have been postponed to the +interests of partizanship. To make an application of our civic +motto—Worcester, if faithful to herself, may flourish ever. Worcester is +rich in charitable institutions and revenues for alleviating the +distresses of poverty. It may be a question, indeed, whether these have +not reached the point at which eleemosynary aid ceases to be +advantageous, begins to foster dependence, and eats out the energy of a +community; but their abundance has at any rate not had the effect of +drying up the streams of private benevolence. At least £40,000 have been +raised in Worcester at different periods of distress and necessity which +have occurred since 1800, for the relief and aid of its own poor. + +There are many minor manufactures carried on in the county, especially +the preparation of leather at Bewdley, Stourport, and Worcester, which +need not be further particularised, and for the remaining towns and +boroughs—these—like an honoured aristocracy—repose on their historical +associations; the fame which the touches of a master hand, such as +Fielding’s, may have cast around their name; or the remembrances of +former activity and bustle. But I must not omit a passing notice of +MALVERN, that gem of nature’s setting, on whose hills the purest air is +breathed, the purest water drank, and the richest and most unique inland +landscape to be seen in all England. Formerly what is called Malvern +Wells was the only part of the hills at which visitors stopped, but for +the last twenty years Great Malvern has been gradually growing as a place +of resort, and is now a “town” by Act of Parliament. And whether for +pleasure or for health it must continue to be resorted to, and to +increase in fame and importance; for it abounds in nature’s simplest but +most efficacious restoratives, and its beauties will bear repeated +inspection, and will be appreciated just in proportion to the cultivation +of the mind that dwells on them. + +Even from this hasty and cursory glance at the progress of the county +during the first half of the nineteenth century, it will be apparent that +Worcestershire has not been deficient in contributing her quota to the +general prosperity. The age is remorseless in its demands; we cannot +stand still. The years that are past press with all their accelerated +momentum on the heels of those that follow and hurry them to a yet +greater speed. But our resources are not exhausted, nor need we fear +that they shall ever be. We do not trace the decay of nations to any +failure in the material of greatness, but in the enervation of the mind +that should develop it. It only remains for us, then, to be found in the +practice of intelligence and industry—which make a people great—and of +the virtues which make a people happy. + + + + +PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS. + + +THE great change in constituencies and elections which divides with so +marked a line the period over which the records of this volume extend has +long been accepted by all parties as _un fait accompli_, and few, if any, +would revert to the system of former days, even if it were possible. All +now see that by its means we have been enabled to take Reform as our +watchword, instead of Revolution, and to escape anarchy and despotism—the +Scylla and Charybdis into which the continental nations have been +continually falling. Elections in Worcestershire have of course been +much the same as elections elsewhere; often scenes of riot and +corruption, now and then the occasions of an irresistible burst of +popular feeling, but very far from being at any time exercises of calm, +deliberative, and patriotic judgment. As to the changes which should be +made in the constituencies with a view to remedy existing evils, and to +add strength to our constitutional edifice, everybody now-a-days has his +own crotchet, and the writer’s is an educational franchise. He believes +that it would be perfectly feasible to make a register of all parties who +could read and write, in the presence of the revising officer, some +declaration of the privileges and responsibilities of a vote, and who +could satisfy him that they understood the functions of a representative. +No one that had not so far qualified himself for the exercise of the +franchise could in these days reasonably complain of being denied it, and +it would give a greater impulse to elementary education than all the +grants of public money that ever have or ever will be made for the +establishment of schools. + + + +COUNTY OF WORCESTER. + + +BEFORE the passing of the Reform Bill the number of electors on the +county register was not much more than 3,500. At the last revision there +were in the eastern division, 6,515; western, 4,135. + +1802—JULY 12—(General Election, the old Parliament having run out its +legal term.)—The Hon. Edward Foley, of Stoke Edith, and Wm. Lygon, Esq., +reëlected without opposition. + +1803—JULY 19—(Vacancy occasioned by the death of the Hon. E. Foley.)—The +Hon. W. Ward elected without opposition. + +1806—MARCH 3—(Vacancy occasioned by the elevation of Wm. Lygon, Esq., to +the Peerage.)—The nomination takes place in the Castle Yard, Worcester. +The Hon. W. B. Lygon, son of the peer recently created, was proposed by +the Rev. Mr. Pyndar, and seconded by Thomas Hornyold, Esq. The Hon. W. +H. Lyttelton, undeterred by the Beauchamp influence, then thought to be +overwhelming, came forward “to assert the independence of the county,” +and was proposed by John Amphlett, Esq., of Clent, and seconded by the +Rev. Mr. Onslow, Vicar of Kidderminster. The show of hands was in favour +of Mr. Lygon, and a poll demanded by his opponent. After five days’ +polling Mr. Lyttelton resigned, the numbers then being—Lygon, 1,502; +Lyttelton, 1,145—majority for Lygon, 357. A sharp correspondence, +imputing artifices, fraud, &c., afterwards took place between the +candidates. The representation of the county had not been contested +previously since the general election of 1741 (64 years before), when the +numbers were Lechmere, 2,309; Pitt, 2,120; Deerhurst, 1,930; Lyttelton, +1,412. + +1806—NOVEMBER 7—(General Election on the accession of the short-lived Fox +ministry.)—The Hon. Mr. Lygon, and the Hon. Mr. Lyttelton, returned +together without opposition; the Hon. Mr. Ward having retired from the +representation in consequence of ill health. + +1807—MAY—(General Election—Change of Ministry, and Appeal by the King to +the country on the Catholic Question.)—Hon. W. B. Lygon, and Hon. W. H. +Lyttelton, reëlected without opposition. A storm came on while the +election was proceeding, and the Sheriff was obliged to retire into the +Castle to finish the proceedings. It is noticed that the accommodation +in the Castle Yard was of the worst possible description. + +1812—OCTOBER—(General Election.)—The Hon. W. B. Lygon, and Hon. W. H. +Lyttelton, returned again without opposition. + +1816—NOVEMBER—(On the elevation of Lord Elmley, the Hon. W. B. Lygon, to +the peerage by the death of his father, Earl Beauchamp.)—Col. H. B. +Lygon, younger brother of the former member, elected without opposition. + +1818—JUNE—(General Election.)—Col. Lygon, and the Hon. W. H. Lyttelton, +reëlected without opposition. + +1820—MARCH—(General Election on the demise of George III)—The Hon. W. H. +Lyttelton retired from the representation from family considerations, and +Sir Thomas Winnington, Bart., offered himself as a candidate in his +stead. At the nomination, Col. Lygon was proposed by Sir A. Lechmere, +and seconded by Sir William Smith, Bart.; and Sir Thomas Winnington was +proposed by T. S. Vernon, Esq., and seconded by E. M. Wigley, Esq. There +was no opposition. + +1826—JUNE—(General Election. Parliament dissolved by George IV, its +possible sands having almost run out.)—Col. Lygon and Sir Thomas +Winnington, Bart., reëlected without the shadow of an opposition. + +1830—AUGUST—(General Election on the accession of William IV.)—Sir Thomas +Winnington retired from the representation, and the Hon. Thomas Henry +Foley, son of Lord Foley, was elected in his stead, with Colonel Lygon, +who thus for the fifth time was returned without opposition. + +1831—MAY—(General Election to take the sense of the country on the Reform +Bill.)—The Reformers from the first moment that this election became +imminent, looked about for a candidate to oppose Col. Lygon. First, Mr. +Sergeant Russell was mentioned, and then John Richards, Esq., of +Stourbridge. The last named gentleman actually did one week issue an +address to the freeholders, but, frightened at hearing that the Dowager +Lady Beauchamp had subscribed £50,000 to fight the country, he hastily +withdrew on the next. However, a few days before the election, Captain +Spencer, brother to Lord Althorp, allowed himself to be named as a +candidate, and a tremendous struggle ensued. Col. Lygon, while +canvassing in the Corn Market, Worcester, was attacked by a town’s +rabble, and compelled to take refuge in a neighbouring tavern. On the +morning of the nomination, Col. Lygon assembled his friends at +Madresfield; Mr. Foley at the New Inn, Ombersley Road; and Captain +Spencer, at the Talbot, Tything. The nomination took place in the Castle +Yard, Osman Ricardo, Esq., High Sheriff, being returning officer. John +S. Pakington, Esq., proposed Col. Lygon, who was seconded by John +Phillips, Esq.; T. T. Vernon, Esq., proposed, and T. C. Hornyold, Esq., +seconded, the Hon. Mr. Foley; and Sir C. S. Smith, Bart., and Robert +Berkeley, Esq., were Captain Spencer’s proposer and seconder. Before the +show of hands was taken, Dr. Beale Cooper demanded proof of Captain +Spencer’s qualification, whereupon the Captain said he had expected such +a demand, and handed to the under sheriff a deed _bearing date April_ 30, +purporting to be a grant from Earl Spencer to Captain Spencer, of a rent +charge to the amount of £600 upon manors and estates in the county of +Herts. The show of hands was declared to be in favour of Foley and +Spencer, whereupon Col. Lygon demanded a poll, which immediately +commenced. Col. Lygon headed the poll the first day, but never +afterwards; and on the morning of the seventh day he resigned all further +contest, the numbers then being—Foley, 2,034; Spencer, 1,765; Lygon, +1,335. At the close of each day speeches were made by the candidates and +their friends, from the booths at the back of the Talbot Inn, Tything; +and the coalition formed between Foley and Spencer, on finding that +Colonel Lygon’s friends were plumping for him, formed a most fertile +topic for talk. A riot took place in Broad Street one evening, in +consequence of one of Col. Lygon’s friends having imprudently irritated +the mob by throwing a decanter amongst them from the committee-room. The +windows of the room were immediately broken, and other disturbances took +place. There can be no doubt that the result of this election had great +effect upon the country generally. + +A dinner was given in the next week to the Hon. Mr. Foley and Captain +Spencer, at the Bell Inn, with Sir Thomas Winnington, Bart., in the +chair. Sir C. S. Smith was in the vice-chair, and Lord Lyttelton and +about 100 other gentlemen were present. Dinners were also given to the +successful candidates at Hagley, Kidderminster, Evesham, Stourbridge, +Dudley, and Birmingham. The Birmingham dinner was held at Dee’s Hotel, +with Dr. Edward Johnstone in the chair. + +Immediately after the election a meeting of Col. Lygon’s friends was held +at the Hoppole, Worcester, “to take into consideration the best mode of +testifying their approbation of his manly, spirited, and patriotic +conduct upon the late election; and for his faithful services during the +fifteen years he represented this county in Parliament.” J. S. +Pakington, Esq., was called to the chair, and there was a very +respectable attendance. Mr. Pakington asserted that the minority who had +voted for the Colonel, comprised the majority of the education and +respectability of the county. The “discreditable coalition” proved the +theme of much lamentation. Resolutions approving of Col. Lygon’s +Parliamentary career and general conduct were agreed to, and a +subscription entered into for the purchase of plate. This was presented +at a dinner at the Hoppole, in February, 1832. It was a superb vase, 57 +inches in circumference, supported on a massive column and plinth, +decorated with embossed Acanthus leaves, and weighing in the whole 600 +oz. It was designed by the inscription to be “a testimony of the +gratitude of his political friends for his long and faithful attention to +their interest in Parliament, and especially for his support of our +glorious and long cherished constitution.” John S. Pakington, Esq., was +the president of the evening, and presented the testimonial. + +1832—DECEMBER—(Election rendered necessary by the passing of the Reform +Bill.)—The county now divided into two divisions.—_West +Worcestershire_.—The Hon. T. H. Foley (Whig), and Col. Lygon +(Conservative), returned without opposition. The nomination took place +in the space fronting the County Gaol, and the candidates were not +proposed or seconded, the cries of “Foley and Lygon” by the crowd, +without any other person being named, being taken by the Sheriff as +sufficient. + +_East Worcestershire_.—The nomination of candidates took place at +Droitwich, Mr. Pakington (Conservative), being proposed by James Taylor, +Esq., and John Phillips, Esq., of Hanbury Hall; Thomas Henry Cookes, +Esq., (Whig) by Sir Thomas Winnington, Bart., and C. E. Hanford, Esq.; +and Wm. Congreve Russell, Esq., (Whig) by T. T. Vernon, Esq., and W. +Acton, Esq. The High Sheriff declared the show of hands to be in favour +of Mr. Pakington and Mr. Cookes, whereupon a poll was demanded for Mr. +Russell. After the two days’ poll the numbers were declared to +be—Russell, 2,576; Cookes, 2,516; Pakington, 1,916. The whole +proceedings were conducted in a peaceable and gentlemanly manner, and Mr. +Pakington, who addressed the electors at the “Declaration,” as well as +the successful candidates, was very well received. He complained of +broken promises, and the coalition of his opponents as fettering the +“independence” of the county, but declared himself neither disheartened +nor offended. + +1833—MAY—_West Worcestershire_.—(Vacancy occasioned by the elevation of +the Hon. T. H. Foley to the House of Peers, on the death of his +father.)—The nomination took place in the field at the back of the Talbot +Inn, Tything. Sir Christopher Smith, Bart., proposed Captain H. J. +Winnington, who was seconded by Robert Berkeley, Esq. John Williams, +Esq., and T. C. Brock, Esq., proposed and seconded John S. Pakington, +Esq., who, to the great detriment of his cause, was not present during +any part of the proceedings—having just previously sailed to America. +Major Bund spoke at the hustings on his behalf. A Mr. Crowther also made +many attempts to be heard, but was hissed down, and he afterwards +explained in a letter to the newspapers that instead of being Mr. +Pakington’s opponent, as formerly, he intended to be his supporter, +because Captain Winnington and the Whigs had voted for the erection of +the New County Courts, while Mr. Pakington, on the contrary, “had always +opposed that unnecessary and shameful expenditure of the freeholders’ +money.” The show of hands was very decidedly in favour of Captain +Winnington, and the Court was declared adjourned (from the Wednesday) to +the following Monday. At the end of the first day’s poll Captain +Winnington was 79 a-head, and the utmost excitement prevailed. Lord +Eastnor addressed the multitude on Mr. Pakington’s behalf, and the Rev. +Thomas Pearson spoke for Captain Winnington. The second day only +increased Captain Winnington’s majority, but the result was not certainly +known till the declaration of the numbers by the High Sheriff, on +Thursday morning, when they were announced to be—for Captain Winnington, +1,369; for Pakington, 1,278: majority for Winnington, 91. Mr. Pakington +had a majority in the Worcester and Upton divisions, but was beaten in +those of Stourport and Tenbury. Out of 3,122 voters, 2,647 were polled, +and though there had never been so close a contest in the county before, +it was carried on with very good humour. Captain Winnington’s return was +celebrated by a dinner at the Star and Garter Hotel, with Sir C. S. Smith +in the chair. + +1835—JANUARY—_East Worcestershire_.—(General Election on the breaking up +of the Grey and Spencer cabinet, and the accession of the Duke of +Wellington and Sir R. Peel to power.)—Mr. Russell retired from the +representation at this election, on the score of ill-health, and his +place was taken on the Reform interest by Edward Holland, Esq., of +Dumbleton. Mr. Horace St. Paul was brought forward late in the day by +the Conservatives. Sir Thomas Winnington, M.P., and C. E. Hanford, Esq., +proposed Mr. Cookes, the former member. James Taylor, Esq., of Moseley +Hall, and Mr. Whitmore Jones, proposed Mr. St. Paul; and Mr. Bate, of +Stourbridge, and Mr. Acton, Mr. Edward Holland. The choice of the people +at the nomination was declared to have fallen on Messrs. Cookes and +Holland, and a poll was demanded for Mr. St. Paul. At the end of the two +days’ poll the numbers were—Holland, 2,254; Cookes, 2,192; St. Paul, +2,145. Majority of Cookes over St. Paul, 47. 4,125 persons voted out of +5,226 on the register. There was some rioting at Stourbridge, which +necessitated the sending for two troops of lancers from Birmingham, and +Mr. St. Paul, declaring that some of his voters had been prevented from +coming to the poll by violence, presented a protest against the election. +A petition was talked of on this ground, but it came to nothing. A +dinner was given to the successful candidates, at the Golden Cross Hotel, +Bromsgrove, at which Colonel Davies presided. A similar dinner at +Stourbridge, with J. H. H. Foley, Esq., in the chair, gave rise to a +correspondence between Messrs. Robins, Hickman, Hodgetts, and Trow, and +Mr. Robert Scott and Lord Lyttelton. The first named gentlemen chose to +believe that some remarks made by Mr. Scott on the partiality and +incompetency of the county magistracy generally, were intended for +themselves, and they appealed to Lord Lyttelton to institute an inquiry. +The Lord Lieutenant not only refused to accede to their request, but +rebuked them for the language they had used. + +_West Worcestershire_.—The candidates were as before, Colonel Lygon and +Mr. Pakington, who professed to coalesce on the Conservative interest, +and Captain Winnington, Whig. Sir A. Lechmere and the Hon. W. Coventry +proposed Col. Lygon; Mr. Osman Ricardo and Mr. Berkeley, Captain +Winnington; and Lord Eastnor and Mr. T. C. Brock, Mr. Pakington. The +show of hands was declared to be in favour of Captain Winnington and Mr. +Pakington. At the close of the poll the numbers were—Lygon, 1,945; +Winnington, 1,938; Pakington, 1,773: majority for Winnington, 165. 3,619 +persons voted out of 4,126 upon the register. + +1837—JULY—(General Election on the death of William IV.)—_West +Worcestershire_.—General Lygon and Captain Winnington reëlected without +opposition. + +_East Worcestershire_.—Here there was a fierce contest, ending in the +return, for the first time, of two Conservatives. Before the election +took place the Conservatives offered a compromise, and suggested that one +of each party should be allowed to walk over, but the Liberals were so +sanguine of winning that they would not listen to the proposal. Mr. +Cookes had retired from the representation from ill-health, but his place +was supplied by Mr. J. H. H. Foley, who, with Mr. Holland, came forward +in the Liberal interest, while the Conservative candidates were Mr. H. +St. Paul and Mr. Barneby. On the hustings Colonel Davies and Sir William +Rouse Boughton, Bart., proposed Mr. Holland; T. H. Cookes, Esq., (the +late member) and James Foster, Esq., Mr. Foley; James Taylor, Esq., and +Thomas Hawkes, Esq., M.P., Mr. H. St. Paul; and Lord Eastnor and Edward +Dixon, Esq., Mr. Barneby. The show of hands was in favour of Messrs. +Barneby and St. Paul; and after the two days’ poll they were declared +duly elected; the numbers being—St. Paul, 2,595; Barneby, 2,528; Holland, +2,175; Foley, 2,168. In the Stourbridge, Bromsgrove, and Evesham +districts only, had the Liberal candidates a slight majority. Mr. Horace +St. Paul’s expenses at this election are said to have been £16,000. + +1841—JUNE—(General Election. The Parliament having declared their want +of confidence in the ministers, the Whigs appeal to the people on the +Corn Law, Sugar, and Irish Registration questions. Sir Robert Peel’s “no +confidence” motion had been carried by a majority of one against +ministers.)—_West Worcestershire_.—General Lygon and F. Winn Knight, +Esq., nephew of the late John Knight, Esq., of Downton Castle, were +elected without opposition. Captain Winnington had retired from the +field in consequence of the division amongst his supporters on the Corn +Law question. He had constantly voted against any alteration of the Corn +Laws, and therefore did not please the constituencies of the towns. With +this state of things, added to the loss of the Foley interest in the +county, he could have had no chance, and therefore refused to disturb the +division by a contest. + +_East Worcestershire_.—John Barneby, Esq., and James Arthur Taylor, Esq., +returned. Mr. Horace St. Paul retired from the representation because of +ill-health, and for the same reason Mr. Holland declined to offer on the +Liberal interest. The Hon. Captain St. George Foley, brother of Lord +Foley, offered himself to the electors as an advocate of Liberal +measures, and of a moderate fixed duty upon corn. At the nomination at +Droitwich, Mr. Barneby was proposed by J. S. Pakington, Esq., M.P., and +W. Hemming, Esq.; Captain Foley, by James Foster, Esq., and Robert Scott, +Esq. M.P., in long and able speeches; and Mr. Taylor, by C. Noel, Esq., +and Whitmore Jones, Esq. The show of hands was in favour of Barneby and +Taylor, and Captain Foley’s friends demanded a poll. At a meeting, +however, which was held at Mr. Galton’s, shortly after nomination, it was +decided, much to Captain Foley’s own mortification, not to proceed to a +poll, and that determination was communicated the same evening to the +opposite party. The Sheriff at first thought that he should be obliged +to take a poll, under the circumstances, notwithstanding, and the +Attorney General’s opinion was taken upon the point, but this being in +favour of the propriety of dispensing with the poll, Messrs. Barneby and +Taylor were declared duly elected without further trouble. + +1847—JANUARY—_East Worcestershire_.—(Election to supply the vacancy +caused by the decease of John Barneby, Esq.)—Captain Rushout was the +first candidate announced, but J. H. H. Foley, Esq., having intimated his +intention of contesting the division, a meeting of the Conservative party +was called at Droitwich, at which an arrangement was entered into, by +which Mr. Foley retired from the field at present, and was to be +permitted to come in unopposed at the next election, when it was expected +that a vacancy would be caused by the retirement of Mr. James Arthur +Taylor. This created a great deal of dissatisfaction amongst the +Conservative electors, but the contracting parties were too influential +to admit of their decision being contravened. Captain Rushout was, +therefore, on this occasion elected without opposition. + +1847—AUGUST—(General Election on the retirement of Sir Robert Peel from +office, after carrying his free trade measures.)—_East +Worcestershire_.—In consequence of the arrangement noticed above, Mr. J. +H. H. Foley was allowed to come in in the place of Mr. J. A. Taylor, who +retired from Parliament, and with Captain Rushout was returned unopposed. + +_West Worcestershire_.—General Lygon and Mr. Knight were returned without +opposition. + + + +CITY OF WORCESTER. + + +THE constituency of the city is no larger now than it was in days of +yore, when freemen were made in any quantity at the pleasure of the +corporation; often while the election was proceeding. The number of +voters now on the register is about 2,200; of these, 1,099 still qualify +as freemen, and nearly 700 have no other qualification. + +1802—(General Election)—The electors having been convened together in the +Guildhall for the nomination in the usual manner, the Mayor (Mr. +Rowlands) proposed the reëlection of Edward Wigley and Abraham Robarts, +Esqs., the previous members. This proposition was seconded, and the +business of the day went on most smoothly until within seven minutes of +the hour at which the writ was made returnable, when the hall became +suddenly and most violently agitated by the arrival of Joseph Scott, +Esq., of Great Barr, a relative of Lord Dudley and Ward, who came forward +and declared himself a candidate, as he said, in compliance with the +wishes of a number of the inhabitants. A poll was demanded on his +behalf, which immediately commenced, and continued for four days; at the +end of which, the numbers were—Robarts, 2,163; Scott, 1,197; Wigley, +1,180. On the fifth morning Mr. Wigley retired, and Robarts and Scott +were declared duly elected. There was no disturbance. Politics seem to +have entered very little into consideration, and the matter to have been +decided by person and purse. Mr. Wigley, in his retiring address to the +“Worthy Freemen of the City of Worcester,” intimated that he had come +forward thirteen years before, at their own request, to rescue their city +from becoming a Government nomination borough, and he did not see why he +should now have been rejected. To those “who promised him their support, +but voted for his opponent, he had nothing to say, because he could say +nothing that would be pleasing to himself.” A meeting of his friends and +supporters was afterwards held at the Crown Inn, Henry Wakeman, Esq., +presiding, at which resolutions were passed thanking Mr. Wigley for his +conduct in Parliament, and his great attention to the interests of this +city, where he and others of his family had resided for more than thirty +years, and “been an example, rarely exceeded, of piety, benevolence, and +charity.” + +1806—OCTOBER—(General Election.)—Candidates, Abrm. Robarts, Esq., the +former member; Colonel Bromley, of Abberley Lodge; and William Gordon, +Esq., who rested his claims to support on the fact of his being a +mercantile man, and, as such, better fitted to represent the city of +Worcester than Colonel Bromley, a country gentleman. He was supported by +gentlemen who were disgusted by the unblushing bribery of previous +elections. After three days’ polling, Mr. Gordon retired, the numbers +being—Robarts, 856; Bromley, 563; Gordon, 348: total number of freemen +polled, 902. Mr. Gordon was afterwards _fêted_ at the Crown Hotel, on +which occasion he attributed his defeat to his being so late in the +field. Mr. Gordon, however, afterwards presented a petition against +Colonel Bromley’s return, which that gentleman declined to defend, and +accepted the Chiltern Hundreds, so that the seat again became vacant. + +1807—FEBRUARY 13—At the election thus rendered necessary, Alderman +Squires proposed William Gordon, Esq., and Alderman Carden, John +Attersoll, Esq., both gentlemen being London merchants. Mr. Gordon +declared himself to be a staunch Church and King man, and utterly opposed +to the continuance of the Slave Trade. Mr. Attersoll talked a little +more about civil and religious freedom. There seems to have been no show +of hands taken, and both parties required a poll, which was commenced +amidst a great deal of fighting and outrage. After three days’ polling +Mr. Attersoll retired, the numbers being—Gordon, 766; Attersoll, 414: +majority for Gordon, 352. A petition was next presented against Mr. +Gordon’s return, on the score of bribery, by several inhabitants of the +city. A meeting was held at the Crown, to take steps to counteract this +petition, Mr. J. Palmer in the chair. Mr. Hebb moved the resolutions, in +a speech which the reporter of the time says “displayed great +constitutional knowledge and erudition.” The petition was dismissed in +consequence of the necessary recognizances not being entered into. + +1807—MAY 6—(General Election.)—Mr. Robarts and Mr. Gordon returned +without opposition. Mr. Attersoll having canvassed the electors, and +found that he had no chance, retired on the eve of the contest. + +This election was chiefly remarkable for the quantity of pens and ink +wasted upon it. Mr. Gordon, after being returned as an “independent” +member, followed the example of most of his contemporary M.P.’s, in +turning his position to account, and obtained from the Government a +license to trade with Spain. He was warned of the consequences of +becoming a tool of Government by Mr. Hebb, in a series of letters bearing +the signature of Cato Uticensis. Then followed various blasts and +counter-blasts, especially a sheet of rhyme called the _Doctoriad_, to +which there was a smart replication under the title of the _Gordonian_; +and these were for some time the _poemes celébres_ of Worcester +elections. + +1812—OCTOBER 5—(General Election.)—Mr. Robarts and Mr. Gordon again +candidates, though, as the latter was out of the country, he was +represented by his father-in-law, Sir George Cornewall. A day or two +before the election, a number of freemen presented a requisition to Lord +Deerhurst, pressing him to offer himself, which he did. At the +nomination, Mr. Robarts and Lord Deerhurst obtained the show of hands, +and a poll was demanded on behalf of Mr. Gordon. After eight days’ +contest—severer than any which had taken place in the city since the +celebrated one in 1761, between Sir William Watkin Lewes and Mr. +Rouse—the numbers were found to be—Robarts, 1,248; Gordon, 939; +Deerhurst, 855. Lord Deerhurst then retired, having won golden opinions +from all sorts of men, by the eloquence of his speeches, the courtesy of +his manner, and the good humour he had maintained. He polled a majority +of the resident freemen, but was beaten by the out-voters. The number of +freemen polled at this election was 1,765. No particular political +principle seems to have been at all involved in the contest. A gold cup +was afterwards purchased by Lord Deerhurst’s supporters, and presented to +him at a dinner at the Crown; Thomas Farley, Esq., in the chair. + +1816—DECEMBER—(Vacancy on the death of A. Robarts, Esq.)—Lord Deerhurst +again offered himself as a candidate, and Colonel Davies made his first +appearance in Worcester. He continued an active canvass for some time, +but at last finding that Lord Deerhurst had indubitably secured a +majority of votes, he withdrew. Lord Deerhurst was proposed at the +hustings by the Mayor (R. Chamberlain, Esq.), and seconded by E. M. +Wigley, Esq. The chairing took place immediately afterwards, and the +chair itself was very prematurely demolished by the mob in High Street. +On the following day a grand dinner was given to the new member at the +Hoppole. + +1818—JUNE 15—(General Election.)—This was one of the severest contested +elections which had been known in the city of Worcester, and it +terminated in the return of Colonel Davies to Parliament for the first +time. The city had been kept in great excitement for some months before +the election, by the continued canvassing of all the candidates. All +parties were enthusiastic in their support of Lord Deerhurst, whose +return was safe from the first, and the contest lay between Sir William +Duff Gordon and Colonel Davies. Sir William Gordon had forfeited some of +his popularity by the course he had taken in voting with Government, for +the orders in council altering the import duties, and which were supposed +to have had a great effect upon the glove trade. Colonel Davies, shortly +before the election, gave up his commission in the Guards, that he might +make the better Member of Parliament, by having his time entirely +unfettered. Though not much was said about political principles in the +addresses of the different candidates, it was understood that Colonel +Davies was more Whiggish in his views than either of the other men. +Tumults took place both at Kidderminster and in London amongst the +out-voters, who were canvassed there by the different parties, and at the +polling places the riot and disturbance was worse than ever before +recollected. At the nomination, Lord Deerhurst was proposed by the Mayor +(S. Wall, Esq.), and seconded by Mr. John Dent. Sir William Gordon was +proposed by Major Bund and Mr. Thomas Dent; and Colonel Davies by +Alderman Nash and Mr. Richards. After seven days’ polling, Sir William +Gordon withdrew from the contest; the numbers then being—Deerhurst, +1,422; Davies, 1,024; Gordon, 874. Colonel Davies had a majority both in +the city and out-votes; but he was principally the gainer among the +London freemen. The total number polled was 1,963. The two members were +chaired as usual the day after the election had concluded, and the chairs +demolished by the populace, according to their ancient prerogative and +right. + +Petitions were presented against both Colonel Davies’s and Lord +Deerhurst’s return. The latter, however, was withdrawn. On the 16th +March, 1819, the committee to investigate Colonel Davies’s return was +ballotted for, and Mr. Alexander Baring, M.P. for Taunton, chosen +chairman. The petition alleged bribery and treating, but the necessary +witnesses were kept out of the way. Colonel Davies was declared duly +elected by the casting vote of the chairman, and the news was received in +Worcester with great rejoicings by his supporters. + +1820—MARCH—(General Election.)—Lord Deerhurst and Colonel Davies returned +without opposition: the former being proposed by Thomas Carden, Esq., and +seconded by Samuel Crane, Esq.; and the latter, by Richard Nash, Esq., +seconded by E. M. Wigley, Esq. The chairing, on this occasion, was a +very splendid affair. + +1826—JUNE—(General Election.)—So long before this election as March, +1824, George Richard Robinson, Esq., a London merchant, announced his +intention of becoming a candidate on “independent” principles, and by a +free expenditure of money made himself popular. All parties had been +engaged in a very active canvass, but in May Lord Deerhurst suddenly +announced his determination not again to offer himself as a candidate. +This caused immense chagrin, not only to his pledged supporters, who said +his victory was certain, but also to all those who had revelled in the +prospect of the high price which votes would fetch in a prolonged and +doubtful contest—such as the forthcoming one promised to be. Lord +Deerhurst made his appointment as a Vice Lieutenant, and his other +numerous public duties, the plea for retiring. Richard Griffiths, Esq., +of Thorngrove, was induced to come forward in his stead at the eleventh +hour. On the hustings, Colonel Davies was proposed by Mr. Alderman +Carden and Mr. John Palmer; Mr. G. R. Robinson, by Mr. Alderman Ballard +and Major Bund; and Mr. Griffiths, by Mr. John Dent and Mr. Henry +Clifton. Colonel Davies avowed himself in favour of reform, economy, and +free trade; Mr. Robinson intended generally to support ministers, but +declared himself independent; and Mr. Griffiths was a thorough Church and +King man. After six days’ poll the numbers were—Robinson, 1,542; Davies, +1,268; and Griffiths, 1,036. Mr. Griffiths then withdrew from the +contest, having spent, during the week he was in the city, some £8,000, +and thus answered the chief end of the parties who dragged him forward. +There indeed was scarcely ever such a dear election, to all the +candidates, in the city of Worcester—the most unprecedented exertions in +fetching voters from a distance, &c., being made. The entire sum spent +is said to have been £25,000. The total number of freemen polled was +1,963—viz., 1,184, city; 246, from London; and 433, country. This was +the largest number on record as having polled at any election. Davies +had 322 plumpers; Robinson, 132; and Griffiths, 50. The chairing took +place as usual, and the elegant cars were broken to pieces at the bottom +of Broad Street, at the imminent risk of the new members’ lives. A +dinner was given in the succeeding week to Mr. Robinson, at the Hoppole, +Mr. Alderman Ballard presiding. Colonel Davies’s friends met to form a +committee to secure his return in future at less expense; and Mr. +Griffiths announced his firm intention of offering himself again, +whenever a vacancy should occur. + +1830—JULY 30—(General Election.)—Colonel Davies and Mr. Robinson returned +without opposition; all the efforts of the third-man-no-matter-who party +having failed to produce a candidate. + +1831—MAY—(General Election.)—The Tory party three days before the +election brought forward a candidate in the person of the Hon. Colonel +Henry Fitzroy, brother to Lord Southampton, but the Reform enthusiasm was +so strong that his voice was drowned in the disapprobation of the people +the moment he opened his lips, and all the significant hints that he had +plenty of money to spend were thrown away. The Colonel soon found that +he was in a false position, and did not appear on the hustings at the day +of nomination. Colonel Davies was proposed by George Farley, Esq., and +seconded by Mr. John Palmer; while Archibald Cameron, Esq., proposed, and +Thomas Scott, Esq., seconded, Mr. Robinson. They were declared duly +elected, and the chairing took place forthwith, but the chair was +demolished sooner than usual. + +1832—DECEMBER—(General Election.)—Colonel Davies and Mr. Robinson again +returned. A few weeks before the election a third candidate appeared on +the scene, in the person of R. A. Dundas, Esq., cousin of Viscount +Melville, intending to contest the city on Conservative principles, but +after a canvass he gave the matter up as hopeless. Mr. Robinson having +in an address to the electors, said that Mr. Dundas had been “deluded +with hopes of success, which proved utterly fallacious”—his supporters +sent for him back again, and declared that he should stand a poll unless +Mr. Robinson withdrew these “offensive” expressions. A long conference +took place, and some modification of the terms, or explanation of their +intention, was conceded, and Mr. Dundas once more made his bow. Colonel +Davies was proposed by Mr. Hebb and Mr. George Allen; and Mr. Robinson by +Mr. Spooner and Mr. Munn. The members went through the city in an open +carriage drawn by six grey horses, instead of in a chair, and the mob +having shewn some disposition to destroy the carriage, they were +disappointed by the postillions turning suddenly along the back streets +into the Hoppole yard. Some of the crowd climbed the gates, and began to +tear the decorations, but they were beaten off. A dinner was afterwards +given to the two members unitedly, at the Bell Inn, Mr. Hebb in the +chair. + +1835—(General Election.)—On this occasion a candidate was brought forward +by the Conservatives in the person of Joseph Bailey, Esq., a very opulent +ironmaster from Glanusk, in Monmouthshire. Mr. Robinson appeared to be +an universal favourite, as by the comparative moderation of his views he +had conciliated many of the Tory party, but they concentrated all their +animosity against Colonel Davies, who had not only been a very determined +but very active promoter of Reform measures in the House of Commons. The +Colonel had lost favour with some of the glovers by his support of free +trade principles. The most strenuous exertions were made by the Colonel +and Mr. Bailey, between whom it was at once seen that the struggle would +lie, while Mr. Robinson rested upon his oars in security. At the +nomination, Mr. Hebb and Mr. Allies proposed Colonel Davies; Dr. Hastings +and Mr. Thomas Scott, proposed Mr. Robinson; and Mr. John Williams, of +Pitmaston, and Mr. Dent, proposed Mr. Bailey. The show of hands was +entirely in favour of the two old members, and a poll was demanded by Mr. +Gutch in favour of Mr. Bailey. At the end of the first day’s poll the +numbers were—Robinson, 1,309; Davies, 882; Bailey, 835; but the second +day altered the state of things, and the final return, as made by the +Sheriff, was—Robinson, 1,611; Bailey, 1,154; Davies, 1,137: majority for +Bailey, 17. There was a sharp affray between the street partizans of the +various candidates on Tuesday evening, and several heads were broken. +Immediately after the election a dinner was given to Colonel Davies and +Mr. Robinson, at the Bell Inn, W. Sanders, Esq., in the chair; at which +it was announced to be the intention of Colonel Davies’s friends to bring +the result of the election before a committee of the House of Commons. +Captain Winnington, Mr. Cookes, and Mr. Holland, the three recently +elected Whig members for the county, were present. A dinner was given to +Joseph Bailey, Esq., M.P., at the Hoppole, in February. The party +numbered nearly 200, and Mr. Richard Spooner was in the chair. The +various speakers boasted of the “reaction” which had taken place in +favour of Conservative principles. Mr. Bailey paid his first visit to +Worcester after his election in October; dinners were provided for his +supporters, and _eighty public houses_ were “opened” in the evening. The +principal party was given at the Unicorn Inn, Broad Street, where Mr. +Richard Spooner presided. Mr. Henry Clifton and Mr. Pierpoint were +vice-chairmen. + +As soon as the session opened, a petition was presented against Mr. +Bailey’s return, and a scrutiny of votes took place before a committee of +the House of Commons, which was ballotted for March 31st, and consisted +of seven Tories and four Whigs; Mr. J. E. Denison (Nottinghamshire) being +chairman. After a sitting of eleven days, fifty-five votes were struck +off by the petitioners, and forty by Mr. Bailey, still leaving that +gentleman in a majority of one; and the petitioners then gave up the +struggle, in consequence of several adverse decisions on the part of the +committee. The following is a summary of the votes struck off on each +side: + + BY THE PETITIONERS. BY MR. BAILEY. +Pauper votes 33 Pauper votes 8 +Personation 2 Change of qualification 17 +Employed and paid 11 Employed and paid. 9 +Change of qualification 8 Not registered 3 +Wager 1 Dead before election 1 + Wagers 2 + 55 40 +Objections not admitted. 16 Objections not admitted. 4 + +The petitioners alleged three cases of bribery on Mr. Bailey’s part, but +failed in the proof; and the votes of a number of Mr. Bailey’s +professional agents, objected to by the petitioners, were retained, in +consequence of the memorable evidence of one of their number—that their +services were all gratuitously rendered. The conduct of the petition was +intrusted to Mr. John Hill, and by him managed most admirably. The +expenses were all covered by the subscriptions, which had been previously +raised, and that almost entirely among the citizens themselves. Mr. +Bailey’s expenses are said to have been £16,000. The expenses of the +election itself were but trifling. Of course the greatest excitement +prevailed in the city during the progress of the petition, and Mr. +Bailey’s party had great rejoicings on the issue. + +In September, 1836, a dinner was given by the Worcester Conservative +operatives to Mr. Bailey, at the Theatre. 427 persons sat down to table, +and there were many spectators. The chief speakers were Mr. Bailey, Mr. +Spooner, Mr. Pakington, and Mr. John Dent. There were great +congratulations on the “reaction” which had taken place in the city, as +elsewhere, in favour of Toryism. + +Immediately afterwards (October 24) the operative Reformers got up a +great dinner in the Town Hall, to refute the cry about “reaction.” Eight +hundred persons sat down to dinner in the outer hall, 500 in the assembly +room, and others at different inns. Mr. Arrowsmith was in the chair; +supported on his right by the Mayor, and on the left by Colonel Davies. +The whole party met in the outer hall after dinner (this being +brilliantly lighted up for the occasion), and a number of appropriate +toasts were given. + +1837—(General Election.)—The candidates at this election were Mr. Bailey +and Mr. Robinson (the former members), and Colonel Davies; but on the day +of nomination Mr. Robinson retired in the most unexpected manner. This +was owing to many of the Liberal electors having refused to give him +their promises on his canvass, because they thought he had not behaved +well to Colonel Davies at the previous election, and had, moreover, +offended them by some votes in the House, which did not savour +sufficiently of party. Mr. Bailey and Colonel Davies were declared duly +elected, under protest from Mr. J. D. Stevenson, who had proposed (but a +little too late) Mr. James Morison, of London. + +Mr. John Hood and Mr. Joseph Lingham proposed Mr. Robinson on this +occasion; Mr. John Williams and Mr. John Dent, Mr. Bailey; the Mayor and +Mr. George Allies, Colonel Davies. + +Barristers’ opinions were afterwards obtained, declaring that the return +of the Sheriff was, under the circumstances, incorrect. In anticipation +of another election, therefore, a Mr. Turton, son of Sir Thomas Turton, a +Sussex baronet, was introduced to the electors as a candidate on the +Liberal interest. He addressed a public meeting in the Guildhall in +October, at which it was resolved—first, to petition; and, secondly, to +support Mr. Turton if a vacancy then occurred. Colonel Davies’s friends +refused to promise a coalition with Mr. Turton. At the eleventh hour the +petition was abandoned, and Mr. Bailey brought an action against the +petitioners to recover £174, the sum which he had expended in preparing +to defend his seat; but on an appearance being put in, the claim was +abandoned. + +1841—JULY—(General Election.)—Colonel Davies retiring from the +representation, because of ill-health, was succeeded by Sir Thomas Wilde, +who, during his candidateship for the city, was made Attorney General, in +the room of Sir John Campbell, elevated to the Irish Chancellorship. Mr. +Bailey again offered himself on the Conservative interest, and Mr. Robert +Hardy, of the firm of Hardy and Padmore, ironfounders, being determined +that the Tories should not have the seat uncontested, presented himself +as the candidate of the Radical party, of which he had long been a +leading member. Mr. Hardy’s personal character and liberality had caused +him to be greatly respected in the city; but his ultra opinions, and +especially the fact of his being a Dissenter, left him little chance of +success. The usual meetings took place before the election, and Sir +Thomas Wilde availed himself of the opportunity to make some most able +speeches in exposition and defence of the policy of the ministry. The +nomination in the Guildhall presented more than the usual scene of +confusion, and a fight with bludgeons took place in the midst of it, +which had well-nigh proved fatal to one young man, who was accidentally +struck on the head. Mr. Bailey was proposed by Mr. John Dent and Mr. +Pierpoint; Sir Thomas Wilde, by Mr. George Farley and Alderman Corles; +and Mr. Hardy, by Mr. Edward Lloyd and Mr. Ledbrook. Sir Thomas Wilde +and Mr. Hardy had a great majority on the show of hands, and a poll was +demanded by Mr. Bailey. The numbers, as declared by the Sheriff, +were—Wilde, 1,187; Bailey, 1,173; Hardy, 875. All parties were surprised +to find that Mr. Hardy had obtained so many votes. + +The supporters of Mr. Hardy afterwards presented him with a large silver +salver “for his generous and patriotic conduct in coming forward to +vindicate, by his example, purity of election, and to afford his fellow +citizens an opportunity of redeeming their opinions from +misrepresentation by a Tory.” + +1846—JULY—(Election caused by Sir Thomas Wilde taking office under the +new Whig ministry.)—Sir Thomas Wilde having been appointed Attorney +General, he came to Worcester to be reëlected by his constituency, and on +the Monday (July 6) he addressed his supporters in the large room of the +Bell Hotel. They unanimously agreed to renew their adhesion, and no +other candidate was thought of. The election was fixed for Wednesday, +but on Tuesday evening Sir Thomas was apprised by Lord John Russell of +the sudden decease of Sir Nicholas Tindal, and of the intention to +elevate Sir Thomas to the chief justiceship of the Common Pleas. Of +course, under these circumstances, Sir Thomas could no longer be member +for Worcester, but Government had taken care to provide a candidate in +the bearer of the message, Sir Denis Le Marchant, Bart., now chief clerk +of the House of Commons. The Liberal party were hastily summoned +together on Wednesday morning, and on the recommendation of their late +representative, they transferred their support from Sir Thomas to Sir +Denis. Walking from the place of meeting to the hustings, Sir Denis was +proposed by the Mayor, and seconded by Francis Edward Williams, Esq., as +the member for the city of Worcester. Sir Thomas Wilde spoke on his +behalf, and no other candidate having been proposed, Sir Denis was +declared duly elected. He afterwards spoke at some length, declaring +himself a thorough free trader, and generally a supporter of the Liberal +government. Edward Evans, Esq., and George Allies, Esq., then moved a +vote of thanks to their late representative, Sir Thomas Wilde, and it was +carried with loud acclamations. Sir Thomas replied with great +_empressement_ and feeling, and after a vote of thanks to the Sheriff, +Mr. Elgie, the singular election of 1846 ended. The gentleman thus +suddenly made the representative of Worcester proved, during the short +time he held that office, one of the most practically useful members +which the city ever had. Four days elapsed between the election and the +usual procession, and in that interval Sir Denis returned to town to +negociate, as is generally believed, the support of the _Times_ to the +Whig ministry. The subsequent tone of the “leading journal” may be +supposed to give some corroboration to this rumour. + +1847—JULY—(General Election.)—Sir Denis Le Marchant and Mr. Bailey, +having each withdrawn their pretensions to represent the city (the +latter, in order that he might be elected for his native county of +Breconshire), both political parties had to look out for fresh +candidates. The Liberals fixed upon Osman Ricardo, Esq., of Bromsberrow +Place, a country gentleman who had taken little part in public matters, +but was known as a man of principle, and who laid himself out for the +substantial good of the neighbourhood in which he lived. The +Conservatives were not quite so easily suited, or so unanimous in their +choice. Mr. Sergeant Glover was first named by one section of the party, +but he at length gave way to Mr. F. Rufford, who, as chairman of the +Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway Company, possessed some +amount of popularity in the city. Mr. Rufford, in his addresses to the +electors, indignantly denied that he was a monopolist, and certainly led +people to believe that he was what was called in common parlance, “a free +trader,” and on the hustings said, “I am here to advocate free trade to +its fullest extent,” but in practice he turned out to be a Protectionist. +Mr. Robert Hardy again came forward on the Radical interest, avowed his +desire to see a separation of Church and State, and disapproved of +Government education. + +Mr. Alderman Lilly and Mr. Alderman John Hall proposed Mr. Hardy; Mr. +William Stallard, jun., and Mr. H. D. Carden, Mr. Rufford; and Dr. +Hastings and Mr. Alderman Edward Evans, Mr. Ricardo. The show of hands +being in favour of Messrs. Ricardo and Hardy, a poll was demanded for Mr. +Rufford, and at its close the numbers were—Ricardo, 1,163; Rufford, +1,142; Hardy, 930. The “open house” iniquity rioted in a rankness which +had never been equalled at previous elections. Probably, too, half the +electors were paid for their votes under what is called “the messenger +dodge.” Mr. Rufford, in 1851, became a bankrupt, and his examinations +showed that he certainly was not solvent when he offered himself as a +candidate at this election, yet he admitted that he expended considerably +more than £4,000. + + + +EVESHAM. + + +EVESHAM has enjoyed the privilege of sending two representatives to +Parliament from a very early date. In 1295 two burgesses were chosen to +represent the town in a parliament of Edward I, but there is no record of +any return from that date till the incorporation of the borough by James +I. Some of the elections which have taken place here during the present +century have been remarkable for profuseness of expenditure and tricks of +party warfare. The number of voters now on the register is 345. + +1802—JULY—(General Election.)—Charles Thelluson, Esq., the former member, +Patrick Crawford Bruce, Esq., a London merchant, and Humphrey Howorth, +Esq., for many years a physician in India, were the candidates. After +five days’ poll the latter retired from the contest, the number of votes +then being—Thelluson, 261; Bruce, 249; Howorth, 183. A petition was +afterwards presented against the return, on the score of alleged bribery, +but the committee report that the sitting members were duly returned, +though the petition was not frivolous. + +1806—NOVEMBER—(General Election.)—Mr. Howorth and W. Manning, Esq., a +West India merchant, returned without opposition, neither of the former +members standing again. + +1807—MAY—(General Election.)—Sir Masseh Manasseh Lopez, Bart., entered +the field at this election against the former members, and after six +days’ poll, the numbers of votes recorded stood thus—Manning, 494; Lopez, +334; Howorth, 320. This result was obtained by the returning officer +admitting 122 freeholders to the poll, contrary to former decisions, +which had determined that freemen and paymasters alone had the right to +vote. “A most gratifying interchange of compliments passed,” says the +reporter of the period, “during the closing of the poll books, between +the candidates, the mayor (W. Soley, Esq.), the assessor, and the +professional gentlemen employed; and though perhaps there never was a +severer contest, yet never was the conduct observed more honourable to +all parties.” It seems to have been altogether, and undisguisedly, a +matter of money. In a few days after the election an address was +presented to Mr. Howorth, by E. Rudge, Esq., and 189 burgesses, +complimenting him upon his conduct in the House of Commons, and begging +him “to bring their joint cause before a committee of the House,” assured +that “their insulted rights will be henceforward fixed on such a basis as +will baffle the attempts of those who will dare to violate them.” A +petition was accordingly presented, and in 1808, February 22nd, the +report of the committee was brought up, and Sir M. M. Lopez, Bart., was +declared to have been unduly elected, and Mr. Howorth ought to have been +returned; opposition to petition not frivolous. Mr. Howorth, in his +published address after this result, declares that he was ousted at the +election by the votes of “a class of persons having no common interest or +common feeling with the freemen and inhabitants of the borough.” He had +“vindicated their rights, and triumphed over this foreign influence.” +Mr. Howorth’s constituents afterwards presented him with a piece of +plate. + +1812—OCTOBER—(General Election.)—W. Manning and H. Howorth, Esqs., +reëlected without opposition. + +1818—JUNE—(General Election.)—A very sharp contest distinguished by all +sorts of manœuvres, violence, and questionable practices. The poll was +kept open for twelve days, and the numbers at its close were—for Mr. +Howorth, 410; Mr. Rouse Boughton, 359; and Sir Charles Cockerell, 341. +Mr. Rouse Boughton was son of Sir Charles William Rouse Boughton, Bart., +and Sir Charles Cockerell, was a brother to Lord Northwick. Two +petitions were presented as soon as Parliament met, against Mr. Rouse +Boughton’s return; one from Sir Charles, alleging bribery, and another +from voters of Evesham, against the admission of the votes of certain +persons. It seemed that it had actually been the custom to admit any man +to vote who had paid poor-rates for six months prior to an election, so +that Evesham almost enjoyed universal suffrage. It was, however, against +these votes that the petition was presented. The committee decided that +Mr. Boughton was not duly elected, and struck off all the scot and lot +voters from the roll, declaring that the election of members for Evesham +was vested in the mayor, aldermen, capital and other burgesses, members +of the corporation. The name of Sir Charles Cockerell was ordered to be +inserted in the return in lieu of that of Mr. Rouse Boughton. Lord +Palmerston was taken into custody for not being present when this +committee was ballotted for, but discharged, of course, on payment of the +fees, amounting to £30. A handsome piece of plate was afterwards +presented by the supporters of Mr. Boughton, to Mr. Edward Lawes, of +Sergeant’s Inn, for his exertions on that gentleman’s behalf. + +1820—MARCH—(General Election.)—Sir Charles Cockerell, Bart., and Mr. +William E. Rouse Boughton elected without opposition; Mr. Howorth having +retired from the representation because of continued ill-health. + +1826—JUNE—(General Election.)—There were three candidates in the field +when this election was first talked of: Sir Charles Cockerell (one of the +former members), Sir Roger Gresley, Bart., and Mr. Protheroe; but a +coalition was formed between Sir Charles and Mr. Protheroe, and Sir Roger +Gresley retired from the contest. Mr. William E. Rouse Boughton did not +again offer himself. Many of the electors were very angry at being +“sold,” as they called it, and looked out for a third candidate, who +would spend a proper quantity of money, and they found one in the person +of Patrick Grant, Esq., of Spring Gardens, London, who drove up to the +hustings just in time to be put in nomination. Having stood a three +days’ poll, however, he retired; the numbers then being—Cockerell, 235; +Protheroe, 137; Grant, 87. + +1830—AUGUST—(General Election.)—Sir C. Cockerell and Lord Kennedy (heir +apparent of the Earl of Cassilis) returned. Alexander Raphael, Esq., of +London, was a third candidate, but retired after two days’ poll; the +numbers then being—Cockerell, 231; Kennedy, 148; Raphael, 110. The +return was immediately petitioned against, on the score of bribery and +treating, and it was proved that sixteen freemen had gone down from +London and received £12 each (for their loss of time it was said), +independently of their expenses. The election was declared void (Mr. +Raphael being implicated in this bribery), and both Sir Charles Cockerell +and Lord Kennedy were thus incapacitated from sitting in that Parliament. +The issue of another writ was suspended, on the motion of the Marquis of +Chandos, to allow of time for further Parliamentary inquiry. The Marquis +afterwards brought in a bill for the disenfranchisement of the borough, +which was read a second time; but Parliament was dissolved before it +could be passed, and a writ was, therefore, issued to the returning +officer in the usual course. + +1831—MAY—(General Election.)—Sir Charles Cockerell and Lord Kennedy (the +lately ousted members), and Thomas Hudson, Esq. (Reformer), a Portuguese +merchant, were the candidates at this election; and the numbers at the +close of the poll were—Sir Charles, 208; Mr. Hudson, 157; Lord Kennedy, +136. The two former gentlemen were then declared duly elected. Lord +Kennedy did not appear in the town at all during the election. + +Evesham having been retained in schedule C of the Reform Bill, continued +to send two members to Parliament in spite of the smallness of the +population—at that time only numbering 3,998 individuals. The out-voters +being deprived of their right to poll, the number of electors was only +359. + +1832—DECEMBER—(General Election.)—Sir Charles Cockerell and Mr. Hudson +reëlected. Mr. Rudge, Mr. Skirrow, and other gentlemen had “come like +shadows and so departed,” declaring their intentions to be third +candidates, but suddenly retreating from the field. However, at the +eleventh hour, Mr. Peter Borthwick, who had signalised himself by +lectures in favour of negro slavery, was put forward by the Tory party, +but only received 126 votes—Sir Charles Cockerell polling 234, and Mr. +Hudson 212. The number of electors who voted was 329. + +1835—JANUARY—(General Election.)—Sir Charles Cockerell again came forward +as a candidate; but Mr. Hudson retired at the last moment, being opposed +by Mr. Peter Borthwick, the unsuccessful candidate at the previous +election. However, Mr. Rudge was put in nomination in his absence by the +Liberals, and a poll demanded on his behalf; the show of hands being in +favour of Sir Charles and Mr. Borthwick. On the hustings Mr. George May +charged Mr. Borthwick with having failed as a bookseller in Dalkeith, and +having been excommunicated by the Scotch United Secession Church. Mr. +Borthwick denied it, and said it was a relative whose debts he had paid +for him. Mr. Rudge eventually declined to stand the poll, and Sir +Charles Cockerell and Mr. Borthwick were declared duly elected. In June +a dinner was given to Mr. Borthwick in the Guildhall, the chair being +taken by Lieutenant Amherst; and a party of 160 sat down. The charge +made against Mr. Borthwick having been repeated in the _Bath Guardian_, +near which town he then lived, he commenced an action against the +proprietors for libel, which was tried in April, 1836, and ended in a +verdict for Mr. Borthwick on some counts of the indictment, with £100 +damages; but the jury held it proved that Mr. Borthwick had been a +bookseller in Dalkeith—had failed—had been in gaol—and had been a +professional, but unsuccessful, performer on the stage of the Surrey +Theatre. + +1837—FEBRUARY—(Election in consequence of the death of Sir Charles +Cockerell.)—The candidates were Lord Marcus Cecil Hill, brother of the +Marquis of Downshire, on the Liberal interest, and George Rushout Bowles, +Esq., nephew of Lord Northwick and the Dowager Lady Cockerell, on the +Conservative side. On the hustings, Lord Hill was proposed by Mr. +Benjamin Workman and Mr. T. N. Foster; and Mr. Bowles by Mr. Thomas +Blayney and the Rev. Joseph Harling. The Mayor declared the show of +hands to be in favour of Mr. Bowles, though his decision was questioned. +The contest was a close one, ending in Mr. Bowles’s election; the numbers +being—Bowles, 165; Hill, 140. About 60 electors did not vote. + +1837—JULY—(General Election.)—The Hon. George Rushout and Mr. Peter +Borthwick, the former members, coalesced to prevent the return of Lord +Marcus Hill—who, for the second time, came forward on the Liberal +interest—and they were successful; the numbers being—for Rushout, 168; +Borthwick, 166; Hill, 156. Of 490 votes recorded, 124 were plumpers; and +119 of these were for Lord Hill. The Liberal party were loud in their +indignation against the bribery which they asserted to have been +practised. The return was petitioned against; and the committee +ballotted for, consisted of six Conservatives and five Liberals: Sir +Robert Peel, Bart., being chairman. Mr. Cockburn and Mr. Rushton were +the counsel for the petitioners, and Mr. Thessiger, Mr. Austin, &c., for +the sitting members. Shortly after the opening of the case, the +petition, as far as regarded Mr. Rushout, was abandoned, and Mr. +Borthwick alone proceeded against. Mr. Borthwick was charged with +bribery, both by himself and his agents; he was also declared to want +qualification; and as many as 100 of his votes were objected to. The +cases of bribery alone were gone into; and the one proved was that of +Ebenezer Pierce, to whom Mr. Borthwick had presented a silver snuff box. +He canvassed this voter personally, about a week before the election, and +promised him a silver snuff box, which Mr. Charles Best afterwards +brought him, with Mr. Borthwick’s compliments, and told him to put it by +till after the election. It was proved that the box had been purchased +at Stow and Mortimer’s by Mr. Borthwick, in the interim, and he had +ordered them to engrave on it—“_Ex dono amici sui conducit_.” The +committee, upon this, decided that Mr. Borthwick had been guilty of +bribery. Mr. Austin abandoned the scrutiny, and permitted Lord Marcus +Hill to be put in a majority of one, by permitting the votes of several +persons, who admitted that they had been Mr. Borthwick’s paid agents, to +be struck off; but he declared that the decision of the committee in the +snuff box case had struck him with the utmost surprise, and begged to be +allowed to call evidence to clear Mr. Borthwick’s character. Mr. +Cockburn did not object, but the committee refused to hear any more +evidence. The committee reported on March 20, 1838, and the return being +amended, Lord Marcus Hill took his seat immediately afterwards. Soon +after the decision of the committee was known, a dinner was given to Mr. +Borthwick, and he was presented with an oblong silver salver, which had +been subscribed for by the wives and daughters of the Conservative +electors. The Rev. Mr. Harling presented the plate, and J. Amherst, +Esq., presided at the dinner. Mr. Borthwick made a very long speech, +reviewing his connection with the borough, and animadverting upon his +late colleague, Mr. Rushout, in unmeasured terms, for having forsaken him +before the committee. The language he made use of caused a challenge, +and the two gentlemen met at Wormwood Scrubs. After a second discharge, +without effect, Mr. Borthwick withdrew the offensive expressions. Lord +Marcus Hill was also entertained at a dinner at the Town Hall, over which +T. N. Foster, Esq., (the Mayor) presided; and a party of 200 gentlemen +sat down to the tables. + +1841—JULY—(General Election.)—The candidates were again Lord Marcus Hill, +Mr. Rushout, and Mr. Peter Borthwick; the latter, indeed, did not make +his appearance throughout the election, but he was strongly supported by +a section of the Conservatives, who thought he had been ill used by Mr. +Rushout in the matter of the previous election—and, generally, he seemed +to be a favourite with the populace. At the hustings, Lord Marcus Hill +was proposed by Edward Rudge, Esq., and the Rev. B. Bonaker; Mr. Rushout +by Dr. Beale Cooper and the Rev. M. Shaw; and Mr. Borthwick by R. +Blayney, Esq., and G. Eades, Esq. Mr. Francis Holland spoke for Mr. +Borthwick; and on the show of hands, three-fourths of the meeting held up +theirs for that gentleman, about one half for Lord Marcus, and but few +for Mr. Rushout. At the close of the poll the numbers were—Hill, 188; +Borthwick, 161; Rushout, 137. Lord Hill had 108 plumpers; Borthwick, 42; +and Rushout, 34. After the canvass, but prior to the election, Lord +Marcus was made a privy councillor, and appointed to the office of +Comptroller of the Royal Household. + +1847—JULY—(General Election.)—Mr. Borthwick retired from the +representation, and his place was taken by Sir Henry Willoughby, a +moderate Conservative and free trader. A third candidate came into +field, late in the day, in the person of Sir Ralph Howard, formerly +member for Wicklow, who professed Radical views. At the nomination, Lord +Marcus Hill and Sir Ralph Howard had the show of hands. The polling was +a very quiet affair, and at the close of the struggle Lord Marcus Hill +was found to have 195 votes; Sir Henry Willoughby, 172; and Sir Ralph +Howard, 131. + + + +DROITWICH. + + +DROITWICH was formerly one of the closest of Whig boroughs, and was +entirely under the influence of the Foley family. To the return for the +first election recorded below, the names of nineteen persons are appended +in the books of the Droitwich Corporation; and at a much more recent +date, ten persons returned two members to Parliament. The present +constituency of the borough numbers 368. + +1802—JULY—(General Election.)—Sir Edward Winnington, Bart., and the Hon. +Andrew Foley, reëlected. + +1805—FEBRUARY—(Vacancy on the death of Sir Edw. Winnington.)—Thomas +Foley, Esq., son of the Hon. Andrew Foley, elected. + +1806—NOVEMBER—(General Election.)—The Hon. Andrew Foley, and Lieutenant +Colonel Foley. + +1807—MAY—(General Election.)—Colonel Foley becomes a candidate for +Herefordshire, and the Hon. A. Foley and Sir Thomas Winnington, Bart., +are returned for this borough. + +1812—OCTOBER—(General Election.)—Hon. A. Foley and Sir T. Winnington +reëlected. + +1816—APRIL—Sir Thomas Winnington having accepted the Chiltern Hundreds, +Lord Sefton is elected in his stead. + +1818—JUNE—(General Election.)—Hon. A. Foley and the Earl of Sefton +reëlected. + +1819—FEBRUARY—(Vacancy on the death of the Hon. Andrew Foley.)—Colonel +Foley, son of the late member, elected. + +1820—MARCH—(General Election.)—Earl of Sefton and Colonel Foley +reëlected. + +1822—FEBRUARY—(Vacancy on the death of Colonel Foley.)—John Hodgetts +Hodgetts Foley, Esq., elected. + +1826—JUNE—(General Election.)—Lord Sefton and J. H. H. Foley, Esq., +reëlected. + +1830—(General Election.)—Earl of Sefton and J. H. H. Foley, Esq., +reëlected. + +1831—MAY—(General Election.)—Mr. J. H. H. Foley and Sir T. E. Winnington +elected; the Earl of Sefton making way for the hon. baronet. + +1832—DECEMBER—(General Election.)—The borough was deprived of one of its +members by the Reform Bill; and on this occasion J. H. H. Foley, Esq., +was returned alone, having been proposed by Sir A. Lechmere, Bart., and +seconded by T. T. Vernon, Esq. + +1835—(General Election.)—For the first time since 1711 this borough was +contested and a Tory returned. The candidates were J. H. H. Foley, Esq. +(the former member), and John Barneby, Esq., of Brockhampton. The former +was proposed by Captain Vernon and Mr. Francis; the latter, by Dr. +Steward and Mr. Lilley, of Wichbold. The Rev. Mr. Topham also addressed +the populace in Mr. Foley’s favour, and bore testimony to his attachment +to the Church. The show of hands was in Mr. Foley’s favour. At the end +of the first day the numbers were—Barneby, 115; Foley, 113: and at the +close of the poll—Barneby, 125; Foley, 122: majority for Barneby, 3. Out +of a constituency of only 281, 34 did not vote. The election issued in a +petition against the return, and on the 17th of March a committee of the +house was ballotted for to decide the matter; but it was constituted very +unfavourably to Mr. Foley, having at least eight Tories upon it. They +refused to reopen the register, so the inquiry was limited to a few +disputed votes on either side. Mr. Foley succeeded in striking off three +of Mr. Barneby’s votes, and so reducing matters to an equality; but Mr. +Barneby then struck off Lord Southwell’s vote, objected to on account of +his peerage. This left Mr. Foley in a minority of one, and Mr. Barneby +retained his seat. + +1837—JULY—(General Election.)—John Barneby, Esq., having determined to +contest the county, made way for Mr. Pakington to come in for this +borough, of which he has ever since been the representative. J. H. +Galton, Esq., of Hadsor, made a canvass of the electors on the Liberal +interest; but finding that his chances were not very good he retired from +the contest. Mr. Allen, barrister, also made a flying visit to the +place, intending to put up as a Reformer, but soon took his departure. +Mr. Pakington was proposed at the hustings by W. H. Ricketts, Esq., and +Mr. John Tolley; and having made a long confession of his political creed +(in which he avowed himself a staunch Conservative, but would not vote +for a repeal of the Malt Tax, and approved of the new Poor Law), he was +declared duly elected. + +1841—JULY—(General Election.)—J. S. Pakington, Esq., reëlected without +opposition. + +1847—JULY—(General Election.)—Mr. C. Lloyd, nephew of Lord Mostyn, +canvassed the electors on the Liberal interest, and had some promise of +support from the agents of a noble lord in the neighbourhood (Lord Ward), +who was expected rather to have thrown his influence into the +Conservative scale; but, notwithstanding this, Mr. Lloyd found that he +had very little chance of success, and consequently retired, leaving the +field free for Sir John Pakington, Bart., who was reëlected. + + + +BEWDLEY. + + +THIS, before the Reform Bill, was a close Tory borough, with some thirty +or forty self-elected burgesses, who returned their member with no +confusion or turmoil. Under the new state of things, Stourport joins +with it in the exercise of the franchise, and the united constituency now +includes 371 electors. Parties have been very evenly balanced here of +late years. + +1802—JULY—(General Election.)—Miles P. Andrews, Esq., who had for some +time represented the town, again chosen. + +1806—NOVEMBER—(General Election.)—Mr. Andrews reëlected. + +1807—MAY—(General Election.)—Mr. Andrews reëlected. + +1812—OCTOBER—(General Election.)—Mr. Andrews reëlected. + +1814—AUGUST—(Vacancy occasioned by the death of Mr. Andrews.)—Charles +Edward Wilson, Esq., of Bognor, Sussex, chosen. + +1818—JUNE—(General Election.)—Wilson Aylesbury Roberts, Esq., returned; +Mr. Wilson having retired in his favour. + +1820—MARCH—(General Election.)—W. A. Roberts, Esq., reëlected. + +1826—JUNE—(General Election.)—W. A. Roberts, Esq., reëlected. + +1830—JULY—(General Election.)—W. A. Roberts, Esq., reëlected. + +1831—MAY—(General Election.)—W. A. Roberts, Esq., reëlected. + +1832—DECEMBER—(General Election.)—After the passing of the Reform Bill, +Mr. Roberts did not choose again to offer himself, and Sir Thomas +Winnington, Bart., was elected without opposition. He was proposed by +Arthur Skey, Esq., and Jonathan Worthington, Esq. + +1835—JANUARY—(General Election.)—Sir Thomas Winnington reëlected without +opposition. + +1837—JULY—(General Election.)—Sir Thomas Winnington resigned in favour of +his son, T. E. Winnington, Esq., who was elected without opposition. + +1841—JULY—(General Election.)—For the first time this century this +borough was contested, Mr. Robert Monteith, son of a Lanarkshire +gentleman who had accumulated a fortune as a Glasgow merchant, coming +forward to oppose Sir Thomas Edward Winnington. At the nomination Sir +Thomas was proposed by A. Skey, Esq., and seconded by J. Williams, Esq.; +and Mr. Monteith by W. A. Roberts, Esq., and K. Watson, Esq. Sir Thomas +declared himself for an alteration of the Corn Laws, but for some measure +of protection. Mr. Monteith declared himself a thorough Conservative. +The show of hands was in favour of Mr. Monteith, and the struggle +throughout was a most severe one. In the Bewdley district Mr. Monteith +had a majority of eight, but this was more than counterbalanced by Sir +Thomas’s advantage at Stourport. The total numbers were—Winnington, 173; +Monteith, 168: majority, 5. A scrutiny was threatened but not proceeded +with. A dinner was afterwards given at the Swan Inn, Stourport, to +congratulate Sir Thomas Winnington on his return. The chair was filled +by George Harris, Esq., and the vice chairs by B. Devey and P. Baldwin, +Esqs.; and the company numbered 180. In September, the Conservative +party entertained Mr. Monteith at a dinner in a large marquee—400 persons +sitting down to the tables; Slade Baker, Esq., presided. In the ensuing +month Mr. Monteith sent £100 to be distributed amongst the various +charities of the two towns. + +1847—JULY—(General Election.)—Sir T. Winnington was again opposed, and +this time successfully, by Thomas James Ireland, Esq., of Hooton Hall, +Suffolk, professing high Church and State principles, and liberal in the +expenditure of his money. At the hustings, Sir Thomas was proposed by +Mr. Skey and Mr. Baldwin; and Mr. Ireland by Mr. Nicholas and Mr. Heath. +The show of hands was in Mr. Ireland’s favour, and after a most exciting +struggle Mr. Ireland was declared to have 160 votes, and Sir Thomas only +158. + +The return was petitioned against; and on the 4th March, 1848, the +inquiry commenced before the Parliamentary committee, consisting of three +Liberals and two Conservatives. Mr. Sergeant Wrangham and Mr. Sergeant +Kinglake were the principal counsel employed by Sir Thomas Winnington; +and Mr. Alexander, by Mr. Ireland. After five days’ examination of +witnesses, the committee decided that Mr. Ireland was not duly +elected—that it had been proved that a voter, named Price, had received +£15 for his vote—and that treating had been proved against Mr. Ireland’s +agents. The recriminatory case against Sir Thomas Winnington occupied +six days, and the committee decided that he had been guilty of treating, +by his agents, and that therefore the election was void. Mr. Elgie, his +principal agent, was himself examined, and proved that 26 or 27 inns were +opened on Sir Thomas’s side, some of which supplied as many as 1,000 +gallons a day. The committee made a special report to the House that a +most pernicious system of intimidation, kidnapping and treating prevailed +in the borough, and the writ was suspended, on the motion of Mr. Hume, +until the evidence was printed and laid before the house. On the 12th of +April, Captain Rushout moved that a new writ should issue, but Sir John +Hanmer proposed its further suspension. After a debate, in which the +corruption disclosed in the evidence before the committee was pretty +freely commented upon, the House came to a division, and 80 members voted +for issuing the writ, and 38 against it; so the writ was ordered, and a +fresh election took place in— + +1848—APRIL 17—The candidates on this occasion were Viscount Mandeville, +son of the Duke of Manchester (Conservative), and the Hon. Spencer +Lyttelton (Liberal). On the hustings, Mr. Lyttelton was proposed by Mr. +Skey and Mr. Pierce Baldwin; and Viscount Mandeville by Mr. Nicholas and +Mr. Heath. The show of hands was in favour of Mr. Lyttelton, but +Viscount Mandeville headed the poll throughout; the numbers at the close +being—Mandeville, 171; Lyttelton, 156. Of course this election was, to a +great extent, free from the corrupt practices of former ones, but the +circumstances under which it occurred furnished matter enough for +excitement. + + + +KIDDERMINSTER. + + +KIDDERMINSTER once returned two members to Parliament, but not liking to +have to pay them was, upon its own petition, relieved of the “honour.” +It was again enfranchised by the Reform Bill; but had only one member +allotted to it. The constituency here is remarkably small, in comparison +with the population, owing to so few of the operatives living in houses +which pay £10 a year rent. The number of electors now on the register, +including duplicates, is 490. + +1832—(General Election.)—In anticipation of the passing of the Reform +Bill, Richard Godson, Esq., a barrister on the Oxford Circuit, who was +very popular with the weavers because of his successful defence of some +of their number when tried for riot, made an entry into the town on the +4th April, 1831, and gave a public statement of his political principles. +He was not, he said, the nominee of some lord, but one of the people, +come to represent the people. The Reform Bill was merely a restoration +of the good old constitution, which would give every man his proper +weight in the national assembly. All other reforms must follow it; the +defects of the church must be removed; and, especially, there must be a +free trade in corn. And though he was interested in a West Indian estate +he should advocate Emancipation, &c. &c. His reception was, altogether, +most enthusiastic. He was, however, opposed by G. R. Phillips, Esq., of +Weston House, Warwickshire, also professing reform principles. Mr. +Phillips was proposed, on the hustings, by J. Newcombe, Esq., and H. +Talbot, Esq.; and Mr. Godson by William Boycot, jun., Esq., and Mr. James +Cole. A very severe contest took place, and the numbers at the close +were—Godson, 172; Phillips, 159: majority for Godson, 13. The total +constituency was 388. + +1835—(General Election.)—Mr. Godson was again opposed by Mr. Phillips. +Mr. Godson still professed to be a Reformer, but was supported by the +Conservatives. The show of hands was almost even, but decided by the +High Bailiff in Mr. Godson’s favour, and a poll was demanded by Mr. +Phillips, who was, eventually, returned by a majority of 73; the numbers +being—Phillips, 197; Godson, 124. Mr. Phillips refused to be chaired, +saying that he should spend the money amongst the people in other ways. +On the 10th of June, a piece of plate (ornament for the dinner table, in +silver, worth £150) was presented to Mr. Godson, by 1,975 inhabitants of +the borough, “in grateful remembrance of his ever watchful, independent, +and patriotic conduct when in Parliament.” The presentation was made by +Mr. Alderman Joseph Boycot, on the balcony of the Lion Hotel, in the +presence of some 7,000 persons. + +1837—(General Election.)—Mr. Phillips, some time before the writ was +issued for this election, declared his intention of withdrawing all +pretensions to the representation; being evidently afraid of a defeat, or +that a triumph could only be purchased on terms too dear. Mr. Godson, +however, found an opponent in the person of John Bagshaw, Esq., ex-M.P. +for Sudbury. Mr. Godson was proposed by Mr. Morton and Mr. Cole; Mr. +Bagshaw by Mr. Turner and Mr. Joseph Newcombe. The show of hands was +considerably in Mr. Godson’s favour, and a poll was demanded for Mr. +Bagshaw. Mr. Godson headed the poll from the first, and in the course of +the afternoon Mr. Bagshaw retired; the numbers being—Godson, 198; +Bagshaw, 157. + +1841—(General Election.)—Mr. Godson was opposed by Mr. Sampson Ricardo, +brother of Osman Ricardo, Esq., who came forward at the last moment, +after the Liberals had been disappointed by the candidate they had fixed +upon—a Mr. Rennie. Mr. Godson was proposed by Mr. Morton and Mr. Cole; +Mr. Ricardo by Mr. Charles Talbot and Mr. H. Worth; and the Mayor fairly +enough declared the show of hands to be in his favour, though, for so +doing, he was assailed by the Conservatives in a most discourteous +manner. The contest was, what Kidderminster contests always have been, a +very sharp one; but Mr. Godson was returned by a majority of 12; the +numbers being—Godson, 212; Ricardo, 200. + +1847—(General Election.)—Mr. Godson was reëlected without opposition. + +1849—SEPTEMBER—(Vacancy occasioned by the sudden demise of Mr. Richard +Godson.)—The first candidate in the field was John Best, Esq., a +barrister of short standing, son of W. B. Best, Esq., of Blakebrook +House, who came forward as a Conservative and Protectionist. Thomas +Gisborne Esq., of Yoxall Park, near Burton-on-Trent, next made his +appearance on the Reform side, professing very liberal opinions. He had, +formerly, been member for Nottingham. A diversion was speedily effected +by the arrival of a third man, in the person of Crawshay Bailey, Esq., of +Tredegar, South Wales, who was also Conservative in his views, and +apparently entertaining similar opinions to those of Mr. Best upon all +subjects. He was supported by a very influential section of the +Kidderminster Conservatives, and a downright split amongst them seemed +inevitable. However at the end of a week Mr. Bailey finding he had +little chance, withdrew from the contest, and left the two first to fight +it out. Considerable soreness of feeling, however, was felt amongst the +Conservatives by this temporary division, and the opponents built +thereupon very sanguine expectations of success. At the nomination Mr. +Best was proposed by Mr. William Boycot, sen., and Mr. Henry +Chellingworth; and Mr. Gisborne by Mr. William Holmes and Mr. Henry +Brinton, in whose favour the show of hands was declared to be. Mr. +Gisborne headed the poll till twelve o’clock, when some thirty voters, +who had been supporters of Mr. Bailey up to the time of his retirement, +and who, it was hoped by one party, and feared by the other, would now +remain neutral, came to the booths and recorded their votes for Mr. Best. +This decided the struggle; and when the clock struck four, Mr. Best was +found to have 217 votes against 200 only recorded for Mr. Gisborne. The +election, on the whole, passed off quietly, and with decorum. + +In the session of 1850 a petition was presented by some of the Liberal +electors against Mr. Best’s return, on the score of bribery and +corruption, and the matter came before a committee of the House of +Commons, on the 15th of April. The committee consisted of Mr. Bouverie +(chairman), Lord Enfield, Mr. Augustus Stafford, Mr. David Morris, and +Sir William Joliffe; the majority being Liberals. Mr. Sergeant Kinglake +led the case for the petitioners, and Mr. Alexander, Q.C., for Mr. Best. +The committee sat seven days, and a variety of witnesses were examined on +behalf of the petitioners; but bribery was only attempted to be proved in +two cases, the evidence, on all points, being decidedly weak. The +committee confirmed Mr. Best’s return. + + + +DUDLEY. + + +THE privilege of sending a member to Parliament was conferred on this +borough by the Reform Bill. The number of voters now on the register is +912. + +1832—(General Election.)—Sir John Campbell—then the Whig Solicitor +General, and long a practitioner on the Oxford Circuit, now Lord Chief +Justice of England—was returned. He had an opponent in the person of +Horace St. Paul, Esq., who contested the election on Tory principles. +Sir John was proposed by Mr. Twamley and Mr. Braidley; and Mr. St. Paul +by Mr. Dixon and Mr. Salisbury. The numbers, at the close of the poll, +were—Campbell, 315; St. Paul, 225: majority for Campbell, 90. + +1834—FEBRUARY 27—(Election rendered necessary by Sir John Campbell’s +elevation to the Attorney Generalship.)—Sir John was this time opposed, +on the Conservative interest, by Thomas Hawkes, Esq. The show of hands, +at the nomination, was in favour of Sir John; whereupon a poll was +demanded by Mr. Hawkes’s friends, and commenced immediately with great +briskness. At three o’clock, Sir John’s committee, finding great +difficulty in bringing their friends to the poll, gave up in a huff, and +Mr. Hawkes was declared duly elected; the numbers being—Hawkes, 322; +Campbell, 242: majority, 80. This result was said to be mainly owing to +the Dissenters and ultra-radicals refusing to vote for Sir John, “in +order to teach ministers a lesson;” but the effect was rather to disgust +the Whigs than to urge them forward with church reform. Sir John had +also made enemies by an attack, in the House, on the Dudley magistrates. + +1835—(General Election.)—Mr. Hawkes returned by a majority of 93 over his +Whig opponent, Captain Forbes. + +1837—(General Election.)—Mr. Hawkes again elected. Mr. Merryweather +Turner was the candidate on the Liberal interest, and obtained the show +of hands at the nomination; but at the poll the numbers were—Hawkes, 385; +Turner, 289: majority for Hawkes, 96. A challenge resulted from some +speeches at this election, and the Dudley magistrates issued their +warrants to bind over both Mr. Turner and Mr. Hawkes to keep the peace. +Mr. Turner did not get the challenge till half an hour after he had been +bound over at the instigation of Mr. Hawkes’s friends. + +1841—(General Election.)—Mr. Hawkes again elected; though opposed, on the +Liberal interest, by Mr. W. A. Smith, son of the then member for Norwich. +Mr. Downing and Mr. B. Best proposed Mr. Hawkes at the hustings; and Mr. +Thomas Lister and Mr. Thomas Hill proposed Mr. Smith, who had the show of +hands. The numbers on the poll were—Hawkes, 436; Smith, 189: majority +for Hawkes, 247. + +1844—AUGUST 8—Mr. Thomas Hawkes’s acceptance of the Chiltern Hundreds, in +consequence of the embarrassed state of his affairs, having caused a +vacancy, John Benbow, Esq., agent for Lord Ward, and, therefore, +possessing much influence in the borough, was put in nomination on the +Conservative interest, and opposed by Mr. William Rawson, an +Anti-Corn-Law lecturer. Mr. Benbow was proposed, on the hustings, by Mr. +Thomas Badger and Captain Bennitt; and Mr. Rawson by Mr. Charles Twamley +and the Rev. J. Palmer. The show of hands was in favour of Mr. Rawson. +The polling was a very quiet affair, and at the close the numbers +were—Benbow, 388; Rawson, 175: majority, 213. + +1847—(General Election.)—A Mr. Joseph Linney, Chartist operative from +Bilston, was put in nomination on the day of election, in opposition to +Mr. Benbow—addressed the crowd, and got the show of hands; but having no +money to pay his share of the expenses of a poll, was obliged to +withdraw, and Mr. Benbow was declared duly elected. + + + + +ELECTIONS OF COUNTY CORONERS. + + +THE number of coroners appointed for each English county was formerly +regulated by usage, the statute of 3 Edw. I, cap. 10, merely enacting +that “in all shires a sufficient number of men should be chosen as +coroners;” but it was competent for the Lord Chancellor to issue a writ +for the election of additional coroners, upon a petition from the +freeholders of the county and the approbation of the justices in quarter +sessions. The manner of the election was regulated by the statute of 58 +Geo. III, cap. 35, and the poll might be kept open ten days. By cap. 6 +of 28 Edw. III, it was enacted, “that all coroners of the counties should +be chosen in the full counties, by the commons of the said counties, of +the most meet and lawful people that should be found,” &c. Although by +this statute the election is not expressly confined to freeholders, yet +as none but freeholders are suitors at the county court (who were “the +commons of the counties” referred to by this statute) the usage has been +for freeholders only to vote. The amount of estate not being defined, +any _bonâ fide_ freehold interest in lands in the county, however small, +will confer the right to vote. Previous to the division of the counties +into districts—power to do which was given to the Privy Council, on +petition of the County Justices, by 7 and 8 Vic., cap. 92—each coroner +acted throughout the whole county, and every freeholder was entitled to +vote at each election. Now, however, the coroners, though still +considered coroners for the whole county, cannot hold inquests out of +their respective districts, except in special cases; and only the +freeholders residing within the district are entitled to vote at the +election for that district. The justices, of course, virtually assign +the districts; and a dispute which arose in this county, between the +magistrates and one of the coroners, on his claiming compensation for +loss of emolument by the division they had made, will be found noticed in +a subsequent part of this work. The poll at elections for coroners is +now limited to two days. + +1801—AUGUST 13—Richard Barneby, Esq., elected coroner in the room of +Humphrey Littleton, Esq., deceased. No opposition. + +1809—APRIL 26—Election of a coroner for the county, in the room of Mr. +George Best, removed, took place this day at the Talbot Inn, Claines. +Mr. Godson, of Tenbury, Mr. Cheek, of Evesham, and Mr. Griffiths, of +Broadway, were the candidates; but to save the expenses of a poll, they +agreed to leave the choice to three gentlemen—one nominated by each +candidate. The gentlemen chosen were—J. Philips, Esq., H. Wakeman, Esq., +and T. Bund, Esq.; and they determined (by drawing lots) on Mr. Godson, +of Tenbury, who was thereupon declared duly elected. + +1810—FEBRUARY 14—Election for a coronership in consequence of the +resignation of Mr. Richard Barneby. The candidates on this occasion were +Mr. J. H. Griffiths, of Broadway, and Mr. George Hill, of Worcester. +Both candidates rested their claim for support on the locality of their +residence—Mr. Griffiths saying that, as the other coroners lived one at +Chaddesley and the other at Tenbury, the Evesham side ought to have one +resident there—and Mr. Hill contending that there should be one, at +least, living in the county town. The nomination took place at the +Talbot, in the Tything, Worcester; and Mr. Griffiths was proposed by T. +Bund, Esq., of Wick, and seconded by — Knowles, Esq., Broadway; Mr. Hill +by R. Berkeley, Esq., Spetchley, and seconded by Philip Gresley, Esq., +High Park. The numbers after the first day’s poll were—Hill, 395; +Griffiths, 79: and then Mr. Griffiths retired from the contest. + +1815—FEBRUARY 10—Mr. Thomas Hallen, of Kidderminster, elected a county +coroner, in the room of Mr. Fidkin, deceased. Mr. H. Robeson, of +Bromsgrove, had been a candidate, but retired before the election. Mr. +Hallen was proposed by E. M. Wigley, Esq., of Shakenhurst, and seconded +by the Rev. R. F. Onslow, vicar of Kidderminster. + +1822—SEPTEMBER 27—Election to supply the place of William Godson, Esq., +of Tenbury, then lately deceased. The nomination took place in the +College Yard, at the east end of the Cathedral. Earl Mountnorris +proposed Mr. Charles Best, of Evesham, and this nomination was seconded +by Thomas B. Cooper, Esq.; T. S. Vernon, Esq., proposed, and John +Phillips, Esq., of Hanbury Hall, seconded, Mr. S. H. Godson, of Tenbury, +son of the deceased coroner. The show of hands was in favour of Mr. +Best, and Mr. Godson demanded a poll. This went on vigorously till five +o’clock in the evening, when the numbers were—Best, 635; Godson, 230. +Mr. Godson then retired from the contest, and Mr. Best was duly sworn in. + +1826—DECEMBER 13—The most determined contest ever known in this county +for a coronership commenced this day. Immediately on the death of Mr. +George Hill, five candidates announced themselves for the office—viz., +Mr. William Smith, Worcester; Mr. Frederick Stokes, Worcester; Mr. +Stephen Godson, Worcester; Mr. Charles Beville Dryden, Worcester; Mr. +Thomas Davis, Worcester; and Mr. Skey, Upton. Of these, however, all had +withdrawn before the nomination day, excepting Mr. Smith and Mr. Stokes. +The Sheriff had at first fixed that the nomination should take place in +the Castle Yard, but this property had recently been sold by Government +to Mr. Eaton, with a reservation of it for the nomination of members of +Parliament; but nothing had been said (according to Mr. Eaton’s view of +the matter) about coroners, therefore he refused to allow it to be used. +The nomination, therefore, took place at the Hare and Hounds Inn, +Sidbury; where Mr. Smith was proposed by Major Bund and John Williams, +Esq.; and Mr. Stokes by Sir Thomas Winnington, Bart., and the Rev. George +Turberville. The show of hands was declared to be in favour of Mr. +Smith, and a poll was demanded for his opponent; and this was continued +for ten days—the utmost period allowed by law. For the first three days +Mr. Stokes headed his adversary considerably; Mr. Smith, on the fifth +day, however, obtained the ascendancy, and kept it, though with varying +numbers, to the last day, when he very materially increased his majority, +which, in the end, amounted to 189 votes. The numbers polled were—Smith, +3,875; Stokes, 3,686: total number of freeholders polled, 7,561. The +contest resolved itself quite into a political struggle—Mr. Smith +representing the Tory and Mr. Stokes the Whig interest. The city, during +the progress of the election, was in a state of the utmost excitement—the +voters being brought in to the sole polling place, with flags and bands +of music, in every possible description of vehicle. On the sixth day, a +fierce fight took place between the partisans of the two candidates, on +their accidental meeting in the Tything; and several men with broken +heads were taken to the Infirmary. Mr. Stokes, at the conclusion of the +poll, demanded a scrutiny; and the matter of right and power, on the part +of the Sheriff, to grant one, was formally argued; but it was ultimately +refused, and Mr. Smith was sworn into the office. The contest cost each +of the candidates about £3,000 a day, while it lasted. [The copy of the +reservation clause in Mr. Eaton’s conveyance was afterwards produced, on +special application to Government, and it seemed that the Sheriff was +empowered to hold any court in the Castle Yard which he pleased.] + +1832—NOVEMBER 7—Mr. W. S. P. Hughes, solicitor, elected a county coroner, +in the room of Mr. Smith, who had absconded. Mr. Hughes was proposed by +the Rev. George Turberville, seconded by John Williams, Esq., and no +other candidate having offered himself, he was at once declared duly +chosen. + +1838—NOVEMBER 28—Election for county coroner, in the room of Mr. Thomas +Hallen, of Kidderminster, who had resigned. Mr. William Boycot, jun., of +Kidderminster, Mr. Henry Corser, of Stourbridge, and Mr. Ralph Docker, of +Kingsnorton, had offered themselves as candidates; but the two first +withdrew, and it was expected that Mr. Docker would “walk over.” It was +said that the three gentlemen had “tossed up,” and so decided the matter, +but that was denied. However, on the evening before the election, Mr. +Thomas Waters, Clerk of the Peace for the city, offered himself to the +freeholders for election, and there was every expectation of a sharp +contest. Mr. Spooner proposed Mr. Docker, who was seconded by Mr. Ellis; +Mr. Waters was proposed by Mr. Alderman R. Evans and Mr. Alderman +Stephenson. The show of hands was in favour of Mr. Docker, and Mr. Evans +demanded a poll for Mr. Waters. At the end of the first day the numbers +were—Docker, 246; Waters, 138: and Mr. Waters then retired from the +contest. + + + + +PUBLIC MEETINGS. + + +IT may be that the interest attaching to many of the meetings detailed +here is gone for ever, but the interest of others will perhaps increase +as time advances, and curiously serve to mark the ebb and flow of human +feelings and affairs. Though there is often reason to coincide with the +Duke’s apothegm—“Public meetings are public farces,” yet they at least +give us the results of the popular instinct, which is often as sure a +guide as the popular reason would be; and, when most foolish in their +conclusions, they are to be regarded as fortunate escapements for those +excitements without which a community cannot exist long together. If any +explanation should be felt necessary by the reader, of the public +occurrences which called forth these meetings, he will find it in another +portion of this work. + +1800—MAY 14—County meeting held in Worcester Town Hall, to consider what +steps should be taken in consequence of the high price of provisions, +which was very numerously attended. Resolutions were passed, begging +holders of corn to bring it into the market at reduced prices; and +requesting millers to grind for the poor at half their usual charge. The +Town Hall was granted as a place of deposit for corn, to be retailed to +the poor at prime cost. The greatest pleasure was evinced by the meeting +at hearing that vessels were arriving from abroad with importations of +wheat. It is recorded that many farmers attended Worcester market, in +consequence of this meeting, and sold wheat at 15s. to 18s. a bushel. + +1800—JUNE 7—County meeting to congratulate the King on his escape from +assassination by Hadfield; and meetings for a similar purpose held at +Stourbridge, Bromsgrove, &c. + +1800—OCTOBER 9—A common hall held at Worcester, at which resolutions were +passed to petition Parliament for fresh enactments against “engrossing,” +&c., and begging the legislature _to fix a certain price_, _beyond which +it might be unlawful to sell wheat_. + +1801—MAY 25—Common hall held at Worcester, at which a petition to +Parliament was unanimously agreed to, praying that wheat, and all other +grain, might be made saleable by weight only. + +1806—MAY 28—A public meeting of the inhabitants of Worcester convened in +the Town Hall, John Dillon, Esq., in the chair, to petition against the +proposed tax on beer. Amongst other reasons against it the petition +alleged—“That it will prevent, in a great measure, the frugal offices of +hospitality and charity.” + +1807—APRIL 24—Common hall at Worcester to take into consideration the +critical state of public affairs, at which an address, thanking His +Majesty for his strenuous opposition to the Catholic Services Bill, and +rejoicing in its rejection, was unanimously agreed to. + +1808—APRIL 14—A common hall, convened in Worcester, over which Mr. J. +Palmer presided; at which petitions were agreed to to both houses of +Parliament, in favour of the Bill then pending, for restricting the +grants of offices in reversion. + +1809—APRIL 13—A common hall, convened in Worcester, to adopt resolutions +relative to the investigation of the conduct of the Duke of York, as +Commander in Chief, in selling military promotions through his mistress, +Mrs. Clarke. The Mayor occupied the chair. Mr. J. Palmer moved +resolutions, thanking Colonel Wardle, M.P., for promoting the inquiry, +and Mr. Gordon, one of the city members, for voting for it; which were +seconded by Mr. Pope. Mr. J. Williams moved, as an amendment, that the +resolutions should be couched in more general terms and no names +mentioned in them; and Mr. B. Johnson, Town Clerk, seconded it. The +original resolutions were, however, carried by a large majority. In this +meeting occur the first mutterings of the Reform agitation; for the last +of the resolutions declares that “the late decision of the honourable +Commons (negativing Colonel Wardle’s motion for the Duke’s dismissal) has +disappointed the hopes and expectations of the people, and convinced us +of the necessity of a speedy and effectual reform in the representation +of the Commons in Parliament, as a security to the throne, a support to +the nobility, and a safeguard to the people—against that tide of +corruption which has laid so many nations of Europe prostrate at the feet +of the ruler of France.” + +1809—OCTOBER 25—County meeting. Henry Bromley, Esq., Sheriff, in the +chair. To present an address to His Majesty on his entering the fiftieth +year of his reign. + +1811—JULY 8—A common hall, Worcester, called by requisition to the Mayor, +to consider the best means of preventing the destruction of small fish in +the Severn, and the first Association formed for the protection of the +Fisheries: the great decrease of salmon lamented; and it is said to fetch +3s. to 4s. a lb. The corporation subscribed twenty guineas. A great +many seizures of illegal nets speedily made. + +1812—MAY 11—A public meeting, held at the Guildhall, Worcester, Thomas +Carden, Esq., in the chair, to consider what steps should be adopted for +the relief of the poor, who were suffering severely from the excessive +price of all provisions. A very large subscription was raised, and it +was unanimously resolved that it should be appropriated to the purchase +of bacon, peas, and rice, to sell again at reduced prices. The total +number of persons applying thus to be assisted was 7,418, and the sum +raised about £1,500. + +1813—FEBRUARY 10—A common hall held at Worcester, with the Mayor +presiding, at which a petition was unanimously agreed to against the +renewal of the monopoly of the East India Company. The resolutions were +moved by Mr. Johnson, Town Clerk, and seconded by Mr. Richards. + +1813—APRIL 28—A requisition, signed by seventy-four respectable freemen +and inhabitants of Worcester, was presented to the Mayor, requesting him +to call a common hall, for the purpose of addressing H. R. H. the +Princess of Wales, “on the late atrocious attempt against her honour and +her life;” but His Worship refused to call one. A public meeting was +therefore held at the Bell, Mr. Robert Felton in the chair, at which such +an address as had been contemplated was unanimously agreed to. + +1814—MAY 25—A common hall held in Worcester, the Mayor presiding, to +petition against the proposed imposition of corn duties. Mr. Nichols +moved a petition, which was seconded by Mr. Moseley, carried unanimously, +and received 6,000 signatures in two days. The petitioners declared that +corn, during the last twenty years, had been dearer in this country than +in any other in Europe, and, what was of the utmost importance, the +manufacturers of this country could not vie with other markets if the +prices of the necessaries of life could not be brought nearer to the +prices of other countries. If it was imagined that at the then prices of +corn (wheat averaging 8s. 6d. per bushel, and the quartern loaf selling +at 10½d.) the present rent of land could not be paid, the petitioners +submitted that the proper remedy was to lower the rents. The artisans, +during the war, when the price of corn and meat was excessive, had +behaved themselves in the most patient, loyal, and laudable manner, and +it was hard that they should not be allowed to share in the blessings of +the peace, &c. + +Dudley, Droitwich, &c., petitioned against the measure, which was +rejected by the House of Commons, in bringing up the report, by 116 to +110. + +1814—JUNE 30—A public meeting held in Worcester to petition the +legislature against that part of the recent treaty of peace with France +which related to the Slave Trade, and seemed likely to encourage its +revival. The Mayor took the chair. Mr. Stanley Pumphrey moved, and Mr. +Richard Spooner seconded, the resolutions and petitions, which were +unanimously adopted. The petitions received about 1,000 signatures; and +one with a similar object, sent from Evesham, received 900 signatures. + +1814—JULY 29—A public meeting of noblemen, gentlemen, and freeholders of +the county held at the Town Hall, Worcester, to vote an address to the +Prince Regent on the glorious termination of the war. Mr. Clarke, Under +Sheriff, in the chair. The address was moved by Lord Deerhurst, seconded +by the Hon. W. B. Lygon, M.P., and passed unanimously. + +1815—JANUARY 16—A common hall convened in Worcester to address Parliament +on the subject of the property and other war taxes. Mr. Josiah Palmer +first moved resolutions, which were opposed by Major Wigley, as too +strong, and aimed at the landed interest. Mr. Richard Spooner moved +others, which were seconded by Mr. Hooper, and carried by a considerable +majority. A petition was founded upon them, praying for the repeal of +the Income Tax, and the taxes on malt, tea, leather, and salt. + +1815—JANUARY 25—A county meeting held with much the same purpose; Mr. +Clarke, Under Sheriff, in the chair. Mr. E. M. Wigley moved a petition +against the Property Tax, which was seconded by Sir William Smith, Bart., +and adopted without opposition. The meeting then passed to the +consideration of the necessity of some protection to the farming +interest. Mr. Richard Spooner moved a petition praying that “foreign +corn, on importation, should be subjected to the same rate of duty as is +now paid by the British farmer.” He said the agricultural interest was +greatly depressed, and the foreigners ought to pay a duty equivalent to +the taxes paid by the British farmer. Lord Foley seconded the adoption +of the petition, which was carried by acclamation. + +1815—MARCH 6—A common hall held in Worcester; Samuel Garmston, Esq., +Mayor, in the chair; to petition against Mr. Robinson’s Corn Bill, +preventing the importation of wheat when under 80s. a quarter. Mr. J. +Palmer moved the petition, saying that the question was one of cheap or +dear bread, and not at all the benefit of the farmers, many of whom +signed the petitions against the bill, for they saw that its object was +to ensure the landholders their enormous rents. The Mayor, Colonel Wall, +Mr. Brown, Mr. Felton, &c., supported the petition, which was carried +with enthusiasm, and _received_ 7,965 _signatures the same afternoon_, +when it was obliged to be sent off by the London mail. + +EVESHAM—One of the most numerous meetings ever known in this borough was +held on this subject. Mr. Easthope (afterwards Sir John Easthope) moved +the petitions, which were supported by Mr. Phillips, Mr. Barnes, &c., and +opposed by Colonel Cooper, Rev. Mr. Shaw, and Mr. Phelps. They were +carried by a large majority. + +1816—MARCH 14—A county meeting held, with Joseph Lee, Esq., in the chair, +to petition for a reduction of expenditure. The speakers were E. M. +Wigley, Esq., Lord Deerhurst, Lord Elmley, and the Hon. W. H. Lyttelton, +and the general resolutions were then passed without opposition. R. +Spooner, Esq., then moved a petition praying for a readjustment of the +Property Tax, so that “occupiers of land might not be taxed according to +a fictitious assumption of profit,” and further objecting to it as +applied to the ordinary profits of industry. It also prayed for the +repeal of the war taxes on malt and salt. Mr. Wigley moved that the +consideration of the resolution be postponed; and Mr. Talbot moved as an +amendment that the Property Tax ought not, under any modifications, to be +revived. Both these were negatived, and Mr. Spooner’s petition carried. + +1816—MARCH 15—A city meeting was held for the same purpose, at which very +similar petitions were agreed to. + +1817—FEBRUARY 6—A common hall held by the Mayor, to vote addresses to the +Prince Regent to congratulate him on his escape from assassination, and +also to petition Parliament “to make such arrangements as should seem +likely to restore the commerce, manufactures, and agriculture of the +kingdom to their former flourishing state,” and praying for reduction of +expenditure; but adding that the petitioners “looked with anxiety to +Parliament firmly and strenuously to defend the constitution from the +imminent dangers of wild and speculative innovation.” The hall was +densely crowded. The address to the Prince Regent was moved by Mr. +Lechmere, seconded by Mr. Spooner, and carried unanimously. But on the +petition being proposed, Mr. Josiah Palmer moved its rejection, because +it did not recommend retrenchment sufficiently, and because a meeting was +to be held on the same subject the following day. Mr. Richard Mence +seconded Mr. Palmer’s amendment in a very energetic speech; and, after +several speeches, the petition was put to the meeting and decidedly +rejected. + +1817—FEBRUARY 7—A requisition was presented to the Mayor to call a common +hall to petition the legislature in favour of Parliamentary Reform, but +His Worship (R. Chamberlain, Esq.) declined, though he would grant the +use of the hall to the requisitionists for that purpose. Of this +permission they availed themselves; and a most crowded meeting was +assembled, with Mr. Robert Felton in the chair. The only speakers were +Mr. J. Palmer and Mr. Moseley, who moved petitions for reform, +retrenchment, and the abolition of sinecures, which were carried +unanimously, and forwarded to Lord Deerhurst for presentation. + +1817—NOVEMBER 28—County meeting and common hall held in Worcester, at +which addresses of condolence were agreed to—to the Prince Regent, Her +Majesty, and Prince Leopold—on the death of the Princess Charlotte. + +1818—DECEMBER 12—A county meeting held, at which the Earl of Coventry +moved, and the Lord Bishop seconded, an address of condolence to the +Prince Regent on the death of his mother, the Queen; which was, of +course, carried unanimously. A similar address was presented from the +corporation of Worcester. + +1819—MAY 1—A meeting of the proprietors and occupiers of land in the +county of Worcester, held at the Crown Inn, Broad Street; George Wigley +Perrott, Esq., in the chair; when it was unanimously resolved that a +memorial should be signed by the parties present, and sent to the Right +Hon. Frederick John Robinson, President of the Board of Trade, “to press +the just claims of the cultivators of the soil to a _full_, _fair_, _and +ample protection_ from the legislature; the _imperious necessity_ of +which was becoming daily more and more apparent.” The memorial, adopted +by the meeting, stated that “the unparalleled quantity of 26,000,000 +bushels of foreign corn imported into this kingdom within the last year, +DUTY FREE, {65} and of 13,000,000 lbs. of wool in three quarters of a +year, or nearly so, had occasioned a ruinous loss to the tenantry and +other occupiers of the soil, lessened the demand for labour, increased +the poor rates, diminished the means of paying for them, and must also +have tended materially to injure the home trade of the country.” The +subscribers were—G. W. Perrott, Cracombe House; C. E. Hanford, Wooller’s +Hill; John Hawkes, Allesborough; E. F. Welles, Earl’s Croome; John +Fletcher, Hill Croome; John Onley, Bransford; Thomas Hudson, Pershore; +Joseph Smith, Henwick; Francis Holland, Cropthorne; John Winnall, Braces +Leigh; and William Woodward, Birlingham. + +1820—FEBRUARY 28—A county meeting held at the Guildhall, Worcester, to +address His Majesty on the decease of his venerable father, and to +congratulate him on his accession to the throne. The address was moved +by the Earl of Coventry, as Lord Lieutenant of the County, and seconded +by Lord Beauchamp. + +1822—FEBRUARY 8—A county meeting to consider agricultural distress; E. +Isaac, Esq., High Sheriff, in the chair. Mr. J. Richards first addressed +the meeting. He alluded to the circumstances in which the agricultural +interest now found itself. In the previous session of Parliament the +petitions of the farmers had caused the appointment of a select committee +to inquire into the causes of the distress. They, in their report, +admitted that arable land could now only be cultivated at a loss, but +added that Parliament could grant no redress—they must look only to time +and patience. But this was a mockery, for they had had good seasons and +harvests, and how then was their case to be bettered by patience? Mr. +George Webb Hall professed to have discovered a remedy in the imposition +of a very heavy duty on foreign corn—the object of that was, of course, +to prevent its importation altogether, and increase the price at home. +But if that was done, where were the people to get money to purchase it? +The manufacturers would no longer be able to compete with foreigners, and +people would emigrate by tens of thousands. It was not true that the +price of corn had fallen because of foreign importation—the price of meat +had fallen just in the same proportion, and cattle and sheep were not +imported. Prices were low all the world over, and the only remedy for +the present state of things was a diminution of taxes. If it was asked +why corn could not be grown at 40s. a quarter now, as it could be in +1792, he would reply, because taxes, rents, and tithes, were all much +higher. The Bank Restriction Act of 1797, and Mr. Peel’s bill of 1819, +had committed a fraud in the value of money; and this was another cause +of distress. Ultimate relief, he thought, would only be obtained from a +reformed Parliament. He moved a series of resolutions in accordance with +these sentiments. Mr. Richard Spooner seconded them. Mr. Beale Cooper +then moved an amendment, stating—“That for 150 years, from 1663 to 1814, +importation of the produce of the soil was never permitted without the +payment of some duty; and it is a matter of historical truth that during +that time the prosperity of agriculture, commerce, and manufacture +progressively increased to a height of opulence unexampled in the history +of the world.” To the “unlimited competition” (after 80s. a quarter) +introduced for the first time by the bill of 1815, the amendment +attributed the depression of the produce of the soil below that of every +other commodity, necessarily caused by diminution of circulating medium, +and therefore the amendment prayed for a prohibitory duty. + +Mr. C. E. Hanford said if this amendment passed, the meeting would be a +farce. The Duke of Sussex, the Duke of Bedford, and Mr. Coke thought the +remedy was to be found in retrenchment and Parliamentary Reform. + +Mr. Spooner replied to Mr. Beale Cooper, who had told them that because +corn was imported duty free, therefore it had diminished in price; but +there had been no importation at all for the last three years, and so +that argument must be fallacious. The conduct of Parliament in +endeavouring to swindle the nation into payment of an unjust debt, which, +as it had been incurred in paper, ought to be paid in paper, showed the +necessity for reform. He was for triennial Parliaments and an extension +of the franchise, so that those who by direct taxation contributed +towards the burdens of his country, should have a voice in electing those +by whom they were imposed. He had been but a short time in Parliament, +but he had had sufficient opportunity of seeing how matters were managed +there; swarms of boyish members came in just at a division, and only +looked where the Marquis of Londonderry or Mr. Tierney stood, to see on +which side of the house they should go. + +Mr. G. W. Perrott seconded Mr. Cooper’s amendment, which, however, was +lost by a very large majority. Mr. Richards’s resolutions were then all +carried, excepting the last, which called for Parliamentary Reform; but +after several persons, and the High Sheriff amongst others, had begged +him to withdraw it as not pertinent to the objects of the meeting, that +also was carried by acclamation. Petitions were then agreed to, founded +on Mr. Richards’s resolutions, and the meeting broke up. Lord Foley and +Sir Thomas Winnington, who were unavoidably absent from the meeting, +attached their names to the petitions. + +[Lord John Russell, just about this time, wrote a letter to the farmers +of Huntingdonshire, recommending them indeed to seek for retrenchment and +reform, but using all the arguments now in vogue amongst Protectionists +against the importation of corn, and expressing his fears that Government +were going to hand over the country to political economists.] + +1822—MARCH 30—A meeting of the inhabitants of Kidderminster held, George +Hallen, Esq., High Bailiff, in the chair, to petition Parliament for a +revision of the Corn Laws; and it was resolved that the restrictions upon +the importation of corn were inconsistent with sound principles of +national policy, and were proved, by ten years’ experience, to be +injurious to the general interests of the community; and a petition was +therefore adopted for a moderate import duty on corn; which, in addition +to the unavoidable expenses of importation, would be a fair protection to +the farmer, and would be much preferable to the perplexing state of the +law, as it then stood. They also prayed generally for the relaxation of +all commercial restrictions. + +1823—APRIL 30—Meeting in Worcester, William Wall, Esq., in the chair, at +which a petition to Parliament, praying for the abolition of Negro +Slavery in the British colonies, was agreed upon. One was also forwarded +from Evesham at this time. + +1828—JUNE 20—Public meeting in the Guildhall, Worcester, with the Mayor +in the chair, at which petitions were agreed to, praying for restrictions +on the importation of foreign gloves. + +1828—NOVEMBER 7—Public meeting in the Guildhall, for the purpose of +establishing an Infant School in Worcester. The Mayor (James Fletcher, +Esq.) presided; and there were on the platform the Lord Bishop of +Rochester, Dean of Worcester, Rev. C. Benson, Sir A. Lechmere, Bart., W. +Wall, E. Isaac, J. P. Lavender, Esqs., Dr. Hastings, Mr. Henry Newman, +Mr. Josiah Newman, &c. A considerable subscription was entered into, and +the school was established in Friar Street, where it still exists. + +1828—NOVEMBER 27—A meeting at the Guildhall, Worcester, convened by the +“City and County Brunswick Club,” of those “who were friendly to its +political principles,” for the purpose of increasing the number of its +members. The general public, however, assembled in large numbers, and +the opposition, principally, took possession of the Nisi Prius Court. +The Brunswickers thereupon went into the Crown Court, and left Mr. Payne, +Roman Catholic, to harangue the company in the Nisi Prius Court upon the +unfairness of the proceeding. In the Crown Court, Major Bund was called +to the chair, and read the address and resolutions of the Brunswick Club, +with a view of obtaining “the concurrence and support of those who might +be friendly to them.” He proceeded, amidst mingled cheers and hisses, to +propose petitions to the King and Parliament, praying that no concession +might be made to Catholics. Mr. Richard Spooner endeavoured to put an +amendment, but was told that he had no right there unless friendly to the +principles of the Brunswick Club, and a show of hands was taken whether +he should be heard. The chairman having decided that it was against Mr. +Spooner, he retired, and the other resolutions were proposed by Dr. Beale +Cooper, E. Burroughs, Esq., John Phillips, Esq., and carried without much +opposition. On the suggestion of the Rev. Mr. Havergal, three cheers +were given at the close of the meeting for Protestant ascendancy. +Meanwhile, Mr. Spooner, in the body of the hall, and Mr. Foster, of +Evesham, in the Nisi Prius Court, proposed resolutions to the people +unable to get into the Crown Court, declaring the Brunswick Club to be +unnecessary and uncalled for—and these were carried by acclamation. The +Brunswickers’ petition received about 700 signatures on the day of +meeting. + +1830—MARCH 2—County meeting, presided over by John Scott, Esq., High +Sheriff, for two objects—first, to consider the question of erecting a +Shire Hall; and, secondly, to petition Parliament on the subject of +agricultural distress. + +As to the first matter, John Williams, Esq., moved a resolution +requesting the magistrates to be satisfied with alterations and additions +to the city Guildhall. This was seconded by Richard Spooner, Esq. The +Rev. Thomas Pearson proposed, as an amendment, that the county ought to +erect courts suitable to its respectability, but that the measure should +be postponed till the depression of the agricultural interest had passed +over. Dr. B. Cooper seconded this. Sir C. S. Smith and R. Spooner, +Esq., supported the original proposition, which was carried almost +unanimously. + +Colonel Lygon having briefly addressed the meeting, warning them not to +regard Parliamentary Reform as a panacea for their ills, Richard Spooner, +Esq., rose and proposed a petition for the adoption of the meeting: it +complained, in the first place, of extravagant salaries to placemen, and +next of the standard of currency to which the county had been obliged to +return by Mr. Peel’s act, and prayed for a thorough reform in Parliament +as the only means of setting these things right. Mr. Spooner bitterly +inveighed against the corruption of the Parliament as it then existed. +The petition was seconded by Charles Hanford, Esq. Sir C. Smith, Major +General Marriott, Dr. B. Cooper, and J. Williams, Esq., agreed with all +the statements of the petition; but did not want reform, and begged Mr. +Spooner to put it into a separate petition by itself. Mr. S. refused, +and the petition was carried almost unanimously. It afterwards received +2,180 signatures. + +1830—FEBRUARY 13—Meeting held in Worcester to form an “Agricultural +Society,” and to adopt such other measures as might be deemed expedient +in the present depressed state of the agricultural interest. Charles +Hanford, Esq., was called to the chair. The Rev. H. Berry moved a +petition to Parliament, praying for inquiry into the causes of distress, +for economy and revision of the poor laws, and for a salutary reform of +Parliament. F. Holland, Esq., of Cropthorne, seconded the adoption of +the petition. Mr. Allen objected to the “Reform” part of the business, +and suggested that a county meeting should be called. This was agreed +to, and a requisition to the High Sheriff immediately prepared. The +“Agricultural Society,” however, was formed. + +1830—AUGUST 6—County meeting, to vote addresses of condolence and +congratulation to His Majesty King William IV, on the death of his +brother and his accession to the throne. John Scott, Esq., High Sheriff, +in the chair. The addresses were moved by Lord Deerhurst, and seconded +by Sir Anthony Lechmere, Bart. + +1830—OCTOBER 13—Anti-Slavery meeting at the Guildhall; Dr. Hastings in +the chair. The speakers were the Rev. John Davies, the Rev. Thomas Lowe +of Hallow, the Rev. Daniel Wilson, Vicar of Islington, Major Bund, Mr. +Henry Newman, the Hon. T. H. Foley, M.P., the Rev. Dr. Ross of +Kidderminster, the Rev. Henry Hastings of Martley, the Rev. George +Redford, J. W. Isaac, Esq., the Rev. John Brown, Mr. Stanley Pumphrey, +and the Rev. Mr. Bell of Knightwick. Both the attendance and the +speeches were very respectable. A petition was agreed to, which received +1,826 signatures. Petitions were also forwarded to Parliament, about +this time, from every town and many villages of the county. + +1831—MARCH 17—City of Worcester Reform meeting, to support the bill just +then introduced into the Commons. The Mayor, H. B. Tymbs, Esq., refused +to call a town’s meeting, but left the Guildhall at the disposal of the +requisitionists. On the motion of R. Spooner, Esq., William Saunders, +Esq., was called to the chair. Mr. Allen moved, and Mr. Deighton +seconded, the first resolution, expressing the gratification of the +meeting in the measures proposed by His Majesty’s ministers. The other +speakers were Thomas Scott, Esq., Mr. Daniel George, Mr. Timings, Dr. +Corbett, Mr. George Brook, Mr. Greening, Mr. Spooner, Mr. Gillam, Mr. +Wensley, Mr. Williams, and Mr. Thompson. The hall was crowded, and +everything was unanimous and orderly. + +1831—MARCH 18—County of Worcester Reform meeting; Osman Ricardo, Esq., +High Sheriff, in the chair. The meeting was most numerously attended, +and there was no opposition. The speakers in favour of Reform were Sir +Thomas Winnington, Sir Christopher Smith, C. E. Hanford, Esq., H. E. +Strickland, Esq., R. Berkeley, Esq., W. Welch, Esq., W. Acton, Esq., T. +C. Hornyold, Esq., T. T. Vernon, Esq., and H. Bearcroft, Esq. Lord +Lyttelton, after the resolutions had all been carried, addressed the +meeting at considerable length, expressing his delight at having lived to +see the day in which the principles he had advocated through life were, +at last, to obtain a triumph in the wise and salutary measure of Reform +brought forward by the Government. The Hon. T. H. Foley, M.P., also +spoke in favour of the bill. + +1831—SEPTEMBER 30—Public meeting in the Guildhall, Worcester, of citizens +and others, to petition the House of Lords in favour of the Reform Bill, +which had now reached the Upper House. William Saunders, Esq., was +called to the chair. The principal speakers were Mr. Merryweather +Turner, Mr. Curwood, and Mr. Acton; the other movers and seconders of +resolutions being Thomas Scott, Esq., Mr. G. Brook, Mr. Smith, Mr. +Blackwell, Mr. John Bishop, and Captain Wilson. The hall was crowded and +the proceedings most enthusiastic. + +1831—OCTOBER 14—The Reform Bill having been rejected by the House of +Lords by a majority of 41, another meeting of the citizens was called in +the Guildhall, Worcester, to vote an address to the King, praying “that +he will continue his present confidential advisers.” John Curwood, Esq., +was in the chair, and the speakers were much the same as on the previous +occasion. The tone of the meeting was tolerably moderate. The Worcester +Political Union and the parishioners of All Saints and St. Michael met +and agreed to similar addresses. + +1831—NOVEMBER 5—The county meeting, for a similar purpose, was held this +day, Osman Ricardo, Esq., High Sheriff, presiding. The meeting was +crowded and enthusiastic. The speakers were Sir Edward Blount, Captain +Winnington, Colonel Davies, T. C. Hornyold, Esq., Sir Thomas Winnington, +Bart., W. Acton, Esq., Lord Lyttelton, Sir C. S. Smith, C. Hanford, Esq., +John Richards, Esq., Richard Spooner, Esq., A. Skey, Esq., G. Farley, +Esq., Colonel Jefferies, Rev. Mr. Berry, and the Hon. T. H. Foley, M.P. +The various speakers impressed upon the people the necessity of order, +and spoke confidently of obtaining reform shortly. Three cheers were +given at the conclusion of the meeting for Lord Lyttelton, three groans +for the Earl of Coventry, three cheers for the King, three for Earl Grey, +Lord Brougham, and Lord Althorp, and three groans for the Corporation. +Some disturbances took place in the city, in the evening of this day, +which will be found narrated in another place. + +1832—MAY 14—The Worcester Political Union met on the resignation of +ministers, because the Lords, for a second time, refused to accept the +principle of the Reform Bill. The meeting was held in Pitchcroft, at +five p.m., and the members of the Union went in procession to the grand +stand, headed by flags and a band. It is said that at least 10,000 +persons were present. C. Hanford, Esq., was called to the chair by the +acclamations of the crowd, who were first addressed by Mr. Arrowsmith; +and the other speakers were Mr. Hornidge, Mr. Raby, Mr. Mansell, Mr. W. +Bristow, Mr. Southan, Mr. Meek, Mr. Roberts, Mr. Payne, Mr. Bayliss, Mr. +Coates, Mr. Barnes, Mr. Stevenson, and the Rev. Mr. M‘Donnell and Mr. +Salt of Birmingham. The resolutions and petition prayed the House of +Commons to refuse the supplies, and not to pass the Mutiny Bill till the +Reform Bill was passed. + +Meetings were held at Kidderminster (Henry Talbot, Esq., presiding) and +at Evesham (William Welch, Esq., in the chair) with similar intentions +and results. + +1833—APRIL 12—A meeting held at the Guildhall, Worcester, to petition +Parliament on the subject of Negro Slavery. It was very numerously +attended. Dr. Hastings occupied the chair, and the audience was +addressed by the Rev. John Davies, Rev. George Redford, Rev. Peter +Duncan, Lieutenant Davis, Colonel Davies, M.P., Rev. Thomas Pearson, Rev. +R. Turnbull, Rev. Jacob Stanley, Mr. Stanley Pumphrey, Rev. Thomas Davis, +Mr. J. T. Price, Captain O’Brien, Mr. William Parry, Mr. Thomas Pumphrey, +Rev. Thomas Waters, and Rev. S. Webb. + +1833—APRIL 18—Meeting in the Guildhall, Worcester, to petition the +legislature for a repeal of the House and Window Taxes. In the absence +of the Mayor, Mr. John Blackwell was called upon to preside. Mr. +Prosser, architect, Mr. Greening, Mr. Wensley, Mr. Edward Hooper, Mr. +Pemberton, Mr. Scott, Mr. Williams, Mr. J. Davis, Mr. Wheeler, &c., moved +and seconded the resolutions, which declared that the house duty was +oppressive and especially obnoxious, because of the power vested in the +surveyor who levied it—that the window tax was offensive in principle and +in practice—that they both pressed most heavily on the middle classes—who +had, indeed, to bear everything—and that they ought to be forthwith +abolished. + +1834—JANUARY 20—Meeting of Dissenters at Kidderminster, Dr. Ross in the +chair, to memorialise Government for the redress of grievances. The +speakers were the Rev. Mr. Fry, Mr. Henry Brinton, Mr. Chadwick, Rev. Mr. +Smith, Rev. Mr. Warren, Rev. Mr. Coles, Mr. W. Brinton, Mr. Charles +Talbot, and Mr. Thomas Hopkins. The memorial agreed to was directed to +Earl Grey, and prayed, first, for relief from Church Rates; second, the +power of celebrating marriages without conforming to the Church service; +third, for the right of interring their dead in parochial burial grounds +by their own ministers; fourth, the right of admission to the +universities; fifth, for a general system of registering births, deaths, +and marriages, without regard to religious distinction. + +1834—FEBRUARY 24—Meeting of laity of the Church of England at +Kidderminster, to express unshaken confidence in the principles of the +Establishment, and to petition Parliament in its behalf. The meeting was +held in the National School-room, and was numerously attended. Abraham +Turner, Esq., was called to the chair, and the resolutions were proposed +by the High Bailiff, Mr. Samuel Beddoes, Mr. Woodward, churchwarden, Mr. +J. Gough, Mr. Bradley, Mr. George Hooman, Mr. Thomas Hallen, Mr. Boycot, +sen., Mr. Dixon, Mr. Tomkins, and Mr. Harvey. The resolutions were +unanimously adopted. [The Catholic priest, displeased at some allusion +made to his religion at the Dissenters’ meeting, declared that he thought +a union of Catholics with the Church of England not at all impossible.] + +1834—APRIL 9—Meeting of owners and occupiers of land, at the Bell Inn, +Worcester, “to consider the propriety of petitioning Parliament on the +ruinous state of the agricultural interest.” The room was very much +crowded; and the Earl of Coventry was called to the chair. Sir Anthony +Lechmere, Bart., moved the adoption of a petition which attributed the +greatest part of agricultural distress to the alteration of the currency, +by the Bill of 1819, and therefore prayed that Parliament would institute +an immediate inquiry into the effects of that measure. The removal of +“the present, though inadequate” protection of the Corn Laws, would +certainly accelerate their destruction, which was daily drawing nearer by +reason of the enormous increase of their various burdens. Earl Beauchamp +seconded the adoption of the petition. Major Bund moved that that part +of the petition which related to the currency should be left out, for +that was a subject into which if they once got they would never be able +to get out again. This called forth a long speech from Mr. Spooner, +“going into” the currency question very fully; and the result was that +the amendment was withdrawn, and the petition carried unanimously. The +petition had 3,000 signatures attached to it. Mr. T. Attwood, when it +was presented to the House by Colonel Lygon, “hailed it with +satisfaction, because it was the first agricultural petition which traced +the distress to its true source—the Currency Bill of 1819.” + +1835—JULY 27—A meeting at the Crown Inn, Worcester, to consider the +ninetieth clause of the Municipal Reform Bill, which, it was feared, +would prevent the new town councils from leasing the borough property on +anything like the same terms as the old corporations had done. John +Williams, Esq., was called to the chair. Mr. John Hill proposed, and Mr. +Francis Hooper seconded, a motion suggesting that a committee should be +appointed to inquire in the proper quarter what was the precise intent of +the clause. Mr. Waters moved, and Mr. G. Allies seconded, as an +amendment, “that this meeting, not believing that property, held under +corporation leases, will be depreciated in value, are unwilling to +address the legislature on the subject.” Mr. Waters’s motion was +carried. The Mayor wished only holders of corporation property to vote, +but other parties, who had thronged the room, insisted on their right to +express an opinion; and the result was regarded as a test of public +opinion in the city, with regard to the bill. + +1835—AUGUST 12—Meeting in the Corn Market, Worcester, to address His +Majesty on the subject of the Municipal Reform Bill, requesting him to +take measures to ensure its passing the House of Lords without +mutilation. The Mayor, Mr. Leonard, had refused to grant the use of the +hall. C. H. Hebb, Esq., was called to the chair; and the speakers were +Mr. Carey, Mr. Munn, Mr. Sanders, Mr. C. A. Helm, Mr. Greening, Mr. E. L. +Williams, and Mr. B. Stokes. A petition to the Commons was also agreed +to at this meeting, begging them not to consent to any alteration of the +measure. It received 6,221 signatures. + +1835—SEPTEMBER 7—Protestant meeting, in the Guildhall, Worcester, the +alleged object being to disseminate a knowledge of the principles and +practices of Popery, and to promote the great principles of Protestantism +as maintained by the Established Church. The assembly room was well +filled. Richard Spooner, Esq., was called to the chair. The Rev. +Mortimer O‘Sullivan was the chief speaker; the others being Sir Matthew +Blakeston, Bart., Rev. C. Benson, Colonel Taylor, Rev. George +Turberville, Rev. John Cawood, John Brown, Esq., Lea Castle, Dr. B. +Cooper, C. Hawkins, Esq., Samuel Kent, Esq., Rev. W. Chesshyre. A +“Protestant Association” was determined on, but the meeting resolved +itself, in reality, into an opposition to the appropriating clauses of +the Irish Church Bill, then before the Lords. This meeting was the +occasion of a correspondence between Mr. Hanford and Mr. Spooner, and a +whole host of general letters in the newspapers. The Rev. T. M‘Donnell +came from Birmingham on purpose to preach about it at the Catholic +Chapel. + +1835—SEPTEMBER 26—Meeting of the Worcestershire Agricultural Society, at +the Crown Inn, Worcester, numerously attended. Sir A. Lechmere, Bart., +the president for the year, in the chair. It was first resolved that +agriculturists had waited long enough for the amelioration of their +condition, which, according to a committee of the Commons in 1833, was to +result from “the cautious forbearance rather than the active +interposition of Parliament.” That it was necessary the agricultural +body should be roused into energy to prevent the “total ruin impending +over both landlords and tenants.” That Government were remitting all +sorts of taxes to the manufacturing interests, and none to them—and, +then, that it was highly desirable that the question of the currency +should be brought under the serious attention of Parliament; as the +sudden reduction of the amount of circulating medium had been one of the +chief causes of the ruinous prices of agricultural produce. It would +also be a great relief to the farmer to be allowed to malt grain, the +produce of his own farm, duty free. The Marquis of Chandos was accepted +as the farmers’ champion; and he was to be urged to bring these matters +before Parliament, these being the only remedies suggested. + +1835—OCTOBER 17—Meeting of the agriculturists of the county at the Crown +Inn, Broad Street, to consider the distress and ruinous condition of the +agricultural interest. Sir A. Lechmere, Bart., was called to the chair. +Mr. Spooner moved an address to the King, setting forth the distress of +the farmers, and suggesting that there ought to be an alteration of the +standard of value to relieve them—they ought, also, to be allowed to malt +their own grain. Mr. Robinson, M.P., Captain Winnington, M.P., and Mr. +Pakington, M.P., were very averse to mixing up the currency question with +agricultural distress, and had a long argument with Mr. Spooner thereon. +Mr. Robinson had voted for repeal of the malt tax, but would never +consent to one set of men only being exempt from the excise laws. The +address, as it originally stood, was carried by a large majority. + +1836—MAY 30—Town’s meeting at the Guildhall, Worcester, to agree to an +address to His Majesty’s ministers, and a petition to the House of +Commons, in favour of the Irish Municipal Reform Bill. The Mayor, C. H. +Hebb, Esq., was in the chair; and there was a numerous gathering of +citizens. Mr. Acton, Mr. Hanford, Mr. Alderman Gibbs, Mr. Sheriff +Allies, Mr. Alderman R. Evans, Mr. Hardy, Mr. Carey, Mr. Parry, Mr. +Greening, Mr. Chapman, and Mr. Southan were the speakers. The +proceedings were unanimous. + +1836—JUNE 30—Meeting in the Guildhall, Worcester, to form a “Worcester +Reform Association;” the principal object alleged being to look after the +registration. Mr. Robert Hardy was called to the chair, and the hall was +crowded with operatives and others. The meeting was addressed by Captain +Corles, Mr. F. T. Elgie, Colonel Davies, and others. G. Munn, Esq., was +elected president of the new association. + +1837—JANUARY 26—Meeting in Worcester Town Hall, to petition for Vote by +Ballot. The meeting had, first of all, been called for the Thursday +previous, but the requisitionists having determined to postpone it, the +Mayor left the hall. A number of the Conservative party were left +waiting in the Crown Court, and not having been properly apprised of the +adjournment, they, after a little interval, called Major Bund to the +chair. Mr. Gutch and Mr. F. Hooper moved a petition condemning the +ballot, which was declared to “lead to the corruption of public morals by +the general practice of treachery and hypocrisy.” This was carried by a +large majority. Mr. Gutch and Mr. Lingham then moved that “the conduct +of the Mayor and the requisitionists in not attending the meeting, and +not offering any explanation of their absence, was an insult to the +citizens of Worcester, and highly censurable;” and this also met with the +approval of the parties present. These proceedings of course only made +the original promoters of the meeting more in earnest, and the hall was +this day crowded by a company entirely unanimous in favour of the ballot. +The Mayor was in the chair; and the various resolutions and petitions +were moved by Mr. F. T. Elgie, Secretary to the Worcester Reform +Association, W. Acton, Esq., Mr. Hardy, Mr. Arrowsmith, Mr. John Hill, +Town Clerk, Mr. Raby, C. Hanford, Esq., Mr. Alderman Corles, Mr. John +Hall, &c. Mr. Waters asserted that he had told Major Bund, half an hour +before the meeting of the previous week, that it was postponed. The +ballot was declared, in the petition adopted by the meeting, to be +“essentially necessary to the purity of election.” + +1837—MARCH 30—Meeting of the clergy of the diocese, at the Chapter House, +to petition against the Church Rate Bill, then lately introduced by +ministers. The Venerable Archdeacon Onslow was in the chair. The Rev. +John Peel, Rev. T. Baker, Rev. John Foley, Rev. J. R. Gray, Rev. C. +Benson, Rev. R. B. Hone, Rev. A. B. Lechmere, Rev. H. Hastings, Rev. E. +W. Wakeman, and the Hon. and Rev. J. S. Cocks moved or seconded the +resolutions. The tone of the speeches generally was moderate; but the +Tithe Commutation Act was included in the animadversions of the speakers, +as well as the bill for abolishing church rates. + +1837—MAY 5—Public meeting at Worcester, to consider the best means of +alleviating the distress existing amongst the operative glovers. The +Mayor, C. H. Hebb, Esq., was in the chair. John Dent, Esq., Dr. +Hastings, Mr. S. Pumphrey, E. H. Lechmere, Esq., John Williams, Esq., W. +Wall, Esq., Mr. Tymbs, Mr. Lavender, R. Berkeley, Esq., and Mr. T. Newman +moved the various resolutions. The distress was not traced further, as +to its causes, than the decay of trade and want of orders. Many hundreds +of families had applied for relief. It was determined that a general +subscription should be entered into, and a committee of master glovers +was appointed to scrutinise the applications for charity. About £1,000 +was collected, including £100 from the Earl of Coventry, £50 from Earl +Beauchamp, and £30 from a performance at the Theatre, given for this +purpose by Mr. Bennett. + +1837—JULY 18—Anti-Slavery meeting at the Guildhall, to hear an address +from Mr. Joseph Sturge, on the apprenticeship system. Mr. Alderman R. +Evans was called to the chair. Dr. Redford, Mr. Stanley Pumphrey, Rev. +Thomas Waters, and Mr. Brewin moved resolutions declaring for total +abolition; and pledging the meeting only to support such candidates, at +the next election, as would vote for such a step. Mr. Robinson and +Colonel Davies gave the meeting satisfactory assurances. Mr. Bailey was +not present, but Mr. Gutch read a note from him. + +1837—AUGUST 10—County meeting held at the Guildhall, Worcester, to +congratulate Queen Victoria on her ascension to the throne, and to +condole with the Queen Dowager on her bereavement. The High Sheriff, W. +Roberts, Esq., was in the chair. The Earl of Coventry moved the +addresses; and the Bishop of Worcester seconded the one, and the Lord +Lieutenant, Lord Foley, the other. Earl Coventry was requested to +present them. + +1837—DECEMBER 20—Meeting of the clergy in the Chapter House, the Ven. +Archdeacon Onslow in the chair. Addresses to Her Majesty, a memorial to +the Archbishop of Canterbury, and petitions to Parliament were adopted +against certain clauses in the Marriage and Registration Acts, against +the Tithe Commutation Act, and against the constitution of the +Ecclesiastical Commission. The Revs. T. Baker, C. Dunne, Hon. J. S. +Cocks, A. B. Lechmere, G. W. Kershaw, C. Benson, R. B. Hone, J. F. +Turner, W. R. Holden, and W. A. Pruen, moved or seconded the resolutions. + +1837—DECEMBER 30—Anti-Slavery meeting in the Town Hall, to petition for +the immediate abolition of the apprenticeship system. Mr. Stanley +Pumphrey was in the chair. The speakers were—Dr. Redford, Mr. Bowly, Mr. +George Thompson (London), Mr. S. Burden, Mr. Alderman R. Evans, Mr. +Ledbrook, and Mr. B. Stokes. + +1838—FEBRUARY 6—Common hall at Worcester, to petition for the ballot. +Mr. Alderman Hebb took the chair. The movers of the resolutions +were—William Acton, Esq., Mr. Arrowsmith, Mr. Elgie, Mr. James Wall, +Charles Hanford, Esq., Mr. Greening, Mr. Edward Hooper, and Mr. George. +A Mr. Davis, a native of Worcester, but who had resided a considerable +time in the United States, said the ballot had not worked well there. +Colonel Davies and Mr. Turton, the expectant candidate, afterwards +addressed the meeting. + +1838—SEPTEMBER 11—Meeting of citizens at the Guildhall, at which it was +resolved that an act should be applied for to obtain powers for the +better regulation and repair of the streets and highways within the +borough. Mr. Pierpoint proposed that the powers under such act should +rest in the City Commissioners, and Mr. Deighton moved, as an amendment, +that they should lie in the Council. Mr. Pierpoint’s resolution was +carried; and, further, that the qualification of a Commissioner should be +reduced to an income of £20 a year. In consequence of this decision the +Council refused to proceed further with the bill. + +1839—FEBRUARY 23—County meeting, in the New Shire Hall, on the Corn Law +question. The High Sheriff, Mr. Russell, presided. The outer hall was +completely filled, and the minority of Corn Law repealers were very +noisy. The first resolution, proposed by the Earl of Coventry, and +seconded by William Acton, Esq., was as follows: “That taking into +consideration the natural and artificial causes which produce variations +in the price of corn, and which experience has proved it is beyond the +power of human legislation at all times to obviate or control, and +looking at the slight changes in prices which have occurred since the +last corn act was passed, which, while it regulates the duties on +importation, affords protection to the home grower—this meeting is of +opinion that it would be unjust and impolitic to make any alteration in +the principle of the present law.” The remaining resolutions were merely +routine, and were moved or seconded by Sir Offley Wakeman, Bart., O. +Mason, Esq., Hon. W. Coventry, George Allies, Esq. (Mayor of Worcester), +John Freeman, Esq., Sir A. Lechmere, Bart., Earl Beauchamp, and General +Lygon, M.P. They were all carried by very large majorities. Towards the +close of the meeting the uproar was very considerable, and at last, on +the interposition of the Earl of Coventry, Mr. F. H. Coates, though not a +freeholder, was allowed to speak in favour of a repeal of the Corn Laws, +and was heard with considerable attention. + +1839—APRIL 6—Large meeting of the clergy and laity of the Church of +England held in the Crown Court, New Shire Hall, to form a Diocesan Board +of Education in connection with the National School Society. The Lord +Bishop took the chair, and the Rev. Donald Cameron read a report of a +committee which had been previously appointed on the subject. Archdeacon +Spooner, Sir John Mordaunt, Bart., M.P., Prebendary Digby, Mr. Pakington, +and Canon Benson were the principal speakers, and moved resolutions +pledging the meeting to form such a society as was suggested, and +vigorously to support it. A training school for teachers was especially +mentioned. Handsome donations were given on the spot. + +1840—MARCH 27—The first Anti-Corn-Law meeting held in Worcester. It was +a gathering of operatives, and took place in the Town Hall. Mr. John +Richardson, ironfounder, was called to the chair; and the speakers were +Mr. Robert Hardy, Mr. Thomas Waters, and several operatives, by whom +indeed the meeting was convened. A petition, praying for a total repeal +of the Corn Laws, was unanimously agreed to. The meeting was held with +the view of strengthening Mr. Villiers’s hands in an approaching debate, +and the number of signatures attached to the petition was 3,326. + +1840—JUNE 29—County meeting, with the High Sheriff in the chair, to +address the Queen on her escape from the attempt at assassination by +Oxford. The resolutions were moved by Sir A. Lechmere, Mr. Pakington, +Lord Southwell, Colonel Davies, Dr. B. Cooper, and the Hon. and Rev. W. +W. C. Talbot. + +1841—NOVEMBER 15—Public meeting in the Guildhall, Worcester, to vote +congratulatory addresses to the Queen and Prince Albert on the birth of +the Prince of Wales. The Mayor, Edward Evans, Esq., presided; and the +resolutions were moved by the Lord Bishop of Worcester, John Williams, +Esq., Sir A. Lechmere, Bart., Captain Thomas, &c. A subscription was +entered into to supply the poor of the city with coal at a reduced rate, +and this was called the Prince of Wales’s Coal Fund—£1,021 were raised by +this means. + +1842—FEBRUARY 23—A common hall convened at Worcester, to consider the +distress of the country. The requisition had been taken round for +signature by Mr. J. D. Stevenson, and a great number of persons had +affixed their names. The hall was densely filled with operatives, and +the proceedings were commenced by Mr. R. Hardy, who moved a resolution +declaring that the distress of the country could be traced to “the Corn +Laws and other restrictions on the trade and liberties of the people.” +This was seconded by Mr. Edward Webb, and every hand was held up in its +favour, save one. Mr. Alderman Corles proposed another resolution, +declaring that the Corn Laws never would have been enacted if the people +had been fully represented in Parliament, and that all bad statutes had +arisen from class legislation. This was seconded by Mr. Alderman +Padmore, and carried unanimously. Mr. Elgie moved the third +resolution—that the present Parliament was not the people’s Parliament, +and that it was necessary for the operative and middle classes to unite +for the overthrow of monopolies. This was seconded by Mr. Fisher; but a +Chartist, named Davie, moved an amendment—“that the principles of the +People’s Charter should be embodied in the petition;” this was seconded +by an operative named Williams, and two Birmingham Chartists, named Young +and Mason, wanted to speak to the amendment; but the Mayor would not let +them, because this was a “town’s meeting” and they were strangers. This +caused great uproar; so he put the matter to the meeting, and requested +those who were of opinion that the people of Worcester could manage their +own affairs, to go to the right—and those who thought they were not +competent so to do, to the left. This but increased the disturbance, and +the Mayor put the question in the usual method; and, whether by mistake +or not, the great majority declared that strangers should not be heard. +The Mayor then put the amendment in favour of the Charter, and two-thirds +of the meeting held up their hands in its favour. Davie then moved the +adoption of the “National Petition,” praying for universal suffrage, +repeal of the union, &c. &c. &c. The Mayor objected that this was not +put as the petition of the people of Worcester. Dr. Redford made an +attempt to convince the operatives of their mistake in creating disunion, +but after a few sentences he gave up the task. The Mayor declined to put +the National Petition; and after asking whether any gentleman had +anything else to propose, he declared the meeting dissolved, and left the +hustings. The Chartists remained in the hall, and having moved Mr. +Stevenson into the chair, Mason and Whyte made long orations, especially +abusive of the Mayor, and the National Petition was carried by +acclamation. + +1842—APRIL 16—A numerous meeting of the agriculturists, held at the Crown +Inn, to consider Sir Robert Peel’s New Tariff. P. V. Onslow, Esq., in +the chair. Mr. Curtler, Mr. Williams, and others thought they had not +sufficient information before them to go upon, and expressed confidence +in Sir Robert Peel. Mr. Woodward moved a series of resolutions, stating +that the proposed alterations would seriously injure the agriculturists, +and they could have no confidence in any ministry who proposed them. Mr. +Benson moved a resolution somewhat milder, but deprecating the reduction +of duty on cattle, &c., and this was carried by a considerable majority. + +1843—MARCH 13—Public meeting in the Guildhall, Worcester, John Lilly, +Esq., Mayor, presiding, to petition against the tenth article of the +Ashburton treaty; which, in providing for the extradition of criminals +from Canada to the United States, was thought likely to interfere with +the liberty of escaped slaves. The resolutions were moved by Dr. +Redford, Alderman E. Evans, Rev. Mr. Holden, Rev. J. Earnshaw, Mr. G. +Grove, Rev. C. Lee, &c.; and Sir Thomas Wilde was requested to present +the petition. + +1844—FEBRUARY 27—Public meeting at the Bell Hotel, to form an +Agricultural Protection Society for Worcestershire. P. V. Onslow, Esq., +took the chair; and the resolutions were moved by Mr. F. Woodward, Sir +Anthony Lechmere, Dr. B. Cooper, Mr. Henry Hudson, J. S. Pakington, Esq., +M.P., Mr. Onley, Mr. Curtler, Mr. James Taylor, and the Hon. and Rev. W. +W. C. Talbot. The meeting was attended by about 300 farmers and +landowners, and about £550 were subscribed on the spot. + +1844—OCTOBER 4—A meeting of the medical profession of the county, +convened in the board room of the Worcester Infirmary, for the purpose of +considering the provisions of the Medical Bill introduced in the late +session of Parliament by Sir James Graham. Dr. Malden was called to the +chair; and Mr. Pierpoint, and Mr. Davis of Pershore, moved a resolution +approving of the bill in general. Dr. Hastings, and Mr. A. Martin of +Evesham, moved a second, declaring that the bill was defective in not +containing a clause for the punishment of unqualified and unregistered +practitioners, and that it was the duty of every medical man to oppose +the bill unless such a clause were inserted. A petition was agreed to, +praying for the insertion of such a protective clause. + +1844—NOVEMBER 28—A town’s meeting called at Droitwich, to consider the +proposal of the Patent Salt Company to carry their brine down to Camp by +means of pipes, and convert it into salt there, so as to save the great +expense of tonnage on the Droitwich Canal. The Mayor, T. G. Smith, Esq., +presided. The meeting unanimously agreed to petition against the +proposed measure, as one which would be utterly destructive of the trade +of the borough. Mr. Curtler, in moving the second resolution, went at +length into the whole matter, attributing the Salt Company’s want of +success to their own mismanagement; and he blamed them for seeking to +monopolise the whole trade in their own hands. At the same time he +admitted that they had a right to complain of the heavy charges imposed +by the Canal Company, who fancied themselves bound by the guarantee given +them by the Worcester and Birmingham Canal Company to give them £8 +interest per share, to keep the tolls up to the _maximum_ of 3d. a mile +per ton. But he said the Canal Company were about to take steps to alter +this state of things. Mr. Pakington, who attended the meeting to learn +the wishes of his constituents, said he should give the Salt Company’s +measure his most strenuous opposition in Parliament. The scheme was +shortly afterwards abandoned. + +1844—DECEMBER 16—A public meeting held in the Guildhall, Worcester, to +consider what steps should be taken for the relief of the poor in the +city during the winter, which had commenced with much severity. The +Bishop of Rochester took the chair; and it was unanimously resolved that +the balance left from the Prince of Wales’s Coal Fund should be increased +by a general subscription, and another distribution of coal, blankets, +&c., take place. Mr. Mence suggested that the funds should be +distributed by the Visiting Society; but it was discovered that this had +recently become entirely a Church of England society, and Dr. Redford +protested against any general fund therefore being committed to its +charge. A committee, upon which all the Dissenting ministers of the city +were placed, was appointed by the meeting for the distribution of the +funds. The subscriptions amounted to £702. 17s. + +1845—DECEMBER 27—The Agricultural Protection Society held a general +meeting at the Crown Hotel, Broad Street, Worcester; P. V. Onslow, Esq., +in the chair. The speakers were Mr. F. Woodward, Mr. Lucy, J. S. +Pakington, Esq., M.P., Mr. Curtler, the Hon. W. Coventry, Mr. Gutch, and +Mr. Whittaker. The proximate causes for calling the meeting were—Lord +John Russell’s letter avowing himself a total repealer, and the certainty +that some measures affecting the agricultural interest would be brought +forward by Sir Robert Peel in the ensuing session. Mr. Curtler avowed +that he believed Sir Robert Peel to be an honest statesman, who had no +motive for injuring the agricultural interest, and never would think of +doing such a thing. The resolutions pledged the Society to carry out “a +well-digested mode of action” against repeal of the Corn Laws. + +1846—APRIL 29—A town’s meeting held at Worcester, to consider the New Gas +Company’s Bill; William Lewis, Esq., Mayor, presiding. There had been +many complaints of the bad quality of the gas supplied by the Old +Company, and murmurs were heard about the price charged; in consequence +of which, some parties thought it would answer their purpose to project a +new set of works. The Old Company thereupon reduced the price from 8s. +4d. to 7s. 6d. per 1,000 feet; but this was only taken as an admission +that the price ought to have been less before, and the New Company’s +project went on and a great deal of ill feeling was excited—the popular +cry, of course, being raised against that which had been a good while +established, and was supposed to have been a source of considerable +emolument to the parties engaged. That it had not been so to the +shareholders was proved, but it was thereupon retorted that the +management had been bad, and that the lessee of the works had made a +fortune by them, &c. Negociations were at one time opened for the sale +of the Old Company’s works to the New, but these fell through; and the +New Company being now about to bring their bill before Parliament, it was +necessary that they should have the approval of the town to back them. +Mr. Pierpoint, at this meeting, elaborately stated the case on the New +Company’s behalf; and Mr. H. B. Tymbs (chairman of the Old Company), Mr. +Jones (their new manager), Mr. Francis Hooper, Mr. John Hill, and Mr. +Bedford spoke for the Old Company. A petition in favour of the New +Company’s bill, proposed by Mr. W. D. Lingham and Mr. Barnett, was +carried by a majority of three to one. + +1847—MAY 24—The Mayor of Worcester, Mr. Elgie, convened a public meeting +in the Guildhall, for the purpose of considering the steps that should be +taken to relieve the poor of the city, who were suffering much from the +then high price of provisions. The meeting was most respectably attended +by men of all parties, and more than £300 was at once collected for the +purpose of furnishing the poor with provisions at a cheap rate. + +1848—FEBRUARY 26—Public meeting of the inhabitants of Worcester, to +petition against the Government proposal to increase the Income Tax per +centage. The Mayor, E. Webb, Esq., presided, and Mr. Gutch, Mr. Alderman +Elgie, Mr. F. H. Needham, Mr. Manning, Mr. Arrowsmith, Mr. John Hood, Mr. +Pierpoint, and Mr. Bedford moved or seconded the resolutions. F. +Rufford, Esq., M.P., also spoke. In consequence of demonstrations like +these throughout the country, the Government proposition to levy a three +per cent. permanent income tax was abandoned. + +1848—JUNE 16—A town’s meeting, held at Worcester, to petition in favour +of “further reform.” The Mayor, Mr. Webb, presided; and Mr. R. Hardy and +Mr. J. Wall moved the first resolution—declaring that the present +representation of the people in the House of Commons was partial, &c.; +and this was carried almost unanimously. Mr. Arrowsmith and Mr. Everett +moved a petition in favour of Mr. Hume’s motion for extension of the +suffrage to all householders, triennial Parliaments, ballot, and equal +apportionment of members to the population. John Dinmore Stephenson +moved a petition for the whole “six points” in amendment, but after twice +calling for a show of hands the Mayor declared the amendment to be lost, +though it was a very near thing. The other resolutions were moved by the +Rev. William Crowe, Mr. Alderman E. Evans, &c., and carried without +opposition. + +1849—MAY 5—County meeting, held at the Shire Hall, Worcester, to consider +the distress under which the agricultural body were then said to be +labouring. The High Sheriff, John Dent, Esq., occupied the chair; and +the meeting was most numerously and respectably attended. James Taylor, +Esq., of Moseley Hall, moved the first resolution—expressing alarm at the +depression under which both the agricultural and manufacturing interests +of the county were suffering. Mr. Joseph Stallard seconded this +resolution. Mr. James Baldwin, paper manufacturer, of Birmingham, +proposed an amendment, which, while it admitted the depression in trade +and agriculture, suggested a remedy in the reduction of taxation, and +chiefly from a repeal of the malt and hop duties. Mr. George Baker +seconded the resolution. Mr. Laslett, addressed the meeting from the +gallery, declaring that there was no possibility of any return to +Protection, and that a reduction of rent was what was wanted. Mr. +Laslett concluded his observations by saying, “You should have sent men +to Parliament who would have taken care of your interest and not have +sold you,” at which, as through his speech, there was great uproar. The +resolution was carried with comparative few dissentients. Mr. Curtler +then moved—“That the free trade measures of 1846 are partial and unjust +in their operation—are inconsistent with the burdened interests of this +country—must render abortive the utmost efforts of British industry to +struggle against the unequal competition to which it is exposed, and +which (if the present free trade measures are continued) will involve all +classes in one common ruin.” This resolution he supported in a long and +clever speech, endeavouring to show the preponderance of the agricultural +over the manufacturing interest, and inveighing against Sir Robert Peel +for his treachery to the agricultural party. The loss to the farmer, by +the removal of Protection, he declared could not be made up to him, even +if he was set free from paying any rent at all. The Rev. John Pearson +seconded the resolution, declaring that, though he had been accustomed to +take what was called a liberal line of politics, he was compelled to +advocate Protection from a conviction that the farmers had not been +fairly dealt with. The other resolutions were moved or seconded by Mr. +J. R. Cookes, Mr. Gardiner, Mr. Francis Woodward, and Mr. Henry Hudson, +and were all carried unanimously. Sir John Pakington afterwards +addressed the meeting at great length, saying that, though he had voted +against the repeal of the corn laws, and still continued to think that a +very dangerous measure, yet free trade must have a trial. He did not +think things quite so gloomy as his friends had represented them to +be—prices had been lower even in days of Protection, and he was not +inclined to increase the panic which prevailed. He recommended that they +should demand from Parliament a redistribution of local taxation. Mr. +Whittaker, amidst great cheering, begged the meeting not to be led away +by the speech they had just heard; they must stick to Protection and not +seek after a score of other things. General Lygon, M.P., and Captain +Rushout, M.P., declared their firm adhesion to the principles of +Protection. + +1850—JANUARY 19—A county meeting, in compliance with a requisition most +numerously signed by agriculturists, was held in the Crown Court of the +Shire Hall, in favour of Protection. John Dent, Esq., the High Sheriff, +being indisposed, the chair was taken by the Hon. W. Coventry. The first +resolution, declaring that the abandonment of Protection had involved +large classes of Her Majesty’s subjects, as well manufacturing as +agricultural, in distress and ruin, was moved by James Taylor, Esq., and +seconded by T. G. Curtler, Esq.; but before Mr. Curtler could conclude, +such vehement cries, for adjournment into the outer hall, arose, that the +proceedings were entirely interrupted. The chairman declined to adjourn, +and the free traders, in the principal gallery, maintained such a +continual uproar that all the rest of the proceedings passed in dumb +show. The other resolutions and petitions were moved or seconded by Mr. +Cookes, Mr. Henry Hudson, the Rev. John Pearson, Mr. Best, M.P., the Hon. +and Rev. W. W. C. Talbot, Mr. F. Holland, &c., and were carried by large +majorities in the midst of great noise. + +1850—NOVEMBER 16—A meeting of the clergy of the Archdeaconry of +Worcester, attended by about 200 of the clerical body, held in the +Chapter House, to protest against the Papal Aggression. The Venerable +Archdeacon Hone presided, and opened the meeting in a temperate speech. +Canon Wood moved an address to Her Majesty, declaring that the Bishop of +Rome had invaded the Queen’s prerogative by appointing archbishops and +bishops here with titles taken from English cities and towns—assuring Her +Majesty of their attachment to the principles of the Reformation—and, +also, that they would support her in the discharge of the solemn +obligations of her coronation oath to maintain the Protestant religion +and the rights of the bishops and clergy. The Rev. R. Seymour, rector of +Kinwarton, seconded the address, declaring that the Bishop of Rome had +been guilty of a schismatical act, and had invaded the unity of the +Church by appointing bishops in this country. The Rev. J. F. Mackarness, +vicar of Tardebigg, protested at length against the meeting adopting this +course. They would appear to be asking the help of the civil power +against the intrusion of Rome, and that would be most unwise. The Church +of England was already too much open to the taunt of being a law-made +church; and the only true way of conserving and extending their influence +as clergy was by earnestness of faith and devotion in labour. The +address was, however, carried without other dissent. The remaining +resolutions were moved by the Rev. H. J. Hastings, the Hon. and Rev. W. +H. Lyttelton, the Rev. H. Woodgate, and the Hon. and Rev. W. W. C. +Talbot. + +1850—NOVEMBER 18—A city meeting held in the Guildhall, Worcester, on the +subject of the Papal Aggression; the Mayor, Mr. Hughes, in the chair. +Sir E. H. Lechmere and Mr. Gutch moved the first resolution, which +declared that the Pope’s appointment of bishops in England, with +territorial titles, was “an act of aggression justly calling forth the +indignation of every true Protestant, and ought to be met with the most +determined resistance which our laws will sanction.” John Dent, Esq., +then moved an address to Her Majesty; but the meeting was fast falling +into confusion, and was indulging in speculations about the use and +propriety of bishops in general, when Dr. Redford came forward to second +the address, and by his speech procured the unanimous carrying of the +address. The other resolutions were proposed by F. Hooper, Esq., Henry +Aldrich, Esq., H. B. Tymbs, Esq., and W. Dent, Esq. The parishioners of +St. John’s parish also protested against the aggression, in vestry +meeting. + +1850—DECEMBER 14—The county meeting on the subject of the Papal +Aggression was held this day in the Shire Hall, having been convened by +the High Sheriff in compliance with a requisition signed by 700 persons. +Mr. Watkins, the High Sheriff, presided. James Taylor, Esq., and the +Hon. Gen. Lygon, M.P., moved an address to Her Majesty, declaring the +measures of the Pope to be “an assumption of authority over this +kingdom—an invasion of Her Majesty’s supremacy—an attack on the liberties +and independence of the Church of England—and an important advance in the +attempt to reimpose the doctrines and jurisdiction of the Roman Church +upon the people of this country.” Sir Edward Blount, Bart., and Robert +Berkeley, jun., Esq., moved a counter address, declaring that the +appointment of a Roman Catholic Hierarchy did not require any legislative +interference, and deprecating all restrictions upon the free enjoyment, +by every religious body, of its spiritual order and discipline. The +meeting was addressed by Mr. Spooner, M.P., the Rev. J. Walsh, Wesleyan +minister, and the Rev. — Alexander, Baptist minister from Upton, who +spoke in favour of the original address, and C. Hanford, jun., Esq., for +the amendment. The original address was carried by a very large +majority. Lord Lyttelton and Colonel Bund moved an address to the Bishop +of the Diocese; and on the motion of T. G. Curtler, Esq., seconded by the +Rev. J. Pearson, an addition was made to this address, thanking the +Bishop for having rebuked and discouraged Tractarian principles and +practices in this diocese. Mr. Knight, M.P., and the Rev. G. Hodgson, +moved another formal resolution, and the thanks to the High Sheriff were +proposed by Lord Southwell and seconded by Sir O. P. Wakeman. Meetings +on this subject were held about the same time at Stourport—T. S. Lea, +Esq., presiding; at Malvern, where T. C. Hornyold, Esq., and the Hon. Mr. +Clifford, moved an amendment; at Bromsgrove, Upton, Droitwich, Evesham, +Bewdley, Kidderminster (the Mayor presiding), Stourbridge, Dudley, &c. + + + + +THE COUNTY MAGISTRACY. + + +THE conduct of the general affairs of the counties of England, such as +their police, the regulation of the gaols and lunatic asylums, the +preservation of the county bridges, the levying of rates, &c., is +intrusted to the unpaid magistracy, nominated by the Lords Lieutenant, +and appointed by the Lord Chancellor; and at a time when an agitation is +afoot to change the character of the body by whom these important matters +are transacted, some consideration of the manner in which they have +discharged their high trust may be opportune and useful. It is now +proposed that a certain number of persons, chosen by the Boards of +Guardians of the different Poor Law Unions, should be associated with a +chosen body of the magistracy to manage all the county business. The +principle sought to be carried out is one now generally acknowledged as a +just one—viz., that “representation should be coordinate with taxation;” +but it is worth consideration whether anything will be gained by such a +change of system as is suggested, whether the interests of the ratepayers +are likely to be better cared for than they are at present, and whether, +indeed, they had not better let well alone. The Bench of County +Magistrates in Worcestershire may be supposed to be a fair representation +of the magistracy of the kingdom generally, and certainly on a review of +their proceedings during the last fifty years, especially with regard to +financial matters, the ratepayers must feel satisfied that their affairs +could not have been in better hands. The Worcestershire Magistrates have +had to consider, during the first half of the nineteenth century, many +matters involving a very large outlay of the public money; and upon a +review of the course they have taken, no one will be able to point to an +instance of grossly unnecessary expenditure, or a lavishness in dealing +with the public purse. They have always given attention to the +representations of the ratepayers, but have not often suffered themselves +to be turned aside from what was a plainly desirable, or necessary, +object, by false considerations of economy, and have generally taken an +enlarged view of the question before them. A most vigilant check has +been kept upon the details of the county expenditure, and a laudable +desire to lessen the general burden always been manifestly apparent. And +they have, of course, been free from those changes which representative +bodies from limited constituencies are ever and anon pretty sure to +undergo, when the fickleness of public favour—some party cry, or +prejudice, or the efforts of individuals striving for place and +power—suddenly dispossess old and tried men from the offices for which +they may be eminently suited, in order to make way for unqualified +busybodies, whom the passing commotion may have brought into +notice—“Straws,” as Junius said of Wilks, “on the surface of the +torrent.” And while such commotion lasts, brief as it may be, mischief +is often done which years are required to set straight again. + +The Worcestershire Bench has, of late years, been singularly fortunate in +its chairmen. It is only another mark of their anxiety to conduct their +business on the soundest principles, that they have not suffered party +considerations to sway them in the choice of the person upon whose +discretion and judgment so much will always depend. The services of the +Right Hon. Baronet who now fills the chair at Quarter Sessions have often +been acknowledged, and are fully appreciated both by his fellow +magistrates, and the body of the county at large. + +With regard to the administration of the criminal code which now devolves +to so great an extent upon courts of Quarter Sessions, each year’s +experience adds its proof that the substantial ends of justice are as +well attained there—and if the commonly received maxim, _Judex damnatur +cum nocens absolvitur_, be accepted as the test—even better attained, +than in any other criminal court in the kingdom. + +In the very commencement of the present century, the county magistracy +were occupied with a matter as important—at least, if the question of +expense be taken as the criterion of importance—as any that has been the +subject of their deliberations at more recent periods. It was the +rebuilding of the county prison. The county gaol formerly stood on what +is now known as Castle Hill, near to Edgar’s Tower, in the city of +Worcester. It was extremely insecure; several prisoners had escaped from +it, and the complaints of its absolute insufficiency for the purposes it +was intended to answer, were many and frequent. {90} The county +magistrates had at length come to a determination to build a new gaol on +a different site; but this was no sooner known than a violent opposition +was raised on the score of the cost, and few matters seem to have created +so much general alarm and excitement throughout the agricultural +districts as this proposal. In April, 1802, a meeting of landowners and +others paying county rates was convened at the Guildhall, Worcester, at +which the High Sheriff, Mr. Newnham, presided. There it was resolved, +that the erection of a new prison would be accompanied with great and +unnecessary expense, and that the existing gaol might be sufficiently +enlarged and repaired, at a moderate cost. The magistrates still +appearing determined to proceed, parish after parish protested against +any such step being taken, and these protests signed by most of the +influential tenant farmers, were published time by time, occupying many +columns of the then diminutive Worcester newspapers. W. Welch, Esq., +Chairman of Quarter Sessions, in order to correct the misrepresentations +which were abroad on the subject, replied to these protests by a public +letter, in which he stated that the cost of a new gaol would only be +£19,000, and that properly to repair the old one would cost £13,000; that +the grand jury had so often presented the gaol, that something was +absolutely necessary to be done; and that the burden on individual +ratepayers would not be anything like what was represented. Mr. R. +Hudson of Wick, on the other hand, challenged the magistrates to meet him +at the Crown Inn, Worcester, when he would prove to them that the +proceedings lately taken in the erection of a new prison had been +irregular, and could not be supported. + +At the Midsummer Quarter Sessions in that year, Mr. Welch, in his charge +to the grand jury, recapitulated the causes which had compelled the +magistrates to determine on a new gaol, and in proof of their desire to +study the general interest of the ratepayers, stated that, since he had +occupied the chair, the county accounts, which had formerly been in great +confusion, had been methodised and arranged, a saving had been effected +in the expenditure of the gaol of some hundreds a year, and a +considerable annual allowance from the exchequer, hitherto considered as +a perquisite of the Under Sheriff’s, proved to be due to the county, and +in future would be paid into the general fund. + +Yet so strong was the feeling against the new building that the +magistrates were compelled for awhile to abandon the project, and it was +not till the escape of more prisoners caused the Lord Chief Baron +Macdonald, at the Summer Assizes in 1807, to warn the county grand jury +that, if the gaol were not altered or rebuilt, the county would be +attached with a heavy fine for neglecting so essential a part of its +duty, that any further steps were taken in the matter. At the Midsummer +Sessions, 1808, the magistrates determined, without delay, to build a new +gaol, as they believed that the old one admitted of no sufficient +alteration. The expense was estimated at £18,000, and the site in Salt +Lane was fixed upon. The bench published a minute statement of the +number and amount of rates this expenditure would render necessary. + +A great deal of excitement and uneasiness, however, was found still to +prevail upon the subject, and it was especially said to be unnecessary to +change the site; so at the Epiphany Sessions, 1809, the matter was again +taken into consideration, and the bench adhered to their former +determination, referring, however, the question of site to a committee. +Mr. Welch, the chairman, about this time received an anonymous letter, +threatening his life, “if he interfered any further respecting a new +prison.” + +At an adjourned sessions, held in February, 1809, the magistrates finally +determined on the land in Salt Lane as the site for the new gaol, and +adopted the plan of a Mr. Sandys. They published the reasons for their +decision at length, the principal being, that the nature of the ground +upon which the old prison stood would not admit of their obtaining a good +foundation for the extensive buildings contemplated. + +The new prison was, after this, vigorously proceeded with, and at the +Epiphany Sessions, 1813, the chairman announced that the new gaol was +completed, and in spite of much difficulty about the foundations, &c., +the cost was within the estimate. The grand jury having inspected it, +declared their entire approbation of the works, and thanked the +magistrates for their attention to the interests of the county. + +1810—A Special County Sessions was held in July this year, to take into +consideration the report of a committee appointed to investigate charges +of peculation brought against Mr. Welch, the chairman, by Mr. Johnson, a +fellow magistrate. The matter arose out of Mr. Welch receiving what were +called “justice wages,” and paying thereout for the dinners of the +magistrates at the Hoppole. Mr. Johnson declared that he had a balance +in hand, on account of this fund, of £65, which, but for his discovery, +Mr. Welch would have appropriated. The committee, however, reported that +the charge was “wholly unjustifiable and unfounded,” and a vote of thanks +to Mr. Welch, “for his uniform, upright, and independent conduct,” was +thereupon passed unanimously. Long replies and rejoinders, from Mr. +Johnson and Mr. Welch, afterwards appeared in the public prints. + +1810—AUGUST 28—In consequence of Mr. Johnson’s reiteration of the charge, +another Special Sessions was held this day, not very numerously attended, +at which a general resolution of confidence in Mr. Welch was passed, but +not unanimously; indeed a more strongly worded motion had been negatived; +and William Smith, Esq., gave notice of a motion, at the next sessions, +for the removal of Mr. Welch from the chair. This, however, was +abandoned. + +1817—At the Easter Quarter Sessions, William Welch, Esq., resigned the +chair in consequence of ill health, after having held it for nearly +twenty years. Earl Beauchamp moved a vote of thanks to Mr. Welch for the +services which he had rendered to the county, which was seconded by Lord +Deerhurst, and carried unanimously. The Right Hon. Earl Beauchamp was +then chosen chairman in his stead. + +1819—The magistrates at the Michaelmas Sessions publish a declaration in +the Worcester newspapers, of their abhorrence of the blasphemous and +seditious sentiments then openly disseminated in society—of their +attachment to the throne—and of their full unanimous and unequivocal +determination to support the tried and invaluable constitution. The +grand jury do the same. [This was just after the trial of Carlile for +republishing Paine’s _Age of Reason_, and in the midst of the excitement +attendant on the Peterloo Massacre.] + +At the same Sessions, Edmund Meysey Wigley, Esq., was chosen chairman, in +the room of Earl Beauchamp, who had expressed a wish to relinquish the +office. The noble Earl, however, afterwards resumed its duties. + +1823—At the Midsummer Sessions, Benjamin Johnson, Esq., was temporarily +elected to the chair, now vacant by the decease of Earl Beauchamp. + +At the Michaelmas Sessions following, Henry Wakeman, Esq., of Perdiswell, +was unanimously chosen to the chair, on the motion of Lord Deerhurst, +seconded by Richard Spooner, Esq. + +1824—At the Epiphany Sessions, Mr. Wakeman declined the proffered honour +of the chair, as his health would not permit him to discharge its duties, +and proposed Lord Plymouth. This was seconded by Sir Thomas Winnington, +and his lordship was thereupon elected. + +1824—At the Easter Sessions, it was determined, after a warm discussion +and division, to erect a treadmill in the county gaol. Thirteen +magistrates said “aye,” and ten “no.” + +1826—At the Epiphany Sessions, the Rev. Reginald Pyndar introduced the +subject of a “Worcestershire Friendly Society,” and the formation of such +a society being highly approved of by the magistrates, a meeting was held +the next day in the Guildhall, with John Dent, Esq., Mayor, in the chair, +and the rules and tables proposed by Mr. Pyndar adopted as the basis of +an association for the benefit of the industrious and provident poor of +the county. + +The society thus formed has continued to thrive and flourish to the +present day, and has been productive of many direct and indirect benefits +to a large number of the poorer class; helping them to a knowledge of the +advantages of frugality—affording them a safe and profitable investment +for their surplus earnings—enabling them to escape from the temptations +of the public house, where the village club would have required their +attendance—and saving them from the distress and misery that overtake the +members of so many benefit societies constructed upon false principles, +or upon no principles at all. The society at present numbers 1,899 +members, of whom one-third are females, and it has a very large reserve +fund. Great part of its successful working and prosperity are +attributable to the fostering care and interest of the Rev. Thomas +Pearson. The following is a statement of the pecuniary affairs of the +institution, from its formation to the present time, which has been +compiled by its efficient secretary, Mr. Thomas Holloway. + + RECEIPTS. PAYMENTS. + _£_. _s._ _d._ _£_. _s._ _d._ +Honorary Subscriptions and 1,631 1 6 Sick Pay 4,994 8 9 +Benefactions +Payments by the Members 16,798 16 6 Death 872 0 0 +Interest 3,082 7 8 Endowments 2,007 0 6 + Annuities 155 18 0 + in Old Age + Management 5,287 4 2 + Expenses, + including + purchase + of + Policies, + Salaries, + Allowances + to + Surgeons, + Rent, &c. + &c. + Total 13,316 10 11 + Payments + Balance, 8,195 13 9 + being + total + Stock + Total Receipts £21,512 4 8 £21,512 4 8 + +1827—At the Easter Sessions, the Worcestershire and Staffordshire Canal +Company appealed against the sum at which they were rated for their docks +and basins at Stourport, by the parish of Lower Mitton. It was stated in +the course of the proceedings, that the tonnage of the canal for the year +ending Michaelmas, 1826, was £32,838. The officers of Lower Mitton had +taken the whole value of the basins as rateable there, but the court +decided that they must only charge for acreage, computing the basins as +they would other portions of the canal. + +1829—JANUARY 14—At the Epiphany Quarter Sessions, the Earl of Plymouth +resigned the chairmanship; and on the motion of Major Bund, seconded by +the Earl of Beauchamp, Sir C. S. Smith, Bart., was elected in his stead. + +At these Sessions, the magistrates of Droitwich denied the authority of +the county magistrates to appoint visitors to the Asylum for Pauper +Lunatics kept by the Messrs. Ricketts in the borough, and on the matter +being referred to the law officers of the crown, it was decided by them +that the act passed in the previous session of Parliament vested the +appointment of visitors in the magistracy of the borough in which the +asylum was situate. Major Bund gave notice of a motion thereupon, to +consider the propriety of building a County Lunatic Asylum. + +1829—At the Michaelmas Sessions, the magistrates altered the divisions of +the county for Petty Sessional purposes, forming them into eight +districts, to be called “The Upton, Pershore, Hundred House, Worcester, +Kidderminster, Droitwich, Northfield, and Blockley Divisions.” + +1829—An adjourned Sessions was held in November, to consider the +propriety of erecting County Courts, the inconvenience of the City Hall +having been commented on at every Sessions and Assizes which had taken +place for some years past. A case had been laid before Mr. Sergeant +Russell, to have his opinion as to whether the magistrates could legally +spend money on the enlargement and improvement of courts belonging to the +city, and he had replied that they could not; and that if they wanted a +Shire Hall of their own, they must obtain a special Act of Parliament for +it. The Rev. Mr. Pearson, after reporting the failure of all attempts at +negociation with the Worcester Corporation, moved “that it was necessary +to erect new courts and suitable lodgings for the judges, and that the +magistrates should take the necessary steps for obtaining an Act of +Parliament for that purpose.” This resolution was seconded by Colonel +Bromley. Earl Somers moved an adjournment of the question, on the ground +that in the then depressed state of the country the expense ought not to +be incurred. This was seconded by Osman Ricardo, Esq. An adjournment +“to the next Epiphany Sessions” was carried; but Lord Foley then moved, +“That it is the opinion of this court that the present courts and judges’ +lodgings are totally insufficient.” This was seconded by R. Spooner, +Esq.; and Colonel Davies opposed it, because he thought that the +agitation of the subject was ill-timed. Lord Foley’s motion was +ultimately carried by 20 to 17. A committee was then appointed to have +another conference with the City Corporation. + +Nine Catholic noblemen and gentlemen were now for the first time inserted +in the Commission of the Peace for this county—viz., the Earl of +Shrewsbury, Viscount Southwell, Sir E. Blount, Sir C. Throckmorton, R. +Berkeley, Esq., W. Wakeman, Esq., T. C. Hornyold, Esq., C. E. Hanford, +Esq., and W. Acton, Esq. + +1830—At the Epiphany Sessions, the question of new courts was again +discussed. The committee reported that they found the Guildhall, +Worcester, erected in 1721, belonged exclusively to the city. The Rev. +T. Pearson again moved that an Act of Parliament should be applied for, +with a view to the erection of a Shire Hall; and this was seconded by the +Rev. George Turberville. Major General Marriott moved as an amendment, +that the Deputy Clerk of the Peace should be instructed to lay a +presentment of the present courts before the grand jury at the next +assizes. James Taylor, Esq., seconded this. Lord Deerhurst then moved a +resolution, declaring that the county, in the present depressed condition +of all classes, would rather submit to the inconvenience of the present +courts than incur the expense of new ones, which was seconded by Dr. B. +Cooper. Lord Deerhurst’s amendment was negatived by 31 to 25, and +General Marriott’s without a division. Earl Somers then moved the +appointment of a committee to ascertain the practicability of so altering +the present courts as to make them sufficiently convenient. This was +seconded by John Williams, Esq., but rejected by 31 to 24, and Mr. +Pearson’s original motion was then carried. + +1830—NOVEMBER 29—The general state of the county caused Viscount +Deerhurst to summon the magistrates to a meeting, at which the following +resolution was passed: + +“That the general peaceable state of the county of Worcester affords a +subject of great congratulation. The magistrates, however, viewing with +the utmost abhorrence the atrocious acts of violence which have taken +place in other counties, feel it their duty to declare that they have +made such arrangements as, by giving full effect to the existing laws, +are best calculated to prevent the occurrence of similar calamities in +this county.” + +1831—At the Epiphany Sessions, the subject of new courts was resumed. +Several plans for the enlargement of the Guildhall were laid before the +magistrates, but the court adopted a resolution proposed by the Earl of +Plymouth, without a division. It ran thus: “That the consideration of +the question, relative to the alteration of the courts of justice, be +adjourned _sine die_, it being found inexpedient to enlarge the +Guildhall; but that a bill authorising the magistrates to build new +courts, at a future period, be drawn up.” + +1831—At the Easter Sessions, J. H. H. Foley, Esq., M.P., and Lord +Lyttelton, urged the necessity of building a gaol at Stourbridge, but the +proposition was negatived by 27 to 14. Petitions against the bill for +legalising the sale of beer to be drunk on the premises in beer houses, +were agreed to at the instance of Dr. Beale Cooper. + +1831—At the Midsummer Sessions, it was resolved that the new courts +should be erected at the back of the gaol, and that the expense should +not exceed £25,000. The bill had been brought in by the county members, +and read a first time the Friday before. + +1832—At the Epiphany Sessions, Dr. Beale Cooper proposed the enlargement +of the gaol, which was referred to a committee. The Rev. Thomas Pearson +proposed that plans should be immediately selected for new county courts +adjoining the gaol. The Rev. George Turberville proposed that the matter +should be further delayed till the next September, and Mr. Pearson’s +motion was carried by 24 to 8. + +A vote of thanks was passed to Earl Plymouth and the Yeomanry, for their +promptitude and firmness in quelling riots in the county. + +1832—At the Midsummer Sessions, the order which had been made at a +previous sessions to build the new county courts on land adjoining the +gaol, was rescinded, on the motion of the Rev. George Turberville, +seconded by Mr. Pakington, by a large majority, and the committee were +directed to look out for another site. + +At these Sessions was discussed a matter which excited great interest +amongst the legal profession, viz., the allowance of fees to attorneys, +who for some two or three sessions had only been paid £1. 1s. for brief +and attendance, instead of £2. 14s. 4d., as formerly. The solicitors +were heard by counsel, and the former payment was restored. + +1832—At the Michaelmas Sessions, a new valuation of the county parishes +was read by General Marriott. The land assessable was valued at +£741,854—the old valuation had been £750,250; so that the land had +decreased in value about 3d. in the pound, or 1¼ per cent. + +The question of erecting county courts again came under consideration—the +present site in Foregate Street, and one in Pierpoint Street, both being +proposed, and the former was adopted by a majority of 30 to 14. Premiums +were offered for the three best plans. + +1833—At the Epiphany Sessions, the court proceeded to the appointment of +a chaplain to the county gaol, the office being now vacant by the +resignation of the Rev. J. Hadley. A resolution was first proposed by +Major Bund, and carried by a large majority, “That a beneficed clergyman +ought not to be appointed chaplain to the gaol.” Votes were given for +eight candidates, but the contest lay between the Rev. J. Adlington, who +received 22 votes, and the Rev. W. Dunn, who had 14. + +1833—At the Easter Sessions, it was resolved, upon the motion of the Rev. +Thomas Pearson, that “henceforth this court should be an open one.” + +The county was called upon to pay £759. 17s. for special constables +employed by the Sheriff to keep the peace at the last election. + +Three plans were laid before the court, by the committee, for the new +county courts, viz., one by Mr. Charles Day, Worcester; Mr. Mead, London; +and Mr. Habershon, London. Previous to deciding upon them, General +Mariott moved that the erection of the courts should be postponed till +the enlargement of the gaol should be completed, in order that two such +serious expenses might not be pressing on the county at the same time. A +number of letters from different parishes had been received by the +chairman, remonstrating against new courts, but General Mariott’s motion +was lost by 30 to 10. The three plans were then submitted to the court +for choice, and the Rev. Mr. Pearson regretted that one from a Mr. +Haycock, which he thought undoubtedly the best, was not amongst them. +Mr. Mead’s was recommended by the committee as the best, but fifteen +magistrates voted for Mr. Day’s, and only three for each of the others. +Many magistrates refused to vote; and the general feeling of the public +at the time was, that the advantage of the county, and the embellishment +of the city, had been sacrificed to personal interest created by a +canvass. A committee was appointed, with the Rev. Thomas Pearson as its +chairman, to carry the plan thus chosen into execution. + +1834—At the Epiphany County Sessions, the salary of the county treasurer +(Sir A. Lechmere) was reduced from £100 to £60—because it was higher than +that paid by adjoining counties, and farmers were in distress—by a +majority of 39 to 20. Various reductions were also made in the fees of +the clerk of the peace. + +1834—At the Easter Quarter Sessions, Sir C. S. Smith, Bart., resigned the +chairmanship—the calamity which he had recently sustained, in the loss of +his lady, inducing him to retire altogether from public life. The Rev. +George Turberville immediately moved the following resolution: + +“That the court is fully sensible of, and grateful for, the valuable +services of their late chairman, Sir C. S. Smith, Bart., and deeply +regrets that he feels himself unable to continue those services for the +benefit of the county.” + +This was seconded by John Williams, Esq., and carried unanimously. + +1834—At the Midsummer Sessions there was a very full attendance of +magistrates, and the Rev. George Turberville was requested to preside as +senior. The first business was to elect a chairman, in the room of Sir +C. S. Smith, Bart., resigned; and on the motion of the Rev. president, +seconded by James Taylor, Esq., John Somerset Pakington, Esq., was +unanimously elected to the office which he has ever since filled with so +much ability and advantage to the county. + +1835—At the Midsummer Sessions the magistrates agreed to a petition to +Parliament against the Bill for permitting counsel for a prisoner in all +cases to address the jury—a privilege hitherto confined to cases of +misdemeanour. Mr. Temple, General Marriott, and Mr. Hanford were the +only dissentients. The measure, it was said, would tend to defeat the +ends of justice by the frequent acquittal of guilty persons, and to bring +juries into discredit by inclining them to found their verdicts rather on +the arguments of counsel than upon the facts. + +1836—MAY 9—A Special Sessions held, Dr. Beale Cooper in the chair, to +consider what was to be done about the New County Courts and Judges’ +Lodgings, as the magistrates had expended the £25,000 they were empowered +to raise by the first act. After a long discussion, it was unanimously +determined to apply for a fresh act immediately, enabling them to raise +£7,000 more. [Parliament refused to depart from its standing orders, and +so the bill could not be introduced that session.] + +1836—At the Michaelmas Sessions the Prisoners’ Counsel Act was first +brought into operation; and it is strange how unanimously an +arrangement—now admitted on all hands to be a good one—was condemned and +found fault with. + +1837—The Midsummer Sessions were held in the New Courts, though these +were as yet scarcely completed. + +1838—MAY 10—A Special County Sessions, to consider the Bill then before +Parliament for Amending the Constitution of County Courts and Courts of +Quarter Sessions—which proposed to compel the holding of eight sessions +in the year, and the holding of courts in various parts of the county; it +gave the magistrates the option of having a barrister as a salaried +chairman; and proposed alterations in “county courts,” to enable them to +be used for the easy recovery of small debts. Mr. Pakington moved a +petition against the measure, which Mr. Holland objected to—it was, +however, carried by a majority of 23 to 8. + +1838—At the Midsummer Sessions the New Shire Hall and Judges’ Lodgings +were reported as complete; and a vote of thanks was passed to the Rev. +Thomas Pearson for his able and useful exertions as chairman of the +building committee for the past five years. The salary of the chaplain +was increased to £250 per annum. The court refused to insert the county +advertisements either in the _Kidderminster Messenger_ or the +_Worcestershire Chronicle_. + +1839—The Epiphany Sessions adjourned to the 14th of January, and +afterwards given up entirely, because no clerk of the peace had been +appointed since the death of Mr. Blayney—Lord Foley, the Lord Lieutenant, +being out of the country. + +1839—FEBRUARY 5—A General Sessions of the Peace held in lieu of the +Epiphany Sessions, which had been given up. The court petition for a +change of law as regards beer houses. The enlargement of the County +Gaol, at an expense of £2,100, agreed upon, to obtain sixty additional +cells. + +1839—At the Easter Sessions the court unanimously agreed to a resolution +which the chairman proposed, condemning the existing system of parish +constables as insufficient for the detection and punishment of criminals, +and promising consideration to any measure the Government might introduce +for establishing a rural constabulary. The court again petitioned +against the District Courts’ Bill; Mr. Hanford alone dissenting. + +1839—At the Michaelmas Sessions the important subject of establishing a +rural police was brought forward by Mr. Pakington, according to previous +notice. He entered into the whole subject with great ability; pointing +out the great increase of crime in the rural districts, as rendering such +a measure absolutely necessary, and ended by moving that “it was +expedient forthwith to take measures for the adoption in this county of +the act for the establishment of county district constables.” After a +short discussion the motion was carried with only two dissentients—Dr. +Cooper and Rev. Mr. Cartwright. Mr. Pakington proposed that a chief +constable and twelve sergeants should be the only appointments under the +act at present, because it would be desirable to bring it into operation +by degrees. To this Mr. Hanford moved as an amendment, that there should +be a chief constable, ten sergeants, and thirty men under them; and this +was carried over the original motion by 20 to 18. The salary of the +chief constable was fixed at £250 a year; and the Metropolitan +Commissioners of Police were requested to nominate a suitable person. +The court then adjourned till the 4th November, to receive and consider +the rules drawn up by the Secretary of State. + +1839—NOVEMBER 4—At the Adjourned Sessions, Mr. Pakington stated that the +Government refused to allow the Commissioners of Police to nominate a +chief constable, and expressed his great regret that this should be the +case, as he thought the magistrates quite incompetent to select a +suitable person. He proposed, therefore, that the court should adjourn +to the 2nd December, then to consider all applications which might be +made for the office, and proceed to the election. Dr. Beale Cooper moved +that the further consideration of the plan for forming a constabulary +force for the county of Worcester be postponed till the next Easter +Quarter Sessions. He maintained that the thing was altogether in a crude +state—had not had sufficient examination—that it was a departure from the +spirit of the British constitution—and that their present constables were +sufficiently on the alert, for since the year 1806 the commitments had +increased from 51 to 427—the number in the previous year. William Acton, +Esq., seconded the amendment, because he thought the act would probably +be altered next session, and because he objected to the expense coming +wholly out of the county rates. General Marriott, James Taylor, Esq., +and Richard Spooner, Esq., spoke in favour of the motion; and the Rev. +Mr. Cartwright for the amendment. Lord Lyttelton thought they were +forced to adopt a rural police, because Birmingham and Gloucestershire +had got a new force, and the chairman said that they should lose public +confidence if a comparatively small bench of magistrates reversed that +which had been done a month before by a much larger one. On a division, +Mr. Pakington’s motion was carried by 24 to 9. A letter was agreed to, +to be sent to the Secretary of State, complaining of the determination +Government had come to in the matter of the chief constable. The rules +sent down by the Secretary of State for the guidance of the force were +agreed to. + +1839—DECEMBER 2—Mr. R. R. Harris, an inspector of London Police, elected +chief constable. He had been recommended by the police committee out of +32 applicants, and was chosen by a majority of 21 to 13 votes given for +Captain Scargill, who was proposed by the Earl of Coventry. It was +determined that the pay of the sergeants should be £80 a year. + +1840—OCTOBER 29—At the Michaelmas Sessions the magistrates became +embroiled in a dispute with Mr. W. S. P. Hughes, one of the county +coroners, arising out of a complaint made by the constable of Rock, who +accused Mr. Hughes of “extorting” a fee of a shilling from him illegally. +The fee was “for the crier of the court,” which the coroners in this +county had always been in the habit of requiring, but after the passing +of the act, 1 and 2 Victoria, certainly could not be sustained; and this +Mr. Hughes admitted in a letter to the committee of magistrates which had +been appointed to take the matter into consideration. This, however, the +committee said came too late; as Mr. Hughes had been repeatedly warned +that the fee was illegal, and they considered that he had rendered +himself liable to a prosecution “for extortion and misconduct in his +office,” or might be removed from the coronership altogether by a +petition to the Lord Chancellor. Mr. Hughes applied to be heard against +the report, by counsel, but this the court refused by a majority of 33 to +7. Mr. Hughes then protested against the proceedings of the committee as +_ex parte_, and their report as showing an animus against him wholly +unwarranted and improper. Mr. Charles Best, coroner, deposed that he and +his predecessors in office had always been in the habit of requiring this +shilling. After a discussion, the Rev. Thomas Pearson moved the adoption +of the report, and that the chairman should inform Mr. Hughes that his +charge was illegal, and admonish him accordingly. This was carried, and +the chairman “admonished” Mr. Hughes, who immediately said—“I do not +consider you have any power to admonish me. I, as coroner of this +county, am an officer far superior to the magistrates of this court; and +I take leave to tell them that they by no means adopt a proper course +when they take upon themselves to admonish a superior officer of the +crown.” + +1841—JANUARY 4—Mr. Helm unanimously appointed county solicitor. The +Quarter Sessions advertisements ordered to be inserted in the +_Worcestershire Chronicle_, but not in the _Kidderminster Messenger_. + +1841—APRIL 5—At the Easter Sessions, a new assessment of the county by +surveyors was ordered, on which to base the county rate, and £500 placed +at the disposal of a committee to obtain it. + +1842—JANUARY 3—At the Epiphany Sessions, the court agreed to memorialise +the Government to pay the cost of the rural police. Memorials from five +parishes were presented, complaining of the expense of the police, and +declaring that the county rates were nearly doubled by them. + +1842—JUNE 27—At the Midsummer Sessions, Dr. Beale Cooper brought forward +a motion for the abolition of the rural police, which he said was +unconstitutional, and had proved to be utterly inefficient. Colonel Bund +seconded the motion. The chairman disposed of Dr. Cooper’s charge of +inefficiency in a few words, and regretted that the establishment of a +police was not made compulsory on all counties. Dr. Cooper then withdrew +his motion. + +1842—At the Michaelmas Sessions, Dr. Cooper moved that the county police +force be reduced to one sergeant for each Electoral Division, and two +constables for each Petty Sessional Division; to which the chairman moved +as an amendment, that the question of the propriety of a reduction be +referred to the police committee, and this was carried without a +division. + +1843—JANUARY 2—At the Epiphany Sessions, the subject of the rural police +was again discussed at great length on the presentation of a special +report by the police committee, declaring that the force ought not to be +reduced. Mr. Onslow wanted to prevent the reception of the report, but +the chairman would not consent to that course, and Mr. Onslow at last was +induced to withdraw the resolutions he had intended to propose upon the +subject; but a committee was formed to inquire into the provisions of the +Parochial Constables’ Act. + +Mr. Ellins’s case was brought before the court at these Sessions by +Richard Spooner, Esq., who moved for a committee of inquiry into the +facts under which Mr. Ricketts had been libelled in the _Worcestershire +Chronicle_, as it was alleged that Mr. Ellins had supplied the +information on which the libel was founded. Colonel Bund seconded the +motion. Mr. Hanford opposed it, because they would be stepping out of +their jurisdiction; and the chairman could not tell what was to be the +course or purpose of such a committee. The committee was determined on +by 34 to 10, and the chairman, Mr. Hanford, Mr. Spooner, Rev. T. Pearson, +Mr. Skey, Hon. W. C. Talbot, and Mr. Temple, were placed upon it. Mr. +Ellins’s application to be heard before it by attorney, was agreed to. + +The chairman at these Sessions addressed a most valuable statement to the +grand jury on the county expenditure, and the causes of the increase in +the number and cost of criminal prosecutions. + +1843—At the Easter Sessions the committee appointed in Mr. Ellins’s case +were about to bring forward their report, when Mr. R. Scott and Mr. R. M. +Mence moved that it should not be read, as the matter was one altogether +out of the jurisdiction of the court, and with which they had no right to +deal. On a division, 20 hands were held up for its being read, to 9 +against it. The report was then read, and stated the committee to be of +opinion that “Mr. Ellins was the moving party to the publication in the +_Worcestershire Chronicle_, of a most gross and unfounded libel, imputing +corruption and jobbing to W. H. Ricketts, Esq., in the execution of his +duty as a magistrate and member of the police committee, in carrying into +effect the orders of the court.” Mr. Hanford and the Rev. Thomas +Pearson, as members of the committee, declared that though they believed +Mr. Ellins to be a party to the libel, they did not believe him to be the +sole party, as the report seemed to convey. Mr. Scott moved that the +report be rejected. The court had no right to take any judicial notice +of the acts or character of any of its individual members; and nothing +could be more dangerous than for a judicial body to exceed its +jurisdiction. Mr. Scott condemned Mr. Spooner for bringing this matter +forward at the previous Sessions without notice. Mr. Benson also spoke +against the reception of the report. The chairman had always had doubts +as to the propriety of their moving in the matter, but thought it +discourteous to the committee to reject the report, and it was received +by a majority of 28 to 11. On the question of transmitting it to the +Lord Lieutenant, there was another division, 20 voting for that course +and 11 against it. + +1843—At the Midsummer Sessions, Lord Lyttelton addressed a letter to the +court, enclosing one from the Lord Chancellor, with his opinion that the +proceedings of the magistrates in Mr. Ellins’s case had been very +irregular. Lord Lyttelton trusted the magistrates would feel it their +“duty carefully to avoid any similar proceedings for the future;” and he +requested that his letter might be entered upon the records of the court. +Mr. Spooner thought they had a perfect right to do as they had done, and +moved that the letter be not entered on the records. The chairman said +he had always considered their proceedings irregular, but thought Lord +Lyttelton’s “lecture” might just as well have been left alone. The +consideration of the letter was at last postponed till the next Sessions. + +Mr. Simcox Lea at great length entered into the subject of the rural +police, and moved, as a resolution, that their benefit had not been +equivalent to their cost. He wanted the Bench to adopt the plan of paid +parish constables in their stead, and insisted particularly on the +inefficiency of the chief constable. Mr. Noel seconded the motion. The +chairman made an able defence of the police, and adduced several +instances of their efficiency. Mr. Scott would vote for the motion, +because the police were too few to be of much use. Mr. Onslow complained +of the number of offences that were committed without detection ensuing. +Colonel Bund, the Rev. Thomas Pearson, Mr. Benson, and Colonel Clive, +spoke in favour of the police, and the motion was rejected by 34 to 13. + +1843—At the Michaelmas Sessions the magistrates determined that the Lord +Lieutenant’s letter, in Mr. Ellins’s case, should not be placed upon the +records of the court. Mr. Scott was the only magistrate who added +anything to the few words which were spoken from the chairman; and he +said the whole proceedings ought to be erased from the records, or the +Lord Lieutenant’s letter to be added as the conclusion. + +1844—At the Easter Sessions, Lord Lyttelton read a paper _in re_ Mr. +Ellins’s case, declaring the magistrates’ proceedings in the matter to +have been altogether irregular, and suggesting that they ought to be +entirely struck out of the records of the court, or his own letter of +animadversion on them inserted. As his lordship concluded with no +motion, the chairman would not permit any discussion, and the court +passed to the next business on the paper. + +1844—At the Midsummer Sessions, Mr. Scott again brought this matter +forward, by moving that the letter of the Lord Chancellor to the Lord +Lieutenant should be entered on the minutes of the court. This was +seconded by the Rev. John Pearson, but opposed by the chairman and +others, and at last rejected by 28 to 17. + +1845—At the Easter Quarter Sessions, the police committee recommended +that Dudley, Shipston, and other districts, surrounded by other counties, +should be taken into this county for police purposes, and that, to this +end, the force should be increased by twenty men, including a +superintendent and two sergeants. Mr. Merry moved that only twelve men +be added to the force, but this was negatived by 26 to 6, and the +original motion carried. Mr. Hanford’s motion to do away with the carts +and horses kept by the rural police was negatived by 20 to 17. + +1845—At the Midsummer Sessions, Mr. B. L. Stable was elected Governor of +the County Gaol, in the room of Mr. Lavender, who retired, and was voted +a pension of £149. 10s. per annum. + +1847—At the Epiphany Sessions the court agreed to erect a Lunatic Asylum, +in connection with the city of Worcester, for the accommodation of 200 +pauper lunatics. The total number of such unfortunate beings in +Worcestershire was 284, but the court conceived that accommodation for +two-thirds would be quite sufficient; and on Dr. B. Cooper suggesting +that three-fourths should be provided for, the chairman begged the court +not to agree to providing for more than 200 in the first instance, as the +expense of these erections was so great. A committee was formed for the +purpose of carrying the measure into effect. The Hon. and Rev. W. W. C. +Talbot moved for a committee to consider the propriety of dividing the +county into districts for police purposes; but Mr. Curtler, from a very +carefully prepared table, showed that the police force and their expense +were very equitably distributed with regard to the value of the property +to be protected in the different districts of the county, and that the +agricultural portion were in no sense paying for the support of the +police of the manufacturing districts. Mr. Talbot withdrew his motion. + +1847—At the Easter Sessions the court, on the motion of the Rev. Thomas +Pearson and Mr. Curtler, unanimously agreed to petition in favour of the +Juvenile Offenders’ Bill, then introduced into Parliament by Sir John +Pakington. + +1847—Easter Sessions—On the 19th of December, 1846, the county was +divided into three Coroners’ districts by an Order in Council; and at +these Sessions the magistrates assigned these districts to Mr. Docker, +Mr. Hughes, and Mr. Best. Mr. Robinson still continues to act as coroner +for Dudley, but, at his death, Dudley will form district No. 6 in +Staffordshire. Mr. Hughes, shortly after his district was assigned, +petitioned the Lords of the Treasury for compensation for loss of +emolument which he said he sustained by this arrangement, and they +awarded him £55 per annum. He was paid two quarters by the county +authorities, but they then took an opinion as to the legality of his +claim, and this being adverse to Mr. Hughes, they refused to continue the +payments. In Hilary Term, 1850, Mr. Hughes applied to the Court of +Queen’s Bench, and obtained a rule _nisi_ against the magistrates, to +compel them to show cause why the payment should not be continued—which, +however, was afterwards discharged, on the ground that as the county had +never been customarily divided into districts, Mr. Hughes could not show +a loss of any fees to which he was legally entitled. + +1848—At the Midsummer Quarter Sessions the court agreed to erect +Stourport and neighbourhood into a separate Petty Sessional Division. +The Hundred House and Kidderminster magistrates opposed the motion, but +it was carried by 18 to 15. + +1849—At the Michaelmas Sessions the committee of visitors appointed to +superintend the erection of the Lunatic Asylum reported that they had not +been able to obtain any tenders for executing the works required at the +sum estimated by the architect, chiefly because the lunacy commissioners +insisted on the whole building being made fireproof. The total cost of +land and buildings would be about £32,000, other extras £3,044; and +fittings were not included even in this sum. They had agreed with the +London Life Insurance Society for a loan of the money at four per cent. +The report was unanimously received. + +1850—At the Michaelmas Sessions a report was read from a committee which +had been appointed to inquire into the county expenditure, and to +ascertain the feasibility of reduction. The cost of prosecutions and +gaol expenses for the year 1849 was £8,993. 18s. 3d.; salaries, £2,661. +5s. 2d.; high constable’s cravings, £240; coroner’s cravings, £1,527. 0s. +10d.; clerk of the peace’s cravings, £745. 18s. 2d.; registration of +voters, £342. 11s. 8d.; bridges, £580. 14s. 5d.; lunatics, £193. 4s. +2d.; new weights and measures, £858. 3s. 10d.; sundries, £1,099; total, +£17,240. 13s. 2d.; police, £7,836. 6s. 9d.; Shire Hall, £1,696. 12s. 9d. +The committee reported that the only way in which a reduction could +possibly be effected was a reduction in the salaries of the general +officers and of the police, which they did not deem advisable, and would +rather recommend that Government should be memorialised to defray the +cost of the county police, gaol, &c., out of the consolidated fund. The +report was adopted without any division. + +At the dinner of the magistrates, at the Shire Hall, after the +transaction of the county business, the Rev. Thomas Pearson being in the +chair, a portrait of Sir John Pakington, Bart., the result of a +subscription amongst the magistrates, and which now hangs in the drawing +room at the County Courts, was inaugurated. + + * * * * * + +UPTON BRIDGE has been the _bête noir_ of the county magistrates all +through the half century. Since 1810 scarcely a sessions has passed at +which it has not been mentioned, and it has given rise to lawsuits, +disputes, and embroilments without number. In 1814–16, in 1829, and +again in 1847, the magistrates took proceedings against the feoffees of +Hall’s Charity—some lands left in 1570 for the repairs of Upton Church +and Bridge—to compel them to account or to contribute towards the repairs +of this bridge. In 1817 the bridge was reported to be in very doubtful +plight, and the advice of Mr. Smirke, the eminent architect, was taken as +to the repairs which ought to be done; a considerable sum of money was +then laid out upon it. At the Michaelmas Sessions, 1822, a bridge warden +was appointed, because much injury had been done to it by mooring vessels +to the parapets, and by taking away sand from the foundations. In +1832–34 another considerable sum was spent in repairs; this time the +feoffees of Hall’s Charity being concurring parties. In 1837 the parties +promoting the Severn Navigation Improvement offered the magistrates +£5,000 towards the expense of building a new bridge, but this was not +acceeded to; and in 1838 the bench resolved to procure the insertion of a +clause in the Severn Navigation Bill then before Parliament, to bear the +county harmless from any loss or damage which might arise to Upton bridge +from the improvements in the river; but no proceedings were necessary to +be taken under that resolution, because the bill was thrown out. In +1842, £121 were expended in repairs, to keep the bridge from falling. +The magistrates would not do more than was absolutely necessary, because +they did not know how the operations of the Severn Commissioners might +affect it. At the Midsummer Sessions, 1845, a committee was appointed to +confer with the commissioners about the state of the bridge. At the +Epiphany Sessions, 1846, the county surveyors recommended that £1,260 +should be immediately spent on the bridge; and the magistrates at the +same Sessions declared themselves “neutral” as to the bill then +introduced by the Severn Commissioners. This bill took power to alter +the bridge by the introduction of a swivel. At the Epiphany Sessions, +1847, Mr. Curtler read an elaborate report, in explanation of the +liability of the feoffees of Hall’s Charity to aid in the repairs of the +bridge; in consequence of which proceedings were taken, and in 1849 the +matter was referred to a Master in Chancery. It was not finally settled +till 1851, when Lord Langdale, Master of the Rolls, ordered the feoffees +thenceforth to divide the receipts into three parts—the first for the +church, the second for the repairs of the bridge, and the third for the +general good of the town. At the Michaelmas Sessions, 1847, another +committee was appointed to inquire into the state of the bridge, and to +confer with the Severn Navigation Commissioners; but at the next Epiphany +Sessions, Mr. Curtler, by a majority of 19 to 8, carried a proposition to +seek to obtain a clause in the Commissioners’ Bill then before +Parliament, to limit their power over the bridge to three years: the +bill, however, was thrown out on second reading. The rest of the year +was consumed in an attempt to get from Mr. Walker, C.E., a report on the +state of the bridge, and in conferences with the Commissioners. At the +Easter Sessions, 1849, Mr. Walker’s report was read, which recommended +that the bridge should entirely be rebuilt; and a motion to that effect, +made by the chairman, was carried almost unanimously. It is needless now +to say, that nothing further was done in the matter but to talk about it +at each succeeding Sessions, till the bridge concluded its own history by +falling down during a high flood which occurred in February, 1851. It +was built in 1605; and there can be no doubt that four of the original +arches remained just as they had been first erected, until the day when +they tumbled down of sheer old age. + + + + +REMARKABLE TRIALS. + + +THE following are brief notes of some of the more interesting trials, as +well civil as criminal, which have occupied the attention of the Courts +of Assize, or Quarter Sessions, in this county, during the present +century. + +The KING _v._ WADDINGTON—In the summer of 1800 a criminal information was +filed against S. F. Waddington, Esq., an eminent hop merchant residing in +London, “for monopolising practices in the purchase of hops” in this +county. The rule having been made absolute, the case came on for trial +at the Worcestershire Summer Assizes, in that year, before Sir Simon Le +Blanc and a special jury, at Nisi Prius. Mr. Plumer, principal counsel +for prosecution, stated the offence to be—enhancing the price of hops by +spreading rumours of scarcity among the planters, advising them not to +sell, and by engrossing a large quantity of that commodity. Mr. +Waddington was described as having invited the planters to a dinner, and +given them as a toast, “Hops, £20 a cwt;” telling them that they had +never had a large enough price, begging them to hold back, and promising +to buy himself at an increased rate, rather than they should be +distressed for money. Such was the enthusiasm created by his speech, +that one gentleman got up afterwards and proposed, “Mr. Waddington, the +saviour of the country.” He afterwards did buy great quantities of hops +in Worcester market, at prices varying from 10s. to 40s. above those +current prior to his appearance. The counsel characterised this +forestalling as a “crime of deepest dye;” and “long, very long, had the +people of this country borne with the most exemplary fortitude this +greatest of all public evils.” Mr. Dauncey, Mr. Waddington’s counsel, +insisted that his client had only acted as other factors were in the +habit of doing, and if he were punished, the private enterprise of the +country would receive a most grievous check and injury. He said the +offence of “engrossing” was a most undefinable one, and not cognizable by +the common law. The learned judge admitted this was a moot point, but +remarked on the enormity of the offence, and told the jury they had only +to say whether or no the evidence made out to them the fact of Mr. +Waddington’s having done that which the indictment set forth. The jury, +after this charge, immediately returned a verdict of “guilty.” On the +24th of November, Mr. Waddington was brought up for judgment in King’s +Bench. Mr. Law moved in arrest of judgment, arguing that engrossing was +no longer an offence at common law. Hops, too, were not “victuals.” Mr. +Waddington, speaking in his own defence, arraigned the whole proceedings +as altogether incompatible with the right of the individual to use his +capital in trade as he pleased. Mr. Erskine, in support of judgment, +said that hops being a commodity so easily engrossed, required to be +strictly regulated: the practice of engrossing was innocent neither in +the eyes of man nor God. Lord Kenyon, though not giving judgment, spoke +at length on the matter. Hops were as much a “victual” as salt, both +being used for the preservation of victuals; and he was old enough to +recollect an application being made to that court for an information for +a conspiracy to raise the price of salt at Droitwich. Mr. Waddington was +remanded to prison till the last day of term. The judges then declared +themselves of opinion that there ought to be no new trial, and that there +was no defence. He was again remanded to prison till the ensuing term, +in spite of a spirited remonstrance, and a reference to the case of Horne +Tooke, whom Lord Kenyon characterised as a “bankrupt in character and +fortune, and destitute of every virtue and quality which could command +respect.” On the 8th of December, Mr. Waddington was found guilty, by a +London jury, of “engrossing” hops in the county of Kent. While in prison +he sold a ton of potatoes daily for ½d. per lb., and appropriated the +proceeds to the benefit of his poorer fellow prisoners. On the 25th of +January, 1801, Mr. Waddington was finally brought up for judgment, and +Mr. Justice Grose declared that the court being unanimously of opinion +that the information on which Mr. Waddington had been convicted was well +supported at common law, he was sentenced to pay a fine of £500, and to +be imprisoned one month. On the 4th of June, Mr. Waddington having been +confined in King’s Bench prison upwards of twenty-seven weeks, at last +purged his crime, and went down to Maidstone. At Tunbridge he was +feasted at a superb dinner, and about two miles thence was met by a +number of hop planters, who took the horses from his carriage, covered it +with wreaths of hop bine, and had it drawn by relays of men (twelve +miles) to Maidstone. There he rode in triumph through the streets; made +a speech which was received with immense acclamation; “Waddington and the +freedom of commerce” resounded through the streets; and a subscription on +his behalf was entered into. + +1802—At the Summer Assizes, held before Mr. Justice Lawrence and Mr. +Justice Le Blanc, three men and one woman (for privately stealing) were +sentenced to death, but all respited. Three privates in the 5th Dragoons +were tried for the murder of Samuel Porter, ostler at the New Inn, +Pershore, and one named Rankins was found guilty; but as the fatal blow +was struck in what might be considered an affray, some points were +reserved for the twelve judges, and his sentence was ultimately commuted +to transportation. + +1803—At the Summer Assizes this year there were only seven prisoners in +both county and city for trial, and, of these, three were acquitted. Of +the remaining four, Thomas Beach for uttering a forged £5 note, and +Elizabeth Guise for robbing her master, Mr. Blizard of Stoulton, were +sentenced to death. Beach was executed; the woman reprieved. At the +same Assizes the Rev. J. F. Tonyn, rector of Alvechurch, recovered £300 +damages from the Rev. Henry Lynam, his curate, for criminal conversation +with his wife. + +1805—FEBRUARY 21—In the Court of King’s Bench an indictment was preferred +by Mr. Forrester, of Elmley, in this county, against Colonel Passingham +and a Mr. Edwards. Colonel Passingham had once been an intimate friend +of Mr. Forrester, had debauched his wife, and carried her off, in +January, 1803. Edwards was, also, once Forrester’s friend, but becoming +a bankrupt, and prosecutor being his opposing creditor, he became his +implacable enemy. Both then conspired to oblige the prosecutor to make a +very large settlement upon his wife, and he was actually terrified into +doing so by charges of horrible crimes. These facts being proved on the +part of the prosecution, the defendants brought forward eleven witnesses +to swear that Mr. Forrester had actually been guilty of the offences +alleged—but they utterly broke down. The jury found both prisoners +guilty of the conspiracy. Being brought up for judgment in the ensuing +term, they were both sentenced to three years’ imprisonment in Newgate; +the additional punishment of the pillory being specially remitted, lest +their lives should be forfeited by any indignant violence on the part of +the populace. Mr. Forrester afterwards obtained a divorce from his wife, +she having contrived to visit Passingham in prison, and assumed his name. + +1807—At the Summer Assizes a special jury cause at Nisi Prius, in which +Sir John Geers Cottrell, Bart., as heir at law of Mrs. Freeman of Henley +Park, brought an action of ejectment against Joseph Harris, Esq., of +Stanford, the sole executor and residuary legatee of that lady, appears +to have excited much interest. The jury returned a verdict for +defendant, establishing Mr. Harris’s right to a considerable estate in +the parish of Rock, and other property. Attorney for defendant—Mr. Hyde, +Worcester. At the Summer Assizes the cause again came on, the plaintiff +having obtained a new trial. Some of the most celebrated counsel of the +day were engaged—Mr. Garrow being retained by the plaintiff, and Sir +Thomas Plumer for defendant. After a twenty-four hours’ battle, the jury +confirmed the verdict of the former jury by a verdict for defendant. The +finding gave general satisfaction. + +1808—AUGUST—At the Worcester Summer Assizes this year was tried the cause +of HILL _v._ SMITH, an action brought to try the right of the Corporation +of Worcester to toll on wheat sold by sample, and of course a matter of +great interest to the agriculturists of the county generally. The +Corporation pleaded—“1st, that from time immemorial they had taken a pint +of wheat out of each bag, as a toll on wheat sold by sample in the +market, and afterwards brought into the city: 2nd, the same +justification, except that the taking was in the name of toll, and not as +a distress: 3rd, that the Corporation were seized in fee of the Manor of +Worcester, and that the toll was taken in respect of such manor: 4th, +that the Corporation had immemorially repaired the horse and carriage +road in the Corn Market, amongst others, and by reason thereof had +immemorially taken the toll on all grain brought over the Corn Market to +be delivered to a buyer.” The evidence fixed the custom of sale by +sample to have commenced in the year 1760. The learned judge directed +the jury to withdraw from their consideration the question of toll +traverse in respect of the manor, and toll thorough (the last issue), the +Corporation being unable to support these issues, and desired them to +consider whether the grant (by charter, enabling them to toll wheat) was +not originally for all corn sold, both where the bulk or only a part was +brought into the market. The jury, after an hour and a half’s +consideration, returned a verdict for the Corporation on the second and +third issues, and for the agriculturists on the others. Counsel for the +agriculturists—Mr. Sergeant Williams, Messrs. Jervis, Abbott, and Lord; +attorney, Mr. Hill: for the Corporation, Messrs. Dauncey, Wigley, Puller, +and Mence; attorney, Mr. Weller. + +1808—At the Summer Assizes, William Reynolds, convicted of an assault +upon a female, was sentenced to be imprisoned fourteen days, and to stand +in the pillory at Tenbury. Ann Green, for stealing brushes, was ordered +to be privately whipped; and four men, for divers crimes, were sentenced +to fourteen days’ imprisonment and a public whipping. + +1809—JULY 14—Worcester Summer Assizes. R. Baylis, churchwarden of Elmley +Lovett, was tried for painting up libels against the rector, the Rev. G. +Waldron, upon the walls of the parish church. They were principally +texts of scripture, the intended application of which, however, could not +be doubted. He was sentenced to pay a fine, and to twelve months’ +imprisonment. + +1810—Lent Assizes—A. LECHMERE, ESQ., _v._ DISSON, was a trial to recover +compensation for negligence in the defendant in the manufacture of +oil-cake. Mr. Lechmere had paid great attention to the feeding of +cattle, and had brought oil-cake into much greater notice than it had +been before. He purchased a quantity from defendant, but finding his +cattle did not thrive upon it as he expected, he had it analysed; and +several witnesses declared, that due attention had not been paid to the +clearing of the seed by skreening and sifting it; so that a great deal of +extraneous matter was left in the cake.—Verdict for the plaintiff: +damages, £50. + +1812—APRIL 20—A case of assault and battery, OVERBURY _v._ MOSELEY, tried +in the Worcester City Court. It arose out of a street row, which +occurred in the previous November. Overbury and another insulted some +lady in the Foregate Street, and Moseley came up to her help, and gave +Overbury a thorough thrashing, for which he brought this plaint. The +mayor having impartially summed up, the jury returned a verdict for the +defendant. Defendant conducted his own cause. Complainant was +represented by Mr. Sockett, an attorney of Worcester, who exerted himself +for his client beyond his strength, became ill, and soon afterwards died. + +1812—JUNE—HILL _v._ SMITH in error, having been argued before the Court +of Exchequer. Sir J. Mansfield, after many delays, now gave judgment. +The court held that a sale by sample was not a legal contract for the +sale of anything whatever, and that the lord or superior of an open +market was not entitled to any toll on commodities not brought in bulk. +A sale by sample had been held by Lord Coke, and other great law +authorities, to be illegal, as contrary to the principle and object for +which a market was established. The verdict for the Corporation +(obtained at Worcester Summer Assizes, 1808) was therefore reversed, and +the cause remitted to the court below to ascertain the amount of damages +the plaintiff was entitled to for the trespass committed in taking his +corn; which were, of course, merely nominal. + +1814—AUGUST—At the Hereford Summer Assizes was tried FORD _v._ RACSTER, +being an action brought by the executors of Dr. Ford, as Rector of +Cradley, Herefordshire, against Miss Racster, of Worcester, to try the +question of the liability of blackpoles to tithe. It was argued for +defendant, that these blackpoles, being more than twenty years’ growth, +were timber trees; but the jury decided that they were not, according to +the custom of the country, and thereupon verdict was entered for +plaintiff, and damages assessed at £100, being for eleven years’ fallage. + +1816—At the Lent Assizes was tried an action for libel, brought by the +Rev. Joseph Shapland against Richard Mug Mence, Esq. Verdict for +plaintiff. The Rev. Mr. Shapland pleaded guilty to an indictment for an +assault. At the ensuing assizes he was sentenced to six months’ +imprisonment, and to enter into recognizances to keep the peace for seven +years, himself in £500, and two sureties in £250 each. Mr. Shapland was +Vicar of St. Peter’s, and had some unhappy disputes with his wife, to +settle which Mr. Mence had been called in as a mutual friend. After a +while, conceiving Mrs. Shapland to have been ill-treated, Mr. Mence took +her part very decidedly, and refused to sit in company with Mr. Shapland. +Mr. S. at this was greatly exasperated; and meeting Mr. Mence one day +walking near the Guildhall, he struck him several times with a heavy +walking stick. Mr. Mence received the blows on his arm, which was +severely injured. Mr. M. afterwards published a pamphlet, containing a +long detail of Mr. Shapland’s family jars, and the part he had himself +taken therein; and this was the libel complained of. In November, 1812, +Mr. Mence was called up for judgment in the King’s Bench, and sentenced +by Lord Ellenborough to six months’ imprisonment, and afterwards to find +sureties to keep the peace, himself in £1,000, and two sureties of £500 +each. The two gentlemen were thus both imprisoned at the same time—the +one in the city, and the other in the county gaol. + +1817—At the Lent Assizes, held before Mr. Justice Park and Mr. Justice +Burrough, no less than twenty prisoners were sentenced to death, most of +them for sheep stealing; but they were all afterwards reprieved. + +1818—At the Lent Assizes this year, the trial of Joseph Steers, a +respectable tradesman of Worcester, and six others, charged with being +concerned in the “freemen’s riots,” and the demolition of the buildings +upon Pitchcroft, created the most intense interest, and at one part of +the proceedings there was an absolute tumult in court, so great was the +crush of people. The history of these riots is as follows: In 1817 the +“popular mind” of Worcester was much agitated and incensed by buildings +being erected on the corner of Pitchcroft Ham, nearest to the city, and +known as Little Pitchcroft. The citizens viewed any encroachment on this +lung of the city with commendable jealousy, as it was their principal +resort for amusement and promenade; besides which, each freeman had some +property in the Ham, having a right of pasturage thereon. A meeting was +accordingly called in August, at the Hoppole Inn, to protect the rights +of the freemen in this matter. Richard Spooner, Esq., then exceedingly +active in all popular movements in Worcester, was called to the chair, +and a committee was appointed, who issued notices to the parties who had +built upon the Ham to remove their erections before the 29th of +September. On the 15th of September, however, the committee met, and +agreed that as the removal of the whole buildings would be attended with +great loss to a charity which derived considerable revenue from the +wharfs, &c., it would be more desirable only to remove those buildings +and fences which were most obnoxious. On this decision being made known, +the populace determined to take the matter into their own hands; and on +the morning of the 29th assembled in large numbers, and commenced the +demolition of such of the fences and buildings as were not strong enough +to resist their efforts. The mayor came down to the spot and read the +Riot Act, but nobody took any heed of his worship, who, with the +magistrates, then began to swear in everybody as special constables—the +said “specials” standing by and looking on at the demolition, very +anxious to keep the peace, but not venturing to interrupt the mob. At +last some of the yeomanry assembled, but being pelted with stones, they +retreated to the Star and Garter yard, and made no further appearance. +The demolition was concluded next morning; everybody saying that it was +most disgraceful, but nevertheless glad that it was done. Steers and +other persons, who had taken part in the work of destruction, were +indicted (under statutes which had recently been passed) for a capital +offence; but Mr. Jervis, counsel for the prosecutor, Mr. John Edmunds, +declared that that was only done in order to have a foundation to recover +the damages he had sustained during the riot. After two witnesses had +been examined, Mr. Justice Burrough, who presided, said there was enough +evidence to convict the whole prisoners of a capital offence, and advised +them to throw themselves on the mercy of the court. This course they +adopted; and his lordship then discharged them, on entering into +recognizances of £100 each, to keep the peace for twelve months. The +greatest possible interest had been made on behalf of these parties; and +Lord Deerhurst, whose efforts were supposed to have contributed greatly +to the lenity with which they were treated, was almost overwhelmed, on +leaving the court, by the tumultuous approbation of the populace. The +mob endeavoured to drag Mr. Justice Burrough in triumph through the city, +on leaving for Stafford; but his lordship instantly called in the aid of +the javelin men, and threatened to commit the foremost of the crowd. To +finish the story here; immediately after these assizes, the agitation +about the encroachments was recommenced, and Mr. Thomas Carden, one of +the six masters, put forth a statement that the four acres in dispute +were the gift of Thomas Wylde, Esq., formerly of the Commandry in the +city of Worcester, to the Corporation; and the rents and profits of this +land had been uniformly applied to the benefit of the Free School, and +Trinity Alms Houses. Having in 1796 let out this land in lots, the six +masters had been enabled to increase the pay, to twenty-nine old women, +from 3s. to 6s. per month, which was a thing much more worth doing than +to allow one thousand freemen the pasturage thereon, from Old Midsummer +Day to Old Candlemas Day. A common hall was shortly afterwards held, at +which the committee appointed for protecting the freemen’s rights made +their report. It was read by R. Spooner, Esq., and stated that they had +ordered entries to be made on two of the plots in Little Pitchcroft; the +result of which had been, that actions had been brought against the +enterers, and the _venue_ changed by the plaintiffs to Gloucester. The +committee now wanted to know whether the claims of the freemen were to be +contested or abandoned, as in the former case it would be necessary that +the city generally should enter into a subscription to provide the sinews +of war. The report was adopted, and a subscription forthwith commenced. +A motion to make terms with the six masters was rejected. Just before +the trial came on, however, the matter was settled by arrangement, +concessions being made on either side; and buildings cover the greater +part of “Little Pitchcroft” to this day. + +1819—At the Summer Assizes, John Grindley, of Bromsgrove, was tried on a +charge of wilfully murdering Thomas Mannering. They had quarrelled in a +public house, gone out into the street to fight, but there made up their +differences, and sat upon the public stocks, drinking some beer. While +thus occupied, Grindley stabbed Mannering twice so severely that he died +next day. He was found guilty of manslaughter, and sentenced to six +months’ imprisonment. + +1820—At the Lent Assizes, John Burton was convicted of the murder of one +Jaunty, in Worcester, on the 30th of July, 1819. Parties who had been +employed by the Excise to seize some malt, were met at the back of the +Hoppole Inn by a number of persons from the neighbouring public houses, +and a general battle commenced; the interest of which at length +concentrated itself in a fight between Burton and Jaunty. They had +several rounds, and Jaunty at last getting the better of his antagonist, +Burton ran off to his house, but presently returned with a pike, and +stabbed Jaunty right through the heart and lungs. Burton was, however, +reprieved on a point of law. At these assizes, twenty-seven persons were +sentenced to death (one a woman, for stealing thirty-nine yards of +bombazine from a shop at Stourbridge), but all were reprieved, except one +for highway robbery. + +1820—MARCH 24—A curious application was made to the Lord Chancellor by +the guardians of Sir Roger Gresley, a young man of twenty, and a ward of +Chancery, to restrain the Earl and Countess of Coventry, and the Hon. +John Coventry, from encouraging a marriage between Sir Roger and Lady +Sophia Coventry, daughter of the earl, aged seventeen. There had been +negociations for a marriage, rent rolls having been handed to the +guardians, &c.; but as no settlement could be made on the bride till Sir +Roger was of age, the matter was postponed. The court took it in dudgeon +that anything should have been done towards disposing of its ward in +matrimony without its license, &c. + +1821—FEBRUARY 13—A rule moved for in the Court of King’s Bench on behalf +of the magistrates of Worcestershire, to compel the inhabitants of +Ombersley to pay £150 into the hands of the clerk of the peace for the +repairs of Hawford Bridge. The Ombersley people replied that they were +going to repair, and that £50 would be quite sufficient to do all that +was needed. The rule was granted, but enlarged to the next term to admit +of time for the repairs being effectively carried out by the inhabitants +of Ombersley themselves, if they so pleased. + +1821—At the Lent Assizes, before Mr. Baron Jarrow, an action was brought +by a schoolmaster at Dudley, a little deformed man, named Hilliard, to +recover damages from Mr. Badger for knocking his hat off at the theatre, +because he would not take it off when the national anthem was being +played. Mr. Badger, in the zeal of his loyalty, not only knocked the +unfortunate pedagogue’s hat off, but the pedagogue himself off the bench; +and Mr. Baron Jarrow, in summing up, intimated that he thought he was +rather to be commended than otherwise, and pictured to the jury “the +glorious sight of a whole audience in a theatre paying a just tribute of +veneration to their sovereign.” The jury returned a verdict for +plaintiff: damages, one farthing. + +1821—AUGUST—At the Midsummer Assizes was tried, JARRATT _v._ THE MAYOR +AND CORPORATION OF EVESHAM, being an attempt to establish the right of +any person who had served a freeman of that borough for an apprenticeship +of seven years to be himself admitted a freeman. The Corporation +admitted that if the whole service had been within the borough the custom +was to admit; but if the master and apprentice had lived elsewhere any +period of the time then the right of admission failed. A verdict was +entered for the Corporation. + +1823—Two men, named Oliver and Skinner, convicted at the Easter City +Sessions of a most unprovoked assault on three journeymen carpenters +going home one dark night in January, and sentenced—Oliver to six months, +and Skinner to nine months’ imprisonment. These two fellows were part of +a fraternity calling themselves “lambs,” who used to infest the streets +of Worcester at night for the sole purpose of annoying more peaceably +disposed persons. At the trial they brought a number of witnesses to +prove an _alibi_, but utterly failed, and disclosed the most unblushing +perjury in lieu thereof. + +1823—William Taylor, a working stone mason, recovered £120 damages in the +Sheriff’s Court, for a fright into which he had been put by Henry Geast +Dugdale, Esq., a magistrate of Worcestershire, living at Bordesley Park. +He was one of some workmen who were erecting a stone lodge for defendant, +who one day, when they had nearly finished, came up and peremptorily +ordered them off his premises. He said he had been told by his master +not to leave till he had finished the job; but Mr. Dugdale, foaming with +rage, presented his gun at him, cocked it, and declared he would shoot +Taylor presently, if he were not gone; whereupon he dropped his chisel +and mallet in a terror, took to his heels, and had been declining in +health ever since—such had been the effect of the alarm upon his nervous +system. Mr. Dugdale, in addressing the jury, said “he once took a noble +earl by the collar, and forced him off his lands;” and hereupon Lord +Plymouth, writing to the Worcester papers, said Mr. Dugdale no doubt +meant himself, but that the whole statement was entirely untrue. + +1824—At the Midsummer Assizes, before Mr. Justice Littledale, was tried +the cause of PIERPOINT _v._ SHAPLAND, in which Matthew Pierpoint, Esq., +of Worcester, surgeon (and as it proved upon the trial, physician also), +brought an action for slander against Miss Susanna Shapland, a lady then +residing in College Green. The damages were laid at £5,000. Mr. +Pierpoint had been called in to attend Mrs. Isaacs, Miss Shapland’s +sister, shortly before her death, and administered an emetic: after that +he ceased to attend her, and Miss Shapland afterwards told Mrs. Henry +Clifton that Mr. P. had treated her sister improperly. Mr. Jervis was +counsel for plaintiff, and Mr. Russell for defendant. A verdict was +returned for plaintiff, with 39s. damages. This trial excited +extraordinary interest—ladies, to make sure of places, going to the +courts at five o’clock in the morning. + +1825—At the Lent Assizes an action for libel, against CHALK AND HOLL, was +tried before Mr. Justice Littledale. It was brought by a painter named +Davis, who had, by mistake, been described in a paragraph in the +_Worcester Herald_ as concerned in a street row and an assault upon a +watchman. The party’s name _was_ Davis, but not the one pointed at in +the paragraph, and defendants, finding their error, corrected it in the +next paper and apologised; nevertheless Davis persisted in the action, +urged thereto, as it came out in the trial, by his attorney, who had +undertaken that it should cost him nothing. The counsel engaged were—for +the plaintiff, Mr. Campbell (now Lord Chief Justice Campbell); and for +defendant, Mr. Russell. The jury returned a verdict for plaintiff, as +the judge told them they must to do so, with damages one farthing. + +1827—Summer Assizes, before Mr. Justice Littledale. THE KING _v._ COOKE +was an action against a draper, at Dudley, of the most Radical cast, for +publishing libels on His Majesty’s Government. The libels were placards +exhibited in the defendant’s window during a time of great disturbance +amongst the colliers, in May, 1826. The case had been entered for trial +at previous assizes, but put off from time to time. The alleged libel in +the placards was the assertion that ministers were bringing starvation +upon the people by their measures. Mr. Whateley was for the prosecution, +and Mr. Campbell for the defence. The appearance of the placards in the +defendant’s window having been proved, Mr. Andrew Gracewood, doorkeeper +at the Foreign Office, was put in the box to prove that Earl Liverpool +and others mentioned in the handbills were at the time of their +publication ministers of state. Mr. Campbell, of course, ridiculed the +whole prosecution, and said Cooke was being made the victim of private +malice. The judge told the jury the handbills were libellous, so they +returned a verdict of guilty. Cooke was only required to enter into +sureties to appear when called up. + +1827—At the Lent Assizes this year there were nearly a hundred prisoners +for trial, and against twenty-four of them sentence of death was +recorded. + +At these assizes was tried AGG _v._ TIMBRELL, in which the plaintiff +recovered £7 damages for the injury done to his gig by the negligent +driving of the defendant’s coachman. Mr. Charles Phillips was counsel +for plaintiff, and Mr. Taunton for defendant. The affair was chiefly +curious from the remark of defendant, who, when the accident happened and +Agg complained, said, “Do you know who I am? I’m Doctor Timbrell, Doctor +of Divinity, Archdeacon, and magistrate in two counties. Don’t talk to +me, or I’ll commit you!” + +1828—In November, this year, in the King’s Bench, a rule for a criminal +information against the Rev. Humphry Price, for issuing inflammatory +handbills at the time of the late strike between the Kidderminster +weavers and their masters, was made absolute. The Rev. gentleman +appeared in court himself, and avowed himself to be the author of the +placards charged against him. The cause against him was tried at the +next Hereford Lent Assizes. A number of verses, entitled “_The Complaint +of a Kidderminster Weaver’s Wife to her Infant_,” appeared to be most +complained of; they ended thus: + + “O cruel, cruel, cruel masters, + Dare ye thus mock at our disasters? + See parent, child, to phrenzy given, + And dream yourselves of reaching heaven? + + Rouse from your slumbers! count the price + Of your own cursed avarice; + And count it well, ere taught too late + To dread than ours a far worse fate.” + +Mr. Campbell defended the Rev. gentleman, but he was found guilty, and +being brought up for judgment next term, was sentenced to twelve months’ +imprisonment, and adjudged to pay the costs. + +1829—At the Midsummer Assizes, before Mr. Baron Vaughan, John Hunter, +Esq., of Pershore, was tried for feloniously altering a deed. A true +bill had been returned against Mr. Hunter at the Lent Assizes, but he was +enlarged till the Midsummer Assizes on very heavy bail. The +respectability of Mr. Hunter, who but for this charge would this very +year have been High Sheriff of the County, caused the intensest interest +to be felt in the trial, and the courts were thronged to suffocation. +Mr. Campbell, K.C., Mr. Sergeant Ludlow, Mr. Carwood, and Mr. Godson, +were the counsel for the prosecution; and Mr. Taunton, Mr. Sergeant +Russell, and Mr. C. Phillips, assisted the defendant, who, as the law +then stood, was obliged to address the jury himself, and could only avail +himself of counsel in cross-examination, this being a misdemeanour. The +charge against Mr. Hunter was that he had erased the words “part of” from +a deed which he held, and the effect of the erasure would be to put him +in possession of the _whole_ of the premises to which it referred. In +fact, in 1825 he brought an action on the strength of this deed to +recover the whole of the premises, but permitted himself to be +non-suited. Mr. Hunter, in the written defence he handed in to be read +to the jury, contented himself with denying any knowledge of how the +erasure came about, and that it existed in the deed when it first came +into his possession, he having bought the property as an entire property. +The evidence given, and some of the witnesses adduced by the prosecution, +were of a very doubtful character; and after the long array of witnesses +which Mr. Hunter called to speak to a long life of unblemished +uprightness, the jury said they would not trouble his lordship to sum up, +and Mr. Hunter must be _honourably acquitted_. + +1830—At the Summer Assizes, before Mr. Sergeant Bosanquet, came on the +case of CHALK AND HOLL _v._ ROBINSON, M.P., being an action to recover +£13. 8s. 6d. for printing electioneering squibs on Mr. Robinson’s behalf, +at the election of 1826. They were written and ordered by some of Mr. +Robinson’s agents and solicitors, and his object in resisting the claim +was to disown any personal connection with them. The matter was +referred, at the judge’s request, to Mr. Holroyd; and he awarded the sum +claimed to the plaintiffs, holding Mr. Robinson liable; Mr. Brampton +proving that the orders came from his committee room. + + + +THE ODDINGLEY MURDER. + + +THE annals of crime record few tragedies so fearful in their enactment, +so mysterious in their present concealment, so singular in their ultimate +discovery as the Oddingley murder. A clergyman is shot at noon-day, +while walking in his own fields—the assassin and the motive are perfectly +known, yet he eludes justice, and suddenly and for ever disappears. Some +of the men to whom common rumour points as the probable instigators of +the crime, pass to their account, and make no sign. At last, when +twenty-four years have elapsed, the body of the murderer is strangely +discovered, in a state of preservation and under circumstances which +leave no room to doubt that he was himself murdered by those who had +hired him to commit the crime they were afraid to perpetrate with their +own hands. + +Thus circumstance combined with circumstance to increase the romance of +this tale of blood, and invest it with a fearful interest, creating an +unparalleled excitement, not only in this neighbourhood but throughout +the whole country. People delighted to point to it, as showing how, with +silent footfall, justice ever tracks the murderer’s steps, and at last +exposes his guilt to the gaze of day, with whatever care and midnight +secrecy he has sought to hide and cover it. But it showed, also, that +the punishment of murder, as of other crimes, is sometimes postponed to a +more perfect time of retribution, and that men doubly dyed with the blood +of others—shed under the influence of passions the most +detestable—avarice, hate, and fear—can walk their lives long among their +fellows with a smooth brow, and at last placidly turn their faces to the +wall without, to outward seeming, one pang of remorse or outcry of +conscience. + +The first notice of this terrible crime appeared in the Worcester papers +of June 26, 1806, and is as follows: + + “The Rev. G. Parker, rector of Oddingley, in this county, was, on + Tuesday evening last, most inhumanly murdered in a field near his own + dwelling house. The perpetrator of this cruel deed discharged a gun + at the unfortunate gentleman, the contents of which entered his right + side; and afterwards, in a manner peculiarly atrocious, with the butt + end of his gun fractured his skull. An inquest was held the + following day, before R. Barneby, Esq., coroner, when the jury + returned this verdict—‘Wilful murder, by some person or persons + unknown.’” + +Mr. Parker was an amiable man and benevolent to the poor, but there had +been an unhappy dispute between him and his parishioners about the +tithes, which was perfectly well understood to have been the cause +prompting to his death. His predecessor had been in the habit of +compounding with the farmers for his tithes, they giving him in lieu +thereof £135 per annum. Mr. Parker, considering this inadequate, +proposed raising it to £150. Captain Evans, one of his parishioners, +however, prevailed on the farmers to join him in resisting this proposal, +and Mr. Parker, in consequence, collected the tithe. After he had done +so for two years, the farmers, finding themselves losers by the system, +offered to accede to the proposal previously made. Mr. Parker told them +he was still willing to abide by it, but required, as he had been at an +expense of £150 in erecting a barn, and making other arrangements for +collecting the tithe, that they should, in addition, repay him that sum, +but this was refused. + +The magistrates, immediately after the murder, issued a bill, offering a +reward of fifty guineas for the apprehension of the murderer, and +minutely described the person and dress of Richard Hemming, a carpenter +of Droitwich, who was at once suspected as the perpetrator of this +fearful crime. The report of the gun was heard by several parties, and +two persons from Worcester saw Hemming escaping over some fields in the +neighbourhood of the spot—indeed he was distinctly traced to a wood at +Lench, but there all trace of him was entirely lost, and it was thought +that he had left the country in security. A free pardon was offered at +the time by Government to any accomplices in the murder who would become +king’s evidence. + +In June, 1807, a man, who had enlisted into the marines, was detained by +the magistrates at Plymouth on suspicion of being Hemming. Mr. Carden +immediately despatched parties to ascertain the truth of the matter, but +it proved to be a case of mistaken identity. The affair, though public +notice of it was hushed, was never forgotten—the country people had their +beliefs and traditions concerning it, and though it was confidently +affirmed by some that Hemming had been seen alive in America, the real +truth was more than guessed at. It was by some firmly believed that +Hemming had been murdered by the parties who employed him to assassinate +Mr. Parker, and they themselves seemed scarcely anxious to avoid the +imputation. Captain Evans, whom all pointed at as being the principal +instigator of the assassination, constantly kept standing upon his estate +a certain clover rick, which he had made three days only after Mr. +Parker’s murder, and when he parted with the estate two years afterwards +to a Mr. Barnett, this rick was still kept standing. The general belief +was that Hemming’s body had been buried beneath this rick, and in 1816 +Hemming’s widow (then married again) made a deposition before the +Droitwich magistrates of her conviction that this was the case. A search +warrant was granted, but in that same night the clover rick mysteriously +disappeared, and though the ground which it had covered was carefully dug +up, nothing was discovered. Captain Evans, at the time of Mr. Parker’s +murder, lived upon the Church Farm, Oddingley; but in 1808 he went to +reside on a small estate called New House, upon the confines of the two +parishes of Hadsor and Oddingley. Here he remained till 1826, when he +went to Droitwich, and there lived till his death, which occurred in +1829; he was then ninety-four years of age. He was formerly a captain in +the 89th Foot, and received half pay up to the day of his death. He was +a magistrate of the borough of Droitwich. + +It may be well conceived that all idea of any further discovery of the +circumstances under which this terrible crime was committed had long been +given up, and that the discovery of the skeleton of Hemming created the +most startling surprise. On the 21st January, 1830, a carpenter named +Burton was engaged in removing a barn upon the Netherwood Farm, +Oddingley, which, at the time of Mr. Parker’s murder, was occupied by Mr. +Thomas Clewes. He had begun to remove the foundation when he met with a +pair of shoes and carpenter’s rule. The story of Hemming immediately +recurred to his mind, and, carefully covering up again what he had found, +he went to the magistrates of Droitwich and the coroner of the county +(Mr. William Smith). The further investigation of the spot was very +carefully conducted by the neighbouring magistrates and Mr. Pierpoint of +Worcester; and the whole skeleton of a man, of just such height and make +as Hemming was known to have been, was disclosed to view. His former +wife particularly identified the remains by the mouth and teeth, and +declared her firm belief to be that the rule which Burton had found was +that which Hemming used customarily to carry in his pocket. The bones of +the skull had been beaten into many pieces. An inquest was commenced +upon these remains on the following Tuesday, and, by adjournment, on the +Friday; at the close of which sitting, Thomas Clewes was taken into +custody on suspicion of having been concerned in the murder of Hemming, +and in the course of the next day he expressed his desire to make a +confession. The coroner and jury accordingly went to him in the County +Gaol, where, with great composure, he gave the following account of the +circumstances under which Hemming was himself murdered on the evening of +the day after that on which he had shot Mr. Parker. Whether it is the +absolute truth or not, coming as it did from an accomplice, must always +be a matter of doubt, but it is at any rate all that will now be known of +this deed of terror. + + +CLEWES’S CONFESSION. + + + “On the morrow morning after the parson was shot (I mean the Rev. Mr. + Parker, Rector of Oddingley), it was on Bromsgrove fair day—I cannot + recollect exactly the year—about seven o’clock, George Bankes came + down to me, and says, ‘We have got Hemming, who shot the parson, at + our house (meaning Captain Evans’s) this morning, and I do not know + what to do with him—will you let him come down here?’ I said, ‘I + will not have him here, nor have nothing to do with him.’ Bankes + then went off. Bankes said, ‘he is lurking down in the meadows.’ I + went up to Oddingley about eleven o’clock in the day to Mr. Jones’s; + Mr. Jones is dead, and Mr. Nash lives in the farm now. As I went up + the road side, I suppose he (meaning Captain Evans) kept sight of me + all the way. The Captain called to me; he was in his garden, close + by the road side; he followed me out of the garden into the field, + and said he wanted to speak with me. He said, ‘I’ve had Hemming at + our house this morning, and something must be done by him; he is + lurking down towards your house now; I ordered him to get into your + buildings by day-time, if possible, or at the edge of night, that you + (meaning witness) might not see him, or any of your family, and + somewhat must be done by him. I shall come down to your house at + night, and bring somebody with me, and we must give the poor devil + some money, or do something with him, and send him off; will you get + up and come to the barn? it won’t detain you a minute.’ I refused + coming, and said, ‘I did not like to come.’ The Captain said, ‘it + can make no odds to you—you need not be afraid to come at eleven + o’clock; just come out, it will make no difference to you at all; if + you don’t come I shall be afraid of your dogs.’ I went out at the + back door and down to the barn door, as the clock struck eleven. + There was the Captain and James Taylor, and a third, whom I thought + and believed to be George Bankes. They went into the barn (I mean + the Captain, Taylor, and George Bankes), and I with them; I believed + it to be Bankes; he had on a smock-frock; as soon as the Captain came + into the barn, he calls, ‘Holloa, Hemming, where be’est?’ not very + loud; Hemming spoke, and said ‘Yes, Sir;’ Taylor and the Captain then + stepped on the mow, where Hemming was lying, which was not higher + than my knee; the Captain pulled a lantern from under his coat, or + out of his pocket; myself and George Bankes were then on the + thrashing-floor; the Captain said, ‘Get up, Hemming, I have got + something for thee;’ Hemming was at the time covered up with straw; + he was rising up on end, as if he had been lying on his back; as he + rose up, Taylor up with a blood-stick, and hit him on the head two or + three blows; I (witness) said, ‘This is bad work—if I had known you + should not have had me here;’ the Captain said, ‘He has got enough;’ + Taylor and the Captain came down off the mow directly; Taylor said, + ‘What is to be done with him now?’ the Captain said, ‘D—n his body, + we must not take him out of doors, somebody will see us, mayhap.’ It + was not very dark. Taylor went out of doors, and fetched a spade + from somewhere; it was no spade of mine; and Taylor and the Captain + said, ‘We will soon put him safe.’ Taylor then searched round the + bay of the barn on the contrary side where it was done, and found + holes which dogs and rats had scratched; he threw out a spadeful or + two, and cleared away from the foundation side of the wall. ‘This + will do for him,’ Taylor said to the Captain, who stood by and + lighted him the while. Bankes and myself were still on the floor of + the barn. Then the Captain and Taylor got upon the mow, and pulled + Hemming down to the front of the mow. The Captain said to Taylor, + ‘Catch hold of him,’ and they dragged him across the floor, and into + the hole they had dug for him in the opposite bay, and Taylor soon + covered it up. I cannot tell whether he was put in on his back or + not; I never stepped into the bay from the floor; I thought I should + have died where I was; the Captain said to Taylor, ‘Well done, boy, + I’ll give thee another glass or two of brandy.’ The Captain said to + me on the floor when we went out, ‘I’ll give you anything; d—n your + body, don’t ever split.’ All four were present at this; we then + parted; the Captain darkened his lantern; the Captain, Bankes, and + Taylor, went away towards Oddingley; I went to bed; the whole did not + occupy half an hour; Hemming had his clothes on; Hemming never moaned + nor groaned after he was first struck; there was no blood—not a spot + on the floor; nothing else was done that night. On the 26th of June + I was at Pershore fair; George Bankes came to me in the afternoon, + between four and five; he called me up an entry at the Plough, and + said, ‘Here is some money for you that Hemming was to have had.’ Mr. + John Barnett was with Bankes then, Bankes and Barnett each of them + gave me money, but I do not recollect how much I had from each; I did + not count it until I got home. They said when they gave it me, ‘Be + sure you don’t split.’ There was no more said about it that night. + It was in two parcels, in all between £26 and £27, and all in bills; + there was no silver. I put it all in one pocket. This was to have + taken Hemming off, as Bankes and Barnett informed me. A few days + after, I was at the Captain’s; he sent for me by my own son, John + Clewes, then about seven years old. When I got to the Captain’s, I + found him alone; he said to me, if I kept my peace, and did not + split, I should never want for £5. I never received any money from + him afterwards. On the same day, in the parlour of the Captain’s + house, Catherine Bankes came to me, and went down on her knees, in + great distress, and begged and prayed of me not to say anything, as + she feared the Captain had done a bad job, and that they would all + come to be hanged if I spoke. I promised her I never would say + anything.” + +[Bankes was a farm bailiff; Taylor died about 1816, having lived some +time in infamous notoriety at Droitwich. Barnett, at the time of the +murder, was only bailiff for his mother, but had since become an opulent +farmer. Clewes himself failed three or four years after the murder, and +had since been engaged as a labourer or woodman.] + +A great many witnesses were examined at the inquest, who spoke to +expressions of hatred and malice used by Captain Evans, Barnett, Bankes, +and Clewes, with regard to Mr. Parker, and many trifling circumstances +which tended to implicate them in the disappearance of Hemming, and +corroborate Clewes’s confession. The jury, after five days of most +elaborate investigation, returned a verdict of wilful murder against +Thomas Clewes and George Bankes; and further found that John Barnett, +late of the parish of Oddingley, farmer, was an accessary to such murder +before the fact. + +These three persons were accordingly put upon their trial at the ensuing +March Assizes, before Mr. Justice Littledale. A true bill was found +against Clewes as principal in the second degree, and against Barnett and +Bankes as accessaries before the fact to the murder of the Rev. George +Parker, by Richard Hemming. Mr. Curwood was the leading counsel for the +prosecution, Mr. Sergeant Ludlow for Clewes, Mr. Campbell, K.C., for +Bankes, and Mr. Taunton, K.C., for Barnett. An objection was taken to +the prisoners pleading as accessaries to a murder, the principal in which +had not been found guilty; and this objection being allowed, Clewes and +Bankes were arraigned as principals, and Barnett as accessary before the +fact to the murder of Richard Hemming. Clewes was first put upon his +trial alone. The evidence of the finding of the body of Hemming having +been given, and its identification completed, many witnesses were +examined to speak to expressions of the prisoner, tending to show that he +had been anxious to procure the death of Mr. Parker; and expressions used +by Hemming, showing that he had been employed to do some foul deed at +Oddingley. It was proved, too, that Clewes and Hemming had been +frequently in one another’s company prior to the murder. Last of all, +after a sharp struggle on the part of the prisoner’s counsel to prevent +it, Clewes’s confession was put in and read. Sergeant Ludlow briefly +addressed the learned judge, urging that Clewes was entitled to his +acquittal, as his confession stood uncontradicted, and that did not prove +him to have been a principal in the crime. The court decided that the +matter must be left to the jury, and to them the prisoner declined saying +anything; nor did the law then admit of counsel addressing the jury in +defence. The jury, after a short summing up, returned a verdict of +“Guilty as an accessary after the fact;” but Mr. Justice Littledale +observing that they had only to inquire whether he was guilty of aiding +and abetting in the murder, they returned a general verdict of “Not +guilty.” The crown refused to call any evidence on the coroner’s +inquisition, or against Barnett and Bankes, so they were all discharged. +The expenses attending the prosecution amounted to between £700 and £800. + +1830—At the Lent Assizes, before Mr. Baron Bolland, was tried the cause +of THE KING _v._ DINELEY, in which Mr. Francis Dineley, solicitor, +practising at Pershore, was found guilty of conspiring with one William +Loxley, deceased, to defraud Nicholas Marshall of £2,000. The +transaction took place so far back as 1804, when Loxley and Dineley +induced Mr. Nicholas Marshall to advance the sum of £2,000 on what it was +alleged they _knew_ to be defective security, and he lost the whole of +it. Mr. Campbell made a long speech in defence, alleging that the defect +in the security might not have been known to his client, and remarking +strongly on the long time which had elapsed. The case for the +prosecution rested mainly on letters written by Dineley to Loxley. + +1830—MAY 21—In the Arches Court, judgment was delivered in the suit of +BARNETT _v._ REV. WILLIAM BALDWIN BONAKER, being a complaint on the part +of some of the inhabitants of Church Honeybourne against their clergyman +for neglect of duty, such as continued absence from the parish. Sir J. +Nicholl, the judge, declared the evidence insufficient, and condemned the +promoters of the suit in full costs. + +1830—OCTOBER 20—At the Michaelmas Sessions were tried the Kidderminster +rioters. True bills were found for riot and assault against ten carpet +weavers, and the case for the prosecution was conducted by Mr. Evans and +Mr. Lea; Mr. Godson and Mr. Lumley appearing for the prisoners. Three of +them, named Lamsdale, Green, and Stephens, were first tried for being +concerned in an attack on the prison, on the second day of the +disturbances, and with assaulting William Hopkins, a constable; but they +were acquitted, to the great surprise of the court. Six men were next +tried for the attack on Mr. Cooper’s factory, and for very ill-treatment +of a man named Edwards, working there at low prices. He was left by the +mob, thrust into the ashpit of one of the furnaces, more than half dead. +Phaizy and Hopkins, the men principally concerned in this assault, were +sentenced to six months’ imprisonment—Lamsdale to three months, and Price +to two months’ imprisonment; and all to enter into sureties to keep the +peace. Other two were acquitted. In three other cases verdicts were +taken by consent, and almost nominal punishments inflicted. Mr. Godson’s +strenuous exertions in these cases laid the foundation for his subsequent +popularity in the borough of Kidderminster. + +1830—OCTOBER 18—At the trial of one of the prisoners at the City +Michaelmas Sessions, Mr. Curwood, his barrister, handed in a protest +against the jurisdiction of the court, because it was not constituted +according to the charter of James I, which required that the +recorder—“one learned and discreet man, learned in the laws”—should +always preside at gaol deliveries. Earl Coventry and his ancestors had +long been recorders of Worcester, and seldom (or never) present at +Quarter Sessions. The magistrates refused to receive the protest. + +1831—The cause list at the Midsummer Assizes this year contained +thirty-one cases for trial, and two of them excited much interest. The +first was an action brought by the Rev. Edward Herbert against a Mr. +Heath, for an assault, in which Mr. Campbell and Mr. Whateley were for +plaintiff, and Mr. Charles Phillips for defendant. For the prosecution +it was merely proved that Heath struck Herbert some dozen blows with a +horsewhip in Broad Street, Worcester, on the 23rd of the previous +February. One witness heard Heath say the words, “that — my father, and +you consider yourself well horsewhipped for it.” Mr. Charles Phillips +made a very long and powerful speech for the defence, stating to the jury +that if the prosecutor had dared himself to come into the box, he would +have forced him to confess that he had not only broken his pledge to Mr. +Heath’s sister, but had slandered his buried father in the most +outrageous and unbearable manner. Mr. Justice Patteson told the jury +that all they had to do was to say whether Heath had committed the +assault, and so they returned a verdict of “Guilty;” but no sentence was +passed, though the affidavits of defendant were ready, and Mr. Justice +Patteson himself pointed out to Mr. Phillips an error in the record, no +doubt with a view of getting rid of the case. + +The other case was a charge against Mr. Francis Hill, of Stourbridge, of +having committed wilful perjury, by swearing that he had not adopted +certain royalty mines, while he had, in fact, signed a document to do so. +Mr. Campbell, for the defence, urged that many a man signed deeds which +he did not understand; and a host of witnesses appeared to give Mr. Hill +the best of characters. He was honourably acquitted. + +1831—At the County Epiphany Sessions six men were tried for destroying a +thrashing machine, the property of Joseph Fretwell, of Blockley, and were +indicted for a riot and assault. Mr. Godson and Mr. Lea were for the +prosecution, and Mr. Strutt and Mr. Evans for the defence. There was no +attempt to deny that the men did come into Mr. Fretwell’s barn, and take +the machine to pieces; but on cross-examination of the prosecutor it was +shown that he was just about to quit the farm, which he held under Lord +Northwick, and that these men had come to take the machine down by his +lordship’s orders, in order to prevent the destruction of the premises by +the lawless mob who were going about the neighbourhood. Fretwell was +evidently regarding his landlord with feelings of exasperation, because +he had let the farm over his head. One of the men was found guilty of +riot and assault, the other five of riot only. Two of them were ordered +to pay a fine of £30 each, and the others of £20 each, and to be +imprisoned till those fines were paid. But the money was immediately +handed to them, and they were discharged from the dock. + +Six men were charged with being concerned in the destruction of Mr. +Baylis’s needle presses and stamps, at Tardebigg, and were sentenced to +twelve months’ imprisonment each. + +Six other men were arraigned for going about the villages of Defford, +Pinvin, &c., in a riotous manner, and obtaining victuals and drink by +threats and intimidation; but the evidence only showed that they had +importunately asked for relief at two or three places, and inquired of a +labourer in the road whether his wheelbarrow was a “machine,” because, if +it were, they would smash it! They were all acquitted. + +1832—Lent Assizes—The Rev. John Lynes, Rector of Elmley Lovett, was sued +for a penalty of £270 for non-residence in his parish for three months, +under an act passed in the year 1817, which provided that a clergyman +absenting himself for a quarter of a year should forfeit a third of the +annual value of his living, and the living of Elmley Lovett was set down +at about £800 a year. Mr. Jervis, with Mr. Richards and Mr. Alexander, +were for the prosecution, and Mr. Campbell for defendant. A great number +of witnesses were called to prove the defendant’s absence; some of them +his own servants; but in the opinion of the learned judge (Mr. Justice +Taunton) the absence for the entire time was not made out, and the jury +returned a verdict for defendant. + +At the same Assizes was tried the action of SHELTON _v._ STEWARD, rival +surgeons at Bromyard, and brought by the former against the latter for a +libel, said to be contained in a letter published in the _Hereford Times_ +and _Worcester Journal_, and which was supposed to insinuate that Mr. +Shelton was ignorant in his profession, and guilty of improper conduct. +Verdict for plaintiff: damages, £10. + +1832—At the County Epiphany Sessions, ten of the Dudley colliers were +indicted for a riot, to obtain a rise in wages, in the previous December. +Several parties, working in the Broad Pit Collieries (Earl Dudley’s) were +ill-used by the mob for working at the ordinary wages; but Mr. Godson, +who was for the prisoners, contended that their identity had not been +sufficiently made out. After four hours’ consultation the jury acquitted +all the prisoners. Seven of the same men were charged with an assault on +one of their butties at this time, and five pleaded guilty by +arrangement, and were liberated on their own recognizances. The other +two were acquitted in the teeth of the evidence. Several other parties +were indicted for assaults arising out of these riots, but only two, +named Hill and Smart, were found guilty. Hill was sentenced to six +months’ and Smart to one month’s imprisonment. + +1834—At the Lent Assizes, seven men were tried before Mr. Justice Allan +Park for being concerned in election riots at Dudley, breaking windows, +&c., and were all found guilty. They were sentenced to trifling terms of +imprisonment, excepting one man named Griffin, who had committed a +serious assault on Jewkes the constable, and, therefore, was ordered to +be imprisoned for twelve months. + +Robert Osbaldeston was tried at these Assizes of shooting at Mr. Wood, +gunsmith, Broad Street, Worcester, and was acquitted only on the ground +of insanity. + +Edmund Campbell Brewer, a confidential clerk in the employ of the +Stourbridge Canal Company, was found guilty of forging a bill of exchange +for some £13 odd. He absconded to America, and then it was found that he +had embezzled £1,000 and more, belonging to the Company. Yet, upon the +trial, many witnesses gave him the best of characters; and the +prosecutors themselves said that his conduct had been most exemplary till +this time. Mr. Eberhardt followed him to America, and apprehended him in +Utica. He was sentenced to be transported for life. Great exertions +were made to obtain a commutation of his punishment. + +1835—At the Lent Assizes, before Mr. Justice Patteson, was tried HILL +_v._ HICKES, an action brought by Mr. George Price Hill, a solicitor in +Worcester, against Mr. Hickes, for having slandered him to his uncle at +Dudley, by intimating that he was a rogue, &c. Verdict for plaintiff +40s. damages. Mr. Sergeant Talfourd was for plaintiff, and Mr. Sergeant +Ludlow for defendant. + +At these Assizes also was tried ANDERTON _v._ GIBBS AND FERNEY, the +latter being executors of Mr. John Moor, a manufacturer of Dudley, and +whose daughter Mrs. Anderton claimed to be. The question was one of +legitimacy, Mr. Moor’s wife having left him and formed a criminal +intimacy with a Mr. Corfield at the time of Mrs. Anderton’s birth. The +jury found a verdict for plaintiff, and property, to the amount of +£6,000, thus passed into Mr. Anderton’s possession. + +1835—At Warwick Lent Assizes was tried DAVIES _v._ BADGER, an action +brought by a journeyman whitesmith of Dudley, against Mr. Badger a +magistrate of Dudley, for striking him with a stick at the Dudley booth, +at the previous East Worcester election. Mr. Balguy, K.C., was for +plaintiff, and Mr. Sergeant Goulburn for defendant. It was of course +made a political affair, and excited great interest. Mr. Badger, through +his counsel and his witnesses, denied ever striking the man at all. The +jury returned a verdict for plaintiff: damages £30, costs 40s. + +1835—At the Midsummer Assizes was tried PARKER AND SON _v._ ROBINSON, +M.P., a case which excited much attention at the time, and was +particularly interesting to those of the legal profession who looked to +reap rich harvests at elections. The plaintiffs sued Mr. Robinson for +assistance said to have been given him in the way of canvass, &c., at the +election of 1832, when the sitting members were threatened with an +opposition by the Hon. Mr. Dundas. Mr. Robinson had paid £75, and paid +£13 into court, but the amount of the bill was £186. Mr. Robinson +pleaded that he had not given authority for such expenses to be incurred +by plaintiffs, who, at this election, were only subsidiary agents, Mr. +Cameron being his chief attorney. Various solicitors were examined pro +and con to show that the charges were reasonable or otherwise; and the +Jury, eventually, returned a verdict for plaintiffs, damages £38; thus +Mr. Robinson paid £126 instead of £186. Mr. Sergeant Ludlow was for +plaintiffs, and Mr. Sergeant Talfourd, M.P., for defendant; and both made +amusing speeches about the affair. + +1836—At the Lent Assizes, before Mr. Justice Williams, was tried BADGER +_v._ COOKE, an action brought by Mr. Badger, the Dudley magistrate, +against Mr. Samuel Cooke, the celebrated Radical mercer, for a libel. +After Mr. Badger had been found guilty of the assault on Davis at the +Stourbridge election, Cooke issued a placard triumphing in the result of +that trial, and saying that “every honest man must ever afterwards look +with most indignant contempt on his (Mr. Badger’s) actions, since he had +already disgraced the dignified functions of his station,” &c. &c. The +defendant addressed the jury in his own defence, quoting papers to show +that Mr. Badger often made use of as strong expressions towards his +political opponents, and declaring that it was nothing more than a +question of Tory and Radical. He was found guilty, Mr. Justice Williams +declaring that the paper had a palpable tendency to defame and degrade +Mr. Badger in his character as a magistrate. He was only required to +enter into a recognizance of £50 to appear when called upon. + +1838—At the Summer Assizes this year a very painful and remarkable case +of circumstantial evidence took place, being no other than the trial of a +wife and daughter for the murder of one who had stood to them in the +relation of husband and father. On the evening of the 3rd of August, +1837, Mr. John Orchard, the landlord of the Woolstaplers’ Arms Inn, in +Stourbridge, a man in the prime of life and in good health, was seen to +go up the yard attached to his house, and his wife and eldest daughter, +with a man named Smith, were seen to follow him. He never returned +alive. Smith came down the yard again shortly, but the wife and daughter +remained there some time. Two or three hours afterwards the daughter +told some of the people in the house that her father was very ill, and +she was afraid he would die; but no one saw him until he was actually +dead. When a surgeon arrived the body was on a chair in the kitchen, and +Mrs. Orchard was supporting the head in her hands. She pointed the +surgeon’s attention to a small hole between the third and fourth ribs, +immediately over the heart, and said she supposed it was done by a nail +in tumbling over some tubs in the yard. He had a shirt on, but there was +no hole in that. The brewhouse, tubs, and yard appeared to have been +just washed, and the opinion of the medical man was, that Orchard must +have been dead an hour at least when he saw him. On a post mortem +examination, the wound in question was found to be four inches and a half +deep, and went right through the pericardium and right ventricle, so that +it must have caused almost instant death. Of course grave suspicion +under these circumstances could not but attach to the mother and +daughter, especially as there had been repeated quarrels between them and +the deceased, and the wife was also suspected to have been improperly +familiar with the man Smith. The coroner’s jury, however, returned a +verdict of “wilful murder against some parties unknown,” and months +passed without any further discovery. At last a woman, who had assisted +in laying out the corpse, told some party that the man was murdered with +a skewer, which was afterwards thrown into the Stour. The woman, when +interrogated by the police, denied having said anything of the sort; but +a skewer—just such an instrument as would have produced the wound—was +found in the Stour, nevertheless. The wife and daughter were then +apprehended and put on their trial. Mr. Whateley conducted the +prosecution, and Mr. Godson the defence. The judge, Lord Abinger, told +the jury that they must not convict the prisoners on suspicion, and they +were both acquitted. + +1838—At the County Epiphany Sessions, William Baylis, the crier of +Evesham, appealed against the commitment of three justices, who had +ordered him to be sent to prison, under the 60th and 65th sections of the +Municipal Act, for refusing to deliver up the bell. It was denied that +the court had a right to entertain the appeal, but the court chose to do +so, and quashed the conviction, subject to a case to the Queen’s Bench on +the points argued. A similar appeal was heard from Robert Knight, one of +the sergeants-at-mace under the old corporation, who refused to deliver +up his mantle. The magistrates were—Mr. Strickland, Mr. Cheek, and Mr. +Ashwin. + +1839—At the Midsummer Assizes the Rev. T. B. G. Moore, curate of +Bromsgrove, prosecuted Mr. J. B. Crane, carrier, Mr. Nicholas Hill, +publican, Mr. W. Whitehouse, farmer, Samuel Taylor, John Pinfield, jun., +William Sansome, George Wakeman, labourers, and Henry Hill, baker, for a +riot alleged to have taken place at a church rate meeting at Bromsgrove; +and Nicholas Hill and Taylor were also charged with an assault on the +Rev. prosecutor. The meeting in question was held on the 14th of the +previous February, and the parties who had got first to the vestry had +voted Mr. Greening to the chair and then declared the meeting adjourned +to the Town Hall; Mr. Moore, the curate, however, declared that he was +the only lawful chairman and adjourned the meeting to the school-room. +Here there was a scene of great excitement, and after the meeting had +decided by a very large majority that there should be no rate, a poll was +demanded by the pro-rate party. Immediately upon this there was a +general rush to the platform—a violent struggle for the vestry book—and +all sorts of people—Mr. Moore amongst the number—were tumbled about, +struck, and ill-treated. It was said that the riot had been instigated +by Mr. Nicholas Hill and Mr. Crane, and that Mr. Hill, in getting the +book out of the curate’s possession, had forced his head against the desk +so as to cause great pain. Mr. Sergeant Ludlow, in his speech for the +defence, made much of this being a case got up by subscription—to crush +the Bromsgrove opponents of church rates, and to put money into the purse +of Mr. Annesley, an attorney, living twenty-five miles away from +Bromsgrove. Whitehouse and Sansome were acquitted; Mr. Nicholas Hill +found guilty of assault and riot, and the rest of the defendants of a +riot only. Counsel for plaintiff, Mr. Sergeant Talfourd and Mr. Lea; +attorney, Mr. Annesley of Pershore; for defendants, Mr. Sergeant Ludlow +and Mr. Godson; attorney, Mr. F. T. Elgie, Worcester. In the following +November defendants were called up for judgment (after an unsuccessful +effort to get a new trial), when Nicholas Hill was sentenced to six +weeks’ imprisonment, and the other three to four weeks’ imprisonment +each. + +At the same Assizes, Mr. Meredith, woolstapler, of Pershore, was +convicted of striking Lieutenant Amherst three times, one day in the open +street. There had been considerable excitement in the town about the +election of Guardians of the Poor for the parish of St. Andrew, in the +preceding March, and the plaintiff and defendant were active men on +opposite sides. The first time they met in the street, Meredith put a +paper into plaintiff’s face, saying, “Look at that;” and when he put up +his clenched fist to defend himself, Meredith knocked his hat on one +side. The second time Lieutenant Amherst admitted that he had called +Meredith a d— blackguard, before any blow was struck, but Meredith +afterwards hit him several times. Meredith, having been found guilty, +was fined £20, and bound over himself in £300, and two sureties of £100 +each, to keep the peace for three years. + +1839—At the Michaelmas Sessions Samuel Cooke, the celebrated Chartist +draper at Dudley, was prosecuted for attending and assisting at a riotous +and illegal meeting at Dudley, on the 16th of July. It was proved that a +placard, calling the meeting, had been seen in Cooke’s window, and that +he himself addressed the assembly; but it did not appear that he had said +anything very outrageous. The meeting was tumultuous, but no actual +mischief had been done. Cooke defended himself with a good deal of +shrewdness, and complained that he was a persecuted man. The jury +returned a verdict of guilty, and he was sentenced to six months’ +imprisonment, which was generally considered to be a very sharp political +visitation of his offence. William Smith Lindon and James Hollis, for +using seditious language at the same meeting, were sentenced, the first +to three months’, and the second to six weeks’ imprisonment. + +1841—In November this year, in the Queen’s Bench, a rule _nisi_ for a +criminal information, was granted against the _Worcestershire Chronicle_, +on the application of W. H. Ricketts, Esq., for a libel in that paper +imputing to him jobbing and interested motives in disposing of the public +money to be laid out in building the Droitwich Police Station. Upon the +proprietors of the _Chronicle_ admitting that they had been misled and +offering an apology, Mr. Ricketts consented to the discharge of the rule. +The information on which the article complained of by Mr. Ricketts was +written, was supplied by Mr. George Ellins, a brother magistrate; and as +he refused to pay any of the costs which the proprietors of the +_Chronicle_ had incurred, they inserted another article, charging Mr. +Ellins with having misled them in the matter. This brought another rule +_nisi_ upon them from Mr. Ellins, who affirmed that he did not volunteer +the statement to Mr. Arrowsmith, and had especially told him that what he +did say was not for publication. The argument against the rule did not +come on till November, when Mr. Sergeant Talfourd showed cause for the +_Chronicle_, and the Solicitor General supported the rule on behalf of +Mr. Ellins. Lord Denman said it was absurd to suppose that Mr. Ellins +gave the information to Mr. Arrowsmith for any other purpose than that of +publication; and the rule was discharged with costs. + +1842—At the Lent Assizes was tried THE MARQUIS OF ANGLESEA _v._ LORD +HATHERTON, a cause more interesting from the rank of the parties +interested, and the right at stake, than from any attractiveness in the +subject or the evidence. It was an action to stop the noble defendant +from working coal mines on certain copyhold property belonging to the +latter at Cannock, in Staffordshire; and turned upon the question whether +Lord Anglesea, as lord of the manor of Cannock, had right to the +minerals. Sir Thomas Wilde, Sergeant Ludlow, Mr. Alexander, and the +Honourable Mr. Talbot, were retained for the defendant; and the +Solicitor-General (Sir William Follett), Mr. Richards, Q.C., Mr. +Whateley, Q.C., and Mr. Whitmore, for the plaintiff. A great number of +witnesses were called on either side, to prove rights and customs, and to +perplex the jury; and ultimately, after a trial of two days, a verdict +was found for the plaintiff, with nominal damages. The verdict created +much surprise. + +1842—JULY 20—A Court of Inquiry holden by Mr. Under Sheriff Gillam and a +special jury, to assess damages in the case POWELL _v._ PERRINS. This +was an action to recover damages for the seduction of plaintiff’s +daughter, plaintiff being a land surveyor at Hagley, and defendant a +chain maker, living near Stourbridge. £500 damages given for the +plaintiff. + +1842—At the Midsummer Assizes a horrible case of depravity was disclosed +in the trial of Richard Taylor, a blacksmith of Stourbridge, charged with +shooting at his wife, Hannah Taylor, with intent to murder her. Though +she had been the subject of a course of the most sickening brutality, she +refused to give evidence against him, and the witnesses, therefore, were +the neighbours and the prisoner’s own grown-up daughter, who stood in the +witness box with a child in her arms, which was the offspring of an +incestuous intercourse with her own father! The prisoner, on the +particular occasion for which he was tried, had shot at his wife, and +beaten her till she was well nigh killed. He then turned all his +children out of doors stark naked. He was only found guilty of an +assault, because nothing more could be proved without the wife’s +evidence, and he was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment only. + +1843—At the Lent Assizes, Edwin Archer, a young labourer from Rouse +Lench, was tried for the wilful murder of George Green, in the previous +December. He pleaded guilty to the crime of manslaughter, and was +sentenced to fifteen years’ transportation. The prisoner and deceased +had been quarrelling, and set about to wrestle; in the course of the +struggle, Archer drew a knife and stabbed Green in four distinct +places—one of the wounds penetrating the heart—and death immediately +ensued. As soon as the fatal deed was done, Archer was aghast with +horror, and wept like a child over the body of his passion’s victim. + +Samuel Bridgwater was tried at these Assizes, at the instance of some +very indefatigable Radicals, for bribery at the election of 1841. The +bill had repeatedly been thrown out by the grand juries, as was supposed, +on political grounds, until at last a sufficient number of the right +party were found to return it as “a true bill.” The case, however, now +broke down at its very commencement, because a tailor had been sent to +the Crown Office for copies of the return to the writ for the Worcester +election, and he had not had them compared with the originals. + +1843—JUNE 1—The Rev. William Smith, vicar of Overbury, obtained a rule +_nisi_ for a criminal information against the _Worcestershire Chronicle_. +The parish had long been in a state of most unseemly dissension, and the +_Chronicle_, in giving a long and very detailed statement of meetings and +matters there, was said to have libelled Mr. Smith in attributing conduct +to him which he disclaimed, and generally in reflecting on his character +and conduct. The rule was, however, afterwards discharged by +arrangement, and no further proceedings were taken. + +1843—At the Midsummer Sessions, Sir Thomas Phillips, Bart., and two of +his labourers, were tried at these Sessions, for assaulting George +Cooper, a shoemaker of Broadway. Cooper was collector of taxes, and went +to Middle Hill to get a balance of taxes from the honourable baronet. He +had had repeated disputes with Sir Thomas Phillips, and this was also a +disputed affair, so Sir Thomas ordered him off the premises; and when he +talked of levying a distress, Sir Thomas pushed him out of the hall, and +struck him with a garden paddle once or twice. The two labourers were +discharged, and Sir Thomas Phillips fined £10. + +1843—At the Midsummer Assizes, before Mr. Justice Maule, was tried +LAVENDER AND ANOTHER _v._ BUCKLEE, being an action to recover £3,500, +which had been secured on a bond given by Messrs. Thomas and William +Bucklee to William Shaw, Esq., of Britannia House, Worcester. It was +said that Mr. Shaw, shortly before his death, had cancelled the bond by +cutting it off. It was said by the executors that Mr. Shaw was not in a +state of mind to cancel the bond; and that his housekeeper, who was a +relation of the Bucklees, appeared to have great influence with Mr. Shaw. +A great deal of evidence was given as to the transaction itself, at which +interested parties were present and took much part, and as to Mr. Shaw’s +state of health at the time. The jury, after an hour’s deliberation, +found a verdict for the defendant. + +A case which excited great interest in the city of Worcester, was the +trial of Charles Samuel Atkins, a young man respectably connected, who +was in the employ of Messrs. Griffiths and Clarke, linen drapers, as a +shopman. He was charged with embezzling £4, the property of his +employers, on the 27th of September, 1842. Atkins had been sent to Mrs. +Jeremy with a shawl and some satinette, and on his return said Mrs. +Jeremy had kept the shawl and not paid for it, and had retained the +satinette for approval. Mrs. Jeremy declared that she paid the person +who brought the shawl four sovereigns on the spot. It was shown that in +the very next week Mrs. Jeremy had had some satinette sent her from Hill +and Turley’s, by a young man remarkably like the prisoner, and that came +to very nearly the same sum as the shawl; and it was suggested that Mrs. +Jeremy might have confounded the two transactions. The jury returned a +verdict of “Not guilty,” and the court immediately echoed with deafening +cheers, while Atkins fainted away. Mr. Sergeant Talfourd conducted the +prosecution, while Mr. Bodkin, of the Old Bailey, was specially retained +for the defence. The linen drapers’ assistants of the city afterwards +presented Mr. Atkins with a silver snuff box. + +Mary Francis, 24, single woman, was charged with attempting to poison +Mary Jeffs, an elderly woman, living at Alderminster. The prisoner +brought the old woman a cake, pretending that some one had given it her +to make a present of it to the prosecutrix, but the strangeness of her +manner in delivering it, and her continually saying that she was only to +eat of it herself, excited the old woman’s suspicions. The cake was +analysed, and was found to contain a large quantity of arsenic. The +prisoner was courted by the old woman’s son; but not the slightest motive +could be assigned for her wish to deprive the mother of life. She was +found guilty, and sentenced to fifteen years’ transportation. + +1844—At the Lent Assizes was tried the QUEEN _v._ SMITH, being an action +brought by William Harris, the parish clerk of Overbury, against the Rev. +William Smith, the vicar, for dismissing him from his situation. Mr. +Smith alleged that the clerk had been guilty of drunkenness, had read the +responses irreverently, and had interrupted the celebration of the +sacrament on a particular occasion. Harris denied the whole of these +charges, and the present trial was on a return to a mandamus in the Court +of Queen’s Bench to ascertain their truth. Various witnesses were +examined on both sides: those for Harris asserting that it was Mr. +Smith’s eccentricities that alone caused the clerk to err. The jury +found that the charges of drunkenness were proved, and that Harris had +spoken the responses loudly to annoy Mr. Smith, but that the charge of +interrupting the sacrament was not true. The court, thereupon, ordered +the verdict to be entered for defendant. + +1844—MARCH 23—At Hereford Assizes was tried BELLERS _v._ CHALK AND HOLL, +being an action for libel, said to be contained in a paragraph in the +_Worcester Herald_ of the 2nd of December, 1843. Colonel Bund, of +Malvern, gave some information to the proprietors of the _Herald_, on the +strength of which they inserted a paragraph charging Mr. Bellers, of +Barnard’s Green, with cruelty to his mare, by shutting her up for years +in solitary confinement in such a position that she could not lie down. +Several statements afterwards appeared in the _Herald_ to the effect that +the cruelty to the mare had been abated after the publication of the +paragraph, and reporting the proceedings of a meeting, held at +Gloucester, for establishing a society for the prevention of cruelty to +animals. The Lord Bishop of the Diocese presided at that meeting; and +Mr. Thomas, the secretary of the Society in London for Preventing Cruelty +to Animals, attended, and stated that he had personally inquired into the +alleged case of cruelty, and had found the statement in the _Herald_ to +be correct. On the trial, Mr. Whateley, Mr. Gray, and Mr. Godson were +counsel for plaintiff; Mr. Sergeant Talfourd and Mr. Valentine Lee for +the defendants. Acting on the advice of counsel, defendants had not +pleaded a justification. The publication of the libel was admitted; of +course, no evidence could be offered in justification, and the jury found +a verdict for plaintiff, as they were bound to do under the +circumstances: damages, £150. + +1844—At the Midsummer Assizes, John Bowen, a man of about fifty years, +formerly an officer in the navy, was tried on the charge of defacing the +parish registers of Croome D’Abitot, and sentenced to seven years’ +transportation. It was shown that Bowen was engaged in making out a +pedigree for a John Wood, who wanted to establish himself as a relation +to the celebrated James Wood, of Gloucester, and had visited the Croome +D’Abitot rectory several times for that purpose. While the curate was +looking in another direction he tore a leaf out of the register. Mr. +Sergeant Talfourd was for the prosecution, and Mr. F. V. Lee for the +defence. + +THE QUEEN _v._ NEWTON, also tried at the Assizes, was a charge against +the eccentric barrister of that name, who used to come the Oxford +circuit, of having committed perjury, said to have been committed in some +affidavits. The presiding judge, Mr. Sergeant Atcherley, stopped the +case, as insufficiently supported in the evidence. + +1844—At the Michaelmas Quarter Sessions a singular trial took place of +two farmers, named Swan and Patrick, who were charged with killing deer +belonging to W. L. Childe, Esq., in Kyre Parva park. The witness against +them was a boy named Passey, who said he saw the parties accused chase a +fine buck into one corner of the inclosure and then shoot it; but there +were some discrepancies in his testimony. Both these farmers lived close +to Mr. Child, and as the fences were not in the best possible condition, +the deer used frequently to get on their land and eat their corn. Mr. +Lee made an ingenious speech for the defence, and called many witnesses +to character; after which the jury returned a verdict of not guilty, amid +the applause of the court. + +1845—At the Lent Assizes, eleven poachers were put on their trial for the +murder of Thomas Staite, one of the Earl of Coventry’s watchers, who was +killed in a very desperate affray which took place between the keepers +and the prisoners on the 19th of the previous December. One of them, +however, named George Lippett, was admitted as Queen’s evidence; and +another, Francis Dingley, while in prison made a full confession of the +whole transaction. The keepers and watchers were nine in number, and +they encountered the party of poachers at the gate leading into Park +Farm, Pirton. A fight with bludgeons took place, in which the keepers +were altogether worsted, and one or two of them left for dead. The +poachers also fired off two guns, but the shots did not take effect. The +unfortunate man, Staite, was found by his comrades, after the affray was +over, in a ditch close by the Park Farm house, so badly used that he +could not speak; and, indeed, he never uttered a word from that hour. He +was taken first to a neighbouring cottage, and then to the Worcester +Infirmary, where he died in six days. The identity of all the prisoners, +and the part they had each taken in the affray, was very clearly made out +by the evidence of four of the watchers and the statement of the approver +Lippett. Mr. Godson, in a very able speech for the prisoners, contended +that the case was not made out by the evidence of the keepers, and that +Lippett was not to be believed; ending with a protest against the game +laws generally, as the cause of much injustice and innumerable crimes. +The Lord Chief Baron Pollock, before whom the case was tried, told the +jury that they might find the prisoners guilty of manslaughter; and, +acting upon this hint, the jury returned a general verdict against all +the prisoners of “Guilty of manslaughter.” Witnesses to character were +then called on behalf of some of the prisoners, and his lordship +sentenced them to different terms of transportation as they seemed to +have taken an active part or otherwise in the attack upon the keepers. +Francis Dingley, Samuel Turvey, Joseph Turvey, and Joseph Tandy were +transported for life; Thomas Hooper, William Broomfield, and John Cook +transported for ten years; George Brant for seven years; and Thomas +Cosnett and William Collins were sentenced to two years’ imprisonment. +The prisoners were all Pershore men, but the case excited the most +intense interest in that part of the county. + +1846—At the Midsummer Assizes, Richard Farley, cabinet maker, fifty-three +years of age, and Ann Jones, a married woman, were tried for forging the +will of William Welch, of Llandilion, near Abergavenny. The will was +first produced and attempted to be used in Worcester—hence the trial took +place here. Farley was Welch’s son-in-law, and the will conveyed some +property at Aston Ingham to him instead of to his own son, William Welch. +A number of witnesses declared that the will was not in the handwriting +of the deceased, and that one at least of the signatures was written by +the prisoner himself. Ann Jones was an attesting witness, and repeatedly +asserted the genuineness of the will. Farley was sentenced to fifteen +years’ transportation, and Jones to twelve months’ imprisonment. + +1847—At the Lent Assizes this year, a trial took place which excited +considerable interest—that of HARRIS _v._ GRISSELL, being an action +brought by Mr. George Harris, carpet manufacturer, of Stourport, against +(really) the Severn Navigation Commissioners, though the ostensible +defendants were the contractors of the works—Messrs. Grissell and Peto. +Mr. Harris had a mill on the Stour, and he said that owing to the +erection of the weir at Lincombe, the water in the Stour had been so +pounded up as frequently to stop his undershot wheels, and to render his +mill useless. A great number of witnesses were examined on both sides, +and the learned judge (Mr. Sergeant Gazelee) having told the jury that +there was no defence to the action, they returned a verdict for the +plaintiff, with £500 damages; but this extraordinary summing up of the +judge’s enabled the defendants to get a rule for a new trial, and the +matter never proceeded further. + +1847—At the Midsummer Assizes, Harklas Lovell Blewitt, a travelling +tinker, was tried for the murder of his wife at Dudley, on the 3rd of +June. They were staying at a lodging house, and the wife, to escape the +ill-treatment of her brutal spouse, hid herself in the coalhole; he +followed her there with a kettle of hot water, and, holding her down with +one hand, poured it over her head and shoulders. She was so dreadfully +scalded that she died in ten days; but though there was no pretence for +saying that it was unintentionally done, the jury, to the amazement of +the court, returned a verdict of “Guilty of manslaughter” only, and the +fellow was sentenced to transportation for twenty years. + +1848—At the Lent Assizes, four men, named Cartwright, Sweatman, Payne, +and Turberfield, were charged with breaking into the toll house at +Knighton-on-Teme, kept by an old man named John Mound, and his wife, and +stealing £115. The burglars used very violent threats towards the poor +old people, who most distinctly swore to all four of the men as the +parties who robbed and assailed them. They were consequently found +guilty, and sentenced to fifteen years’ transportation each. Yet it was +afterwards distinctly proved that Turberfield was not engaged in the +robbery, and he received a free pardon. Two other men, convicted of +burglary at these assizes, on what appeared to be the clearest evidence, +were discharged by the Secretary of State, because it was afterwards +proved, beyond contradiction, that the crime had been committed by other +men. + + + + +EXECUTIONS. + + +THE county has of late years been almost wholly spared the painful +spectacle of justice proceeding to its direst extremity of taking away +human life, though formerly capital punishments were but too common, and +inflicted for what we should now esteem very inadequate causes of +offence. Their policy and propriety in any case are now allowed to be +fit matters for discussion; and it is probable that public opinion may, +in a few years hence, demand their entire abolition. + +1800—At the Lent Assizes this year, ten persons were sentenced to death, +but seven of them were reprieved before the judges left the town. +Richard and John Lane, brothel’s, were convicted of the murder of Thomas +Goode, of Redmarley, in October, 1799. They were impatient to possess +some property which would be theirs at his death, and having waylaid him, +both shot him—one with a gun, the other with a pistol. They were +executed on the 10th of March, and each died uttering execrations on the +other. + +1800—At the Summer Assizes, thirteen persons were sentenced to death, and +three of them executed—one for burglary, and two for sheep stealing. +They are said to have died “with the utmost resignation, and +acknowledging the justice of their sentences.” + +1801—At the Lent Assizes, five persons were sentenced to death for +burglary, a woman for stealing two £10 notes, five men for highway +robbery, three for horse stealing, one for stealing a cow, another for +stealing two calves, four for sheep stealing, and two for escaping from +prison after sentence of transportation—twenty-two in all! Six of these +were left for execution; but great interest being made for some of them, +only one was actually hung. + +1803—MARCH—Richard Colledge executed for horse stealing. + +1803—JUNE—Thomas Beach executed for uttering a forged £5 note. + +1805—MARCH 22—John Sanky, _alias_ Young, convicted at the Assizes just +concluded of uttering a forged bill of exchange, with intent to defraud +Messrs. Knapp and Lee, glovers, of Worcester, was executed on a temporary +gallows erected in Salt Lane. He addressed the spectators for a full +half hour, acknowledging the justice of his sentence, and expressing his +confident hope of pardon through the righteousness and atonement of our +Saviour. He had attempted, in the interval between his sentence and +condemnation, to escape from the gaol, but he now declared that he never +entertained any idea of doing the gaoler or turnkey any personal injury. +_He then gave out three verses of a hymn_, _and was joined in singing +them by many of the persons who surrounded the fatal tree_; after this he +prayed aloud in a very solemn manner for himself and the spectators. +Several distressing mistakes were made by the executioner, but the +unhappy sufferer retained his composure amidst all these blunders, and +appeared to die with absolute cheerfulness. This young man was evidently +possessed of considerable talents, but they had been miserably +misapplied. + +1805—AUGUST 16—W. Dalton, convicted before Lord Ellenborough at the +Summer Assizes of two burglaries, one at Astley and the other at +Kidderminster—executed at Red Hill. His demeanour was becoming. + +1806—MARCH 19—John Davenport and William Lashford hung at Red Hill for a +burglary at Bellbroughton. They confessed their crime, and behaved in a +becoming manner. + +1812—MARCH 20—William Scale was executed in the field of the New Gaol for +committing a rape at Norton, near Worcester. He is described as +“penitent, resigned, and met his fate with the fortitude becoming his +deplorable situation.” + +1815—JULY 21—William White was executed on a gallows erected “in the +outer circle of the County Gaol,” for a rape on Ann Davis of Beoley. He +is declared to have died, “as since his condemnation he had lived, full +of contrition and piety.” + +1816—MARCH 22—William Clements and John Batty executed at the County +Prison for breaking into the dwelling house of Mr. Martin of Paxford, and +stealing a large sum of money; and John Rowen for forging and uttering a +bill of exchange for £315 on Messrs. Cox, Merle, and Co., bankers, +London, with intent to defraud Messrs. Attwood and Co., bankers, +Worcester. + +1818—JULY 31—William Corfield sentenced to death for a burglary at the +house of George Jukes of Tenbury, was executed at the new drop erected +over the entrance to the County Gaol. He had conducted himself after his +trial in a very refractory manner, and could not be brought to +acknowledge the justice of his sentence. Shortly before his execution he +wrote an exceedingly sensible and properly worded letter to his wife. + +1819—MARCH 19—John Harris convicted of uttering forged Bank of England +notes at Bromsgrove, hung in front of the County Gaol. He died +“sincerely penitent.” + +1820—MARCH 17—Robert Hollick, convicted of robbing Thomas Gittins and +Thomas Hawker on the highway at Claines, and cruelly ill-treating the +latter, was this day executed. As he was being led out of his cell, his +mother, sister, wife, and child, came to see him, not having visited him +previously. The execution was delayed awhile to grant them an +interview—which, as may be supposed, was a most distressing one. It did +not, however, unnerve the culprit, who died with great firmness, though +fully admitting the justice of his sentence. + +1821—MARCH 23—Thomas Dyer, capitally convicted of horse stealing, was +executed at the County Gaol, but died protesting his entire innocence of +the crime laid to his charge. He left a paper behind him, stating the +names of the parties from whom he bought the horses, and the sums of +money he had given for them; but it does not appear that anybody thought +it worth while to make further inquiries about the matter. + +1821—AUGUST 24—William Mantle and William Bird were executed at the +County Gaol; the former convicted of stealing sheep, the property of Mr. +Henry Hyde of Little Kyre; and the latter of breaking into the house of +Mr. John Bird of Bromsgrove, and stealing wearing apparel, &c. The ropes +were nearly extended to their full length when tied round the unhappy +culprits’ necks, so that scarcely any fall took place, and they died in +great agony, especially Bird. Their remains were interred in St. +Andrew’s churchyard. + +1823—MARCH 24—James Davis and Joseph Rutter, two young men convicted at +the Lent Assizes—the former of horse stealing and the latter of sheep +stealing—were executed at the County Gaol. Davis was a deserter from the +army, and appeared to have stolen from sheer want. Rutter’s had been a +long course of crime. Davis began to address the crowd when brought upon +the scaffolding, warning them to avoid Sabbath breaking and vicious +practices; when Rutter said, impatiently, “Come, let’s have no more of +that;” and they were immediately hurried into eternity. He literally +preferred hanging to a homily. + +1826—JULY 21—John Hobday, a young man only twenty-one years of age, +having been convicted at the Midsummer Assizes of a burglary at the Bell +Inn, Kidderminster, and a savage assault upon the officers who +apprehended him at Birmingham, was executed at the County Gaol this day. +He was reported to be very penitent, and prepared for death. + +1830—MARCH 11—Michael Toll, convicted of the wilful murder of Ann Cook, a +woman with whom he lived, by knocking her into a pit at Oldswinford, was +executed this day in front of the County Gaol. His body was given to the +surgeons to anatomise, and afterwards exposed to public gaze at the +Infirmary. In his stomach were found a number of pieces of blanket, +which he had swallowed in order to produce suffocation. + +1830—JULY 30—Charles Wall, convicted at the Summer Assizes of the murder +of Sally Chance, at Oldswinford, was executed in front of the County +Prison at six o’clock p.m., the execution having been deferred to that +unusual hour in consequence of the election taking place that day. His +body was delivered to a surgeon at Stourbridge, and afterwards exposed to +view to great crowds who came from all the surrounding parts to see it. +The party murdered was a little girl, whose mother the prisoner was about +to marry, and he killed her by throwing her into a lime pit. + +1830—AUGUST 13—Thomas Turner, a lad only seventeen years of age, +convicted at the same Assizes of a rape upon Louisa Blissett, a child +under ten years of age, at New Wood, about three miles from +Kidderminster, was executed this day. + +1831—MARCH 25—Thomas Slaughter, _a lad not eighteen years of age_, was +executed for setting fire to a large wheat rick, the property of Mrs. +Rebecca Tomlinson, of Elmley Lovett. The poor fellow was wholly +uneducated, and evidently of weak intellect. + +1832—MARCH 22—James and Joseph Carter, two brothers, aged twenty and +twenty-two respectively, and condemned at the Lent Assizes for two cases +of highway robbery at night, with violence, in the neighbourhood of +Bewdley, this morning underwent the extreme penalty of the law in front +of the County Gaol. Both men met death with firmness, but without +bravado; and Joseph Carter addressed the populace from the scaffolding, +warning them to avoid Sabbath breaking, drunkenness, and bad women. The +crowd on this occasion behaved with unusual decorum, and seem really to +have been impressed with a feeling of sadness at seeing two persons +hurried out of life so early. + +1834—MARCH 12—Robert Lilly, convicted at the Lent Assizes of the murder +of Jonathan Wall, at Bromsgrove, was executed in front of the County +Gaol. Wall had interfered to prevent his ill-using his wife, and Lilly +stabbed him in the abdomen with a clasp-knife. There was a large +concourse of spectators at the execution—principally females, but the +culprit did not address them, and he died without a struggle. + +1837—MARCH 23—William Lightband, executed in front of the County Gaol for +the murder of Joseph Hawkins, shopkeeper, of Areley Kings, on the 8th +September, 1836. He was a carpenter, entirely without education, and had +pursued a sottish and irregular mode of life. However, the instruction +he received when in prison seemed to have had effect upon his mind, and +he met death in becoming manner. Though it snowed during the whole +morning there was a great concourse of spectators, and the Rev. Mr. Dodd, +assistant minister at the Lady Huntingdon’s Chapel, afterwards addressed +them. Their behaviour was more decent than usual on such occasions. + +1849—MARCH 26—The last execution which took place in Worcester was that +of Robert Pulley, who was condemned to death for the barbarous murder of +a poor girl, named Mary Ann Staight, at Broughton, on the 5th of +December, 1843. The manners of the prisoner were so brutish and careless +as to induce a doubt in his sanity; and at the expense of the High +Sheriff, Mr. John Dent, counsel was provided at his trial to defend him +on this ground. It was also made the plea for a memorial to the Home +Secretary on his behalf, which was signed by many benevolent persons, and +by those opposed to all capital punishments. His conduct after trial, +however, was such as to convince all who conversed with him of his +perfect rationality. He was lamentably ignorant; but listened with much +attention to the exhortations of the ministers who visited him. He +displayed great firmness in his last moments. The execution took place +at noon on the roof of the County Gaol, in the presence of a large crowd +of spectators, who behaved with much propriety. + +The excitement occasioned by this execution produced much discussion as +to the expediency of capital punishments. A public meeting was held in +the Guildhall, Worcester, by those who wished their abolition, at which +Mr. Charles Gilpin attended and spoke. Mr. George Grove attempted to +show that Scripture contained a command which was conclusive on the +subject, and required us to shed the blood of the man who took away the +life of another; but a resolution, declaring capital punishments to be +opposed to the spirit of Christianity and inexpedient, was carried almost +unanimously. The Rev. W. H. Havergal and Dr. Redford also preached upon +the subject—the former in favour of, and the latter against, death +punishments. + + + + +RAILWAYS. + + +THE County of Worcester has hitherto been very poorly supplied with +Railway communication—a strange fatuity having attended the various +undertakings which have been projected for meeting its necessities in +this respect. Worcester itself was, indeed, almost shut out from this +advantage, now so indispensable to prosperity, till the half century had +closed; but a brighter day appears now to be dawning upon us. + + + +BIRMINGHAM AND GLOUCESTER. + + +THIS is the only railway which has yet been completed in this county, and +it was promoted chiefly by parties living at the termini, who made it +their only object to carry it in as straight a line as possible from +point to point, with very little reference to the convenience of the +towns by the way. If the shareholders could have foreseen the disastrous +influence of such a policy upon their own funds, they would certainly +have taken a different course, even though they felt no interest in the +prosperity of the places which they so much injured by passing at +considerable distances. The scheme was first projected in 1834, and the +directors obtained their act on their first application to Parliament in +1836; the line was opened from Cheltenham to Bromsgrove, in June, 1840, +and throughout the whole distance on the 17th of December in that year. +The share capital subscribed was £1,142,125, to which £380,076 was +afterwards added of money borrowed on debentures, &c. Though the line, +except at the Lickey, presented no engineering difficulties, and was +cheaply constructed, yet the rate of profit was very small; and in +October, 1842, the £100 shares were quoted as low as 41. In January, +1845, it was amalgamated with the Bristol and Gloucester Line; and in +1846, when the broad and narrow gauge interests were each making such +struggles for the ascendancy, the Midland Company entered into an +arrangement to lease the line for 999 years, paying 6 per cent. upon the +capital. The Great Western bid 5½ per cent., but would go no higher. + +This undertaking was first introduced to the notice of the citizens of +Worcester at a public meeting held on the 15th of January, 1834. The +Company were at this time about to determine upon their route, and had +two plans before them—the one eventually adopted _viâ_ Cheltenham, and +another that was to have come by way of Stourbridge, Kidderminster, and +Worcester; the former was marked out by Mr. Brunel, the latter by a Mr. +Wooddeson. In consequence of this state of things some gentlemen had +formed themselves into a provisional committee with a line of their own, +and Messrs. Gwinnall and Hughes, the solicitors employed, procured the +calling of this meeting, in the Guildhall, Worcester, with the Mayor, W. +Dent, Esq., in the chair. The committee laid their plans, in the rough, +before the meeting, and asked a vote of sanction and support from the +meeting. Sir Anthony Lechmere wanted no railways at all. Major Bund and +Mr. Gutch proposed a month’s adjournment. But a resolution to stand by +the committee, and to approve of no railway but one which came right +through Worcester, was passed by a large majority. The Grand Connection +Railway project took its rise from the suggestions of this committee. + +The Birmingham and Gloucester Company making no attempt to obtain an act +in the session of 1835, the matter was not again discussed till the 22nd +October in that year, when a meeting was convened, over which Mr. J. W. +Lea, Mayor, presided. Some of the provisional directors were present, +and admitted that they intended to carry the line through Spetchley. Mr. +John Hyde proposed that the directors should be requested to include a +branch to Worcester in their scheme. Mr. Pierpoint said the main line +ought to be brought, and could be brought, much nearer Worcester; and if +it were not so brought, the city of Worcester ought to oppose the line by +every means. A committee of conference was appointed, and the meeting +adjourned for a week. It was then announced that the provisional +directors of the line had agreed to have a survey taken of a deviation +line from Abbott’s Wood to Norton, as well as of a direct branch to +Spetchley, and lay them both before Parliament to choose from. Several +speeches were made to show that the whole line had been contrived without +any regard to the interests of the city and county of Worcester; and on +the motion of Mr. Hooper, seconded by Mr. Deighton, it was resolved that +no railway should be sanctioned by the people of Worcester that did not +bring the main line within a mile of the city. On the 4th November +another meeting was called, to consider the propriety of surveying a line +for a railway on the western side of the Severn, to go by Kidderminster. +It was evident that the Birmingham and Gloucester directors intended to +adhere to their original plan, and so the citizens of Worcester +determined to oppose them vigorously, and entered into a subscription, +headed by fifty guineas from the corporate body, to survey a fresh line. + +On the 31st March, 1836, a public meeting was called to consider the +expediency of further opposing the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway +Company. The directors of that company had bound themselves in a penalty +of £70,000 to make a branch to Worcester, to join there the Grand +Connection Railway to Wolverhampton, and on that score the opposition to +their bill, on the part of the citizens of Worcester, had been withdrawn, +and it had passed through committee in the Commons. Mr. Waters, who had +been chiefly instrumental in calling the present meeting, said that he +thought Worcester ought to join Tewkesbury in opposing the measure in the +House of Lords. Mr. Pierpoint said the sum subscribed after the former +meeting had been totally inadequate for the purpose of opposing the bill, +and so they had to make the best terms they could—which were, that the +Railway Company should make a deviation line from Abbott’s Wood to +Oddingley, or forfeit £70,000. Mr. Pierpoint represented this as +altogether distinct and separate from the Grand Connection Railway, +although, he said, he would put the bond on the fire that night if the +opposition were determined on. The Mayor asked him how he could do that +if the bond were given him on behalf of the city, and he replied that he +had been well advised upon the point. A great deal of personal +altercation took place, and hot party feeling introduced, but the meeting +ended by Mr. Pierpoint proposing the following resolution: “That in +consequence of certain satisfactory arrangements having been entered into +between the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway Company and the Grand +Connection Railway committee, the interests of this city have been so +consulted that this meeting think it unnecessary to interfere.” Mr. +Waters, in a few days afterwards, published a letter in answer to “A +Grand Connection Shareholder,” in which he declared Mr. Pierpoint to have +been proved, by this very letter of his brother shareholder, to have +deceived the whole body of his fellow citizens; inasmuch as there was +only an agreement between the Birmingham and Gloucester Company and Grand +Connection Company to carry out the deviation line between them; or if +the Grand Connection Company did not obtain their act, then the +Birmingham and Gloucester line were to make a branch from Worcester to +Abbott’s Wood. + +In April, 1839, the Company attempting to get a bill—to extend their +rails to the Berkeley Canal at Gloucester, and to raise more +capital—through Parliament, they were opposed by the Worcester Chamber of +Commerce on the ground that they had not fulfilled their engagements with +the city of Worcester. The bond which they had given to Mr. Pierpoint, +as Chairman of the Grand Connection Railway Company, binding them in a +penalty of £70,000 to make a branch from Worcester to Abbott’s Wood, was, +they said, null and void, because the Grand Connection Railway Company +had ceased to exist. The Parliamentary committee, principally in +consequence of the able and zealous exertions of Mr. John Hill, the Town +Clerk of Worcester, determined that the Company should be compelled to +introduce into the bill clauses obliging them to complete the Abbott’s +Wood branch before opening the main line for traffic. The Birmingham and +Gloucester Company, after this decision, gave up their bill. + +In 1842 the Company, having been threatened with proceedings under the +bond, offered to construct a branch with a single line of rails from +Spetchley to Sansome Fields, Worcester. A public meeting was called on +the 15th of August, to consider this proposal. Mr. Pierpoint and Mr. +John Dent moved the acceptance of the proposal. Mr. E. L. Williams and +Mr. Waters moved, as an amendment, that the city should abide by the +bond, and be satisfied with nothing less; and after a long discussion the +Mayor put the matter to the vote, and declared the amendment carried. + +In 1843 the Company brought two bills before Parliament—the one a money +bill, and the other to get powers to make a branch from Bredicot to +Worcester. The latter was opposed in committee by Mr. Berkeley, of +Spetchley, on the ground of an agreement between him and the Company that +such a division of his lands should not be made. The other was opposed +by the Worcester Town Council and Chamber of Commerce, with a view of +getting justice done to the city; and they procured the insertion of +clauses binding the Company to abide by an award of the Board of Trade in +the matter. General Pasley was accordingly sent down by the Board of +Trade to survey the county in September; and upon his report, and a +hearing of the several interests, they issued their award in the +following April. By this the Railway Company were called upon to make a +branch from Bredicot to the Bath Road, Worcester. But no further steps +were ever taken in the matter. Such a branch as the one proposed would +only have been in the way when the Oxford and Wolverhampton line was +constructed; and with that the public mind was now occupied. As to “the +bond,” that is still a subject of profound mystery, and much perplexes +the good people of Worcester. + + + +THE GRAND CONNECTION RAILWAY PROJECT. + + +THE origin of this project has been already mentioned. + +In December, 1835, a public meeting was held in Worcester, over which the +Mayor, J. W. Lea, Esq., presided; at which it was fully determined to +proceed with this Railway, which was to go from Gloucester to Worcester, +on the western side the river; to cross the Severn at Worcester, thence +direct to Kidderminster, and afterwards to Birmingham in one direction +and Wolverhampton in another. The capital was to consist of 800,000 +shares of £50 each. The shares were taken up pretty freely, and the bill +was read a second time, and went into committee in March, 1837. It was +strenuously opposed there by the Birmingham Canal Company, and by several +landowners. The preamble was, however, declared proved. The committee +divided on the point, and the numbers were—for, 15; against, 14. General +Lygon, the chairman of the committee, was most indefatigable in promoting +the undertaking. The bill was thrown out on bringing up the report in +the House of Commons, by a majority of 165 to 88. The principal argument +used against it was that it would destroy the beauty of the county of +Worcester. Its defeat was principally owing to the landowners. It was +attempted to be revived in the following year, but without success. + + * * * * * + +IN 1840 the Railway Commissioners were engaged in determining what would +be the most desirable route for a grand trunk line which should connect +the metropolis with the Welsh coast, so that the quickest possible +communication might be made with Ireland. One project was to carry a +line from Port Dynllaen, in Brecknockshire, to Didcot, on the Great +Western line; and in this the people of Worcester felt much interested. + +1840—MARCH 17—A public meeting was held in Worcester in favour of this +line; and in the absence of the Mayor, Mr. Chalk, who was in London to +present the address of congratulation from the town council to Her +Majesty, John Dent, Esq., was called to the chair. A report from the +Chamber of Commerce on the subject of the meeting was read by Mr. +Alderman Edward Evans, and it was resolved to procure subscriptions in +order to obtain another survey of the line of country from the Royal +Commissioners. A similar meeting was held in the next week at Evesham. + +The Chester and Holyhead route, though the longest by several miles, was +eventually preferred by the Commissioners, because Holyhead was the +better harbour and starting point for vessels. + + * * * * * + +IN 1842 a branch railway was projected to connect Evesham with the +Birmingham and Gloucester Railway at Eckington, but it was strenuously +opposed by the owners of lands through which it must have passed, and was +thereupon abandoned. + + * * * * * + +THE railway mania of 1845 of course did not leave Worcestershire +uninfected. No fewer than twenty-seven schemes, having more or less +reference to this county, were advertised in the Worcester papers, with +long statements of imaginary advantages and abundance of “provisional +directors.” The Welsh Midland; Worcester, Tenbury, and Ludlow; +Worcester, Warwick, and Rugby; and Worcester, Hereford, Ross, and +Gloucester, were those which found most favour with the Worcester public. +A great number of meetings were held in reference to them all over the +county, and every scheme was enthusiastically received everywhere; it is +quite useless, however, to allude to them further, as, without a single +exception, they were utterly resultless, excepting in abstracting money +from the pockets of people who could ill afford to lose it. The 30th +November was at Worcester, as at all other places, a day of great +excitement—the promoters of the various schemes which had just started +into existence having, before twelve o’clock on that night (Sunday), to +deposit their plans and sections with the clerks of the peace. Plans for +no less than thirty-six railways were deposited at the office of the +Clerk of the Peace for this county, {156} and thirteen with the Clerk of +the Peace for the city. + +The early part of the year 1846 was occupied with “amalgamations” and +“arrangements;” then came the ordeal of standing orders, and very few +survived that. In some instances ingenious engineers had made rivers run +up-hill, and canals swim over bridges, instead of allowing the bridges to +bestride the canals; while in many cases the most trivial error of +misdescription or omission to serve a notice was sufficient to extinguish +a scheme of real utility. Then ensued the panic and “winding up”—very +few of the scripholders ever obtaining any return out of their deposits. +Only six of all the projects connected with Worcestershire received the +sanction of the legislature, and only three of the rest were resuscitated +in the coming season; these were the Shropshire Union (Shrewsbury to +Worcester), the Worcester and Hereford (Midland Company’s project), and +the Worcester, Tenbury, and Ludlow. The last mentioned, however, seemed +only to have been continued for speculating purposes, and was speedily +withdrawn. The Worcester and Hereford line was warmly supported by the +citizens of Worcester in a public meeting held in February, 1847, but it +was thrown out on standing orders; and the Shropshire Union was also +abandoned. + + + +OXFORD, WORCESTER, AND WOLVERHAMPTON. + + +THE first meeting at Worcester with reference to railway communication +between that city and the metropolis, _viâ_ Oxford, was as follows: + +1844—MARCH 19—The Mayor presided at a very respectable gathering of +tradesmen of the city in the Guildhall, and Mr. F. T. Elgie made a +statement of the proposal by the Great Western Company to construct what +is now known as the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway, and +requested the support of the citizens to the scheme. Mr. W. S. P. Hughes +said the Grand Connection Railway would answer all the purposes of the +city of Worcester, and that was to be brought before Parliament again +immediately, with every prospect of success. A resolution in favour of +the line proposed by Mr. Elgie was, however, carried unanimously. The +merits of the two lines were discussed at a public meeting at +Kidderminster, on the 4th of April, at which Mr. Elgie and Mr. Hughes +supported their respective schemes, and the Oxford line had a majority in +the meeting of three to one. + +1844—MAY 9—Another railway meeting was held in the Guildhall this day, +with the Mayor in the chair, to support one or other of the schemes for +connecting Worcester with London. Mr. Elgie and Mr. Brunel appeared for +the Oxford line, and Mr. Taunton and Mr. Addison for a line from +Worcester through Evesham and Leamington, to join the London and North +Western Railway. This was to be only a single line of rails. Mr. Brunel +assured the meeting that the Oxford line was supported by the Great +Western, and that £1,000,000 would be sufficient for its construction. +Mr. Hughes, on behalf of the promoters of the Grand Connection Railway, +said the cost of the line from Worcester to Wolverhampton alone would be +above a million; and proposed, as an amendment, that it would be +premature to express an opinion in favour of any particular line till +they had more details before them. The meeting, however, almost +unanimously expressed itself in favour of the Great Western project. + +1844—The great town’s meeting at which the Great Western and London and +Birmingham projects for a Worcester Railway were brought into competition +for the approbation of the citizens, was held in the Guildhall on the 4th +November, William Lewis, Esq., Mayor, presiding. It was first assembled +in the Crown Court, but afterwards there was an adjournment to the outer +hall. The proceedings were commenced by Mr. Waters’s moving “That until +the Parliamentary plans were deposited, the citizens were in no position +to decide upon the eligibility of the schemes proposed to them.” Mr. J. +W. Lea seconded this proposition. Mr. Leader Williams denied that the +Great Western were _bonâ fide_ in their scheme, and until the plans were +deposited they could have no security that they would go on with it. Mr. +Elgie retorted that Messrs. Waters and Williams wanted no railway at all. +The motion was negatived by a very large majority. Mr. Alderman +Matthews, Mr. Francis Rufford, and Mr. Barlow spoke on behalf of the +Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton line, which again received the +almost unanimous adhesion of the citizens, Mr. E. Shelton, of Thorngrove, +alone putting in a word for the London and Birmingham Company’s line. + +1845—FEBRUARY 4—The Railway Commissioners of the Board of Trade reported +in favour of the Tring line, and against the Oxford, Worcester, and +Wolverhampton. + +1845—FEBRUARY 22—A general meeting of the Oxford and Worcester Railway +Company’s shareholders was held in the Guildhall, Worcester, at which +they determined to proceed vigorously with their own measure, in spite of +the unfavourable report of the Board of Trade. The report of the +provisional committee, read at this meeting, stated that the project had +been set on foot in the previous February, by the influential mining and +commercial interests of South Staffordshire, who afterwards applied to +the Great Western Railway Company to support and lease a line from +Wolverhampton to Banbury; but this was ultimately changed for the line to +Oxford. + +On the 26th of March a common hall was convened at Worcester, at which +the citizens unanimously agreed to petition in favour of the Oxford, +Worcester, and Wolverhampton line. A series of resolutions in favour of +the Tring line was transmitted to the Mayor, who presided, as having been +agreed to at a private meeting of its supporters at Messrs. Hyde and +Tymbs’ offices, with Mr. Francis Hooper in the chair, the day before; and +this was assigned as the reason for the non-attendance of the friends of +the London and Birmingham scheme. + +1845—APRIL 10—The inhabitants of Droitwich assembled in public meeting on +the railway question, and on the motion of W. H. Ricketts, Esq., +petitioned in favour of the Birmingham and Gloucester Company’s deviation +line, refusing to support the Oxford and Wolverhampton scheme. + +THE GREAT BATTLE OF THE GAUGES.—The Parliamentary Committee to whom had +been intrusted the duty of reporting on the various railways proposed for +this district, commenced their labours on the 5th of May. The members of +the committee were the Right Honourable F. Shaw (Dublin University), +chairman; Messrs. Bramston, Horne, Drummond, Villiers, Stuart, and +Lockhart. The lines brought before them were: + + +BROAD GAUGE. + + +1—Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway. + +2—Oxford and Rugby Railway. + + +NARROW GAUGE. + + +3—London, Worcester, and Rugby and Oxford Railway. + +4—Birmingham and Gloucester Railway—Worcester Branch and Deviation. + +5—Birmingham and Gloucester Railway—Wolverhampton Extension. + +6—London, Worcester, and South Staffordshire Railway—the Tring line. + +7—Grand Junction—Dudley Branch, Shrewsbury and Stafford, and Shrewsbury +and Wolverhampton. + +8—Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway. + +All the great railway interests of the country thought themselves +interested in the decision of the committee, and brought their forces to +bear upon the battle; inasmuch as it was supposed that it would decide to +which of the gauges the preference should be given in coming railway +economics, and so be of vital importance to the opponent systems and the +great companies connected with them. For months prior to this contest +the press had swarmed with pamphlets, some contending that a greater +power, speed, and safety could be attained upon the broad gauge; others +requiring a uniformity of gauge throughout the country, and pointing out +the inconvenience of a break of gauge at Gloucester and elsewhere: but +the decision of the committee had very little reference to any of these +matters, and was clearly influenced by different considerations. The +principal counsel employed were Mr. Talbot and Mr. Cockburn for the +Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton line; Mr. Austin and Sergeant +Wrangham for the London, Worcester, and South Staffordshire line; Mr. +Daniell for the Birmingham and Gloucester; and Mr. Kinglake for the Great +Western Company: besides innumerable others. Mr. Austin opened the case +on behalf of the London and Birmingham line to Tring, which he contended +was all that the district could require; that it would be absurd to +introduce the broad gauge north of Birmingham; and, lastly, the Board of +Trade had reported in its favour. The witnesses connected with this +county, who were examined in its favour, were Mr. Richard Smith, mining +agent to Lord Ward (whose interests had been especially consulted in this +scheme); Mr. William Hancock, ironmaster, Cookley; Mr. W. Berrows, +ironmaster, Dudley; Mr. E. Williams, miller, Dudley; Mr. Best, +Kidderminster; Mr. H. Brinton, Kidderminster; Mr. Harris, carpet +manufacturer, Stourport; Mr. Heath and Mr. Griffiths, Bewdley; Mr. Lukin, +manager of the Weldon Tin Works; Mr. H. B. Tymbs, Mr. John Hood, Mr. A. +Wells, Mr. James Wall, and Mr. J. W. Lea, Worcester; Mr. E. Smith, +gardener, Evesham; &c. Mr. Daniell then opened the case for the +Birmingham and Gloucester Company’s Deviation line, and examined Mr. M. +Pierpoint, who said that he believed this and the Tring line would be all +that the citizens of Worcester would want, and would answer their +interests better than the Oxford and Wolverhampton line. Mr. W. +Chamberlain and Mr. Robert Hardy, with Mr. Tombs, of Droitwich, were also +examined by Mr. Daniell. Mr. Cockburn then called witnesses in favour of +the Great Western Company’s broad gauge projects: those from this county +were Mr. James Boydell, Oak Farm Iron Works, Kingswinford; Mr. Jonathan +Fardon, Stoke Works; Rev. W. H. Cartwright, Dudley; Mr. Paul Matthews, +Stourbridge; Mr. John Hill, Mr. Alderman Edward Evans, Mr. William Lewis +(Mayor), Mr. Henry Webb, Mr. Leader Williams, of Worcester; and Mr. T. A. +Foster, of Evesham. After the committee had sat twenty days, they +reported that they found the preamble of the Oxford, Worcester, and +Wolverhampton Railway and of the Oxford and Rugby lines, proved: and +those of the railways promoted by the London and Birmingham not proved, +with the Birmingham and Gloucester Deviation line. They evidently came +to this decision from a belief that the broad gauge lines were so planned +as best to answer the wants of the districts through which they passed, +and that the public favour had been generally accorded them on that +ground. The avowed intention of the Great Western Company to carry out a +line to Port Dynllaen, had also probably some influence with the +committee. The greatest excitement prevailed during the whole of the +inquiry—no change of ministry ever created greater in the lobbies of the +House—and the result seemed to be very unexpected, as shares in the Tring +line went up considerably a day or two before the decision was given. +The committee were occupied some days longer in considering the clauses +of the Oxford Company’s Bill, and gave the Birmingham and Gloucester +Company power to use the loop line at Worcester, at a remuneration to be +fixed by umpires. It being known that the London and Birmingham Company +intended to oppose the Oxford Bill in the House, petitions in favour of +that line were sent up from Worcester, Droitwich, Dudley, Blockley, and +Chipping Camden. Lord Ingestre moved that the report on the Oxford, +Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway Bill be brought up. Mr. Pakington +seconded the motion. Mr. Cobden moved, as an amendment, that an address +be presented to Her Majesty to appoint a commission to inquire into the +comparative merits of the broad and narrow gauges. Colonel Wood seconded +the amendment; which, after much debate, was lost by 247 to 113, and the +Oxford Railway Bill was read a second time. Its triumph was hailed with +great rejoicings in this county. The bill had a comparatively easy +passage through the House of Lords, though strenuously opposed in +committee by the London and Birmingham Company, and on the 4th of August +it received the royal assent. Its various successes were occasions of +excited rejoicings in Worcester. + +The first general meeting of the shareholders was held in October, at the +Guildhall, Worcester. The Yorkshire shareholders sought to set aside the +agreement between this Company and the Great Western directors, by which +the line was to be leased to the Great Western Company for 3½ per cent., +and half the surplus profits. They wished to make this an independent +line; but at the representations of the chairman and others, who, with a +too fatal confidence in the Punic faith of the Great Western, represented +that they were under such obligations to that Company in the starting of +the project and its success in Parliament, and that it would be +dishonourable to break this agreement of lease—the Yorkshire shareholders +withdrew their opposition to the reception of the directors’ report. + +1846—FEBRUARY 27—At the first half yearly meeting of the shareholders, +the chairman, Mr. Rufford, expressed his gratification at the resolution +of the Great Western Company, to “extend the guarantee to such sum as +shall appear to them necessary for the completion of the second railway +and works, and fixing the rate of interest at 4 per cent. per annum in +lieu of 3½ per cent. per annum; subject to such conditions as may appear +equitable between the two Companies.” The shareholders present seemed +pleased with this arrangement. The amount of expense incurred before a +sod of earth was turned, was £76,124; of which £36,765 went in law and +Parliamentary expenses, and £14,288 to the engineers. + +1846—AUGUST 29—The second half yearly meeting of the Oxford and +Wolverhampton Railway shareholders, held at Worcester, when it was +promised that the deviation line from Stoke to Abbott’s Wood should be +opened in twelve months, and the whole line in three years. Lord +Redesdale called upon the directors to oppose the making of the Oxford +and Birmingham line upon the broad gauge, foretelling that it would drain +all the traffic from this line. The meeting was harmonious, and thanks +very cordially voted to the directors. + +1847—AUGUST 27—Half yearly meeting of the Oxford, Worcester, and +Wolverhampton Railway shareholders, at which Mr. Brunel reported that the +loop line from Stoke to Abbott’s Wood might be finished by the end of the +year. Mr. Figgins, a London shareholder, wanted to see the agreement +with the Great Western, and to set it aside. Mr. Barlow said there never +was a lease more binding and less likely to be set aside. Mr. Elgie +produced a copy of the agreement, by which it appeared that the line was +leased to the Great Western for a permanency; and the chairman said it +guaranteed four per cent. to the shareholders on whatever amount might be +expended. The resolutions prepared by the directors were carried +unanimously. + +1849—FEBRUARY 24—At the half yearly meeting it was announced that the +interest, which had hitherto been given to the shareholders on the amount +of capital paid up, must be discontinued for want of funds; and the +directors talked of making an arrangement with the Great Western Railway +Company “more suitable to existing circumstances.” + +1849—JUNE 9—At a special meeting of the proprietors a long report was +presented from the directors, complaining that the Great Western Company +would now only give them £4 per cent. on £2,500,000 of capital, instead +of on the whole sum necessary to complete the line, as the directors had +understood them to guarantee, and had led their proprietary to believe. +A committee of proprietors was appointed to confer with the directors +upon the course to be adopted. + +1849—SEPTEMBER 1—Another special meeting of the directors, held in +London, at which the committee of proprietors, appointed at the previous +meeting, presented a report, severely impugning the conduct of the +directors in several particulars, and advised that the narrow gauge alone +should be laid down between Tipton and Abbott’s Wood, and the line +immediately opened so far. + +The year 1850 witnessed a total rupture with the Great Western Company, +and some very unpleasant meetings between the shareholders and the +directors. The Company passed two bills through Parliament—the one +authorising them to sell the Stratford Canal to the Oxford and Birmingham +Company, and the other to enable certain other companies to advance them +money for the completion of their line. The first morsel of the +railway—the half of the loop line from Worcester to Abbott’s Wood—was +opened on the 5th October, and worked by the Midland Company under +special agreement. + +In January, 1851, Lord Ward became chairman of the Company, and the whole +management passed into different hands. Messrs. Peto and Betts accepted +contracts for constructing the greater portion of the line; and +arrangements were entered into, by issuing preference shares at £6 per +cent., for raising the capital necessary to complete the undertaking, +which, it was now estimated, would cost £3,300,000 instead of the million +and a half, which was the sum originally intended to be raised. + +The preference shares were almost immediately subscribed for, and the +directors soon afterwards entered into an agreement to lease the line to +the London and North Western and Midland Companies; whereupon Lord Ward +resigned the chairmanship, and an unpleasant correspondence took place +between his lordship and Mr. Peto. The arrangement, however, was never +carried out, as an injunction was obtained by the Great Western Railway +Company to prevent any other company doing that of which they themselves +evaded the performance. + +Since that time the directors have been proceeding to lay down the line +upon the narrow gauge, and with the view of working it independently of +either of the great companies, nor have the Great Western been able to +hinder them further. The whole of the loop line was opened on the 18th +of February, 1852, and thirty-six miles of the main line, from Evesham to +Stourbridge, on the 1st May, 1852. + + + + +IMPROVEMENT OF THE RIVER SEVERN. + + +BEFORE the age of railways, the advantages to a nation as well as to a +district of having its ports brought as far inland as possible, were so +many and apparent, that it can be no wonder the improvement of the +navigation of the Severn was contemplated at an early date. It was +projected in 1784, by Mr. William Jessop, an engineer of some note at +that day; and though the science of hydraulics was then very little +understood—as, indeed, it is even now {165}—yet the nature of the bed of +the Severn and its very gentle fall, marked it out as a river easily +admitting of improvement, and not at all beyond the reach of the means +then known and practised. The plan proposed by Mr. Jessop was, so far as +can be gathered from the reports and documents still in existence, a very +fair and feasible one; he proposed to convert it into a ship canal as far +as Stourport, by means of weirs. As to the details of the scheme, we +have of course no means of judging. It was, however, opposed most +strenuously by the landowners on either bank of the river, who feared +that the weirs would prove obstructions to the current, and increase the +frequency and mischief of the floods which often cover the lands near the +banks. The project was, therefore, at that time abandoned, nor was it +ever formally broached again till 1835, when Mr. Edward Leader Williams, +an ironmonger in Worcester, pressed the matter so strongly upon his +fellow citizens, and so clearly demonstrated, by models and plans of his +own devising, that it was perfectly possible to make the river, as far as +Worcester, navigable for ships drawing twelve feet of water, that they at +length awoke to the advantages which would accrue to them by the +improvement of this outlet to “the great highway of nations.” The fears +and objections of some of the leading landowners having been overcome, a +company was started for the purpose of carrying out the scheme. + +The first public notice of the matter appeared in the _Worcester Journal_ +of November 12, 1835, when a provisional committee was announced, and the +inhabitants of Worcester called together to give their opinion upon the +plan. This meeting was held on the 30th November, when Mr. Jonathan +Worthington was called to the chair, and Mr. Bedford read the committee’s +report, which proposed that a pound lock should be erected at Gloucester, +below the ship basin lock, from which a channel of 500 yards in length +should be cut to pass Gloucester bridge, and a weir erected near Over +bridge. The Haw, Mythe, and Upton bridges were to be passed by similar +cuts, and the estimated cost of the whole scheme was £180,000; at which +sum, it was thought, a depth of twelve feet might be obtained all the way +from Gloucester to Worcester, and six feet thence to Stourport. Mr. +Leader Williams explained the details of his plan. The Earl of Coventry +declared that he should give it his hearty support; and the objections +raised by other landowners were satisfactorily answered. The money +required was to be raised in £20 shares, and the press and public of +Worcester were singularly unanimous and enthusiastic in favour of the +project. The formal prospectus of the company presently appeared—Mr. +Thomas Rhodes was announced as the chief, and Mr. E. L. Williams the +resident engineer. + +At a very numerous meeting of the shareholders held in October, 1836, +over which Mr. J. W. Lea presided, Mr. Rhodes’s report was read; and it +was decided, by a very large majority, that application should be made to +Parliament to sanction a scheme for increasing the depth of the river to +twelve feet. Some of the landowners proposed that the depth sought +should only be six feet six inches, but this suggestion met with no +support from the general body of subscribers. As soon as the people of +Gloucester found that the project was taken up thus seriously, they +entered into a systematic opposition, in which the selfish motives that +actuated them were at first sought to be flimsily concealed, but were +afterwards unblushingly avowed and unscrupulously worked out. At the +first meeting which they convened upon the subject, it was pretended that +the health of the city of Gloucester would be endangered by a stagnation +of the river at the proposed lock; that the salmon fisheries would be +destroyed, and the lands on the banks overflowed: therefore they, the +citizens of Gloucester, felt bound to oppose the scheme! Afterwards they +distinctly declared that they would fight it tooth and nail, because it +would take part of their trade further up the river. Many of the +landowners, too, could not be convinced but that any alteration of the +river, if it did not increase the floods, would at least impede the +drainage, and render their lands permanently cold and damp. The +Shropshire traders, and a majority of the Worcester and Birmingham Canal +Company, both of whom feared that the tolls raised would interfere with +their receipts, were also its opponents; though, as regards the Canal +Company, nothing could be more shortsighted. + +The bill was introduced into Parliament in the session of 1837, and was +opposed on standing orders, but passed these successfully. The most +urgent efforts were then made by the Gloucester interest to defeat the +measure on the second reading, and with but too much success. Captain +Winnington moved the second reading on the 12th of April, and Captain +Berkeley moved that it be read on that day six months; the principal +argument he made use of was, that it would _be imposing a tax on a free +river_! The bill was supported alike by the Government and by the leader +of the opposition, Sir Robert Peel; but the private influence brought to +bear by interested parties was not to be outweighed by the arguments of +statesmen, or enlarged considerations of national benefit. The bill was +thrown out by a majority of 149 to 124. The Gloucester people were +characteristically grateful to their two city members for their +“unwearied exertions” in opposition to the bill. + +The shareholders met again in September, 1837, and a very able report +from the committee was laid before them, in which it was stated that the +whole plan had been laid before the most eminent engineers of the day, +and some trifling alterations in detail agreed to; but they could not +recommend the shareholders to seek any less depth of water than twelve +feet: and as steps had been taken to conciliate the landowners, they +thought another application might be made to Parliament with every +prospect of success. £15,000 had been received on the shares, but on the +call which had been made £4,000 were still in arrear. The expenses had +amounted to £11,700. The shareholders almost unanimously agreed to form +themselves into a new Company for the further promotion of the +undertaking, and a provisional committee was named for that purpose. +This committee, however, were not able to raise sufficient capital to +proceed with the ship project, and they therefore called another meeting +of the subscribers to the old Company, where Mr. Cubitt gave an +explanation of a plan to increase the depth of the river to six feet six +inches up to Worcester, and to six feet from Worcester to Stourport. +This, he said, would cost £150,000. After discussion, this plan was +adopted; and the necessary number of shares having been taken, +preparation was again made for application to Parliament. In order to +get rid of every pretext for opposition from the Gloucester interests, +all thought of weirs and works near that city was abandoned; and from +Saxon’s Lode downwards it was proposed to deepen the river by dredging +only. By way of diversion, however, another scheme was started +conjointly by the Worcester and Birmingham Canal and Gloucester +interests, which was to procure a depth of five feet in the river between +Gloucester and Worcester, by means of two extraordinary moveable weirs, +to be inserted at Saxon’s Lode and Wain Lode Hill; and this, though seen +to be totally impracticable and ridiculous, was advocated in the +Gloucester papers by way of rivalry to the Severn Company’s plan, which +they continued to describe as fraught with injustice, because it would +deliver a free river into the hands of a Joint Stock Company. The funds +of the Severn Navigation Company proved insufficient to carry the scheme +out in its integrity; therefore the improvement of the river, from +Worcester to Stourport, for the present was abandoned. This alienated +the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal Company, and altogether the +opposition again got up to the measure was so strong, that after the bill +had been introduced into Parliament in the session of 1838, and the +standing orders passed, a deputation of the Worcester Company met the +Gloucester and Berkeley Canal Company proprietors, to see if some further +concessions could not be made which might get rid of the principal +objections to the scheme. The result of this interview was, that the +Gloucester and Berkeley Canal Company consented to support a project for +the improvement of the river under public commissioners, instead of a +Joint Stock Company; and the bill was therefore withdrawn, with the view +of introducing another, on the principle thus suggested, in the next +session. The shareholders in the Company were called together in +September, and received the report of the committee, but there were no +assets to divide—the additional expenses (£5,333) had just swallowed up +the deposits. The exertions of Mr. J. W. Lea, the chairman of the +Company, were acknowledged by a special vote; and many gentlemen present +declared their willingness to further any future efforts which might be +made, by all the means in their power. The year 1839 was consumed in +efforts to induce the Government to take the matter up, as they had +recently done the navigation of the Shannon; but these, though zealously +backed by Sir Denis Le Marchant, Bart., then member for Worcester, all +proved fruitless. + +In August, 1840, the shareholders of the Company were again convened at +Worcester, and another attempt resolved on to raise funds to apply to +Parliament for powers to obtain a six feet depth of water and place the +undertaking under the management of a Commission. A further call of ten +shillings per share was accordingly made, but so few of the subscribers +responded to it that another meeting was held in the ensuing month, and +the Company dissolved itself—thus ending the attempts to improve the +Severn by private enterprise and speculation. + +The gentlemen, however, who had so long and laboriously exerted +themselves to effect this great national improvement, did not lose sight +of the subject, and in a short time after the dissolution of the old +Company one of the most influential meetings ever assembled in Worcester +was convened to prosecute the matter afresh. At this meeting, held on +the 11th October, 1840, the Right Hon. Lord Ward, who was called to the +chair, made his _debût_ in public life, and advocated the cause of the +Severn Navigation Improvement in a speech of remarkable ability. Lord +Hatherton, Mr. Blakemore, M.P., the members for the city of Worcester, +and others took part in the proceedings, and the result was that a large +subscription was entered into, to which Lord Ward contributed £500, Mr. +Bailey £300, Messrs. Dent £300, for the purpose of defraying the expenses +of another application to Parliament. On this occasion the proposal was +to place the undertaking under a Commission, so that no private parties +might gain any benefit from it. No works were proposed at or near +Gloucester, yet the usual opposition was improvised in that city and by +the Worcester and Birmingham Canal Company. The bill now introduced was +allowed to pass the second reading unopposed, but on its going into +committee an attempt was made to add the Monmouthshire and Birmingham +members to the committee, but this was opposed by Government as a most +inconvenient infringement of the standing orders, and was defeated by 117 +to 33. The committee consisted, therefore, of what was called “The +Worcestershire List,” which included eleven members from adjoining +counties, as well as those for this county and its boroughs, and six +selected members. E. W. W. Pendarves, Esq., was chosen chairman. + +On the 30th April, 1841, the committee sat for the first time, and then +began a struggle which, in the Parliamentary annals of private bills, had +up to that time been quite unprecedented. Twenty petitions were +presented against the bill, but for several of them nobody appeared in +support, and the opposition almost resolved itself into the +Gloucestershire, Shropshire, and Birmingham Canal interests, and the +landowners. Mr. Sergeant Merewether, Mr. Talbot, and Mr. Craig were +engaged as counsel for the bill, and Mr. Sergeant Wrangham and Mr. Austin +were the principal opposing counsel. The first day was taken up by Mr. +Sergeant Merewether’s opening speech. For eight days following the +promoters called evidence in support of the preamble—their engineers +especially being subjected to the most searching cross-examinations by +the opposition. On the tenth day Mr. Talbot summed up the evidence for +the promoters, and Mr. Austin commenced his address for the Worcester and +Birmingham Canal Company, and the examination of his witnesses occupied +two days longer. On the thirteenth day Mr. Sergeant Wrangham spoke for +the Gloucester interest. Six days more were taken up by other opponents +and their witnesses; and on the twentieth Mr. Sergeant Merewether +replied, and the committee, after a short consultation, unanimously +resolved—“That the preamble of the bill is proved.” This great victory +was not achieved, however, without most material damage to the scheme; +for in order to meet the opposition of the landowners, which evidently +had great weight with the committee, the promoters had to abandon the +weir below Upton, and consent to dredge the river up to Diglis. Weirs in +large rivers of this kind had not been much known, and it was thought +that they might increase the floods. Mr. Walker, the engineer, too, was +very positive that the required depth might be obtained by dredging, and +the committee, therefore, determined that that should have a trial—and a +most unfortunate determination it has proved. Some other important +alterations took place in the discussion of the clauses, the principal of +which was the exemption of the Shropshire trade from toll; though it +could not be denied that they would derive a benefit, like all other +traders, from the Improvement. A long discussion took place upon the +position of the lock at Diglis, which the Worcester and Birmingham Canal +Company wanted put above the mouth of their canal; but to this the +committee would not consent. The Commission, after much debate, was +constituted as follows: three justices of the peace for the county of +Worcester, three for the county of Gloucester, four for the Worcester and +four for the Gloucester town councils, one for the council of the city of +Bristol, one for Droitwich, one for Tewkesbury, one for Wenlock, one for +Newport, one for the Upper and Lower Avon Navigation and the council of +Evesham, two for Stourport, two for the Staffordshire and Worcestershire +Canal Company, two for the Worcester and Birmingham Canal Company, two +for the Gloucester and Berkeley Canal, one for the Herefordshire and +Gloucester Canal, and one for the Coombe Hill Navigation—thirty in all. +{171} The toll was fixed at sixpence per ton from Gloucester to +Worcester, and fourpence per ton from Worcester to Stourport: this being +what the promoters proposed. Having by this time got near the end of the +session, the opponents of the measure sought to render all the efforts of +the committee nugatory by speaking against time; but this was seen +through and defeated by the members of the committee meeting in the +evening as well as in the morning, and at last the bill was reported to +the House. Mr. Waters, the solicitor to the bill, was publicly thanked +in the committee room for the singular exertions by which he had carried +the measure through, in the teeth of such a determined opposition. The +Parliament being prorogued immediately after the bill was reported, it +was obliged to stand over till the next session. + +In the interval there was some grumbling on the part of the Gloucester +corporation and the landowners at the large sums they had to pay for the +Parliamentary opposition, but the Worcester and Birmingham Canal Company +prepared to renew the fight. It came before the committee again in +March, 1842. Some opposition was here offered on behalf of the +Tewkesbury people, but the committee would not suffer the question to be +reopened; and the only alterations made were those suggested and proposed +by the promoters themselves. On the bringing up of the report, Mr. Muntz +moved the recommittal of the bill on behalf of the Worcester and +Birmingham Canal Company, who complained of the lock at Diglis being +placed below the mouth of their canal, and of the unjust exemption of the +Shropshire trade from toll. Mr. Mark Phillips and Mr. R. Scott spoke on +the same side; while Mr. Pakington, the Honourable R. H. Clive, Mr. +Labouchere, Sir C. Douglas, Lord G. Somerset, Sir Thomas Wilde, Sir +William Rae, and Mr. Ormsby Gore spoke in favour of the bill passing at +once: and Mr. Muntz, seeing the strong feeling of the House, withdrew his +motion. There was some further opposition made in committee in the +Lords, and four days were consumed there; but the bill passed without any +material alteration; and the royal assent being given to it on the 13th +of May, 1842, it at length became the law of the land. + +The first step was taken under the act on the 7th of June, 1842, when the +commissioners met, and T. C. Hornyold, Esq., was elected chairman. Mr. +Thomas Waters was appointed clerk. Mr. William Cubitt was appointed +engineer-in-chief, Mr. E. L. Williams retaining his office as resident +engineer; and advertisements were ordered to be inserted in the +newspapers for loans. The first stone of Lincombe weir was laid on the +5th of August, 1843. + +At several subsequent meetings of the Commission, the Gloucester +commissioners amused themselves by offering every possible opposition to +the speedy progress and completion of the work; though they were, of +course, appointed for the express purpose of carrying it out. However, +they were always out-voted by those commissioners who felt their interest +and honour alike concerned in the duties assigned to them by Parliament, +and the trial weir at Lincombe was opened on December 23, 1843. Spite of +the ratiocinations of adverse engineers, and those ignoramuses who fancy +they know everybody’s business better than their own, the weir was found +to stand the current, floods, and frosts of the winter admirably, and the +barge was passed through the locks in three minutes. + +The work now proceeded rapidly—the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal +Company having advanced the necessary funds, and the contracts having +been taken by Messrs. Grissell and Peto; with the exception of one sad +accident on the 5th of August, 1844, by which twelve of the workmen +engaged at Diglis lost their lives by the upsetting of the boat in which +they were returning from their work, they were completed without a single +drawback or mishap. The lock at Diglis was opened on the 9th October, +1844; and this part of the work was thus completed in fifteen months, in +the most able and satisfactory manner, within the original estimate of +its cost, £140,000—a fact almost unexampled in the construction of great +national undertakings of this kind. The dredging, however, between +Diglis and Gloucester, occupied a longer time than had been expected, and +proved a very costly business; but this, it must always be borne in mind, +formed no part of the promoters’ scheme, but was forced upon them by the +landowners, who objected to the erection of any weirs below Diglis. + +The completion of the locks and weirs was celebrated on the 25th of +January, 1844, by a public dinner at the Guildhall, Worcester, when a +testimonial was presented to J. W. Lea, Esq., for the zeal he had always +manifested in the improvement of the river. J. S. Pakington, Esq., M.P., +occupied the chair, and Alderman Edward Evans was vice-president. +Amongst the party were Lord Hatherton, the Mayor of Worcester, T. C. +Hornyold, Esq., Captain Winnington, John Dent, Esq., William Cubitt, +Esq., &c. The testimonial, which consisted of a quantity of silver +plate, with Mr. Lea’s crest engraved on each article, was of course +presented by the chairman. + +At the close of 1846, Mr. Cubitt certified that a depth of six feet of +water had been obtained from Lincombe to Gloucester, and the Commission +consequently met on the 1st of January, 1847, and ordered tolls to be +levied at all the locks in the terms of the Act of Parliament. Some +opposition was offered, both by Gloucester Commissioners and by traders +on the river; but on Mr. Cubitt’s certificate the step of raising tolls +was obligatory on the Commission. There can be no doubt that at the time +of Mr. Cubitt making the certificate there was six feet of water in the +river, though every one saw that under the system of dredging it would be +impossible to maintain that depth in all seasons of the year. + +At the annual meeting of the Commission in September, 1847, the traders +complained that the depth of water in the river between Worcester and +Gloucester was not six feet, and expressed their belief that it could not +be secured without additional locks and weirs. The committee of works +reported to the same effect, and declared the dredging a failure. A +committee was, therefore, appointed to consider the best means of +completing the improvement between Diglis and Gloucester. + +This committee reported to a meeting of the Commission, held on the 13th +December, 1847, recommending that application should be made to +Parliament for powers to put a weir in at Tewkesbury, and to raise a dam +at Over bridge, near Gloucester, to divert the water into the other +channel and to scour out the silt accumulating there. The meeting +assumed a very unpleasant character—such personal and improper remarks +being made that Sir John Pakington, at one time, left the chair, but was +induced to return. The opposing commissioners negatived that part of the +proposal which related to the dam at the Over bridge by a majority of +seven to four. Preparation was therefore made to apply to Parliament for +the Tewkesbury weir alone; but Parliament had, at this time, taken it +into their heads that a “preliminary inquiry” ought to be made on the +spot into measures of this sort; and, accordingly, in February, 1848, +sent Mr. Cockburn Curtis, a young engineer, to take evidence, and make a +report to the Admiralty. At Gloucester he took a show of hands as to +whether the Commissioners had kept faith with the public in imposing toll +or not! Mr. Curtis’s report was in accordance with the unfriendly +influence then prevailing at the Admiralty, and he recommended a scheme +of his own instead of the Tewkesbury weir—a scheme which few people, +besides Mr. Curtis himself, have ever been able to comprehend. + +With this report in their hands, the interested opponents of all +improvement on the river waited on those members of Parliament whom they +could in any way influence, stole a march on the promoters, and threw out +the bill most unexpectedly on the second reading by a majority of 104 to +91. This was on the 6th March, 1848. + +At a meeting of the commissioners, held in October of the same year, both +parties mustered their forces, and divided, in the first place, upon the +question of who should be chairman, and 13 votes were given for Sir John +Pakington and 11 for Mr. Hyett. It was then proposed by Mr. Lea that an +application should be again made to Parliament, similar to the one of the +preceding session. It was represented that the Commission was in debt to +the contractors, principally because of the great expense incurred in +useless dredging, and that more money must be raised. After a very +stormy debate the renewed application was agreed to by the chairman’s +casting vote only, and so also were other necessary resolutions. In +minor matters the opposition had a majority. + +In February, 1849, the “preliminary inquiry” took place into the merits +of this measure. The surveyors appointed by the Admiralty on this +occasion being Captain Bethune and Mr. Veitch, C.E. These gentlemen +again reported unfavourably of the scheme as proposed by the Commission, +professing themselves desirous of seeing the river so altered below +Gloucester as to bring the tide up to Worcester! It was understood that +the great fight would again take place on the second reading, which came +on on the 23rd April, 1849. The Admiralty, Board of Trade, and +Government generally, Sir Robert Peel, &c., supported the second reading; +but the private interests in opposition prevailed, and the bill was once +more thrown out; this time by a majority of 34—191 voting against it, and +134 in its favour. + +In the session of 1850 a select committee was appointed into the working +of these “preliminary inquiries,” and in consequence of the evidence +given by Mr. Edward Leader Williams and others, proving that they only +added to the expenses of passing a bill, without performing one act of +utility which might not be better done by the inquiry before the +committee of the House, they were abolished, and Parliament returned to +its old practice in these matters. + +Since that time the Commissioners have been resting on their oars, +feeling it useless to go to Parliament again if they had the same +opposition to encounter, and trusting that the Admiralty might be induced +to take up the improvement of the river, both above and below Gloucester, +as a project of great national importance. They have, indeed, directed a +survey of the whole river to be made, and Mr. Walker has made a “hasty” +report thereon, in which he says as little as possible as to the river +above Gloucester, and makes impracticable suggestions as to its +improvement below. + +The present condition of the river is an evil example of what may be done +when men fancy their own selfish pecuniary interests will be promoted by +impeding that which would be so manifest an advantage to the country at +large, as the improvement of one of its principal rivers, so as to make +it navigable for sea-going vessels to the furthest possible point inland. +Some of them, however, are gradually awaking to the truth that no public +interest can thus be sacrificed with impunity, and to discover their own +shortsightedness in the matter. The time is not far distant when some of +those who have hitherto been the bitterest opponents of the improvement +of the river Severn will be found amongst its warmest supporters. + + + + +WORCESTER TOWN COUNCIL. + + +THE first charter of incorporation was granted to the city of Worcester +in 1261—45th Henry III. The charter of James I, granted in 1622, was, +with slight interruptions, the rule by which the city was governed up to +the time of the Municipal Reform Act; and it must be said for the old +Corporation that they appear to have been in a great measure free from +the jobbery and malversation of funds which characterised so many of +these close self-elected bodies. They had indeed a civic feast, for +which £150 was yearly allowed, and kept a cellar of good wines; but these +things were quite in accordance with the spirit of the time—some fifty +years ago. John Wheeley Lea, Esq., was Mayor at the time of the +extinction of the old body; the Earl of Coventry Recorder; Charles +Sidebottom, Esq., Deputy-Recorder (a rather doubtful office then recently +revived) and Town Clerk; and Mr. Deighton, Sheriff. Great efforts had +been made to induce the burgesses, in the election of the new body, to +make a calm and impartial choice of those persons who were really most +fitted to conduct the business of the city, without respect to their +political bias; but in the excited state of feeling which prevailed at +that time, this was found impossible; and indeed it was hardly to be +expected that the Liberals, after such an entire exclusion from office, +should make terms with their opponents—it was at last their turn to enjoy +the honours which the Tories had hitherto monopolised. The first +election took place on Saturday, December 27, 1835, when out of +thirty-six councillors, thirty-four chosen were Reformers—the +Conservatives only returning two in St. Nicholas’s Ward. + +1835—DECEMBER 30—The new body met for the first time, and took the +declarations required by the act. + +1836—JULY 1—First meeting for business, when the following Aldermen were +elected: St. John’s Ward, Mr. Joseph Hall; St. Nicholas’s, Dr. Hastings +and Mr. Edward Evans; St. Peter’s, Mr. George Allies, Mr. William Corles, +and Mr. Francis Gibb; Claines’, Mr. C. H. Hebb, Mr. Richard Evans, and +Mr. Thomas Stephenson; All Saints’, Mr. John Bradley, Mr. John Howell, +and Mr. F. Williams. Mr. F. Williams declined the honour, and Mr. Thomas +Chalk was afterwards elected in his stead. + +1836—JANUARY 2—Choice of officers—Mr. C. H. Hebb elected Mayor; Mr. +George Allies, Sheriff; and Mr. C. Sidebottom, Town Clerk. + +1836—JANUARY 14—The Council assembled for the first time in the room +which has ever since been used for their meetings. A committee was +appointed to confer with Mr. Sidebottom about separating the offices +which he held, and giving up that of Town Clerk. A finance committee was +appointed to investigate the accounts of the old body; and it was +determined to dress up the Mayor in robes of scarlet and purple. + +1836—JANUARY 21—It was agreed by a majority of 31 to 10 that Mr. +Sidebottom should continue to hold the office of Stipendiary Magistrate, +Judge of the Court of Pleas, and Town Clerk, at a salary of £500 per +annum. Mr. Stinton, Mr. Curwood, and Mr. Whitmore, barrister, were +proposed for recommendation to the Secretary of State to the office of +Recorder. Mr. Stinton had the majority of votes. Salary fixed at £150 +per annum, but afterwards reduced to £100. + +1836—JANUARY 26—The Council recommended twelve persons as magistrates to +the Secretary of State—The Mayor, Mr. Alderman R. Evans, R. Temple, Esq., +Mr. Alderman Hall, William Shaw, Esq., R. Berkeley, Esq., William +Saunders, Esq., John Dent, Esq., L. Johnstone, Esq., William Acton, Esq., +G. Farley, Esq., and Captain Thomas. Three of these gentlemen were +Conservatives. Mr. Farley and Mr. Johnstone having declined to serve, +the names of Mr. Lavender (Conservative) and Mr. Alderman Corles were +inserted in the list, but the Lord Chancellor only appointed the first +ten. The wine of the old corporation was ordered to be sold, except +fifty dozen to be applied in aid of sick poor. + +1836—FEBRUARY 18—Report made by the committee appointed to investigate +the accounts of the old corporation. The balance sheet presented to the +Council by their predecessors showed credit a balance of £1,028, while +the real fact was that the old corporation was in debt £1,170. £200 of +this sum had been promised towards the improvements in front of All +Saints’ Church, payable only on condition of the inhabitants doing their +part within a certain number of years. The new Council confirmed this +grant on the same terms. + +1836—MARCH 24—First quarterly meeting. A statement of the value of the +city property was laid before the Council; which, some being calculated +at twenty-five years’ purchase, and others at fourteen years’, was +reckoned to be worth about £43,000. In mortgages and debts to the +charities there was owing by the corporation £5,381. The gross produce +of the corporation wine was £823, being an average of nearly 64s. per +dozen. The Council determined to discontinue the practice of “fetching +the fair from St. John’s to Worcester,” as a “farce.” + +1836—APRIL 7—It was announced by Mr. Sidebottom that he had been gazetted +as police magistrate of the city; and as the holding of that office was +deemed by Government inconsistent with the town clerkship (as had been +all along foreseen), he must give up the latter. In answer to a question +by Alderman Corles, he said he intended to retain the assessorship to the +Court of Pleas. + +1836—APRIL 21—Mr. John Hill chosen Town Clerk in the room of Mr. +Sidebottom. + +1836—MAY 5—The Council received a grant of a separate Quarter Sessions, +as they had prayed. The appointment of Mr. T. Waters as Clerk of the +Peace was confirmed, and Mr. J. B. Hyde was appointed City Coroner. + +1836—JULY 7—The Attorney-General’s opinion having been taken, it was +decided that Mr. Thomas Hughes had no claim for compensation for loss of +his situation as Vice-Chamberlain under the old body. This was a subject +which had been repeatedly before the Council. + +1836—OCTOBER 6—Dinner given by the Town Council to the Mayor. Dr. +Hastings was in the chair, and proposed the health of Mr. Hebb in +flattering terms; describing him as a benevolent medical man, an author +of some celebrity—having translated the works of some French pathologists +at a time when there was little communication with the continent—and the +constant advocate of the diffusion of useful knowledge. As their chief +magistrate he had laid them all under a great debt of obligation. “The +Bishop and Clergy of the Diocese” was responded to by the Rev. T. +Pearson, and “The Dissenting Ministers” by Dr. Redford; “The Members for +the County” was answered by Mr. Cookes, Captain Winnington, and Mr. +Holland; and Mr. Robinson answered for the city members. Colonel Davis +responded for the “Magistrates of the County,” and was most +enthusiastically received. 306 sat down at table. + +1836—NOVEMBER 9—The Council, in entering on their second year of office, +reëlected Mr. Hebb as Mayor, and chose Mr. Alderman Gibb as Sheriff. +There were scarcely any changes made in the body at the election on the +1st of this month. + +1837—APRIL 11—The Council agreed to the by-laws which have since, with +little alteration, been acted upon. + +1837—JULY 10—Addresses voted to the Queen Dowager (of condolence for her +bereavement), and to the Queen Regnant on her accession. The Mayor, Mr. +Sheriff Gibb, and Mr. Alderman Hall were ordered to present the latter. + +1837—NOVEMBER—The election this year did not alter the position of +parties at all. A very warm vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Hebb for +his services as Mayor for two consecutive years, and Mr. George Allies +was elected in his stead. Mr. Alderman Stephenson was elected Sheriff. + +1837—NOVEMBER 23—Mr. Deighton presented a petition from 126 farmers, +holding 25,000 acres of land, praying the council to provide them with a +covered corn market. Some gentlemen proposed that they should use the +Town Hall, but eventually a committee was appointed. + +1837—NOVEMBER 27—The Council petitioned Parliament for an alteration in +the fees and regulations in passing private bills. + +1837—DECEMBER 15—The Council decided against Mr. Deighton’s proposition +to allow a salary of fifty guineas to the Mayor, by a majority of 23 to +12. + +1837—DECEMBER 28—The Council decided against Mr. Alderman Chalk’s motion +to throw open their meetings to the public, by 24 to 6. + +1838—FEBRUARY 21—The Council refused to remove the Corn Market to Angel +Street, or to grant the petition of the agriculturists to sell the old +Sheep Market as a site for a new Corn Market. + +1838—MAY 2—The Council petitioned for the abolition of the apprenticeship +system, on the motion of Mr. Alderman Edward Evans. + +1838—NOVEMBER—The municipal election made no difference in the political +constitution of the Council. At the first meeting of the renovated body, +Mr. Alderman Richard Evans was elected Mayor, on the proposition of Dr. +Hastings and Mr. Alderman Hall; and Mr. John Hall was chosen Sheriff. +Mr. Alderman Richard Evans was the first Dissenter who ever held the +office of chief magistrate in Worcester. The Aldermen elected this year +were Mr. William Corles, Mr. Palmer, Mr. Chalk, Mr. Lilly, Mr. Edward +Evans, and Mr. Benjamin Stokes. + +1838—DECEMBER 20—Mr. Padmore chosen Alderman in the room of Mr. Stokes, +deceased. + +1839—FEBRUARY 7—Mr. E. L. Williams proposed that the Council, “being +deeply impressed with a conviction of a thorough examination of the +existing Corn Laws,” should petition Parliament for an inquiry into their +operation. He thought agriculture needed some protection, though the +present laws wanted alteration: if gloves required protection, corn did. +Alderman E. Evans seconded his motion. Mr. W. Pugh proposed, as an +amendment, that the Council should petition for a total repeal. Alderman +Hastings said that a repeal of the Corn Laws would be productive of +immense evil; because if they reduced the revenues of the rich, they took +it out of their power to assist the poor; and they would certainly rue +the day if they agreed to a change that would be so silly. No measure +that the legislature could adopt would prevent corn being occasionally +dear, and its dearness now arose from deficient production and regrating. +On a division there appeared + +For total repeal: Aldermen Hall, Corles, Lilly, and Padmore; Councillors +F. Hall, Greening, Davis, Smith, Oates, J. Hall, George, W. Pugh, Crane, +W. Chamberlain, Southan, Dance, Lee, Ledbrook, Groves, and +Thompson—twenty. + +For inquiry only: The Mayor; Aldermen E. Evans, Hastings, and Palmer; +Councillors Fawkes, Horne, Dent, Lea, Grainger, Lingham, Summerfield, and +Williams—twelve. + +At this meeting the Council, in compliance with the order of the Lords of +the Treasury, awarded Mr. Thomas Hughes an annuity of £3. 6s. 8d., as +compensation for the loss of his office of clerk to the forty-eight, +which he had held under the old corporation. Mr. Hughes had claimed much +larger compensation as Deputy Chamberlain. + +1839—MAY 24—An address voted to the Queen, on the motion of Alderman +Hebb, seconded by Alderman Corles, thanking her for resisting the attempt +to change the ladies of her household, and, further, for having called +back the Whigs to her councils. The only dissentient was Mr. +Summerfield. + +1838—NOVEMBER—The elections still brought no diminution in the +preponderance of the Whig party. Mr. Alderman Hastings was first elected +Mayor, but declined to serve; and having paid the usual fine of £50, +required its disbursement on the score of his being an alderman, and the +Municipal Act did not say anything about their being fineable. Mr. +Alderman Chalk was elected unanimously in his stead. + +1840—MARCH AND APRIL—The Council determined to oppose the Birmingham and +Gloucester Railway Company’s new bill in Parliament; but afterwards +Alderman Corles moved, and Alderman Hebb seconded, a motion for the +discontinuance of such opposition, on the ground that the Council had no +legal right to pay the expenses out of the borough fund. Alderman +Hastings moved the confirmance of the Council’s previous resolutions; and +this amendment to Alderman Corles’s motion was carried by 20 to 6. + +1840—JUNE 16—The Council voted addresses to the Queen, the Prince, and +the Duchess of Kent, expressing their loyal joy at Her Majesty’s escape +from the shot of the assassin, Oxford. + +1840—MARCH TO JULY—The grant of £200 for the improvements in front of All +Saints’ Church, made by the old corporation conditionally on their being +completed by November, 1839, and renewed by the new body for five years +longer, was repeatedly discussed. Mr. Alderman Hebb held that it was an +illegal grant, and ought to be resumed; but the Council, on obtaining an +undertaking from Messrs. Lea, Leonard, and Williams for its repayment at +the end of the second term of five years if the alterations were not then +completed, suffered the money to remain in their hands. + +1840—NOVEMBER 9—The newly elected Council—consisting of almost the same +parties as in the previous year—elected C. A. Helm, Esq., as Mayor for +the succeeding twelve months. Mr. W. Lewis was also proposed, and +received 16 votes to 22 for Mr. Helm. Mr. Alderman Edward Evans was +chosen Sheriff. + +1841—MAY 6—The council unanimously petitioned for a revision of the +import duties, on the motion of Mr. Sheriff Evans, seconded by Mr. F. T. +Elgie. + +1841—SEPTEMBER 29—A special meeting of the body was held to memorialise +the Queen on the subject of the Corn Laws. Mr. Elgie moved the memorial, +which asserted that the Corn Laws were the principal causes of the +present distress of the country. Mr. Pierpoint moved an amendment, +declaring that the discussion of political subjects was contrary to the +spirit of the Municipal Act, and highly inexpedient; and wound up by an +assertion of a wholly political character, viz., that the distress of the +country had been produced by the hasty and crude legislation of the +Whigs. The amendment was negatived by 26 to 5, the minority consisting +of Messrs. J. Dent, Anderson, Pierpoint, Bedford, and Summerfield. + +1841—NOVEMBER—The Conservatives made great efforts in all the wards to +get a footing in the Council this year, but, except in St. Nicholas, were +wholly unsuccessful. Mr. Alderman Edward Evans was elected Mayor, and +Mr. Alderman Lilly, Sheriff, by 23 votes, while 12 were given for Mr. +Elgie. Mr. Hebb retired from the Council; and Messrs. R. Evans, J. Hall, +W. Lewis, G. Allies, C. A. Helm, and C. Hastings were elected aldermen in +room of those who retired. + +1841—DECEMBER 3—A special meeting to protest against the recent +appointment of magistrates without consulting the Council. Mr. Alderman +Allies proposed a resolution, which declared that the six individuals who +had been appointed magistrates owed their elevation to political +partizanship and not to the esteem in which they were held by their +fellow citizens; protesting also against the appointment because of its +exclusiveness, and because the Council had not been asked to recommend. +Mr. Alderman Padmore seconded the motion. Mr. Hughes moved, as an +amendment, “That this meeting is unnecessary and uncalled for;” and this +was seconded by Mr. Bedford, who said that parish officers could not get +justice from the present justices; and denounced the appointment of Mr. +Sidebottom to the stipendiary magistrateship as a “flagrant job,” only to +make way for Mr. Hill. The motion was carried by 27 to 4, and a memorial +prepared to be presented by Sir Thomas Wilde to the Secretary of State. + +1842—JANUARY—A committee appointed, on the motion of Mr. Elgie, to +inquire into the truth of Mr. Bedford’s declaration, that the appointment +of Mr. Sidebottom as stipendiary magistrate was a “flagrant job,” and +they reported that it was altogether “untrue and unfounded;” inasmuch as +Mr. Sidebottom declared that his resignation of the office of town clerk +was voluntary. + +1842—MAY 20—A special meeting of the body was held to congratulate the +promoters of the Severn Navigation Improvement on the passing of the +measure, and to thank the noblemen and gentlemen by whose exertions its +success had been secured. + +1842—JULY 12—The Council refused to nominate Commissioners of Income Tax +for inquiring into the emoluments arising from public offices held in the +city, and the appointment, therefore, reverted to the treasury or the +commissioners for general purposes. + +1842—OCTOBER 26—A special meeting held to consider the railway question. +Mr. Alderman Chalk proposed that it was desirable for the Council to +examine whether there was any agreement subsisting between the city and +Mr. Berkeley, such as should preclude the city from consenting to the +project, or going to Parliament for whatever line they thought fit. Mr. +Pierpoint seconded the motion. Mr. Elgie proposed, as an amendment, that +it be referred to the railway committee to inquire whether any engagement +had been entered into by which the citizens were bound in honour or +equity from becoming parties to the Bredicot branch. The Town Clerk gave +it as his opinion that there was no agreement in existence which bound +the city in any way. On a division, the amendment was carried by 15 to +13—the Mayor, Alderman Corles, and four other councillors declining to +vote. Mr. Chalk, Mr. Bedford, and others protested against the amendment +being declared carried, because it had not obtained, as required by the +sixty-ninth clause of the Municipal Act, _a majority of those present_. + +1842—NOVEMBER—Mr. Alderman John Lilly unanimously elected Mayor, and Mr. +Alderman Lewis, Sheriff. + +1843—JANUARY 2—The Council determined to oppose the Birmingham and +Gloucester Railway Company in their application to Parliament for powers +to make the Bredicot branch, by a majority of 25 to 5. + +1843—AUGUST 1—The Town Clerk brought a bill of £250 for the costs of the +unsuccessful opposition to the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway Money +Bill. Mr. Alderman Palmer moved that it be referred to the Finance +Committee; but it was resolved by 11 to 9 that the bill, which was +admitted on all hands to be very fair in its charges, should be paid at +once, together with £17 due to the Town Clerk on a former occasion. + +1843—OCTOBER—The Guildhall having been illuminated on the occasion of the +Queen Dowager’s visit to the city, Mr. W. D. Lingham, the City +Chamberlain, brought in a bill of £18. 7s. 6d. for the expense, the +payment of which was disputed with most pitiable parsimony. The Council +divided, and 19 voted for payment to 14 against it. + +1843—NOVEMBER—There was but little contest in the municipal election this +year. Mr. Alderman Lewis was elected Mayor; and Mr. L. Ledbrook, +Sheriff, by 21 votes to 19 given for Mr. Edward Wheeler. + +1843—DECEMBER 5—Upon the motion of Mr. Hughes, seconded by Alderman +Padmore, it was decided that the meetings of the Council should be thrown +open to the public; but this was afterwards set aside. + +1844—JANUARY 4—The Council, on the motion of Mr. Bedford, determined only +henceforth to style themselves, “The Mayor, Aldermen, and Citizens of the +City of Worcester,” as their proper legal title. A motion to give a +salary to the Mayor was rejected by 19 to 10. + +1844—SEPTEMBER—The Council (and afterwards the Chamber of Commerce) +pronounced in favour of the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway +project, in preference to any other of the schemes before the city, by +large majorities. + +1844—NOVEMBER—There were no contests in the wards this year, except at +St. John’s. Mr. William Lewis was reëlected Mayor without opposition, +and Mr. Lloyd was chosen Sheriff by 22 votes to 12 given for Mr. Elgie. + +1845—JANUARY 11—At a special meeting called to assent to, or dissent +from, the Tring line promoted by the London and Birmingham Company, and +which would pass through part of the corporation property in the +Blockhouse, &c., Mr. Alderman Chalk asked the Council to abide by its +former decision in favour of the Oxford line, and dissent from the Tring +scheme—and proposed a resolution to that effect, which was seconded by +Mr. Alderman R. Evans. Mr. Wall and Mr. Hood moved that the Council do +assent to the Tring line; but this was negatived by 18 to 7, and Mr. +Chalk’s resolution carried. + +1845—MARCH 27—The Council again declared in favour of the Oxford and +Wolverhampton line. Mr. Knight moved, as an amendment to the resolution +proposed by Mr. Elgie, that the Council should petition in favour of the +Tring line; but this was lost by 19 to 8. + +1845—NOVEMBER—The elections this year brought two more Conservatives into +the council. E. J. Lloyd, Esq., was elected Mayor, and Mr. F. T. Elgie, +Sheriff. + +1846—FEBRUARY 3—The Council petitioned for a total and immediate repeal +of the Corn Laws by a majority of 17 to 9. + +1846—APRIL 14—William Lewis, Esq., chosen Mayor for the remainder of the +year, in the room of Edward Lloyd, Esq., deceased. + +1846—MAY 5—At this, a quarterly meeting of the Council, Mr. Sheriff Elgie +moved a petition against the New Gas Company’s Bill (which had been +approved, in public meeting, the week before), and Mr. Hood seconded it. +Mr. Alderman Chalk objected to such a subject being brought on without +previous notice, and to a quarterly meeting being taken advantage of for +such a purpose. He moved an amendment for the postponement of the +question, which was, however, lost by 16 to 5, and Mr. Elgie’s petition +carried. A counter petition was afterwards presented from fourteen other +members of the body. + +1846—NOVEMBER—F. T. Elgie, Esq. was unanimously chosen Mayor by the new +body, and Mr. Edward Webb, Sheriff. + +1846—NOVEMBER 16—Mr. Arrowsmith moved that the Council should erect baths +and washhouses with as little delay as possible. Mr. Bedford thanked Mr. +Arrowsmith for bringing the matter forward, remarking that hitherto his +own efforts, for sanitary improvements, had all failed for want of +support. The motion was unanimously carried, and a committee appointed +to carry out the suggestion; and this committee has been formally renewed +from time to time, yet five years have now elapsed and baths and +washhouses in Worcester seem further off than ever. + +1847—APRIL 24—A memorial having been presented to the Council, from the +agriculturists, praying to have the Sheep Market leased to them, in order +that they might erect a Corn Exchange thereon, Mr. Arrowsmith moved that +no sufficient reason had been shown to the Council to authorise them in +making a change that would be so injurious to a great number of the +inhabitants of the city. This was carried by 18 to 13. The Council +also, by a majority of 18 to 8, agreed to a petition in favour of Lord +Morpeth’s Sanitary Bill. + +1847—NOVEMBER—The elections this year resulted in very little change. +Edward Webb, Esq. was chosen Mayor, and Mr. Padmore, Sheriff. + +1848—APRIL 5—The Council granted a lease of the Wheat Sheaf Inn, Corn +Market, and other premises, to one of the Corn Exchange Companies. + +1848—MAY 2—The Council, at a quarterly meeting, passed a resolution, +approving of the Mayor’s efforts to bring about an arrangement between +the rival Corn Exchange Companies; and begging the agriculturists to rest +satisfied with the one in Angel Street. + +They also petitioned in favour of Lord Morpeth’s Health of Towns Bill. + +1848—AUGUST 11—At a special meeting, called to consider the Corn Exchange +question, the Council, after a very warm debate on various propositions, +determined to take the opinion of Mr. Alexander as to their right to +regulate the Corn Market, to take toll on corn sold, and to prevent the +removal of the market from its ancient site. The opinion only went to +justify the corporation in taking toll on corn pitched in bulk, and no +further proceedings were taken in the matter. + +1848—OCTOBER—The Council, with only one dissentient, agreed that it was +desirable that the Public Health Act should be applied to Worcester; and +appointed a committee to make a representation to that effect to the +Central Board of Health. + +1848—NOVEMBER—Mr. Alderman Padmore was elected Mayor; and as he declined +to give a Sunday breakfast, go to the Cathedral, or wear a gown, he gave +£100 to the city instead. This donation, having afterwards been +considerably increased, has found a permanent shape in the handsome town +clock which now ornaments the front of the Market House. Mr. Goodwin was +elected Sheriff. + +1849—JANUARY 1—The Council having previously determined to petition the +Lord Chancellor to appoint six new city magistrates, because some of +those named in the original commission were dead, and others did not +attend on the bench, this day proceeded to the selection of names. +Alderman Lewis had 29 votes; Alderman Chalk, 27; the Mayor, 25; Alderman +E. Evans, 25; J. W. Isaac, Esq., 22; Alderman Webb, 20; Dr. James Nash, +14; William Stallard, Esq., 10; Mr. Jabez Horne, 8; Alderman Helm, 3; Mr. +Bedford, 1; and Alderman Elgie, 1. The first six names were consequently +transmitted to the Lord Chancellor. + +1849—NOVEMBER—The agitation respecting the carrying out the Health of +Towns Act this year, caused considerable change in the composition of the +municipal body; the only suitability sought in the new councillors being +their known determination to oppose the measure. Their subsequent +proceedings have had reference almost entirely to the + + + + +APPLICATION OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH ACT TO WORCESTER. + + +THE passing of the Public Health Act in the session of 1848 was an epoch +of our civilisation. It was the recognition of a great social want, and +an attempt to remedy a great social evil, which had silently grown up +with the increase of our large towns, and threatened to turn our +prosperity and blessings into a curse. The principle of the act received +the cordial and unanimous assent of all the great parties in the state; +and though numerous alterations were made in the measure during its +progress through the Lower House of Parliament, these were entirely +improvements amicably suggested and cordially adopted by the ministry who +introduced it. Those who determinedly opposed some of its details were +always left, upon a division, in very small minorities. + +The chief objection which has been raised against the measure, by those +who have conscientiously or interestedly resisted its operation, has been +to the constitution of a General Board of Health in London, having some +check over the doings of those local bodies to whom the working out of +the act has been intrusted. This is denounced by the word +“centralisation,” but the Poor Law Board daily exercises, without remark, +a much more stringent authority over Boards of Guardians, who are just as +much representative bodies as Town Councils, than any which is vested in +the Board of Health. In many places where the act has been applied, the +need of such a supervision as that of the Central Board has been so +strikingly evinced that Parliament will, probably, soon be induced to +place yet greater powers of control in the hands of the Board, and make +the provisions of the act entirely compulsory instead of optional. It +might seem wise and well to leave the unerring laws of health and disease +to work out their own results, in punishing those who neglect the +necessary conditions by which alone health can be maintained where men +congregate together; but as the epidemics engendered by such neglect +cannot be confined to those who are their responsible producers, the +legislature, on behalf of society at large, has the right to interfere. + +The application of the act to Worcester has been productive of immediate +results that are sufficiently curious; but its importance, as regards the +future welfare of the city, cannot be overrated, and on that account, +much more than for any present turmoil, which, in “the whirligig of +time,” will subside and be forgotten, the subject claims a special notice +here. + +Worcester, more than most English towns, needed the application of such a +measure to its internal economy. Its fair exterior, and the outward +cleanliness of its principal streets, are but the deceitful masks of +hidden insalubrities. Surrounded by hills, which attract the moisture +and screen it from the healthful breezes that would drive away miasma, +its atmosphere is too constantly damp and relaxing in summer, and in +winter the fogs, rising from the stream and the undrained soil, lie long +upon its dwellings. The river, which flows through it, fortunately keeps +up a constant current of air, but epidemics always follow the course of +rivers. Though apparently well situated for drainage, the greater part +of the city is ill-circumstanced in this respect, for the southern and +western half, at least, is built on a cold marl, which retains the +soakings of the surface as a sponge. These are natural reasons which, it +might be supposed, would have suggested to the inhabitants the most +careful attention to drainage and cleanliness; yet it is a fact, that +scarcely a street in the whole city is supplied with a sufficient drain, +and that it contains more open cesspits, prolific of noisome smells and +active disease, than any town of equal size in the kingdom. + +The merit of having drawn public attention, in this city, to the +paramount importance of Parliamentary interference to enforce sanitary +improvements belongs to Sir Charles Hastings, M.D. + +At the city election in 1846, when Sir Denis Le Marchant suddenly +appeared as a candidate, Dr. Hastings, upon the hustings, addressed the +citizens, who were then gathered together, and said he was anxious Sir +Denis should have their opinion on a matter of the greatest importance to +every individual amongst them. “Amidst the great party struggles,” +continued the Doctor, “in the legislature, the social improvement of the +people had been too much overlooked, and it was certain that the sanitary +condition of the great mass of the inhabitants of this kingdom was such +as reflected no credit upon its Government. He wished, therefore, the +citizens of Worcester to impress upon Sir Denis Le Marchant the propriety +of giving his best attention to this great question, and of using his +best endeavours to get it promoted by the Government. He hoped that the +measures which had been under the attention of the legislature for the +last six or seven years would, at last, receive the consideration they +merited. All alike would be benefitted by the passing of laws necessary +for the protection of the public health, and which would have also a +great effect on public morals. (Applause.) He trusted that was their +opinion, and if it was so he prayed them to hold up their hands.” + +The assembly unanimously responded to the Doctor’s appeal; and Sir Denis +declared himself the warm advocate of sanitary measures. + +Dr. Hastings afterwards addressed a letter to the Town Council on the +subject; and in seconding Mr. Ricardo’s nomination, in 1847, he again +mentioned the matter, amidst the cheers of the assembly, and pressed it +upon the attention of each of the candidates. + +Mr. Austin, the secretary to the Health of Towns Association, came down +in the autumn of 1846 to make an inspection of the city, and report upon +the works and alterations necessary to be undertaken for the purpose of +securing the greatest possible amount of health and comfort to the +inhabitants. Mr. Austin presented his report to the City Commissioners +in December, 1846, and so able and informative was it deemed that it was +ordered, on the motion of Mr. Pierpoint, to be printed for general +circulation; and a sum of £20 was afterwards voted him by the same body. +Mr. Austin estimated the gross cost of drainage for the entire city, +proper water supply to every house, baths and washhouses, conversion of +soil for agricultural purposes, at £74,000; he believed a revenue of +£19,000 per annum might be derived from such works when carried into full +efficiency; the interest and expenses of management he set down at +£11,650. Some parties, unconnected with either of the two governing +bodies in the city, this year gave notice of their intention to apply to +Parliament for a “City Improvement Act,” in which powers would be taken +to carry out all those alterations which were felt to be so necessary for +the good ordering of the town; but this project was soon abandoned, and +the City Commissioners declared that, if Parliament did not that year +introduce a general act, they would themselves apply for an extension of +powers to enable them to carry out needful sanitary improvements. + +At a dinner given to Captain Candler, in February, 1847, Lord Lyttelton +strongly pressed upon the Mayor, and citizens of Worcester generally, the +desirability of at once carrying out the suggestions of Mr. Austin’s +report in their integrity. + +The Government having introduced the Public Health Act into Parliament, +in the spring of 1847, petitions in its favour were forwarded from +Worcester, one of which was signed by 700 of the working classes. The +principal difference between the measure as introduced by the Whig and +Conservative Governments was, that the one proposed by the latter placed +the “centralising” power in the hands of the Home Secretary, instead of +the Central Board, and would have constituted new local bodies for +working out the act, instead of placing it in the hands of the Town +Councils, which the Whigs did on principle. + +The first public meeting held in Worcester was one convened by the Mayor, +Mr. Elgie, on the 19th of April, 1847, to consider the measure proposed +by Government. But the Commissioners met in the morning, and determined +on opposing the Government bill, doubtless because it would altogether +extinguish them; and as a good deal of alarm had already been created in +the town by the large figures in Mr. Austin’s report, there was a +considerable opposition raised at the meeting. Dr. Hastings and Mr. +Orwin moved a resolution, declaring the necessity which existed for +sanitary measures; and this was carried. Mr. Arrowsmith and Mr. J. W. +Isaac moved a second, approving of the Government measure; but Mr. R. M. +Mence and Mr. Francis Hooper moved an amendment, to the effect that the +Health of Towns Bill contained many unnecessary and mischievous +provisions. The cost and the centralisation were the topics chiefly +dwelt upon by the opponents of the measure. Mr. Orwin spoke in favour of +the bill, and Mr. Thomas Lucy and Mr. Pierpoint against it; the latter +producing a toy whose joints were moved by a string, to illustrate what +the Town Council would be in the hands of the Central Board. The +proceedings were spun out to such an inordinate length, that the meeting +had almost dissolved itself, before the resolution and amendment were +put. The division was very close, but the Mayor decided that the +resolution in favour of the Government bill was carried. A petition to +Parliament in its favour was afterwards proposed, but that was lost, and +the resultless meeting then broke up. + +The same week the Council adopted a petition in favour of the measure, by +a majority of 18 to 8. + +In May, a petition was presented from Worcester in favour of the Public +Health Act, signed by the Very Rev. the Dean, and most of the Canons and +parochial clergy. The medical men of the city also, without a single +exception, petitioned that it might pass. + +The bill was committed in June, by a majority of 191 to 50; the only +Worcestershire members who voted in the minority being General Lygon and +Mr. P. Borthwick. The bill was, however, after all, with a multitude of +others, in the annual “slaughter of the innocents;” and then came the +general election. + +In seconding Mr. Ricardo’s nomination as a candidate for Worcester, Dr. +Hastings again mentioned sanitary matters, and declared, amidst the +cheers of the assembly, that he would not give his vote for any man who +would not pledge himself to support a bill for the improvement of the +public health. + +In January, 1848, Mr. Thomas Beggs lectured in the Town Hall, Worcester, +on sanitary improvements; and on the following day a public meeting was +held, over which the Mayor, Mr. Edward Webb, presided. The Rev. John +Davis then moved a petition to the legislature in favour of sanitary +measures, which was carried without dissent; and Mr. Ricardo, who was +present, expressed the pleasure he should feel in presenting it, and in +supporting Government in any measure they might propose for the +advancement of the sanitary condition of the people. + +In April, a town’s meeting was called to consider the Government measure, +on a hostile requisition; and the Mayor being indisposed, the friends of +sanitary improvements took no part. Mr. Summerfield was called to the +chair; and on the motion of Mr. Mence and Mr. Hooper, a petition was +adopted in opposition to the Health of Towns Bill, and ordered to be +forwarded to Mr. Urquahart, for presentation. + +In May, the Town Council, with only one dissentient, petitioned in favour +of the measure; and a petition of similar import was also very generally +signed by the inhabitants of the city. + +The bill passed the House of Commons on the 20th of June—the opposition, +in their strongest division, having only mustered fifty-four votes. It +met in the House of Lords with entire approbation; and every one of the +amendments made in committee there, were with a view to make its +provisions more stringent and “centralising.” + +On the 3rd of October, 1848, the Worcester Town Council, on the motion of +Mr. Alderman Elgie, came to a resolution, “That it is desirable forthwith +to bring into operation within the city the provisions of the Public +Health Act.” In a numerous meeting there was only one dissentient to +this resolution. A committee of fifteen members was then appointed to +carry out the resolution. They communicated the resolution of the +Council to the Central Board, and requested that an inspector might be +sent down to inquire into the propriety of applying the act to Worcester. + +Mr. George T. Clark, Government Inspector, accordingly gave notice in +November, both by advertisement and handbills posted in all parts of the +city, that he should make the necessary inquiries as to the sanitary +condition of the city, and invited all parties to give evidence before +him. Mr. Clark sat for the first time at the Guildhall, on the 4th of +December, and was very cordially received by the Mayor, Mr. Padmore, and +a considerable number of leading citizens and tradesmen, some of whom +have since taken a very active share of the opposition to the working of +the measure; but not one word of objection to the application of the act +to Worcester was ever uttered in Mr. Clark’s presence. + +Mr. Clark’s report appeared in April, 1849, and the conclusions to which +the inspector arrived were, that the public nuisances in Worcester were +many and great—constantly creating sickness, and increasing the mortality +of the place; that what was principally wanted was a proper water supply, +surface paving and drainage; and that remedies for the evils complained +of might be applied for a rate of not more than one penny a week per +house. The cost of the necessary drainage he estimated at £20,315, and +of the water supply at £21,750, while he set down the annual income +derivable from the water works at £4,238. + +Acting upon this report, the Central Board made a provisional order for +the application of the Public Health Act to Worcester; being competent to +do this, as to any place where the mortality ranged above 23.0 in 1,000 +per annum—and, according to the Registrar General’s report, the average +mortality in Worcester, for the seven years previous to the passing of +the Public Health Act, was 25.05 in 1,000. A bill to confirm this +provisional order was introduced into Parliament in July, 1849; and, +passing without opposition, received the royal assent in August. + +Immediately after the application of the act to this city, all sorts of +absurd rumours were put into circulation as to the expense it would +occasion to the ratepayers; and the ignorance and misinformation that +appeared to prevail upon the subject, would scarcely be credited if +related. Ward meetings were very generally held, at which memorials to +the Council were adopted, praying them not to carry out the act, or to +postpone its operation. And thus commenced an agitation, which, being +fostered by persons who had their own or party ends to serve, long +continued to disturb the peace of the city. + +At the meeting of the Council on the 7th of August, Alderman Elgie moved +that the Public Health Committee should report to the next meeting as to +what offices were necessary to be appointed, and other steps requisite to +be taken under the Health of Towns Act. This was carried by a majority +of 19 to 11. + +At a subsequent meeting, the committee reported that the officers +required would be a clerk, treasurer, surveyor, and medical officer of +health. An amendment for delay was rejected by 22 to 12, and the clerk +and treasurer were at once appointed. + +In consequence of the determination thus evinced by the Council to +proceed vigorously with the practical application of the measure, a +public meeting was called by the parties hostile to it. This was held on +the 25th of September, 1849, and presided over by the Mayor, Mr. Padmore. +Mr. Summerfield moved the adoption of a memorial to the Central Board, +praying that the act might not be applied to Worcester, because it was +denied that the mortality of the city exceeded 23 in 1,000; and because a +majority of the inhabitants were said to be unfavourable to the +introduction of the Public Health Act. Alderman Thompson seconded the +memorial. Alderman Edward Webb proposed, as an amendment, “That inasmuch +as the act is at present applied to the city, and considering the +unsatisfactory state of the dwellings of the poor, the insufficient +drainage, and bad supply of water, the memorial is unnecessary.” +Alderman Elgie and Mr. Waters addressed the meeting at great length on +the general question, and pointed out the absurdity of supposing that any +memorial to a board in London could stop the operation of an Act of +Parliament. Excepting Mr. James Wall, who made a few observations, no +one attempted to speak on the other side; but the amendment was lost, and +the memorial carried by a large majority. + +The presentation of the memorial was intrusted to the Rev. R. Sargeant +and Mr. Lucy, but the Board declined to receive them as a deputation in +the absence of Mr. Clark. The Rev. R. Sargeant, therefore, forwarded it +with a letter, and the Board of course returned for answer, that they had +no power to stop proceedings under an Act of Parliament; and further, +that the act had been legally applied to Worcester—as the Registrar +General had certified to them, under his own hand, that the mortality was +25.05 in 1,000. + +The appointment of surveyor was postponed by the Council till after the +municipal elections for 1849; but at the meeting of November 16, further +delay was resisted, and an amendment to that effect was defeated by 26 +votes to 12. Mr. Edward Leader Williams was then chosen surveyor under +the Public Health Act, by 23 votes to 8 given for the opposing candidate, +Mr. Samuel Purchas. The question of salary was postponed. + +For some months Mr. Williams went on, under the directions of the health +committee, preparing his plans for the improved drainage and water supply +of the city. His report on the drainage question was issued and printed +in June, 1850, and met with very general approval. Having been called +before the Council, at their meeting in August, and given explanations +upon some points, the Council in full meeting adopted the report with +only two dissentient voices. The report estimated the cost for the +entire drainage of the city at £17,345. + +The excitement amongst ratepayers was, however, kept up by a question of +the necessity of appointing a medical officer of health; and so strong +was the current of public opinion against such an appointment, that the +Council were compelled to abandon all thoughts of making it. Dr. Malden +and Dr. Hastings both addressed letters to the Council, declaring that, +in their opinion, a medical officer was needed for the proper carrying +out of the act. + +The by-laws necessary under the Public Health Act for the regulation of +slaughter houses, lodging houses, &c., were another fruitful source of +squabbles during 1850. On the 5th of March a code was agreed to in the +Council, by a majority of 15 to 7, which rendered it necessary that an +“officer of health” should have the superintendence of such places, and +to these the Secretary of State gave his assent. In July, however, the +anti-sanitary party having increased in boldness, carried a new set of +by-laws, by a majority of 18 to 16, in which the words “inspector of +nuisances” was everywhere inserted instead of “officer of health.” They +then begged the Home Secretary to endorse their inconsistent proceeding, +but he refused to do so. The original by-laws are, therefore, now law in +the city of Worcester; but as there is no “officer of health,” no use has +been made of them—they remain a dead letter. + +On the 5th September, 1850, the anti-sanitary party had a public meeting +in the Guildhall, at which Mr. Toulmin Smith attended and delivered an +harangue against centralisation. The meeting actually came to a +resolution “to resist the application of the act in that city and +elsewhere; and, if possible, obtain its repeal.” + +At the municipal elections for 1850, parties were returned to the Council +avowedly “to put a stop to the working of the act altogether;” but the +dignity of the Council and its proceedings was not improved by this +infusion of new blood. Up to the present time not a single step has been +taken towards the practical application of the act in the city; but, +instead of that, the Council have been engaged in a dispute with the +surveyor, whom they refused properly to remunerate—and thus they have +involved the city in great expense to no sort of purpose. The details of +this affair it would be altogether undesirable to resuscitate, and the +more so, as the Central Board have pronounced the Council to be entirely +in the wrong; but there is reason to hope that wiser and more enlightened +views, on a subject which involves the future prosperity of the city and +the health and life of its inhabitants, will soon prevail. + + + + +WORCESTER INFIRMARY. + + +THIS noble charity had its origin in the philanthropy of the medical men +of Worcester in the year 1745. It was first opened in a room in Silver +Street, and it was not for twenty years afterwards that the present +hospital was built, at an expense of upwards of £6,000. It has been +enlarged at various periods since that time, and is now capable of +accommodating 100 in-patients. The funded property of the institution +exceeds £27,000, and the annual subscriptions amount to upwards of +£1,200. The physicians and surgeons attached to the institution at the +beginning of the present century, were Dr. Johnstone, Dr. Seward, and Dr. +Mylne; Mr. Pennell Cole, Mr. Sandford, and Mr. Carden. The following are +minutes of the appointments which have since taken place, and of the more +important proceedings of the governors: + +1800—JANUARY 31—Election of physician in the room of Dr. Johnstone, who +resigned. There were three candidates, and the choice of the subscribers +fell on Dr. Skey, who had 127 votes; Dr. Philip W. Wilson 108, and Dr. +Barnett 73. + +1800—JUNE 27—At a quarterly meeting of the governors, it was ordered that +all legacies and benefactions amounting to or exceeding £50 be funded. + +1801—AUGUST 7—In consequence of “the distressed state of the Infirmary +and the dearness of every article of provision,” the order respecting the +funding of £50 legacies was suspended. + +1801—AUGUST 28—Dr. Barnett unanimously elected one of the physicians in +the room of Dr. Chambers, resigned. + +1803—FEBRUARY 1—Dr. Philip W. Wilson unanimously elected in the room of +Dr. Skey, resigned. + +1810—MARCH 30—It was ordered that the property of the institution, then +invested in the Three per Cents., should be transferred to the Four per +Cent. Government Annuities. + +1812—JUNE 26—Ordered that in future the secretaries of the Infirmary +should give security, by bond, to the amount of £200, for the delivery of +all books and papers belonging to the Infirmary. This was in consequence +of the late secretary, Mr. Staples, having refused to give up the books, +and a dispute as to the balance due from him. The funds being very low +and inadequate to meet the expenses, the Bishop of the Diocese requested +the parochial clergy to make collections in their respective churches on +behalf of the institution, by which means £1,483 were added to the funds. + +1812—OCTOBER 2—Mr. Charles Hastings elected house surgeon in the room of +Mr. Blower, resigned. Mr. Hastings had a competitor in the person of Mr. +James Lewis; and the votes were—for Mr. Hastings, 132; Mr. Lewis, 131. + +1813—AUGUST 13—The number of patients which each subscriber was allowed +to recommend was limited to one patient for every guinea subscribed. The +high price of provisions was alleged as the reason for this step. + +1814—AUGUST 30—Dr. G. Woodyatt elected physician on the resignation of +Dr. Barnett. + +1815—JUNE 30—The order, limiting the number of patients, rescinded, and +the subscribers permitted to recommend two patients for each guinea +subscribed, as was the case previously. The medical officers were +requested to invite the rest of the faculty in Worcester to witness all +the more important operations. + +1815—NOVEMBER 6—Election of surgeon: the office being vacant by the +retirement of Mr. Pennel Cole, Lord Somers proposed Mr. Thomas +Stephenson, who was seconded by Lord Beauchamp; Mr. Josiah Palmer +proposed Mr. J. P. Sheppard, seconded by Mr. Watson, Stourport; Hon. and +Rev. W. Jenkinson proposed Mr. Dangerfield, seconded by Dr. Cameron. The +result of the ballot showed for Mr. Stephenson, 335 votes; for Mr. +Sheppard, 238; and for Mr. Dangerfield, 135. The total polled was thus +708, or very nearly the then average number of subscribers. + +1815—DECEMBER 29—Mr. Herbert Cole (son of Mr. Pennel Cole, for thirty +years one of the surgeons to the Worcester Infirmary) unanimously elected +as house surgeon of the institution in the place of Mr. Charles Hastings, +resigned. + +1816—JANUARY—Sir William Smith, Bart., furnished the matron’s rooms at +his own cost. + +1816—JULY 29—Dr. Lewis Evans elected a physician in the room of Dr. +Cameron, resigned. + +1818—APRIL 20—At a large meeting of the governors, Dr. Philip W. Wilson +brought forward certain charges against his brother officers of the +medical staff, as to an operation which he alleged had been improperly +performed, but the charges were dismissed by the governors. + +1818—APRIL 24—Dr. Philip W. Wilson retired from his post, as physician, +avowedly on the ground that his brother physicians and surgeons +constantly opposed the admission of others of the profession to witness +the operations they performed. Dr. Wilson’s letter to the public was +replied to by Mr. J. H. Savigny, who thought it undesirable that +infirmaries should be turned into theatres for display. + +1818—OCTOBER 2—Ordered that, if the income arising from subscriptions and +funded property is insufficient to keep open two additional wards, then +first fitted up, a sum, not exceeding £200 annually, should be +appropriated for that purpose from such legacies as should be left to the +charity, and not specially directed to be vested in the funds. + +1818—NOVEMBER 2—Jonas Malden, M.D., and Charles Hastings, M.D., were +appointed physicians in the place of Drs. Philip W. Wilson, and Louis +Evans, resigned. + +1819—FEBRUARY 15—J. P. Sheppard, Esq., elected surgeon in the room of Mr. +Stephenson, resigned. + +1819—Dispute amongst the medical men as to the treatment of surgical and +medical cases. + +1819—APRIL—J. H. Savigny, Esq., took the office of secretary _pro. tem._, +in the place of Mr. Jackson, resigned. + +1819—OCTOBER 29—Mr. Matthew Pierpoint appointed surgeon in the room of +Mr. Sandford, who resigned after twenty-seven years of most useful +service to this institution. Mr. Pierpoint was proposed by Lord +Deerhurst, and seconded by Mr. Sandford himself. + +1820—JANUARY 12—A silver cup presented to Mr. Savigny for his various and +important services to the institution. + +1823—APRIL—An additional wing erected in addition to the north end of the +Infirmary. + +1823—JULY 26—Mr. John Eleox chosen secretary to the Infirmary, _vice_ J. +H. Savigny, Esq., resigned. + +1824—APRIL 23—Dr. Lewis chosen physician in the room of Dr. Woodyatt, +deceased. + +1826—NOVEMBER 6—Election of a physician in the room of Dr. Lewis, +resigned. The candidates were Dr. Nash, proposed by John Williams, Esq., +and William Wall, Esq.; and Dr. Streeten, proposed by the Rev. Digby +Smith and Major Johnson. At the close of the ballot Dr. Nash was found +to have 298 votes, and Dr. Streeten 243—majority for Dr. Nash 55. + +1827—MAY 8—The governors agreed to the erection of an operating room, and +other necessary offices, at an expense of £700. + +1829—JUNE 5—Mr. T. H. Wheeler elected secretary, _vice_ Mr. Elcox, +resigned. + +1829—JULY 27—Mr. T. Carden elected surgeon, _vice_ John Carden, Esq., +resigned. + +1830—JULY 2—The funded property of the institution, hitherto in different +stocks, was all transferred to the Three-and-a-half per Cents. Reduced. + +1833—DECEMBER 27—At the quarterly meeting of the governors, Earl +Beauchamp in the chair, it was announced that £1,126 had been collected +for the institution during the last few months at different churches and +Dissenting chapels, which would pay off the debt of £550, due to the +treasurers, and enable them to get through the next twelve months without +touching the funded property. Mr. Gutch afterwards read a report of a +committee which had been appointed to inquire into the expenditure of the +institution which had, for a series of years, exceeded the income. They +admitted that there had been great abuses in various departments of the +institution, and especially as to the supply of drugs and chemicals, and +it was therefore recommended that a practical chemist should be appointed +on the drug committee, who, during his appointment, should be ineligible +to supply drugs. They recommended also that all legacies, above £100, +should be funded, with sundry other regulations. The report was +received, but it was determined not to publish the evidence upon which it +was founded, by a majority of 16 to 11. + +1834—APRIL 4—At the quarterly meeting of the governors, a resolution, +determining that all legacies of £100 should be funded, was adopted; and +it was also resolved that the evidence taken respecting the +mal-administration of the drug department, should be referred to a select +committee. + +1834—JUNE 27—It was determined to take counsel’s opinion as to the power +of the Corporation to renew the lease of ground on which the Infirmary +stood, as it belonged to Nash’s Charity. This matter had repeatedly been +under the attention of the governors, and at last it was found necessary +to obtain an Act of Parliament, in order to legalise the lease. The +sub-committee reported that no further investigation that could be made +into the irregularities which had taken place, and the discrepancy +between the amount of drugs ordered and consumed, would be satisfactory; +and so the matter finally dropped. + +1838—AUGUST 16—Election of a surgeon, in the room of Mr. Thomas Carden, +deceased. There were no less than ten candidates, and a great deal of +interest was excited in the matter by peculiar circumstances attending +some of the candidates. John Williams, Esq., was called to preside over +the meeting, which was adjourned to the County Courts for the sake of +room. The chairman proposed Mr. Edward Morris, who was seconded by +William Acton, Esq.; Colonel Davis and Mr. Sidebottom proposed Mr. J. H. +Walsh; James Morton, Esq., and R. Spooner, Esq., proposed Mr. H. D. +Carden; the Major and Mr. Duncan proposed Mr. Budd. An objection had +been raised to Mr. Carden because he had not been, as the rules were +considered to require, resident during the previous twelve months in +Worcester. Counsel’s opinion was taken on the point, and a very tedious +and hot discussion took place on the matter at the meeting. Ultimately +it came to a vote, and 106 declared Mr. Carden eligible, and 90 that he +was not. His name, therefore, went to the ballot, and he was +elected—having received 310 votes to 131 for Mr. Walsh, and 40 for Mr. +Budd. + +1843—JUNE 30—At a quarterly meeting of the governors, a strong resolution +was passed in reference to a disgraceful attack upon C. H. Hebb, Esq., +which had appeared in the _Guardian_ newspaper. Mr. Hebb having had an +operation very successfully performed upon him, presented the Infirmary +with a sum of £10 in token of his thankfulness, and partly because the +instruments belonging to that institution had been employed by the +operating surgeon. The writer in the _Guardian_ affirmed that the +instruments had been purchased solely with a view to this very operation, +and so “the shine was taken out” of Mr. Hebb’s donation. This proved to +be utterly false. + +1845—DECEMBER 19—A very sharp contest for the office of secretary to the +Infirmary, in the room of Mr. T. H. Wheeler, deceased, between Mr. John +Palmer, proposed by Mr. Curtler and Dr. Hastings—and Mr. D. W. Nash, +proposed by the Rev. T. Pearson and Mr. John Parker. Mr. Nash had 216 +votes, and Mr. Palmer 169. + +1846—MARCH 28—At the quarterly meeting of the governors, the committee +appointed, on the motion of Mr. Curtler, to inquire into an alleged +laxity of attendance on the part of the medical officers of the +institution, and ill conduct of its general business, presented their +report. Mr. Curtler, however, had not attended the meetings of the +committee, because the medical officers all insisted on their right to be +present; and several complaints, therefore, had not been brought before +them. The charges, in most of the cases investigated, seemed to be +disproved; but of the beneficial effect the inquiry had in the improved +management of the institution there can be no doubt. Mr. Curtler +obtained another committee, to revise the whole of the rules of the +institution. + +1846—JUNE 26—A quarterly meeting of the governors held in the Nisi Prius +Court, at the Shire Hall, with John Williams, Esq., in the chair. The +medical men connected with the institution offered great opposition to a +motion of Mr. Curtler’s to exclude the subscribers from all meetings of +committees, and give them leave only to attend the general quarterly +boards; the object being to enable the governors to appoint select +committees. Mr. Curtler supported the proposition, as the usual practice +of all large bodies and institutions of this kind, and because inquiry +into the affairs of the institution by a select committee became +absolutely necessary, as the funds were being frittered away and the +rules neglected. The medical men said the alteration was aimed at them, +and sought their exclusion from the committees. They called select +committees secret committees, and said the rules made with so much wisdom +by their ancestors ought not to be altered. The medical men defeated Mr. +Curtler’s resolution by 58 to 32. + +1847—JANUARY 2—A quarterly meeting of the governors held at the Shire +Hall, over which the Lord Bishop of the Diocese presided. Mr. Curtler +moved for a select committee, on which only two of the medical officers +of the institution should attend, to consider what alterations were +necessary in the rules. The medical men insisted upon their right to be +all present at the meetings of the committee, and only yielded when the +majority of the meeting was evidently seen to be against them. They then +agreed to a committee of nine gentlemen, reserving the right to delegate +any two of their own body to act with them. + +1847—MARCH 27—At the quarterly meeting of the governors, Mr. Curtler’s +committee for revising the rules of the institution presented their +report. The medical men having given way, a great number of alterations +were recommended, and power taken to appoint select committees, on which +two of the medical officers should always serve. The other medical men +of the city and neighbourhood were invited to witness operations; and the +salary of Mr. Cole, the house surgeon, increased to £100 a year. Mr. +Curtler mentioned—as one among other things showing how necessary inquiry +had been—that the malt supplied to the institution was enough for twice +the beer that was consumed within the walls, and that about thirty-three +hogsheads annually disappeared out of the back door. The report was +unanimously received. + +1849—MARCH 31—At the quarterly meeting of the governors it was determined +that the £840 obtained from the sale of tickets at the Jenny Lind concert +should be applied to the building of a chapel for the use of the +patients. The Very Rev. the Dean added another £100; and it was +principally to his exertions in obtaining what more was necessary in the +way of funds, that the public and the patients owe the very pretty +erection which is now attached to the back of the main building. + + + + +WORCESTER MUSICAL FESTIVALS. + + +THE history of the origin of the meetings of the three choirs of +Worcester, Hereford, and Gloucester, does not belong to the nineteenth +century. It will be sufficient here to say that the first took place in +the year 1725 (when £48. 18s. was collected), and that they have +gradually risen in importance, till, besides being the means of obtaining +annually a very large sum for the support of the widows and orphans of +the clergy, they have now taken a first place amongst the musical +_réunions_ of the kingdom, and have greatly aided in fostering the +melodious science. It will be seen from the following brief notes of the +festivals at Worcester, that the most celebrated singers have, from time +to time, all taken a part in the performance here of the chief works of +the great masters of music. In the seventeen meetings held here this +century, upwards of £14,500 have been realised for the clergy’s widows +and orphans. + +1800—SEPTEMBER 14—Seventy-seventh meeting of the three choirs. The +festival this year occupied three days. The sermon was preached by Dr. +James. _The Messiah_, _Creation_, _Acis and Galatea_, &c., performed. +The principal novelty was the chorus in Handel’s _Ode to St. Cecilia_—“As +from the Power.” Chief performers—Madame Mara and Miss Tennant; Messrs. +Knyvett, Nield, and Bartleman. Amount collected for the charity, £468; +and the receipts for tickets yielded a surplus of £250 in addition. + +1803—SEPTEMBER 27—Sermon by the Rev. H. Stillingfleet. Principal vocal +performers—Mrs. Billington and Miss Fanny Ross; Messrs. Melville, +Incledon, Bartleman, Nield, &c. The collections for the charity amounted +to £501. 8s. The receipts were £2,630, and exceeded the expenses by +£600. + +1806—SEPTEMBER 22—Sermon by the Rev. G. Turberville. _The Messiah_ and +_Alexander’s Feast_ were the only entire works performed. The principal +performers were Mrs. Billington, Mrs. Vaughan, Miss Melville; Messrs. +Harrison, Knyvett, &c. The collections amounted to £714. + +1809—SEPTEMBER 26—Sermon by the Rev. Dr. Wingfield. _The Messiah_ the +only oratorio performed entire. Performers—Mrs. Billington and Mrs. +Vaughan; Mr. Braham (his first engagement at these festivals), Messrs. +Bartleman, Vaughan, and Goss. The sum collected for the charity was +£800, the largest amount up to that time ever collected. + +1812—SEPTEMBER 9—Sermon by Rev. Dr. Onslow, Vicar of Kidderminster. +Principal performers—Madame Catalani, Mrs. Salmon, Miss Melville; Messrs. +Vaughan, Goss, Hawes, Denman, and Bellamy. _The Messiah_ and _Creation_ +performed entire. Collections, £906. + +1815—SEPTEMBER 12—Sermon by Rev. J. Fleming St. John. Principal +performers—Madame Marconi, Miss Stephens, Mrs. Vaughan; and Messrs. +Bartleman, Vaughan, Knyvett, &c. _The Messiah_, Haydn’s _Seasons_, and +various selections performed. Collections, £749. The tickets were +printed in London, and some spurious ones got into circulation. + +1818—SEPTEMBER 15—Sermon by the Rev. William Digby. Principal +performers—Miss Stephens, Mrs. Salmon, Miss Symonds; Messrs. Braham, +Kynvett, Bellamy, and Hawes. _The Messiah_ was the only oratorio +performed entire. The contributions to the charity amounted to £936—the +largest amount collected up to that time. + +1821—OCTOBER 3—Sermon by the Dean, Dr. Jenkinson. Principal +performers—Miss Stephens, Madame Camporesi, and Miss Travis; Messrs. +Bellamy, Vaughan, Knyvett, Hawes, Master Smith, &c. _The Messiah_ was +the only oratorio performed entire. A selection from _The Seasons_ one +evening. Sum collected for the charity, £877. + +1824—SEPTEMBER 15—One hundred and first meeting of the three choirs. +Sermon preached by the Hon. and Rev. Edward Rice, D.D. Principal +performers—Mesdames Salmon, Stephens, Travis, and Ronzi de Beguis; +Messrs. Braham, Bellamy, Kynvett, Signor de Begnis, &c. _The Messiah_ +was the only oratorio performed entire. Receipts for the charity, £828; +and for tickets, £2,957. + +1827—SEPTEMBER 11—Sermon preached by the Rev. W. F. Hook, M.A., perpetual +curate of Moseley. Principal performers—Madame Pasta, Madame Caradori +Allan, Miss Stephens, Mrs. W. Knyvett; Messrs. Braham, Phillips, Knyvett, +Vaughan, and Signor Zuchelli. _The Messiah_ and _Palestine_ performed. +Receipts for the charity, £1,083; for admission, £3,997. This was one of +the most successful meetings ever held. The Duchess of St. Albans held +one of the plates the first morning. + +1830—SEPTEMBER 14—Sermon by the Very Rev. the Dean, Lord Bishop of +Rochester. _The Messiah_ was the only oratorio performed. On the first +morning the service was opened by a funeral anthem, in commemoration of +his late Majesty King George IV. Principal performers—Madame Malibran, +Mrs. Knyvett, and Miss Cramer; Messrs. Braham, Phillips, Vaughan, +Knyvett, &c. Balls were held every evening at the Town Hall; and a +banquet was given by the Bishop of Rochester and Lady Sarah Murray, in +the Chapter House, after each morning’s performance. The Duchess of Kent +and the Princess Victoria were among the company. The receipts for the +charity were £1,005, and for admissions, £3,314; being considerably less +than the amount realised in 1827. + +1833—SEPTEMBER 24—Sermon by the Bishop of Worcester. Every pains had +been taken to make this festival successful; the performances occupying +four mornings instead of three, and the orchestra being much enlarged. +About 170 performers were engaged, the principal vocalists being—Madame +Malibran, Miss Clara Novello, and Mrs. Knyvett; Messrs. Braham, Phillips, +Vaughan, and E. Taylor. De Beriot, the violinist, was also a feature of +this festival. _The Messiah_ was performed entire; and selections from +_The Creation_, _Palestine_, _The Last Judgment_, _The Deluge_ +(Schneider), and _Mount Sinai_ (Neukomm)—the last proving a decided +failure. Malibran was all in all at this meeting. The receipts for the +charity were £981, and for admissions, £3,496. The ball at the College +Hall was a most brilliant finale, the company numbering upwards of 700. +The expenses were no less than £4,300; so that the stewards were £800 out +of pocket. + +1836—SEPTEMBER 27—Sermon by the Rev. Prebendary Benson. Principal +performers—Madame Caradori Allan, Miss Hawes, Mrs. Knyvett, and Miss +Novello; Messrs. Braham, Phillips, Vaughan, Knyvett, &c. The scheme +contained many novelties. _The Messiah_ was performed on the first +morning; Mozart’s _Redemption_, Bishop’s cantata, _The Seventh Day_, and +a selection, the second morning; and _The Last Judgment_, with a +selection, on the third. _Acis and Galatea_ was sung at the first +concert; the others were entirely miscellaneous. The receipts exhibited +a sad falling off, being, for the charity, £828, and for admissions, +£2,685. The stewards were about £1,000 out of pocket. An article of +_bijouterie_ was presented to Miss Clara Novello, by Colonel Clive and +the committee, as an expression of their admiration at her singing, and +of thanks for the kind manner in which she had fallen in with the wishes +of the committee as to some alterations of the scheme. + +1839—SEPTEMBER 10—Sermon by the Rev. W. H. Woodgate, Rector of +Bellbroughton. _The Messiah_, _Creation_, and _Palestine_ performed in +their entirety. The concerts were all made up of miscellanea. Principal +performers—Miss Hawes, Miss Clara Novello, Madame Persiani, Miss +Woodyatt, Miss Beale; Messrs. Phillips, Vaughan, Bennett, Machin, +Edmunds, &c. The receipts for the charity this year were £932, and for +admissions £2,820, which was an increase upon the sum realised at the +previous meeting, though the prices of tickets were this year reduced to +the sums at which they have ever since remained. The expenses, however, +reached £4,089, so that there was a deficiency of £1,270. + +1842—SEPTEMBER 20—The sermon was preached by the Lord Bishop of the +Diocese. This festival was marked by an entire change of system and the +great success attending upon it. There were no foreign “stars” engaged +in the vocal department, and, consequently, a great deal of expense was +saved. The oratorios were conducted, not by the organist of the +cathedral, Mr. Clarke, but by Mr. Surman of Exeter Hall, and the +performances were held in the nave and not in the choir. The only +previous occasion on which the festival had been held in the nave was at +the visit of George III, sixty years before. The arrangement of +orchestra and seats was that which has been ever since observed. The +principal singers were—Miss Birch, Miss Marshall, Miss Dolby, Mrs. Loder, +and Miss Davis, our own young townswoman; Mr. Phillips, Mr. Leffler, and +Mr. Hobbs. The oratorios performed were—_The Messiah_, _Judas +Maccabeus_, and _Engedi_. At the evening concerts _Alexander’s Feast_, +Haydn’s _Seasons_, and Schiller’s _Song of __the Bell_ were performed +entire. The chorus consisted of 218 singers, and there were 82 +instruments in the orchestra. The organ was in the course of being +renewed by Hill. The collections for the charity amounted to £1,059. +16s. + +1845—Sermon by Canon Wood. Only three morning performances this year, +which, for the first time, were under the conduct of Mr. Done. _The Last +Judgment_ and a collection of anthems were performed on the Wednesday +morning, and _The Messiah_ on the Thursday. In the evenings _Acis and +Galatea_ and Mendelssohn’s _Walpurgis Nacht_ were performed entire. The +principal vocalists were—the Misses Williams, Miss Rainforth, Miss +Whitnall; Herr Staudigl, Mr. Pearsall, Mr. Hobbs, Mr. Machin, and Mr. +Young. The amount collected for the charity was £850. 14s. + +1848—Sermon by the Very Rev. the Dean of Worcester. Mdlle. Jenny Lind +had promised to take a part at this festival, but Mr. Lumley compelled +her to break her engagement, and she was actually singing at Birmingham +on the first day of the Worcester meeting; notwithstanding this, the +festival was one of the most successful, in point of attendance, which +has ever been held at either of the three cities. On the first morning +at least 1,500 people were present in the nave of the Cathedral, and at +the last concert in the College Hall it is computed that 1,100 persons +were crammed into the room. There were this year four morning +performances; the oratorios performed entire being the _Elijah_ and +_Messiah_, with selections from _Palestine_, _Creation_, and _Engedi_. +In the evenings parts of Mendelssohn’s _Midsummer Night’s Dream_, Haydn’s +_Seasons_, and Weber’s _Oberon_ were performed, with miscellaneous +selections. The principal vocalists were—Mdlle. Alboni, Madame +Castellan, the Misses Williams, and Miss Dolby; Mr. Sims Reeves, Signor +Lablache, Mr. Lockey, Mr. Robinson, and Mr. Machin. The amount collected +for the charity was £960, and the receipts by sale of tickets reached +£3,080; yet the expense attaching to the engagement of the “stars” was so +great that the loss was very considerable. + + + + +NATURAL PHENOMENA. + + +IT is altogether beyond the province of this work to enter into any +detail of the scientific peculiarities of the county of Worcester; but it +would have been very satisfactory to have been able to have recorded +here—besides those isolated disturbances of nature’s more ordinary +course, which arrest the attention of indifferent spectators—the results +of observations made by competent persons which might have formed the +basis of a county meteorology. But, in truth, none such exist; excepting +in the daily memoranda of one or two gentlemen extending over only a very +few years, there are no data for arriving at any conclusions on the +subject. As the members of the medical profession and the scientific +agriculturist become increasingly alive to the important part which +atmosphere and electricity play in the conditions of animal and vegetable +life, the want of such tables will be severely felt. The city of +Worcester itself stands but thirty-six feet above the level of the sea; +and, from its peculiar position, its temperature is generally higher than +that of the surrounding country or of the kingdom generally. Though +Worcestershire may be considered as the central county of England, and +consequently the most inland, yet we have our fair share of rain, and +perhaps even more than an average quantity. Such observations as could +be procured on this point will be found in the Appendix. The principal +part of our rain, and the greater number of storms that visit us, come +from the S.W., and the prevailing wind is also from that quarter. In +some parts of the year it may be matter for every day observation to +notice the vapours, gathered apparently in the Bristol Channel, attracted +by the Malvern range, and spreading out a fan-like nimbus towards the +N.E., which distributes its fertilising showers over Worcester and the +lands lying between Bredon Hill on the one hand and the upper Severn on +the other—often over a much more limited tract of country—while the lands +beyond seem to lie under a dry and cloudless sky. The following are +memoranda of the more remarkable natural phenomena which have excited +notice within the county during this century. + +1802—JANUARY 20—A hurricane occurred, doing great damage to the houses in +and round Worcester. The windmill at Kempsey was set on fire by the +sails being whirled round with so great rapidity. + +1804—JANUARY 20—Violent gale from S.W., doing great damage. A stack of +chimneys falling through the roof of the house of Mr. E. Harris, +attorney, in Edgar Street, Worcester, killed the nursemaid, who was in +bed with two children, who were but little hurt. + +1805—JANUARY 25—The London mail to Worcester stopped by a heavy fall of +snow. + +1807—NOVEMBER 10—A violent storm occurred, which raged pretty generally +over the whole country. A barge laden with coal, moored near Worcester +bridge, was sunk. At Hanley Castle, and Stanford Park, a great many +trees were blown down, and several houses unroofed. + +1808—JULY 15—A most awful tempest from the S.W. The thunder continued in +one unbroken roar for an hour and a half; and the hailstones which fell +were like fragments of a vast plate of ice broken into pieces, being +broad, flat, and ragged. Many of them were perfect and unmelted the next +morning. + +1809—JANUARY 29—Great flood upon the Severn, the water rising to within +nineteen inches of the level of the extraordinary flood of 1795. + +1810—SEPTEMBER 22—A storm, described as “a dreadful whirlwind,” +commencing at Fearnal Heath, and taking a direction due north, through +Salwarp, Ombersley, Doverdale, and to the extremity of Hampton Lovett; +and its effects were felt as far as Chaddesley Corbett. The principal +sufferers were Sir John Pakington, Mr. Silvester of Doverdale, and Mr. +Saunders of Mayeux. Mr. Silvester had two hundred trees on his farm, +either torn up by the roots, or shattered at mid-trunk. Most of them +were pear trees in full bearing. + +1810—NOVEMBER 10—A tempest from the N.E. visited Worcester and its +environs. Great numbers of trees torn up by the roots. The lightning +struck the house of Mr. Harris of Edgar Street, came down the chimney of +the room in which he was sitting, burnt his hand and eyebrows, his +stockings and papers, and tore down a wainscot on the opposite side of +the room. + +1811—MAY 27—The famous Worcester hailstorm happened this day. It was +indeed a tempest, such as had been scarcely ever known in this country +before. Between four and five o’clock p.m., clouds of a horrible +blackness came up from the S.E., accompanied by a hideous noise. Shortly +hail began to fall, which almost immediately became a storm of ice, and +fell furiously in flakes of about five or six inches in circumference. +The windows of almost every house which faced the S.E. were wholly +demolished in a few minutes—gardens were laid utterly waste—and fields, +both of grass and corn, sustained irreparable damage. The ice-storm was +succeeded by heavy torrents of rain, with all the terrors of a tropical +tempest. The river Severn _in one hour rose six feet_, and continued +gradually to swell its torrent till it had reached the height of _twenty +feet_; and the flood, rapid and wide-spreading, swept away in its +impetuous career whole herds of cattle from the adjacent fields. 1,200 +panes of glass were broken in Messrs. Barr’s china manufactory, 500 in +the Workhouse, and 2,000 in Messrs. Chamberlain’s factory. Messrs. +Freame’s cabinet warehouse, Goose Lane, lost 1,000 panes, and all the +public buildings suffered severely. 150 rooks were killed in the rookery +at the White Ladies, and a vast many other birds were also afterwards +found dead. At Henwick and Hallow the crops were miserably injured. The +cost of replacing the glass broken in the city, alone, was estimated at +£5,000; and there being neither sufficient materials nor workpeople at +hand to repair it, the inhabitants for weeks had to suffer the +inconvenience of exposure to the weather. One glazier, who started off +to Stourbridge and purchased all the glass he could lay his hands on, is +said to have laid the foundation of a fortune by this calamity. We have +no record of the state of the atmosphere previous to this storm. + +1814—JANUARY 12—The Severn frozen over at Worcester, so as to admit of +parties walking across it, and the weather in every respect most severe. +JANUARY 20—The frost continued with such severity that the Severn was +frozen over at Tewkesbury, and several persons going to Tewkesbury market +rode over it at the Lode. The roads, also, were so blocked up by snow as +to render traffic of every description almost impossible. + +1817—JUNE 21—The neighbourhood of Stanford visited with a tremendous +tempest. From seven to ten p.m., the roar of the thunder was incessant; +the lightning one continued sheet of fire; and the rain descended in such +torrents that the whole country was inundated. The brook running from +Hanley William through Orleton rose to an enormous height, and carried +away fences, trees, and other obstacles, lodging them at great distances. +Many hop yards destroyed, and the soil almost wholly washed away. The +thermometer stood at 112° Fahrenheit in the sun, on the day before this +storm, and at 82° in the shade. + +1818—MARCH 4—A very furious storm from the S.W. experienced at Worcester, +continuing for about six hours. A great deal of damage done to the roofs +of houses. The Bristol mail was detained eleven hours by the floods. + +1818—APRIL 11—Great flood on the river Severn, the water rising to within +three feet of the height which it reached in February, 1795. + +1820—JANUARY 14—The Severn frozen over. + +1820—MAY 12—A thunderstorm occurred, which was very terrific in several +parts of the county. A rick of hay at Mr. Coucher’s, Woodmanton, +Clifton-on-Teme, was set on fire and wholly burnt; and four deer were +killed by the lightning in Hagley Park. + +1821—JANUARY 20—The Severn frozen over. + +1821—MAY 2—A very fearful thunderstorm occurred, which was general +throughout the kingdom. It did not do much damage in Worcestershire. At +Northwick Park five deer were killed, and their bodies were found +floating in the large sheet of water there. Four out of the five were +six-year-old bucks; and it was surmised that, blinded by the lightning, +they ran into the water; and though deer customarily swim well, yet they +were now unable to exert themselves and so were drowned. + +1821—DECEMBER 24—Great floods upon the Severn, which entirely cut off the +communication between Worcester and the lower parts of the county. The +cellars of all the houses near the Severn were flooded for some days. + +1822—MAY 20—A destructive thunderstorm in the neighbourhood of Worcester. +The hailstones, which were unusually large, smashed great quantities of +glass—particularly about Spetchley, where six hundred panes were broken +in the hothouses of R. Berkeley, Esq. Hailstones were picked up +measuring four inches in circumference. + +1822—DECEMBER 5—A terrific hurricane from the S.W., which raged with more +or less violence throughout the whole of England. In Worcester, the +roofs of several houses were almost uncovered, and the gable end of a +newly-erected building near the House of Industry was blown in. Five +boats were sunk at Diglis; and at Upton bridge one was capsized with +three men in it, one of whom was drowned. The coachman of the Holyhead +mail was twice blown off the box, and one of the horses dropped down +dead, on arriving at Chester, from excessive fatigue. + +1825—JULY 19—A tempest in the neighbourhood of Tenbury and Cleobury +Mortimer. The electric fluid struck an oak tree at Kinlet, and killed +nine sheep sheltering beneath it; set fire to the wooden steeple of Neen +Savage Church, melting the bells which it contained, and threatening the +destruction of the entire edifice. + +1825—DECEMBER 14—A fearful storm of wind, hail, rain, and lightning, +passed over Worcester from the S.W., and the electric fluid displaced a +stone about half way up St. Andrew’s spire. Mr. G. Parry, farmer, of +Hanbury, lost thirty-two ewes, heavy with lamb, and valued at £100. + +1826—JANUARY 14—A storm of wind, which blew a perfect hurricane about +noon. A stack of chimneys at Mr. Sidebottom’s house, at Worcester, fell +through the roof and two floors, severely injuring a servant. Trees in +the neighbourhood were torn up by the roots, walls and fences laid flat, +and corn and hay ricks unthatched and scattered. A considerable part of +the spire of Cleobury Mortimer Church was broken off during divine +service, and the congregation rushed out of the edifice in terror. A +barge, heavily laden with coal, was sunk in the Severn. + +1828—JULY 8—A tempest of considerable violence, during which the +lightning struck a house in Newdix Court, High Street, Worcester, and a +cottage near Merriman’s Hill—not, however, doing much damage in either +case. Vehement gusts of wind stripped old roofs of their tiling, and +blew down several trees in the neighbourhood. + +1830—JANUARY 20—A very heavy fall of snow, blocking up all the roads, so +that no coaches reached Worcester at all from the west, and the London +coaches came in a day after their time. + +1831—JULY 10—A tempest which raged throughout the county, doing much +damage. The lightning struck Hales, a watchman of Worcester, while +sitting at the door of a house at Spetchley, and he was for a time +paralysed, while the blood flowed from his ears and mouth. At Wick a +cottage was burnt down, and the nephew of the widow who occupied it was +affected by the electric fluid, much in the same manner as Hales. On +Defford Common the hailstones lay in hillocks nine inches high, and some +of the stones were as large as pigeon’s eggs. A great deal of glass was +broken, birds killed, crops destroyed (the heads of the wheat being +separated from the straw, and the pods of beans laid open), and fencing +laid low. + +1836—DECEMBER 28–30—An extraordinary snowstorm, which extended over the +greater part of the country, and continued for several days, till all the +roads were blocked up and communication almost at an end. The Worcester +mail was blocked up in the snow at Enstone, and could not be got out. +The mails for three days were thirty-six hours behind time. In some +places the snow was said to have drifted to a height of twenty feet. + +1839—JANUARY 9—A fearful gale of wind, general throughout the country, +and doing great damage to houses and plantations in this county. At +Burlish Common, near Stourport, a stack of chimneys fell through the roof +of a cottage on to the bed where a young woman was lying, and she +sustained such injuries as to cause her death shortly afterwards. + +1839—JUNE 13—A very violent hailstorm raged chiefly in the northern part +of the county. At Hagley, several hundred pounds’ worth of glass were +destroyed; and in Mr. G. B. Lea’s spinning mill, at Drayton, near +Kidderminster, 580 small panes were broken. At Hartlebury, &c., great +damage was done to the growing crops—many fields of barley being totally +destroyed; and at Harvington the hailstones were reported to lie six feet +deep on the ground: fifty rooks were killed in that neighbourhood. + +1839—JULY 31—In consequence of unintermittent rains for several days +together, a flood occurred in all the running streams, which rose higher +than had been known for many years. Of course, great damage was done to +the pastures and crops. On several roads communication was cut off. The +Ludlow and Aberystwith mails to Worcester were both stopped. The guard +of the Ludlow mail attempted to get on in a two-horse fly; but, at +Newnham, the fly was fairly floated, and the guard himself narrowly +escaped drowning. The Aberystwith coach was stopped at Knightsford +bridge, and had to be lashed to a tree: the bags were brought away in +boats. + +1843—JULY 5—An alarming tempest visited Worcester and the neighbourhood, +killing several sheep, shivering fine trees, and the subsequent hail +destroying much glass in greenhouses. + +1843—JULY 13—A very severe thunderstorm again occurred, igniting some +farm buildings at Abberton, killing a mare at Redditch, and doing other +damage. The wife of a labourer at Eastnor was struck by the lightning, +and the whole of her apparel was reduced to tinder; the steel busk of her +stays was heated to a red heat! and her body, in consequence, frightfully +burnt—nevertheless she recovered. The wife of a gardener at Inkberrow, +named Hopkins, was sitting at the fireplace, when the electric fluid came +down the chimney, and striking the woman, passed along her spine, killing +her on the spot. The damage done to the crops along the eastern border +of the county was very great. + +1843—AUGUST 9—A most violent thunderstorm, whose chief fury seemed to be +spent immediately over the city of Worcester. Wind in S.W. For two +hours the thunder pealed incessantly, and the electric fluid struck at +least ten houses in the city, but without doing any material damage at +either place. At one house which the lightning entered, in the Shambles, +a boy was standing with an awl in his hand, and the electric fluid +severed the blade from the haft, leaving the latter in the hand of the +boy! + +1845—JULY 6—A terrific thunderstorm, extending over all the S.W. and +midland counties of England, broke this evening over Worcester, just as +the several congregations were leaving their respective places of +worship. Just before the hurricane of rain commenced, the whole clouded +sky was covered with a lurid glare, as if from the reflection of a +distant conflagration. A great number of fine trees were uprooted, +especially near Bewdley. At Witley Court, great damage was done to the +windows and conservatories; at Pershore the hailstones were, in fact, +large pieces of ice, and some 2,000 panes of glass were broken. + +1846—AUGUST 1—A violent thunderstorm, which did considerable damage in +some parts of England, but not much in this neighbourhood. Two lambs, +belonging to J. Lea, Esq., of The Shrubbery, Kidderminster, were killed +by the lightning. + + + + +MISCELLANEOUS OCCURRENCES. + + +1800. + + +THE present century opened in a tempest of war and confusion, which gave +little prospect of soon exhausting its fury. Mention will be found below +of several serious riots on account of the high price of provisions, +which may be thus accounted for: The exemption from cash payments in 1797 +had given great relief to the merchants and tradespeople generally, but +had little effect upon the condition of the working classes; and the war +had not yet withdrawn so many men from productive industry as materially +to raise the rate of wages. The total number of levies for the army, +from the commencement of the war to the end of 1800, was but 208,388. It +had, however, continued sufficiently long to raise the price of all +provisions enormously, and the very deficient harvests of 1799 and 1800 +greatly increased this evil, and added to the distress. So much disquiet +was excited by these causes that Parliament was called together for a +second sitting in November, and all sorts of expedients were resorted to +to increase the supply of food—bounties were granted on the importation +of foreign corn—the use of corn in distilleries, or for making starch, +was prohibited—the manufacture of fine flour, or the use of it in making +bread, was forbidden, while the use of oats and barley was permitted and +encouraged—bakers were prohibited from selling bread that had not been +baked twenty-four hours—and, lastly, in the month of December His Majesty +issued a proclamation exhorting the strictest economy in families on the +use of every kind of grain, recommending that people should abstain from +pastry, and on no account allow the consumption of bread in their +households to exceed one quartern loaf for each person in a week. +Statutes against “engrossing and regrating,” that had almost become +obsolete, were also raked up and eagerly put in force against +speculators, whether great or small, both by country magistrates and +chief justices, though the great Holt had long ago laughed at them. The +average price of wheat this year was 119s. 6d. per quarter; and Three per +Cent. Consols averaged 63½. + +JANUARY—A subscription entered into for the relief of the poor in +Worcester, in consequence of the “high price of bread, butter, and other +necessaries of life.” The parties at the public meeting, called to +promote the subscription, pledged themselves “to reduce the consumption +of flour and butter in their own families as much as possible, and +earnestly recommended the same to all ranks of persons within the city +and suburbs.” The subscription, in the whole, amounted to more than +£700. The soup kitchen was opened before this time. + +JANUARY 7—The post boy, carrying the mail with the letter bags from +Worcester, for Bewdley, Kidderminster, and Stourbridge, was stopped about +six in the morning, two miles only from Worcester, by a man on foot, who +presented a pistol—cut the straps of the portmanteau and carried the mail +away. A reward of £200 was offered by Government, but the offender was +never apprehended. + +JANUARY 14—The County Magistrates, at Quarter Sessions, ordered that “no +makers of bread for sale, shall make, or sell, any superior quality of +bread at a higher price than the standard wheaten bread; and that every +peck loaf should weigh 17 lbs. 6oz., and every quartern loaf 4 lbs. 5 oz. +8 drams.” Price of wheat in Worcester market, 13s. 4d. to 15s. 6d. the +bushel. Hops, £14 to £16 per cwt. + +JANUARY 17—The “Worcester Fencible Light Dragoons,” retiring to England +from service in Ireland, were thanked by Lord Cornwallis, Adjutant +General of the forces in Ireland, for their services in that kingdom. + +JANUARY 25—The magistrates of Worcester offered ten guineas reward for +the discovery of the writer of “several inflammatory papers, reflecting +upon their conduct,” which were found in the Foregate Street. + +JANUARY 25—A labouring man robbed at Barbourne, Worcester, by footpads; +and, two days after, a farmer, on horseback, was stopped at the same +spot. + +FEBRUARY 21—A man apprehended in Worcester market for “forestalling,” and +committed to the assizes for trial. + +MARCH 9—A “Worcester Fire Office” established, with a capital of +£100,000. + +APRIL 4—Disturbances in the Worcester markets, on account of the high +price of provisions. The magistrates issued a notice that sellers would +be protected. The consumption of butter greatly reduced in consequence +of its enormous price. + +APRIL 7—The Corporation of Worcester offered premiums of 1s. 6d. for the +first 100 bushels of potatoes brought into the market before the 1st +July; 1s. for the second 100; and 9d. for the third. Claimants upon 240 +bushels were paid. Wheat at 14s. 6d. to 18s. per bushel. Beef at least +9d., and mutton 10d. per lb. + +APRIL 25—The colliers of Stourbridge in a state of great disturbance from +the scarcity. A squadron of the 7th Dragoon Guards sent into the +neighbourhood. + +MAY 2—Meeting of the gentry and inhabitants of Stourbridge; the Hon. +Edward Foley in the chair; at which resolutions were passed, begging the +farmers to bring wheat into that market to sell at 15s. per bushel, and +barley at a price not exceeding 8s. + +MAY 9—Disturbances at Redditch, which threatened to be very serious, but +quelled by the Bromsgrove Volunteers, who stood a furious attack made on +them by the mob with great firmness and prudence. Several of the rioters +were apprehended, but discharged on finding sureties for their good +behaviour. + +MAY 15—Attempt on the King’s life in Drury Lane Theatre by Hadfield. +Addresses from the Worcester Corporation were sent to the Right Hon. the +Earl of Coventry for presentation, as recorder of the city. + +MAY 30—Accounts of “Internal Defence Subscription” published, from which +it appeared that £4,550 had been subscribed by the county, and £532 by +the city of Worcester: spent equally in the augmentation of the Militia +and the Yeomanry Cavalry. + +JUNE 10—Visitation and address by the Bishop, in which the scarcity was +attributed to the war and inclement seasons. Use of “Church Catechism,” +in the instruction of children, urgently enforced. + +JUNE 26—Honorary degree of M.A. conferred on Lord Foley, at the Oxford +Commemoration of Founders and Benefactors of the University. + +JULY 9—A further subscription entered into in Worcester for the relief of +the poor, who had been constantly subsidised from the fund ever since the +winter; 96,000 quarts of soup having been distributed amongst them, +besides great quantities of potatoes and much money. + +JULY 21—Lord Dudley and Ward purchased a large quantity of imported wheat +at Liverpool, to retail to the poor at a reduced price. Price of wheat +in Worcester market, 21s. to 22s. 6d. per bushel. + +AUGUST 10—The price of wheat in Worcester market having fallen to 10s. +and 13s. per bushel, the relief committee discontinued their labours. +The promise of a plenteous harvest produced this change for the better. + +AUGUST 15—The Mayor and magistrates of Worcester attempted to enforce +sanitary regulations—such as cleansing “the kennels,” for they considered +“all stagnate water injurious to health, and the exhalations from it the +forerunners of contagious disorders.” + +AUGUST—A great number of houses between Stourport and Worcester searched +for unlawful nets, used for the taking of small fish in the Severn. Many +such being found they were all publicly burned at Bewdley. + +AUGUST 25—This evening, because the bakers in Worcester were unprovided +with bread to sell, the populace assembled as soon as it was dark and +began to demolish their windows, but the disturbance was soon put a stop +to by the magistrates. A sudden rise in the price of flour on the +previous Saturday had prevented the bakers from supplying themselves with +the necessary quantity for the week. + +SEPTEMBER 12—The Mayor, magistrates, &c., of Worcester met “to ensure a +more regular supply of the necessaries of life, at reasonable prices,” to +their fellow citizens, and determine to erect a corn mill to be worked by +steam. + +SEPTEMBER 19—A mare, belonging to Mr. Tully of St. John’s, ridden seventy +miles on the London Road, from Worcester to Benson, in eleven hours and +forty-nine minutes. + +SEPTEMBER 21—Meeting of farmers, &c., at Bromsgrove, when they agreed to +supply that market, for three months, with wheat at 11s. 6d. a bushel. + +NOVEMBER 21—“John Bunn, jun., flax dresser,” advertised his address. +Sales of flax crops occasionally advertised. + +NOVEMBER 27—£2,350 subscribed to the Flour and Bread Institution, for the +benefit of the industrious poor. The institution bought foreign wheat +largely, and sold to the poor at reduced prices. It was said in its +results “greatly to exceed the expectations of its most sanguine +promoters.” + +DECEMBER 1—Lord Valentia and Mr. Child supplied the Bewdley market with +grain, at 12s. a bushel, to be sold to the poor, under the direction of +the bailiff. + +DECEMBER 5—Mr. Burrow, saddler, of Worcester, purchased a large quantity +of potatoes to sell again to the poor under the market price. + +DECEMBER 10—John Beet, of Rowley Regis, butcher, was convicted by the +Droitwich magistrates, in the full penalty of 50s. for “cutting and +gashing two cow hides and a calf skin, and for slaying them below the +gambrel or knee.” + +LOCAL ACTS PASSED THIS YEAR—For continuing and enlarging powers of +Bewdley Turnpike Trust; ditto Kidderminster Turnpikes; Act for repairing +roads leading to and from the Hundred House. + + + +1801. + + +IN February, this year, Mr. Pitt unexpectedly retired, and Mr. Addington +was called to the King’s Councils, a fact principally to be attributed to +the ill success of the war which had been entered into with France, and +continued at a cost of blood and treasure totally disproportionate to its +advantages. The new ministry, from the moment of entering office, +declared peace to be their aim, and the preliminary articles were signed +in London in October. This war, which had lasted for eight years, cost +us £427,000,000, and at the end of it the only additional possessions we +retained were Trinidad and the Dutch holdings in Ceylon. In consequence +of the harvest in 1800 being almost an entire failure, the high price of +provisions continued to create much distress amongst the poor, and the +bounties on flour imported from America were increased. The Three per +Cents. fluctuated between 54¾, in January, and 69½, in October: average +price about 61. Wheat averaged 69s. 10d. + +JANUARY—Price of grain in Worcester market 20s. to 24s. a bushel. + +MARCH 28—Riot amongst the Worcester women, on account of the high price +of provisions—20d. being asked for a pound of butter; 2s. a peck for +potatoes; and 9d. a pound for meat. The mob of women prevented the +Birmingham “badgers” from carrying off their purchases, and then, +assembling before a baker’s shop in Broad Street, compelled his wife to +throw out to them all the bread she had in the house. Special constables +were at last sworn in and tranquillity restored. + +MAY 27—Price of the quartern loaf fixed by the Mayor of Worcester at 1s. +7d., though selling the same day in London at 1s. 4½d. Constant +complaints that the markets at Worcester were higher than elsewhere, and +as this continued to be the case, a Mr. B. Lloyd purchased, in June, +1,000 barrels of American flour at Liverpool, and sold them here in +single barrels. + +JUNE 20—Two vagrants, confined in the County Bridewell, forced out a +window, and, dropping themselves over a wall twenty feet high, made good +their escape. + +JULY 17—The committee of the Worcester Flour and Bread Institution +reported, that since the previous October, 100,000 loaves had been sold +to the poor by its means at one third less than the average market price. +During the same period 140,000 quarts of soup had been distributed. + +JULY 30—The Directors of the Worcester House of Industry, which was +established in 1795, published a statement apologising for the increase +of rates. The average number of poor relieved in and out of the house, +during the previous twelve months, had been 583 weekly! while in 1795 it +was only 235. The Directors attributed this increase to the high price +of food and the sickliness of the season, and said it was not greater +than in other manufacturing towns. + +AUGUST 5—Miss Mellon performed at Worcester Theatre to crowded houses. + +OCTOBER 14—Dinner at the Crown Hotel, Worcester, “to celebrate the +Peace.” Illumination, &c. + +OCTOBER 15—Ball at the Guildhall, for the benefit of the Infirmary, +attended by 300 persons. Net profits £102. + +NOVEMBER 10—Lord Foley met with a severe accident while hunting, one of +his horse’s legs dropping into a deep hole and falling back upon his +lordship. + +NOVEMBER 10—An advertisement having been inserted in the Worcester +papers, by the Hon. Mr. Ward, stating that he intended to offer himself +as a candidate for Worcester at the next general election, the +Corporation met and voted unanimously that “as there is no vacancy in the +representation of the city, the Corporation considered that an +insuperable bar to their countenancing a contest from any quarter +whatever, having had woful experience how destructive it is of peace and +good neighbourhood, which happily has prevailed among all ranks of +citizens for a long time.” + +DECEMBER 14—Both the Worcester members, Mr. Wigley and Mr. Robarts, voted +in a minority of 22 to 80, to continue the restrictions on the use of +barley in distilleries. + +DECEMBER 18—General collection made throughout the city by the parish +officers on behalf of the Infirmary, instead of further illuminations on +account of the Peace. + +DECEMBER 21—Considerable festivities at Witley Court, on Lord Foley +attaining his majority. A very large sum distributed amongst the poor of +the neighbourhood. + + + +1802. + + +THE confirmation of the Peace of Amiens diffused universal joy, and the +harvest of 1801 having been tolerably abundant, much less pressure was +experienced on account of the price of bread. Three per Cents. stood at +about 70½. Wheat averaged 69s. 10d. + +JANUARY 9—C. Thellusson, Esq., M.P. for Evesham, distributed one hundred +guineas amongst the poor freemen of that borough. + +JANUARY 11—William Smith publicly whipped in the corn market, Worcester, +according to sentence of sessions, for stealing a bag. + +FEBRUARY 1—Lord Foley appeared at the bar of the Court of Common Pleas, +and suffered recoveries of estates of considerable value. He took his +seat in the House of Lords on the 22nd April. + +APRIL 16—The Worcester Militia, under Colonel Newport, called together +and disembodied. + +MAY 5—A private in the 5th Dragoons, immured in Worcester gaol for +desertion, and daily expecting exemplary punishment, received an account +of the death of a distant relation in Ireland, bequeathing him a property +of £4,000 per annum. + +JUNE 1—General Thanksgiving for the Peace. An address of congratulation +was voted on the occasion by the Corporation of Worcester, and forwarded +to the Earl of Coventry, as recorder of the city, for presentation. + +JUNE 9—The Hon. Mr. Ward attained his majority, and the event was +celebrated at Himley with great rejoicings. A barrel of beer, called +“Big Ben,” containing 1,000 gallons, which had been brewed at the birth +of Mr. Ward, was tapped on the occasion. + +JUNE 8—The Yeomanry assembled on the _Sunday_, as requested, and received +the thanks of His Majesty and the Parliament. Each troop, henceforth, +reduced to forty rank and file. + +AUGUST 29—Lord Nelson, accompanied by Sir William and Lady Hamilton, +visited Worcester, on their return from a tour through South Wales. He +was met on the road by a great number of people, who drew his carriage +into the city: visited the china manufactory; was received by the Mayor +and Corporation at the Town Hall; entertained at a collation; and the +Earl of Coventry, the recorder, presented him with the freedom of the +city in a china vase from Messrs. Chamberlain’s manufactory. [The visit +is recorded by the mosaic of stones in front of the Guildhall.] + +SEPTEMBER 10—The price of coals being raised, Lord Dudley and Ward +directed that the poor inhabitants of Worcester should be supplied from +his pits at nearly half the ordinary cost. + +SEPTEMBER 27—H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge visited Worcester, his regiment +being then quartered in this county, and was presented with the freedom +of the city. + +DECEMBER 10—The magistrates of Worcester published a correct list of +fairs, &c., because the difference between the Old and New Styles being +then thirteen days instead of twelve, great uncertainty prevailed +respecting the days on which they actually took place, and people +frequently arrived “a day after the fair.” + +PRIVATE ACT PASSED THIS YEAR—For enclosure of waste lands at Ripple. + + + +1803. + + +THE hollow peace proved very short-lived. Buonaparte being evidently +bent on the subjugation of the entire continent, and the British refusing +to evacuate Malta till they had satisfaction as to his designs, war was +again declared in May this year. The return to hostilities seemed as +much to please the nation at large as the peace had done only the year +before. On the threat of invasion arose that unparalleled volunteer +enthusiasm to which many of the following memoranda have reference. +Consols fluctuated from 73 in January to 52 in October; average price, +about 60. Price of wheat, 58s. 10d. + +JANUARY 10—A. Robarts, Esq., M.P. for Worcester, “with his accustomed +liberality,” presented half a guinea to each of the poor freemen of the +city who chose to accept it, and the gift was “gratefully received” by +upwards of 500 persons—the total sum distributed being 270 guineas. + +JANUARY 24—The new member, Joseph Scott, Esq., entertained 500 of the +freemen at a dinner, and next day invited 123 of his more respectable +friends to dine at the Hoppole, in celebration of his election. One of +the toasts given was, “The pious and revered memory of the late Mr. +Alderman Mather.” + +FEBRUARY 1—The Venerable Bishop Hurd completed the select and valuable +library at the Episcopal Palace, Hartlebury, which he has since +bequeathed as an heir-loom to his successors in the see. + +MAY 18—The Worcestershire Militia, under Colonel Newport, set out, by +forced marches, for Gosport, in consequence of the renewal of war with +France. + +MAY 26—The Messrs. Chamberlain sent, in pursuance to order, a superb set +of porcelain to court, for the use of His Majesty on the ensuing +birthday. + +JUNE 6—The Droitwich Road Bill received the royal assent, after a very +severe opposition in Parliament. + +JUNE 22—Meeting of the hop planters of Worcester and Hereford at the +Talbot, Tything, Worcester, the Hon. James S. Cocks in the chair, to +petition that the use of quassia may be prohibited. + +AUGUST 12—The enthusiastic citizens of Worcester form themselves into a +corps of “Loyal Worcester Volunteers;” and similar corps were formed in +every town and many of the rural districts in the county. The +subscriptions for clothing and arms for the city corps amounted to +£2,500. + +AUGUST 19—The Worcester Loyal Volunteers, amounting then to 722 men, met +on Pitchcroft, and elected the Hon. George Coventry their Lieutenant +Colonel, and Samuel Wall, jun., Esq., their Major. + +SEPTEMBER 21—Lord Foley formed a rifle corps of 100 men, to be added to +the extraordinary defences of the country “at the present crisis.” + +OCTOBER 9—(Sunday)—General muster and exercise of the Loyal Volunteer +Infantry on Pitchcroft. Almost all the drills took place on the +Sunday—the members of the corps being, from business, unable to attend on +any other day. Hon. George Coventry commandant of this district. + +DECEMBER 3—The ladies bought up every particle of flannel that they could +lay their hands on, to make flannel dresses for the volunteers! + +DECEMBER 16—William Sturges, Esq., of Acton Hall, Worcestershire, M.P. +for Christchurch, Hants, received permission to take the additional name +of Bourne. This gentleman gave name, in turn, to a very well known act +of Parliament. + +LOCAL ACTS—For continuing and enlarging powers of acts for repair of road +from Worcester to Bromsgrove; for making horse towing path from Bewdley +to Diglis; for inclosure of lands at Little Comberton. + + + +1804. + + +MR. PITT, having strengthened his hands by the addition of Addington, now +Viscount Sidmonth, and his friends, returned to office; the war with +Buonaparte was carried on with fresh vigour, and the volunteers at home +were fired with an increase of patriotic ardour. The number of men +withdrawn from productive industry amounted already to at least 400,000; +and that remarkable rise in prices, which continued throughout the war, +now commenced. Consols averaged 57. Bad harvest; wheat averaged 62s. +3d. + +FEBRUARY 12—(Sunday)—General inspection, on Pitchcroft, of the Loyal +Worcester Volunteers under Colonel Coventry, by Colonel Houston. The St. +John’s, Bewdley, Stourport, Kidderminster, Evesham and Pershore, and +Elmley corps also reviewed this week. + +MARCH 10—The towns of Bewdley and Kidderminster alarmed very early by the +beating of the Volunteer drums, in consequence of a report that the +French had landed, 50,000 strong. The Volunteers immediately assembled, +shouldered their muskets, and set off towards Worcester with immense +alacrity and amid the enthusiastic cheers of their wives and sweethearts. +After marching some three or four miles they were informed, that it was a +false alarm, intended merely by way of proof and exercise. So they +marched back again, in ire and chagrin. + +APRIL 10—Colours, worked by the young ladies of Evesham, were presented +to the Evesham and Pershore Volunteers by Mrs. Perrott. + +APRIL 17—A similar presentation was made to the Worcester Volunteers by +Lady Deerhurst. Colours afterwards consecrated in the Cathedral. + +MAY 29—The ancient custom, of the different companies walking in +procession with the Mayor and Corporation of Worcester to the Cathedral, +revived. + +AUGUST 1—The Tenbury Volunteers (Captain Edward Wheeler) received colours +from Mrs. Pytts of Kyre House. + +SEPTEMBER 6—A meeting of the trustees of the Upton roads to rebut the +statement of “certain interested innholders who, to serve their own +private ends, make a practice of falsely representing to their customers +that the road from Upton to Gloucester is so greatly out of repair as to +endanger the safety of travellers, and that there are no proper +accommodations for persons travelling in carriages, either at Upton or +Corse Lawn.” + +SEPTEMBER 17—The South Worcester Volunteers presented with colours on +Hanley Common by Mrs. Lygon, who also presented the privates with a purse +of 100 guineas to drink the King’s health. + +NOVEMBER—The Directors of the Worcester House of Industry gave notice, +that they intended to obtain for all incorrigibly vicious females twelve +months’ hard labour in Bridewell; therefore they had better keep clear of +the united parishes and the workhouse beadles. + +LOCAL ACT—For continuing and enlarging the powers of the Upton Turnpike +Trustees. + + + +1805. + + +THE discussion of the Catholic claims was the principal domestic matter +occupying the attention of Parliament and the public; while the death of +Nelson, and Trafalgar, filled all men’s hearts and mouths towards the +close of the year. The war was fast becoming popular; for though the +taxes were enormous, our taxable income, which in 1792 appears not to +have exceeded £130,000,000, had increased to £220,000,000. A great +proportion of the vast war outlay was, in fact, but a circulation amongst +ourselves. Consols averaged 59; wheat averaged 89s. 9d. + +JANUARY 4—The Vice Chancellor and Mayor of Oxford issuing a notice, +forbidding all stage carriages to pass through that city between nine +a.m. and four p.m. on Sundays, the times of the carriers leaving +Worcester on the Friday were obliged to be altered. They afterwards set +out for London at five p.m. on Friday, reaching London on Tuesday +morning. + +FEBRUARY—A dispute between the physicians and surgeons of Worcester, the +former (Dr. Cameron, Dr. Wilson, and Dr. Barnett) declaring that they +would not meet the surgeons in consultation in any medical cases unless +the surgeons would refrain from acting as consulting physicians. They +defined the department of the surgeon to be—any external or local disease +unaccompanied by any general affection of the system but what the local +disease itself produced and requiring manual assistance in its treatment. +Messrs. Yeomans, Rayment, Nash, Hill, Hebb, and Romney consented to the +physicians’ terms; Messrs. Cole, Sandford, and Carden refused them. + +FEBRUARY 25—The Hon. Mr. Ward presented a petition to the House of +Commons from the freeholders and rackrenters of Worcestershire and +Herefordshire, praying to be allowed to employ five horses in narrow +wheeled waggons. + +MARCH 29—The following advertisement appeared in the _Worcester Herald_ +of this date: + + “COCKING: A main of cocks will be fought at the house of Mr. John + Lloyd, the sign of the Pheasant, New Street, Worcester, between the + gentlemen of Worcestershire and the gentlemen of Gloucestershire, to + show and weigh thirty-one cocks on each side in the main, for four + guineas a battle and fifty guineas the odd battle; and twenty cocks + on each side in the byes, for two guineas a battle. To weigh on + Saturday the 18th of April, 1805, and fight on Monday, Tuesday, and + Wednesday, the following week, being Easter week. + + FEEDERS: GOSLING, Worcestershire. HAYNES, Gloucestershire.” + +MAY 1—The Loyal Worcester Volunteers inspected by General Bingham, and +afterwards marched to Gloucester, there to remain twenty-one days on +permanent duty. + +MAY 6—The Worcester Yeomanry Cavalry, under the command of the Hon. +Colonel Cocks, marched to Hereford, there to remain on fifteen days’ +permanent duty. + +MAY 20—The Volunteers return from Gloucester laden with honours and +encomiums. The officers of the regiment invited to a dinner at the Crown +Inn by the Mayor and Corporation. + +JULY 22—The Young Roscius performed in Worcester Theatre with the same +success as elsewhere. The exorbitant prices which the manager, in the +first instance, wished to charge for admission caused considerable +excitement and a sort of O. P. riot, and the manager was obliged to +yield. + +SEPTEMBER 25—A boy, gathering nuts in a wood at Crowle, accidentally +removed a piece of turf, and found beneath it a trap door and chimney. +He called several men to the spot, who immediately descended through the +door, and discovered a subterranean cave divided into several apartments +with much care and ingenuity. In one of the rooms there was a quantity +of cold meat, and in another a number of skins with entrails, &c. It had +evidently been the retreat of sheepstealers and general thieves, though +none happened to be there at the moment of discovery. + +DECEMBER 11—An address presented to the King from the Corporation of +Worcester, congratulating him upon the glorious victory of Trafalgar, and +lamenting the death of Nelson. As much as £400 collected in Worcester +for the wounded marines, and the widows and orphans of those who fell in +the action. + +LOCAL ACTS—For building a chapel of ease at Redditch; for enclosure of +waste lands at Rushock. + + + +1806. + + +THIS year Pitt and Fox both passed from the scene. Pitt was only in the +forty-seventh year of his age; and though he had conducted the affairs of +the kingdom during a longer period, and with greater popularity, than +perhaps any other statesman in modern times, yet he may be said to have +died of chagrin at the defeat of all his favourite schemes. Grenville +and Fox succeeded him at the helm of affairs, and the general election +which then took place furnished them with a strong body of supporters in +the House of Commons. The new ministry were pacifically inclined, but +found it impossible to negociate with Buonaparte. A loan of twenty +millions was negociated to carry on the war, and the property tax +increased from 6¼ to 10 per cent. Consols stood at about 60; wheat +averaged 79s. 1d. + +FEBRUARY 19—A Malvern carrier, returning to Worcester, drove his horse +and cart over the side of Powick bridge, at a place where the wall had +fallen down and the road broken in. He was carried a considerable +distance down the stream, but help came in time to save his life. The +dangerous state of the bridge was accounted for by there being a dispute +between the Earl of Coventry and the parish of Powick, as to who was +liable to the repairs. The matter had been tried at Gloucester Assizes +in 1802, and a verdict given for the parish; nevertheless, his lordship +had not repaired it. + +APRIL 7—A man stopped by footpads on the road between Droitwich and +Worcester (about two miles from the former place), and robbed of all the +money he had, about 8s. + +MAY—The Worcester Lying-in Charity established. + +JULY 29—At the Summer Assizes, Michael Crockett found guilty of a fraud +at Bromsgrove, was ordered to be pilloried in that town on the succeeding +market day, and afterwards to be imprisoned for two years. + +SEPTEMBER 5—The Prince of Wales and the Duke of Clarence visited Evesham +and Kidderminster. + +LOCAL (PRIVATE) ACTS—For enclosure of lands in Wick and St. Andrew, +Pershore; ditto in Crowle. + + + +1807. + + +THE abolition of the slave trade, under the short Grenville ministry, +must ever be remembered as the feature of this year. Lord Howick having +brought in a bill for securing to all His Majesty’s subjects the +privilege of serving in the army or navy without regard to religious +opinions, the King’s “scruples” were aroused, and he called a new +administration, with the Duke of Portland at its head, to his councils. +They dissolved Parliament, and the elections were attended with great +excitement. By means of the cry of “the Church in danger,” a remarkable +reaction was effected, and the ministry found themselves commanding large +majorities in the new House. One of the first acts of the new ministry +was one which marked by how long an interval they were separated from the +minister in whose steps they professed to follow. At the request of our +merchants, whose ships were under various disadvantages from which those +of neutral states were free, they issued Orders in Council that neutral +vessels, _whithersoever bound_, should put into some port connected with +England, and there obtain a license to continue their trade! A general +suspension of American navigation and trade consequently took place, and +these orders eventually led to the war with America in 1812. They +contributed also in various ways to the depreciation of our bank paper, +and their folly was thus terribly and speedily avenged upon ourselves. +Consols averaged 63; wheat averaged 75s. 4d. + +FEBRUARY 25—A woman, named Mary Davies, publicly whipped at Kidderminster +by order of the magistrates, for embezzling a quantity of yarn. + +APRIL 2—Captain Bund appointed to the Colonelcy of the Worcestershire +Militia, _vice_ Colonel Charlton, deceased. + +APRIL 27—Mr. Robarts, member for Worcester, offered to erect a steam +engine for supplying the city with water. The waterworks which have ever +since been made to serve for that purpose, were erected in consequence of +this generous offer. + +MAY 1—Sir Thomas Winnington fell from his horse, near Bromyard, while +accompanying Colonel Foley to his canvass in Herefordshire, and broke his +leg. + +JUNE 23—A riot in Worcester between the mob and the military in barracks +there, and several parties taken into custody. A recruit, for aiding and +abetting the populace, was sentenced to receive 500 lashes! + +JUNE 28—A meeting of the Worcester glovers, with Mr. J. Knapp in the +chair, to resist a combination of the “grounders, stoners, and white +leather parers” to obtain an advance of wages. The names of fifty-six +firms were appended to the resolutions—“John Dent and Son” standing +sixth. + +AUGUST 10—The North Worcester Volunteers, commanded by Colonel Villiers, +assembled in a field near Bromsgrove, and were presented with a pair of +colours by the Right Hon. Lady Beauchamp. + +AUGUST 19—H.R.H. The Duke of Gloucester visited Worcester, and proceeded +to Witley Court. Next day, accompanied by Lord and Lady Foley, the Dean +of Worcester, &c., he inspected the porcelain manufactory of Messrs. +Barr, Flight, and Barr, and ordered a superb service. + +SEPTEMBER 23—The Prince of Wales, Duke of Sussex, and a large party of +other nobility visited the Marchioness of Downshire at Ombersley Court. +The Mayor and Justices of Worcester, with the Town Clerk and several of +the Council, waited on H.R.H. there, and presented an address to him. + +SEPTEMBER 25—The Prince of Wales and a large party this day visited +Worcester, were met by the Recorder, Earl of Coventry, and partook of a +collation at the Town Hall. The streets were lined by the Worcester and +Birmingham Volunteers. A visit was paid, and orders given, at both china +manufactories. Messrs. Chamberlain and Co. appointed porcelain +manufacturers to H.R.H. + +LOCAL ACTS—For enclosure of lands at Aldington and Broughton Hackett. + + + +1808. + + +MATTERS at home remained quiet, and much as in the preceding year, the +public mind being taken up with the expedition to Spain, discussing the +battle of Vimiera, and Convention of Cintra. Three per Cents. stood as +high in June as 70⅜, and averaged throughout the year 65½. This was the +only year during this century in which our exports of wheat exceeded our +imports: average price, 81s. 4d. + +MARCH 2—The mail from Birmingham to Bristol took on two passengers only +from Worcester, a young lady named Capper and a little child. On getting +to Severn Stoke the horses became restive, and at Ripple altogether ran +away. The reins broke, and both coachman and guard got down to stop the +horses, but were unable to do so, and the coach was soon out of their +sight. The young lady, while the vehicle was at its utmost speed, became +so alarmed that she threw herself out of the coach door, and her neck was +broken by the fall. + +MAY 26—The Mayor of Worcester committed two journeymen bootmakers to +prison for combining with others against their master, Mr. J. Garner, to +demand an increase of wages. It was shown that industrious men could +obtain at that trade from 30s. to 50s. a week. + +JUNE 24—A society formed in Worcester for the prevention of vice—such as +Sabbath breaking, &c. + +JULY 6—The Rev. Rowland Hill preached in the Countess of Huntingdon’s +Chapel, Worcester, this (Wednesday) evening. + +JULY 28—The Prince of Wales and Duke of Sussex again visited Ombersley +Court. + +OCTOBER 21—A new double-bodied post coach advertised to run from +Worcester to London three days a week, starting from Worcester at twelve +at noon and arriving in London at eight next morning. + +DECEMBER 6—Lieutenant Carden, of the Worcester militia, on his return +from Ombersley was stopped close to the Barbourne turnpike by three +recruits, and forced to deliver up his gold watch and money. They +afterwards beat a girl, and attempted to rob the Bewdley post boy; but +Mr. Carden having raised an alarm as soon as he got into the town, a +number of people started after them, and two out of the three were +apprehended the same night. + +LOCAL ACTS—To amend and enlarge the acts relating to the Worcester and +Birmingham Canal Navigation; for enclosure of lands at Bredon. + + + +1809. + + +PARLIAMENT was principally occupied with the inquiry which led to the +Duke of York’s resignation of the commandership of the army. Money was +so plentiful that a loan of eleven millions was raised at a lower rate of +interest than the public creditor had ever before consented to receive. +Consols stood at 68; harvest indifferent; wheat averaged 97s. 4d. + +JANUARY—The first steps taken to establish a Lancastrian school in +Worcester. Up to this time there had been no day school at which it was +possible for the children of the poor to obtain an education. Sunday +schools had only been established a few years—that at Angel Street Chapel +(Independent), opened in 1797, being the first. In April, Mr. Lancaster +lectured on education, at the Hoppole Inn; and a meeting was held at the +Unicorn, John Williams, Esq., in the chair, at which resolutions were +come to to open a Lancastrian school immediately—all religious parties +uniting in its support on the common basis of the scriptures; the +Apostles’ Creed and Dr. Watts’s hymns being taught to all the children, +and the Church Catechism to those only whose parents requested it. + +APRIL 26—A fire broke out, about eleven p.m., in the china manufactory of +Messrs. Grainger, Wood, and Co., Lowesmoor, Worcester, which in the +course of two hours reduced the whole premises to ruins. The property +was insured, but not by any means to its full amount. + +MAY 5—In the _Worcester Herald_ of this date the Rev. Thomas Foley, +rector of Oldswinford, published, as an advertisement, a long vindication +of Joanna Southcote. The charge of her having sold her “seals” for +half-a-crown a piece he declared to be “an infamous falsehood;” as she +gave them away without money and without price “to all that had faith to +believe in her inspired writings.” He concluded by giving a summary of +her doctrines in most enthusiastic language. + +JUNE 31—The toll on foot passengers passing over Worcester bridge +discontinued, as the flourishing state of the receipts had reduced the +debt to £5,000. The first stone of the present bridge was laid in 1771, +and it was opened to the public in 1781. The bridge and quays cost +£29,843. + +JUNE 22—A young woman, named Harris, most inhumanly murdered at +Honeyborne, near Evesham. She was called up from bed, and, on opening +the door, was attacked by some person with a pitchfork, and at last +dragged to a horsepond and drowned in it. Suspicion fell on a young man +by whom she was pregnant, but the coroner’s jury returned a verdict of +“Wilful murder against some person or persons unknown.” The murderer was +never discovered. + +OCTOBER 25—The celebration of the National Jubilee—fiftieth year of His +Majesty’s reign. At Worcester a subscription was raised for the relief +of the poor instead of illuminations. Dinner at the Guildhall—Earl of +Coventry in the chair—and 252 guests were present; and a ball at the +College Hall. A great number of benefactions throughout the county from +the rich to their poorer brethren. Meetings in all the towns of the +county to present addresses to the King. The debtors in the County Gaol +were released by subscriptions, and with the aid of the High Sheriff and +Lord Somers. + +NOVEMBER 13—Thomas Freeman, glove manufacturer, fined £50 by the +magistrates of Worcester, for having in his possession four oil leather +skins and eleven pairs of gloves, which had been purloined from other +masters’ warehouses, and of which he could not give a satisfactory +account. A moiety of the penalty given to the Infirmary (a public +charity), in compliance with the terms of the act of Parliament. + +LOCAL ACTS—To amend the road from Teddington to the turnpike road between +Evesham and Pershore; for enclosure of lands at Iccomb. + + + +1810. + + +CONSIDERABLE commercial embarrassment was experienced this year; not, +however, arising from the unprecedented situation in which England found +herself placed—in having almost single handed to oppose the growing power +of Buonaparte—but from speculative trading in the markets of South +America. The depreciation of bank paper procured the appointment of a +bullion committee. The early part of the year was occupied with the +affair of Sir Francis Burdett; and the latter with the appointment of the +Prince of Wales as Regent, in consequence of the increasing incompetence +of the King to attend to business. Consols stood at 68. The imports of +wheat this year amounted to 1,491,300 quarters; average price, 106s. 5d. + +MARCH 10—At the Lent Assizes, Francis Morris—for stealing a quantity of +unwinnowed barley, the property of Mr. G. Thomas of Hanbury—was sentenced +to be publicly whipped for the space of 100 yards on the next market day +at Worcester. + +MARCH 21—R. Ellins, post boy, carrying the bag from Bewdley to +Stourbridge, was detected opening the bag and stealing out of it two +letters containing upwards of £3,000 in bank notes. + +APRIL 6—The Mansion House at Glasshampton, Astley, the residence of the +Rev. J. J. Denham Cookes, burnt to the ground. + +JUNE 3—(Sunday)—Dreadful fire in Kidderminster, consuming three dwelling +houses, a large carpet manufactory, barns, stables, waggons, carts, +implements, timber, &c. Believed to have been the act of incendiaries. + +JUNE 11—A Sir Francis Burdett riot at Kidderminster. Two persons were +brought prisoners to the County Gaol for being concerned in it, and the +mob in Worcester attempted their rescue, and broke to pieces the carriage +in which they were being conveyed. They also broke the windows of +several obnoxious persons; but the magistrates, with the help of the +Yeomanry and Militia then on duty in the city, very speedily repressed +the tumult. + +JULY 6—The Boys’ Subscription Free School opened in Worcester. + +JULY 28—Advertisements in this day’s _Worcester Herald_ of a project to +open a “Bristol and Severn Canal,” in which the merchants of Worcester +were conceived to be much interested, and therefore invited to take +shares. And another of twelve acres of growing flax to be sold by +private contract. + +LOCAL ACTS—For enclosure of waste lands at Holt, Sedgeberrow, Pensham, +Bonehill, Tibberton, and Eckington. + + + +1811. + + +OUR military operations on the continent, and the large amount of specie +sent abroad in the previous year for the purchase of corn, continued and +increased the depreciation in the value of bank paper; and upon Lord King +giving notice to his tenants that he should require his rents paid in +guineas—or, if in notes, at an increase of £17. 10s. per cent. upon their +nominal value—a bill was hastily passed which made it illegal to give +more money for gold coin than was authorised by the mint, or to take Bank +of England notes for less than their ostensible value! The other +Parliamentary event of the year was the signal defeat of Lord Sidmouth’s +attempt to abrogate the Toleration Act, by requiring that Dissenting +ministers should find six householders to answer for their +respectability, before a license could be granted to them to preach. +Consols stood at 64; wheat averaged 95s. 3d. + +APRIL 27—A prisoner, named Elizabeth Townshend, made her escape from the +County Gaol, having worked a hole in the wall. + +MAY 9—Mr. Barr of Worcester, and three gentlemen from Burslem, had an +interview with the Chancellor of the Exchequer to represent to him the +impolicy of imposing a pottery tax as he proposed. The minister appeared +to be convinced, and no more was heard of it. + +MAY 31—Lucien Buonaparte came to reside at Thorngrove House. + +AUGUST 12—The Mayor and Corporation of Worcester dined at Croome. A most +sumptuous entertainment was provided for them. + +NOVEMBER 3—The Worcester Association for the Severn Fisheries established +a fish market in Worcester—none having before existed. They took very +active steps in preserving the river from illegal and injurious fishing, +and a great number of condemned nets and wheels were publicly burnt in +the Corn Market. + +NOVEMBER 8—The Directors of the Worcester House of Industry issued a +considerable number of copper tokens, which were much in demand on +account of the great want of small change in the country. The exchange +was immediately vested in the funds, and the interest applied to the +assistance of the poor rates. A meeting of tradesmen was afterwards held +(Mr. W. Beeken in the chair) at which resolutions were unanimously passed +to resist the introduction of any other copper tokens into the trade of +the city excepting those issued by Government and the Worcester House of +Industry. They asserted that there was a sufficiency of copper coinage +in the country. A counter meeting of manufacturers was held at the Star +and Garter immediately afterwards, asserting that the business of the +city could not be carried on without more change, and they, therefore, +determined to continue the issue of their own penny and halfpenny tokens, +which they declared to be equal in weight to the legal coin of the realm, +and that they always paid twenty shillings in the pound for them. + +LOCAL ACTS—For enclosure of lands at Astley, Overbury, North, Middle, and +South Littleton, and Churchill. + + + +1812. + + +MR. PERCIVAL’S ministry was continuing to increase in power and in +popularity, principally on account of the warm support which they had +given to the Spanish cause, when Mr. Percival himself was suddenly +assassinated in the lobby of the House of Commons, by Bellingham. After +the Prince Regent, by the Earl of Moira and Lord Wellesley, had +unsuccessfully, and to all appearance insincerely, negociated for the +formation of a new ministry, in which Lords Grey and Grenville should +have a part, the Earl of Liverpool was appointed First Lord of the +Treasury, and the rest of the old ministry remained as before. The +Regent henceforth forsook the Whig friends of his youth, and became a +good Tory. The orders in council respecting navigation, which had been +so obnoxious to the Americans were repealed under Lord Liverpool. A +motion, pledging Parliament to an early consideration of the Catholic +claims, was carried in the Commons by 300 to 215, but defeated in the +Lords by 174 to 103. The Parliament, having nearly run out its term, was +dissolved in October; but the elections did not produce much excitement, +or change in the position of parties. Considerable disturbances took +place in the manufacturing districts, on the introduction of new +machinery. The Three per Cents. did not average 60 throughout the year; +wheat averaged 126s. 6d. + +JANUARY 19—The coming of age of T. C. Hornyold, Esq., celebrated at +Blackmore Park, by a series of splendid dinners, balls, and other +entertainments. + +MARCH 27—An anonymous letter having been sent to Sir William Smith, +Bart., one of the commissioners of taxes for the hundred of Doddington, +threatening him with vengeance if he confirmed surcharges, a reward of +£100 was offered in the _Gazette_ for the discovery of the writer. + +APRIL 26—The Worcester Church of England School, conducted on Dr. Bell’s +principles, first opened in Frog Lane. + +APRIL—Wheat again risen to 18s. and 20s. per bushel, and the price of +potatoes also exorbitant, so that the poor had the greatest difficulty in +procuring the necessaries of life—in some places there had been riots. +In Kidderminster £500 was raised by subscription to purchase potatoes and +sell them to the poor at a reduced price. + +AUGUST 7—The coachman of M. Lucien Buonaparate, now staying at +Thorngrove, stabbed by a fellow servant named Luigi Vespasiani, in the +heat of a dispute on some trifling subject. The coachman for a long +while remained in a very dangerous state. + +AUGUST 24—A _fête_ on the occasion of the opening of the Severn Horse +Towing Path from Worcester bridge to the Lower Parting. + +OCTOBER—The Hon. Lieutenant Colonel Cocks, eldest son of Lord Somers, +fell at the siege of the Castle of Burgos—Peninsular War. An address of +condolence was sent to Lord Somers from the Mayor, magistrates, and +citizens of Worcester. Lieutenant Cocks had been frequently noticed in +the Marquis of Wellington’s despatches in a most gratifying manner. + +LOCAL ACTS—For enclosure of lands at Holdfast (Ripple), +Shipston-on-Stour, and Badsey. + + + +1813. + + +THE estimates for the year amounted to seventy millions, and to meet this +great demand the sinking fund was trenched upon, for it was found +impossible to raise new taxes, though the rise of prices and the extended +circulation of bank notes had, hitherto, enabled the country to meet the +extraordinary demands upon it without difficulty. Mr. Vansittart, in his +financial statement this year, said he thought the sinking fund had +reached a point beyond which its operations ought not to go; it would be +very prejudicial to pay off too much of the National Debt at once! The +war which had now broken out with America was of course very injurious to +our commerce. A bill for the relief of the Catholics was brought in this +year by Mr. Grattan, and its general principle affirmed by a considerable +majority, but an amendment, excluding Catholics from a seat in +Parliament, being carried, by a majority of four, the bill was abandoned. +Three per Cents. stood at 59; wheat averaged 109s. 9d. + +JANUARY 1—A novel species of amusement took place in the Hundred House +meadow, Witley. Five wild rabbits were singly turned off at an assigned +distance before a dog fox, trained for the purpose by Mr. Charles Tearne +of Stockton; and after an excellent course of about 400 yards, were +severally killed by Reynard in capital style. A large concourse of +people were assembled to witness this singular sport. + +JANUARY 2—The clergy of the diocese met in the audit room, and agreed to +a petition against the Catholic claims. This was the occasion of a +series of letters between Mr. T. Hornyold, who accused the clergy of +illiberality, and the Rev. J. J. Denham Cookes. Mr. Hornyold distinctly +disclaimed the temporal authority of the Pope. + +JANUARY 8—The Worcester Corporation voted the sum of 100 guineas for the +relief of the Russians in their contest with the French, and a general +subscription list was opened at the banks. At the same meeting it was +unanimously resolved to instruct the representatives of the city to +oppose the Catholic claims. + +JUNE 23—An auxiliary to the Bible Society formed for the city and county +of Worcester. Several attempts had been made to effect this before, but +it was said that it would be in opposition to the Christian Knowledge +Society; and other obstacles were thrown in the way. Only four or five +clergymen of the Church of England were present at the first meeting. It +was, however, very warmly taken up in the first instance by the resident +gentry, the Earl of Coventry accepting the presidency; and Lord Deerhurst +took the chair at the preliminary meeting, held in the Guildhall, at +which the High Sheriff of the county and the Mayor of the city were also +present, and took part. The Rev. Mr. Burns, Rev. Mr. Steinkopff, and +Rev. Mr. Hughes were the deputation from the Parent Society. + +AUGUST 8—The fine Wesleyan chapel in Pump Street, Worcester, opened, with +sermons by Dr. Adam Clarke. The collections amounted to £412. + +OCTOBER 12—A meeting of freeholders at the White Lion, Upton-upon-Severn, +with Lord Somers in the chair, to deliberate on the propriety of +inclosing Malvern Chace. The meeting agreed to a petition in favour of +such a scheme. + +LOCAL ACTS—For paving, cleansing, lighting, and watching the town of +Kidderminster; for effecting an exchange of lands belonging to the +Bishopric and the Dean and Chapter of Worcester; for enclosing lands at +North Piddle, Salwarp, and Flyford Flavell. + + + +1814. + + +PEACE was at last announced, and its advent was hailed with the utmost +enthusiasm by the whole nation, who expected that it would bring with it +unnumbered blessings; but its immediate effects seemed to be only +disastrous. The reduction of our military forces threw great numbers of +men into the labour market, and wages were reduced. While the renewed +freedom of navigation brought abundance of all kinds of raw produce to +our ports, it did not bring any corresponding increase of our foreign +trade and exports to reimburse us, for British merchants had pushed their +speculative supplies to the continent, beyond prudential limits, in spite +of the Berlin and Milan decrees. For instance, tea and other goods had +been sent to Germany, from the port of Salonichi, in Greece, whence they +were carried two thousand miles on the backs of mules. The war too had +impoverished our customers. Three per Cents. fluctuated in April from 72 +to 62, and averaged throughout the year 67. The harvest this year was +abundant, and corn fell to 74s. 4d. + +JANUARY 19—A subscription set on foot for the relief of the poor of +Worcester. About £700 raised and distributed in coals. + +APRIL 10—The populace burned an effigy of Buonaparte on occasion of the +Allies entering Paris. Great rejoicings in other towns of the county. +On the 7th and 8th of June there was a general illumination at Worcester +on account of the proclamation of Peace. Rejoicings at the various +county towns, and at many gentlemen’s seats—particularly at Stanford. + +MAY 6—The Grand Duchess of Oldenburgh, sister to the Emperor of Russia, +visited Worcester with her suite. Inspected Messrs. Flight, Barr, and +Barr’s royal porcelain manufactory, and Mr. John Knapp’s glove +manufactory. + +AUGUST 17—The first steam boat made its appearance below Gloucester, +intended for the conveyance of passengers and light goods between +Gloucester and Worcester. It made the return voyage to Gloucester in +four hours and a half. + +SEPTEMBER 5—Prince Frederick of Orange visited Worcester. + +SEPTEMBER 18—Mr. Kean performed at Worcester Theatre this (Saturday) +evening as _Richard III_, and on the following Monday morning as +_Hamlet_. + +DECEMBER 26—A splendid silver vase, valued at two hundred guineas, and +the freedom of the city presented to Colonel Henry Walton Ellis, of the +23rd Fusiliers, a native of Worcester, who had most honourably +distinguished himself in Holland, Egypt, America, the West Indies, and +the Peninsular War. The Earl of Coventry was the presentee. Colonel +Ellis fell in the following June at Waterloo. + +LOCAL ACTS—For enclosing lands at Bayton, Ombersley, Inkberrow, Abberley, +Norton, and Strensham; for vesting in Lord Somers the right of +presentation to the perpetual curacy of Stoulton; for taking down +Ombersley Church, erecting a new one, enlarging the churchyard, and +building a workhouse at Ombersley. + + + +1815. + + +THE enactment of a new and more stringent Corn Law was the most important +proceeding of our Parliament this year. In the early years of our +commercial history, prohibitions were laid upon the exportation of corn, +but these were gradually relaxed, and in 1688 a bounty of 5s. per quarter +was offered, on exportation, till the home price had reached 48s., while +a duty of 6s. to 8s. per quarter was levied on imported wheat, while the +price ranged between 53s. 4d. and 80s. a quarter. In 1766, on the +apprehension of scarcity, this was entirely reversed, exportation was +prohibited, and importation was free. In 1774 a duty of 6d. a quarter +was levied on all imports of wheat, which were not permitted till the +price had reached 48s. in the home market. In 1791 this duty was raised +to 2s. 6d. a quarter, and in 1804 the importation price was fixed at 63s. +a quarter, instead of 48s. Such is a brief history of English Corn Laws +down to this period. In the session 1812–13, when prices were beginning +to decline, a committee was appointed to inquire into the working of the +Corn Laws, and though their report was very meagre in information, it yet +created great alarm throughout the country, and meetings were everywhere +held to petition against any alteration of the existing law, which might +prevent the people enjoying that which they had looked forward to as one +of the greatest blessings of peace—cheap bread. In May, 1814, Sir Henry +Parnell succeeded in carrying a resolution permitting the free +exportation of corn, be the price what it might; and it was intended to +have fixed an import duty of 24s. 3d. upon wheat until it rose to 63s., +and a sliding scale from that price to 86s.; but the opposition it evoked +in the country was so strong that the project was abandoned. The House +of Commons resumed the discussion of the Corn Laws on February 22, 1815, +and after two evenings’ debate it was resolved, by a majority of 209 to +65, that wheat should not be imported till the price was 80s. a quarter. +Immediately the country was in arms; on the very next day a petition was +presented from the Corporation and liverymen of London, which had +received 40,000 signatures in ten hours, praying that no alteration might +take place. On the 3rd of March Mr. Vansittart moved the second reading +of the Corn Bill; and an attempt to delay it till the following week, to +allow time for the country to petition, was rejected by a majority of +171. On the 6th of March the House went into committee, but that evening +the populace of the metropolis had surrounded the House, and insisted on +stopping every member, and sought to make them pledge themselves to vote +against the obnoxious measure; a Mr. Croker was in particular very +ill-treated, and the Speaker sent for a detachment of the Life Guards, +who continued to surround the House for the rest of the evening. A very +high debate upon this matter took place in the House itself, but nothing +availed to stay the progress of the measure, and it was carried through +committee that evening by majorities varying from 120 to 180. The Bill +was read a third time, and passed on the 16th of March. It was carried +rapidly through the Lords by large majorities, and on the 23rd it +received the royal assent. The principal opponents of the measure were +Mr. Baring, Mr. Phillips, Sir R. Peel, Mr. Protheroe, &c. It did not +however answer the purpose of keeping up prices, for they gradually sank +lower and lower till they were considerably below 60s. per quarter, and +farmers, holding their lands on lease, constantly appeared in the +_Gazette_. The average price of wheat this year was 65s. 7d.; and +Consols stood at 60. For an account of the meetings held, and the steps +taken, in this county to protest against the enactment of the Corn Laws, +see ante, pp. 61, 63. + +JANUARY 19—Lord Somers addressed the lords of manors and proprietors of +freeholds on Malvern Chace, announcing his intention of giving up all +further attempts to bring about an enclosure of the same. He found it +impossible to reconcile so many conflicting interests. + +JANUARY 26—Mr. Charles Matthews gave his celebrated entertainment, called +“Mail Coach Adventures,” at Worcester Theatre. + +JUNE 18—On the glorious field of Waterloo, Lieutenant Colonel Lygon +commanded the Life Guards. Lord Sandys, then Lord Arthur Hill, was an +A.D.C. to the Duke of Wellington. + +DECEMBER 4—The Worcester and Birmingham Canal opened. The first act for +the cutting of this canal was passed on the 9th June, 1791. From the +Severn to Tardebigg (15 miles) there is a rise of 428 feet, with 71 +locks. From Tardebigg to the Birmingham Canal (14 miles) is level. At +West Heath it passes through a tunnel 2,700 yards long. In the first and +subsequent acts power was taken to raise no less a sum than £657,500; the +original number of proprietors being only 1,800. It has throughout been +an unfortunate concern; for the first act is filled with guarantees to +other canals and opposing interests, which have hung like a millstone +round the necks of the proprietors. From Tardebigg to Birmingham the +canal is of greater capacity than in the part nearer the Severn. The +company is now, however, about to be absorbed into the Old Birmingham +Canal Company, and matters will, probably, henceforth wear a different +aspect. + +DECEMBER—The celebrated Elliston opened Worcester Theatre for one season. +There being amongst his company the Misses Brunton, Mr. and Mrs. Keeley, +&c. + +LOCAL ACTS—For taking down and rebuilding the parish church of St. +Thomas, Dudley; for enabling the Worcester and Birmingham Canal Company +to complete and extend their works. + + + +1816. + + +THIS was a truly gloomy year. Agriculturists, manufacturers, and +tradespeople all alike experienced the depression resulting from the +sudden change from war to peace; and it was felt the more, as it was so +totally unexpected. The harvest was exceedingly unproductive, and the +farmers got no relief by the high prices which corn fetched—for the +quality of home-grown corn was poor in the extreme. The sudden reduction +of paper money in circulation had much to do with this untoward state of +things; the understanding that the Bank was to return to cash payments +immediately, had compelled them to reduce the quantity of notes in +circulation, and the metallic currency had either been bought up +privately and converted into bullion, or sent abroad. The ministry +proposed to continue the property and income tax, but such was the +feeling of the country against it, on the score of its being only a war +tax, that it was rejected by a majority of 238 to 201, and the ministers +were obliged to borrow to make up the year’s deficit. Three per Cents. +averaged 61; wheat averaged 78s. 6d. + +JANUARY 22—Henry Wakeman, Esq., of Perdiswell, at his audit for Claines, +made a reduction in his tithes of £20 per cent., an example which was +pretty generally imitated by the large titheowners throughout the county. +The reason alleged was “the great declension in value of all farming +produce.” Wheat now selling at 6s. a bushel in Worcester market. + +JANUARY 29—A Worcestershire Agricultural Society established, at a +meeting held at the Hoppole; Lord Viscount Elmley in the chair. Lord +Foley, Sir Thomas Winnington, Sir William Smith, &c., were among its +first supporters. Its first exhibition of stock took place in June, when +£40 was distributed in prizes (which were all carried off by five +persons); but, after languishing for a year or two, it was given up for +want of support. + +MAY—The Messrs. Chamberlain ordered to attend at Warwick House, with +specimens of porcelain for the Princess Charlotte, who gave them a large +order in anticipation of her approaching marriage. Messrs. Flight, Barr, +and Barr were afterwards honoured with an order. + +AUGUST 12—Miss Foote performed in _The Honeymoon_ at Worcester Theatre. + +NOVEMBER 18—A subscription entered into for the relief of the poor of +Worcester. The gross amount collected was £1,900, the greater part of +which was distributed in coals. The apparatus for making soup by steam +first set up in the Bull Entry. + +DECEMBER 20—A dinner given at the Lion Inn, Kidderminster, to the Right +Hon. Earl Beauchamp, in acknowledgment of the undeviating attention which +his lordship had uniformly paid to the interests of that town while he +had been the representative of the county. + +LOCAL ACTS—For better repairing the roads leading into and from the city +of Worcester; for enlarging the powers of the acts for repairing the +roads from Bromsgrove to Dudley; for enclosing lands at Rock, Feckenham, +and Minith Wood. + + + +1817. + + +THE distress which still continued in the early part of this year +occasioned many tumultuous meetings in different parts of the country, +and loud outcries for Parliamentary Reform. The ministry, taking +advantage of some of the excesses of the populace, obtained the +suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, and the passing of an act for +repressing “seditious meetings.” Sir Francis Burdett’s motion for a +committee to inquire into the state of the representation, was negatived +by 205 to 77. Three per Cents. averaged 74; wheat averaged 96s. 11d. + +FEBRUARY 26—Lord Deerhurst presented the Worcester petition for +Parliamentary Reform and Retrenchment, which had been signed by 3,000 +freemen and inhabitants. He gave it a modified support in a maiden +speech of considerable length. + +MARCH 25—A second subscription commenced for the relief of the Worcester +poor—the £1,900 subscribed in the previous November having been all spent +in coal, soup, and bread; 1,500 penny loaves and 1,500 quarts of soup +were given away daily, and 1,300 tons of coal distributed. The second +subscription realised about £300; and when the committee, at the end of +April, announced that they must discontinue giving bread with the soup, +Miss Stillingfleet of College Green requested that it might be furnished +at her expense, which was done for some time, at a total cost to that +lady of £150. + +APRIL 18—A person exposing elvers for sale fined in the mitigated penalty +of 10s., at the instance of the Worcester Fisheries Association. + +APRIL 24—The Hon. W. H. Lyttelton presented a petition to the House of +Commons from the parish of Oldswinford, complaining of the pressure of +the poor rates. The rate there assessed on houses amounted to 29s. in +the pound; on the rent of land employed in farming, to 32s.; and on +several other kinds of land, to 61s. in the pound! The population was +4,381, of whom 1,868 received parish relief, and only 158 persons were +able to contribute to the rates. + +MAY 8—An elegant silver cup presented to Robert Felton, Esq., at a dinner +at the Star and Garter, on his leaving the neighbourhood, “In testimony +of the admiration of the donors of his ardent devotion to the public +welfare, and of their esteem for the disinterested friendship and +generous zeal which distinguished his social character.” + +AUGUST 5—Viscount Sidmouth visited Worcester, and was presented with the +freedom of the city. + +NOVEMBER 19—The whole of the shops closed in Worcester during the time +appointed for the funeral of the Princess Charlotte. The Mayor and +Corporation attended divine service at the Cathedral, where a pathetic +discourse was delivered by the Rev. Dr. Forester, one of the +Prebendaries, from _Luke_ viii, 52—“She is not dead, but sleepeth.” + +LOCAL ACTS—For amending the act of last session as to repairing the +Worcester roads; for enclosing lands at Cofton Hackett. + + + +1818. + + +TRADE began to revive and agriculturists again to be hopeful—principally +as the result of the favourable exchanges bringing us large quantities of +the precious metals from the continent, which gave ease to the banks and +encouraged the liberal use of money in various undertakings. Thus +employment became abundant, and the working classes were contented. The +gradual disappearance of the precious metals for several years past had +been a source of much disquietude to our statesmen, and was no doubt one +cause of the great fall in prices which took place on the advent of +peace; but it must principally be attributed to the absence of that +demand by Government for men and money which, during the war, was so +great. Consols averaged 79; wheat averaged 86s. 3d. + +JANUARY—The Worcester Fire Office dissolved in favour of the Phœnix Fire +Office. + +JANUARY—The price of hops at this time averaged from £26 to £31 per cwt. + +MARCH 29—At the County Quarter Sessions, Earl Beauchamp, the chairman, +severely lectured the farmers, through the grand jury, on paying their +labourers such miserably low wages—as breaking down all independence of +spirit, and necessarily tending to the increase of crime. + +APRIL 7—The WORCESTER GAS COMPANY formed at a meeting held at the +Guildhall, William Wall, Esq., in the chair. The share list, subscribing +£12,000, was filled up in a few hours, and the shares—on the deposit of +20s.—were, in two days, at 50s. premium. + +MAY 14—The WORCESTER SAVINGS BANK established at a meeting held at the +Guildhall, with Earl Beauchamp in the chair. It was opened in June, at a +temporary office in Foregate Street, and £745 were paid in, in small +sums, the first day. It has ever since continued to be a flourishing and +most useful institution. + +AUGUST—Six men charged before the magistrates of Worcester with garden +robbing, were ordered to be publicly whipped in the several parishes +where the offences were committed. + +AUGUST 31—The WORCESTER SOCIETY OF ARTS exhibited their pictures—the +first exhibition of the kind in Worcester—at the Town Hall. The +paintings principally consisted of landscapes by Thornycroft, Smith, Doe, +and Young; animals by Pitman; some Scripture subjects by Bacon; portraits +by Millichap; and several contributions by amateurs. + +SEPTEMBER 2—Twenty-seven illegal fishing nets and three large wheels, +found in use at a mill near Worcester, were seized by order of the +Worcester Severn Association committee, and publicly burnt in the Corn +Market. + +SEPTEMBER 7—The Grand Duke Michael, brother to the Emperor of Russia, +visited Worcester, for the purpose of inspecting porcelain manufactories, +and ordered a large service of Messrs. Chamberlain. + +SEPTEMBER 25—Eight men killed by an explosion of fire-damp in the Buffery +Colliery, Dudley. + +OCTOBER 19—A bull baited on Pitchcroft. The poor animal was most +barbarously mangled, and, after the “sport,” was driven through the +principal streets to the slaughter house, writhing in torture. + +LOCAL ACTS—For lighting Worcester and Kidderminster with gas; for +enclosing lands at Great Comberton. + + + +1819. + + +THE hopes of a speedy return to prosperity which the previous year had +excited were again overcast, and all classes were feeling the pinchings +of distress. This renewed again the outcries for Parliamentary Reform; +and the people, exasperated by the stringent measures of the ministry, +began to exhibit some alarming symptoms of discontent. The crowning +scene was the meeting at Manchester, and the “Peterloo Massacre,” which +formed an exciting topic for Parliament. Lord John Russell made his +first motion for Parliamentary Reform, which only amounted to the +disfranchisement of a few of the rotten boroughs, and a transfer of their +franchise to the large towns; and it was withdrawn on the ministry +promising to disfranchise Grampound, where Sir M. M. Lopez, member for +Evesham in May, 1807, had bribed voters at £35 apiece. But by far the +most important measure of the year was the Cash Payments Bill, which is +generally known as “Peel’s Bill,” but is rather to be ascribed to Mr. +Huskisson and Mr. Ricardo. This provided for a gradual return to cash +payments, and the withdrawal of all bank notes under £5. The result of +this measure, in contracting the circulation of the country, and in +depressing prices, was far greater than had been anticipated. In +anticipation only of such a measure, the circulation of the Bank of +England had been reduced, since 1815, by two millions; and since 1814, +two hundred out of seven hundred country banks had entirely disappeared. +Three per Cents. averaged 71; wheat averaged 74s. 6d. + +JANUARY—The WORCESTER HUMANE SOCIETY, which had been first of all +established in 1786, but suffered to die out, revived, under the auspices +of Lord Beauchamp. + +FEBRUARY 26—Meeting at Stourport, the Rev. Reginald Pyndar in the chair, +to protest against any duty or tax being imposed upon coals at the pit’s +mouth. + +MARCH 3—A silver cup, value 100 guineas, transmitted to Sir William Duff +Gordon, by those of his former constituents who had been his supporters. + +APRIL 3—Two parcels, from the bankers of Worcester to the bank of Sir +William Curtis and Co., being incautiously left for a few minutes, by the +guard of the old Fly coach, in the bar of the Bull and Mouth, Aldersgate, +were stolen. They contained about £4,000 in unnegociable bills of +exchange, and about a like amount in provincial and Bank of England +notes. + +APRIL 10—The wife of Joseph Richardson, a day labourer, living at +Cooksey, near Bromsgrove, and in receipt of 10s. a week wages, was +delivered of four children at a birth, all of whom lived and throve +heartily. Being deserving people they were subsidised by many of the +neighbouring gentry, and the four children proved a pretty stroke of +fortune to them. A ball was given on behalf of the four younglings at +the Talbot Inn, Stourbridge; and they were all christened at Upton Warren +Church, having sixteen godfathers and godmothers. + +APRIL 30—Petitions presented from various towns in Worcestershire against +a proposed New Settlement Act, which would have given a settlement to a +pauper by three years’ residence only. + +MAY 4—The Hon W. H. Lyttelton moved a resolution, in the House of +Commons, for the abolition of lotteries; but the Chancellor of the +Exchequer thought them very good things, and the Government could not +spare the £30,000 of revenue which they annually produced. The motion +was negatived by 133 to 84. + +MAY 9—An association formed, at a meeting at the Crown Inn, called “The +Worcestershire Association for the Protection of Agriculture.” +Agriculture, the promoters said, ought to be the predominant interest in +the state, and they conceived that, from a want of union, they had +suffered many important privileges to be wrested from them. + +MAY—T. C. Hornyold, Esq., and F. L. Charlton, Esq., endeavoured to +reëstablish a pack of fox hounds in this county, but failed. + +AUGUST 5—The first anniversary dinner of the Worcestershire Medical and +Surgical Society, held in Worcester. Dr. Hastings, president; Mr. J. P. +Sheppard, vice president; Mr. C. H. Hebb, secretary. The Provincial +Medical and Surgical Association may be said to have had its origin with +this society. + +AUGUST 9—The city of Worcester first lighted with gas. + +SEPTEMBER 23—The freemen of Evesham entertained their representative, Sir +Charles Cockerell, Bart., to a dinner at the Guildhall, in commemoration +of his success in confining the franchise of the borough to the freemen +only. A handsome bronze medal was after dinner presented by Sir Charles +to each of the freemen present, as a mark of his favour and esteem. + +NOVEMBER 19—The Duke of Gloucester, being on a visit at Croome, was +invited by the Corporation to visit Worcester. The Earl of Coventry, as +recorder of Worcester, presented H.R.H. with the freedom of the city; and +he afterwards partook of a collation provided by the Mayor, and then +visited the china manufactories. + +NOVEMBER 30—Colonel Davies seconded Lord Althorpe’s motion for referring +the papers laid before the House, on the subject of the Manchester +massacre, to a select committee of inquiry, in a speech of considerable +power. For the motion, 150; against, 323: majority for ministers, 173. + +LOCAL ACTS—For enlarging the powers of acts to repair the road from +Evesham to Alcester; for repairing the road from Bromsgrove to +Birmingham. + + + +1820. + + +THE country was this year in a ferment with the proceedings on the +Queen’s trial. Trade still languid, but the harvest was uncommonly +abundant; and the price of corn and country produce was thus materially +reduced, to the relief of the mechanics and lower ranks of the town +populations. Consols at 68; wheat averaged 67s. 10d. + +JANUARY—Subscription in Worcester for the relief of the poor, realising +£1,250, and distributed in coal and soup. + +JANUARY—The Worcestershire Hunt reorganised, under the management of T. +C. Hornyold, Esq., of Blackmore Park. + +APRIL 25—Elizabeth Waterson strangled in bed by her husband, Joseph +Waterson, a miller, living at Bromsgrove. It was quite clear that the +man had been some time insane; and the coroner’s jury returning a verdict +to that effect, he was at once removed to the Lunatic Asylum at +Droitwich. + +MAY 16—Colonel Davies moved for a select committee to investigate the +military expenditure, in a very spirited speech. Motion negatived by 125 +to 45. + +MAY 29—The walking of the trades was this year revived in Worcester. + +JULY—Hartlebury Common enclosed. + +AUGUST 10—A splendid service of china, from the manufactory of Messrs. +Grainger, Lee, and Co., presented to Colonel Davies, in “testimony of the +high sense entertained by his electors of his truly patriotic and +distinguished conduct during the whole of his Parliamentary career.” + +OCTOBER 5—The Worcester and London Fly coach upset at Stoughton bridge on +its return from town. There were fourteen passengers, exclusive of the +coachman and guard, and all were hurt. A lady had her arm broken; a poor +woman her arm broken, and various contusions; a gentleman had his hip +dislocated, &c., &c. No explanation of the cause. The Aurora and the +Royal Sovereign, both day coaches to London, were upset the next week, +and some passengers hurt. + +NOVEMBER 1—A quantity of unseasonable salmon seized in Worcester market +by the committee of the Worcester Severn Association, and ordered by the +magistrates to be burnt. + +NOVEMBER 13—Worcester illuminated on the Queen’s acquittal. +Illuminations also at Kidderminster, Bromsgrove, Droitwich, Evesham, +Upton, &c. At Evesham also a public dinner took place at the Cross Keys, +with C. E. Hanford, Esq., in the chair, and a subscription set on foot +for the poor by Mr. Nathaniel Hartland, by which 1,200 families were +supplied with bread and meat. + +NOVEMBER 27—At a meeting held at the Rein Deer, Worcester, a petition to +the King praying him to dismiss his ministers, and a congratulatory +address to the Queen on her acquittal, were agreed on, and afterwards +received about 2,000 signatures. A counter address to the King, from the +Mayor, magistrates, clergy, and others, declaring their attachment and +loyalty, &c., &c., begging him to maintain the rights of the crown, +otherwise the country would be involved in ruin, &c., &c., received about +500 signatures. The first was presented by Lord Foley and Mr. Hobhouse; +the second by the Earl of Coventry. Loyal addresses, denouncing a +licentious press, sent from Evesham and Stourbridge. An address for the +county was also drawn up by the Lord Lieutenant, and being approved of by +the High Sheriff was sent to the different towns in the county for +signatures, as the promoters could not have convened a public meeting +with any hope of success to their cause. A counter address, headed by +Lord Foley’s signature, was immediately got up. Counter addresses sent +from Droitwich, &c. + + + +1821. + + +THE low price of agricultural produce caused such an outcry from the +farmers, that a committee was appointed on agricultural distress, whose +report, however, did not tend much to enlighten Parliament as to the +means of relieving them. Tenants farming with borrowed capital, and +landowners whose estates were mortgaged, must of course, the committee +said, feel heavily the increased value of money occasioned by the recent +changes in the currency; and they could only hope for relief from a +reduction of the rate of interest—such as did actually take place shortly +afterwards. The Bank resumed cash payments, and called in all its £1 +notes, on the 1st of May. The Catholic Emancipation Bill first passed +the Commons this year, by small majorities, but was rejected by the +Lords. Consols averaged 75; wheat averaged 56s. 1d. + +JANUARY 31—Petitions presented from Kidderminster and Evesham praying +that the Queen’s name might be inserted in the liturgy. + +MARCH 15—Dinner given at Stourport to the Rev. R. Pyndar of Arley House, +on his removal from the neighbourhood, to testify the respect the +inhabitants felt for his character and their gratitude for the services +he had rendered to the town. Richard Jukes, Esq., presided. + +MARCH 27—The Dean, Archdeacon, and clergy of Worcestershire met in the +Chapter House and agreed to a petition against the Catholic Emancipation +Bill, in which they said that “the projected alteration in the laws +affecting Roman Catholics is a measure so hazardous in the experiment as +to afford just ground for alarm,” and they considered that “the +qualifying of Roman Catholics to possess political power will tend to +injure the Protestant Establishment, which they are bound to transmit, +unimpaired, to posterity.” + +MAY 15—The operatives of Kidderminster presented the Queen with a carpet +of very beautiful workmanship and ten yards square; to defray the expense +of manufacturing which, 3,000 weavers and others had contributed 1s. +each. + +MAY 29—The ancient pageant and procession of the Corporation, trades, +clubs, man in armour, &c., revived in Worcester with great gaiety and +show, under the conduct of the Mayor, Mr. Hooper. + +JUNE 4—Lord Deerhurst and Colonel Davies both voted with the minority in +favour of Sir J. Macintosh’s motion for the abolition of the punishment +of death in cases of forgery. + +JUNE 6—Colonel Davies brought in a bill for the better preventing the +adulteration of clover seed. + +JULY 29—The coronation of His Majesty George IV celebrated in Worcester +by subscription, procession, and dinner. The procession to service in +the Cathedral comprised about 2,000 charity school children, Worcester +Militia, Corporation clothiers’ company, bakers’, smiths’, tailors’, +fishermen’s, butchers’, carpenters’ and masons’ companies, Druids’ Lodge, +Lodge of Odd Fellows, and the Orange Lodge. Festivities at Bromsgrove, +Bewdley, Evesham, Kidderminster, and Stourbridge, particularly +noticeable. + +AUGUST 27—The new tower of St. Helen’s Church, Worcester, completed, and +the bells, which had so long remained mute, in consequence of the +dilapidation of the old tower, were once more roused into harmony. These +bells were cast in 1706, and bear the names of Queen Anne, her principal +commanders and their victories. + +SEPTEMBER 8—A meeting of yeomanry, connected with the Agricultural +Association, held at the Crown Inn, Sir Thomas Winnington in the chair, +at which a series of resolutions were agreed to, tracing “agricultural +distress” to a depreciated paper currency, _doubling_ the prices of +produce labour and rents; and while the proposed return to the bullion +standard was reducing these to their former level, the charges to the +farmholder, sinecurist, and placeman were not reduced. They were also +still of opinion that the admission of foreign grain, duty free, [that is +after wheat was 80s. a quarter] added grievously to the difficulties of +the landed interest. Mr. George Webb Hall was the chief speaker. + +LOCAL ACTS—For making a tramroad from Stratford-on-Avon to +Moreton-in-Marsh, with a branch to Shipston-on-Stour; for repair of +Stourbridge roads; for repair of Bewdley roads; for repair of +Kidderminster roads; for repair of Bromyard roads. + + + +1822. + + +THE year commenced with the same heavy complaints from the +agriculturists, and in most counties meetings were held to declare their +distress, and to call for retrenchment and reform. In some cases Mr. +Cobbett procured the addition of a rider to these agricultural petitions, +praying for a reduction of interest on the National Debt. Such a +reduction, indeed, was actually made, by the conversion of the Five per +Cents.; and this, with the retrenchments forced upon ministers by the +representatives of the counties constantly voting with Mr. Hume and other +economists, allowed of considerable relief in the shape of remission of +taxes. The Bank of England also reduced its rate of discount from five +to four per cent. on the 20th of June. A most important measure, too, +was that which extended permission to the banks to issue notes under the +value of £5 until 1833, which was likewise forced upon ministers by the +Parliamentary landlords; and it produced an immediate rise in prices, but +led also to a plethora of paper money most disastrous in its +consequences. Consols averaged 80; wheat averaged 44s. 7d. + +FEBRUARY—Discovery of mineral waters at Evesham—a saline spring; +containing 23.06 of sulphate of soda in every 100 parts. + +FEBRUARY 7—The WORCESTER DISPENSARY established. + +MARCH 4—Colonel Davies moved reductions in the army estimates, and was +supported by a minority of 58. + +APRIL 17—At a respectable meeting held in Worcester, presided over by +William Wall, Esq., a petition was agreed to, praying for a revision of +the criminal code. + +MAY—Collections made in Worcester, and at the parishes adjoining, on +behalf of the starving peasantry in the west of Ireland. More than +£1,100 was collected in this district. + +JUNE—A PENITENTIARY established in Worcester. It did much good for +years, and was then suffered to die for want of support. + +JUNE 25—A road maker at Eckington, named Pickerill, only thirty-three +years of age, having obtained from his wife a confession of her +infidelity, mixed half an ounce of arsenic with as much sugar and ate it +before her face. Assistance was immediately obtained, but he died in a +few hours. + +OCTOBER 10—An attempt was made to carry away a newly buried corpse from +Grimley churchyard. A reward of £50 was offered for the conviction of +the resurrectionists, who had evidently only desisted from carrying away +the body by finding it too much decomposed for their purpose. + +OCTOBER—The penny loaf, as fixed by the magistrates at what was called +the assize of bread, varied from 4 oz. 14 dr. to 9 oz. 14 dr. between +October, 1821, and October, 1822. + +LOCAL ACT—For repair of Evesham roads. + + + +1823. + + +THE great abundance of monied capital produced its customary effects in +leading persons to engage in various works and undertakings, which +produced a demand for labour and renewed the feeling of confidence. +Consols averaged 81; wheat 53s. 4d. + +MARCH 13—Consecration of St. Clement’s New Church by the Bishop of the +Diocese. Sermon preached by the rector, the Rev. John Davies; and a +collection, realising £95. 10s., afterwards made at the doors—and this, +with donations and collections the next Sabbath, was increased to £174. +10s. The church is built in the Saxon style, and contains 807 sittings, +407 of which are free. The old church was situated on this side the +river, on the North Quay. It was in a most dilapidated condition, and +often unapproachable in flood time. + +APRIL 25—Messrs. Flight, Barr, and Barr completed a very handsome service +of Worcester porcelain, in Saxon green and gold, with heraldic devices, +for Lord Amherst, then going out as Governor General to India. + +MAY 13—At the Newmarket meeting, Lord Foley challenged for the whip, +naming his horse Sultan, by Selim. No acceptance of the challenge being +made, he got the whip by default. + +MAY 20—The weight of the penny loaf altered in one week from 6 oz. 9 dr. +to 10 oz. 11 dr.; the price of wheat having fallen from 8s. 9½d. to 5s. +2½d. per bushel. + +MAY 23—The New Worcester Bridge Act received the royal assent. Reduced +tolls levied henceforth on the horses instead of the carriages. + +MAY 31—The Worcester Paving and Lighting Act received the royal +assent—better known as the City Commissioners’ Act. Its provisions it is +now unnecessary to allude to, as the Commissioners themselves are now +numbered with the things that have been. It is curious to notice, +however, that it took power to pull down the houses in front of All +Saints’ Church; but, after a lapse of thirty years, this improvement was +effected not by act of Parliament or a public body, but by voluntary and +private efforts. At their first meeting, Mr. Welles was appointed clerk; +Mr. Edward Hooper, head surveyor; and Mr. Henry Rowe, surveyor of +buildings. Their first efforts were directed to the cleansing of the +streets, preventing waggons carrying over-weights through the city, +removing obstructions from the highways, &c. + +OCTOBER 7—Great fight at Welland, between Jordan of Worcester and Wheeler +of Gloucester, which was attended by at least 1,500 persons. Jordan came +off an easy winner, and without any great punishment being inflicted on +either pugilist. The stakes were thirty guineas a side. + +LOCAL ACTS.—For building bridges over the Severn at Haw Passage and Mythe +Hill; for repair of Tenbury roads; for altering and enlarging the powers +of the Worcester Bridge Trustees; the Worcester City Commissioners’ Act. + + + +1824. + + +A CONTINUOUS advance in prices—the result, partly of the over issue of +small bank paper, and partly of the reduction in the rate of interest, +and ease in the money market—gave the appearance of the most unbounded +prosperity to every department of business and commerce. Everything that +men touched turned to gold under their hands, and the greatest wonder was +felt at the sudden disappearance of that distress which the agricultural +interest, especially, had, but a few months before, been complaining of +so bitterly. This year the Four per Cents. were converted into +Three-and-half Stock, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer was thereby +enabled still further to reduce the taxes—the principal one removed being +that on silk. Three per Cents. in November were done at 96½, and +averaged throughout the year 92. Wheat averaged 63s. 11d. + +JANUARY 7—The great fight between Spring and Langan for the championship, +which is to be found commemorated by a print hanging up in almost every +inn and public-house in England, took place in Pitchcroft, the ring being +formed just opposite to the Grand Stand. Considerably more than 150 +guineas were paid to the managers of the fight to ensure its taking place +at Worcester. The stakes were 300 guineas a side; and the betting two to +one on Spring, who was a native of Warwickshire; while Langan was an +Irishman. Not less than 40,000 people thronged Pitchcroft as spectators, +many being perched upon sheds and booths, erected temporarily, and let +out as standing places at considerable prices. During the second round +one of these erections gave way, and a number of persons were +precipitated to the ground, a distance of twenty feet, amidst the broken +timber, and trampling upon each other. At least thirty people were +carried to the Infirmary with serious fractures of the limbs or ribs, and +one unfortunate fellow died of a compound fracture of the leg. Spring +came on the ground at half-past twelve, but Langan could not be found for +some time. He was, in fact, making off, and his backers brought him back +with some difficulty. Lord Deerhurst and Sir James Musgrave kept time; +and Colonel Berkeley acted as umpire. Spring was exceedingly cautious, +and Langan impetuous, and the greater part of the rounds ended in +wrestling, in which Langan often succeeded in throwing his antagonist. +By the eighteenth round the ring was broken in by the crushing of the +mob, and not ten feet of space was left for the men to fight in. After +an hour and a half’s fighting the affair seemed as little near conclusion +as at its commencement. At the eightieth round, Langan planted a +tremendous blow on Spring’s head; but, at the eighty-fourth, Spring +knocked Langan down with such terrific hits, that he fell as weak as a +child. The cry then became general to take him away, but, although +covered in his gore, he refused to give in, and was at last only removed +by force. The battle lasted two hours and thirty-two minutes—a most +unheard of length of time. At the next assizes Mr. Justice Park, in his +charge to the grand jury, administered a severe rebuke to the county and +city magistracy for winking at, and permitting, this affair. + +MARCH 6—James Jones and John Brown were publicly whipped in front of the +County Gaol (in addition to three months’ imprisonment with hard labour), +for stealing an old tea kettle. + +MARCH—The proposition to admit the importation of French gloves, hitherto +altogether prohibited, created great consternation amongst the +manufacturers at Worcester. Mr. Huskisson, in replying to some questions +of Colonel Davies about the matter, in the House, said—“He trusted to the +eloquence of the gallant Colonel for satisfying his constituents of the +reasonableness of those views of open trade in which he had the honour to +agree with the gallant Colonel. As to the particular article of gloves, +there must be time to determine what proportion of duty they were to +bear. The prohibitions, however, must be done away, and a high +protecting duty substituted.” The duty was afterwards fixed at 4s. per +doz. on habits, 5s. on men’s, and 7s. on women’s gloves. + +MARCH 17—Mrs. Fry attended the quarterly meeting of the Friends in +Worcester, and addressed the congregation who were assembled at their +Meeting House. She afterwards visited both City and County Prisons with +Samuel Gurney, and at the latter addressed the prisoners in plain and +forcible language. + +MAY 24—The Worcestershire Yeomanry, under the command of Viscount +Eastnor, assembled for their annual six days’ training. They, this year, +mustered 180; and the helmet they had hitherto worn was exchanged for the +cap. + +JUNE—The Cesarean operation performed by Mr. Waldron, surgeon, of +Malvern, on Mary Hunt, of Leigh, with complete success. The child was a +very fine healthy child. + +OCTOBER 17—A man named Thomas Smith, who had been convicted at the City +Midsummer Sessions of a robbery, and sentenced to seven years’ +transportation, made his escape from the City Prison (the new one was +then building) by working out the bricks in the wall of his cell, +unlocking a padlock, and filing through two large nails in the doorpost. + +DECEMBER—Projects on foot for the removal of the Corn Market, and +erecting a suitable building for the accommodation of the farmers in +Sansome Street, Worcester, but the magistrates decided that matters must +remain as they were. + +LOCAL ACTS—For repair of the road from Broadway to Stratford; for repair +of the road from Worcester to Bromsgrove; for paving, lighting, &c., the +town of Evesham, and improving the bridge over the Avon; for repair of +the road from Evesham to Bishop’s Cleeve. + + + +1825. + + +NEVER in so short a period of time did a nation experience such a +transition from the confidence of commercial prosperity, to the despair +and panic of general bankruptcy, as did Britain in the twelve months of +1825. The year opened with a flow of trade and ease in making money +which had never been equalled, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer +declared that the prosperity of the country was fixed on a firm and +immutable basis—for which speech, Mr. Cobbett nicknamed him Mr. +Prosperity Robinson. Yet before the year closed all was in confusion: a +run upon all the banks throughout the kingdom took place—seventy three +country banks were totally insolvent—the Bank of England itself was only +saved from a complete drain of its gold, which was reduced to under +£1,300,000, by the fortunate discovery of a box of one pound +notes—bankruptcy and ruin spread amongst traders of every class—and the +country was within forty-eight hours of barter. To account for this +disastrous state of things is not difficult. The enhancement of prices, +and the recklessness of the country bankers in pushing their paper money, +had begot a spirit of speculation and gambling, not equalled since the +South Sea Bubble. Between 1822 and 1825, twenty-six foreign loans were +negociated, of which only ten are now paying dividends; and companies +were started for all imaginable purposes, the nominal capital of which +amounted in the whole to more than four hundred millions sterling. Soon +after midsummer, this year, the tables began to turn—foreign markets were +glutted with British fabrics, and a drain of gold took place to pay for +the imports, as foreigners would no longer take our goods. Besides this, +gold and silver coin chained down to a certain standard of value, while +all other things had enormously risen in price, was of course a +profitable speculation for the foreigners; and in 1822–3 and 4, +thirty-three millions and a half of ounces of silver were exported, and +the known export of gold exceeded 1,270,000 ounces. It will be seen +that, to the credit of this county, not a single bank here was actually +insolvent, and only one closed its doors even for a short period. Three +per Cents. averaged 89; wheat averaged 68s. 6d. + +JANUARY 25—The lady of Sir Edward Mostyn, Bart., then residing at Spring +Bank, Red Hill, near Worcester, was returning home in her carriage, when +the horses took fright and set off at a gallop. She jumped out, and +received such severe contusions on the head that she died in two days +afterwards. Her remains were interred in the parish church of Llannas, +Flintshire, in which county Talacre, Sir Edward’s paternal seat, was +situated. + +SEPTEMBER—The long brass French six-pounder and nine suits of black +armour which now adorn the walls of the lower hall, in the Guildhall, +Worcester, presented to the Corporation by Colonel Wall of Hallow Park. +They all belonged to Charles II, and were left by him after the fatal +battle of 1651. + +OCTOBER 26—The Worcestershire Militia inspected upon Pitchcroft. At the +dinner of the officers in the evening, a handsome silver salver was +presented to Colonel Newport Charlett as a tribute of the respect and +esteem in which he was held by the regiment. + +OCTOBER 11—The Worcestershire Fox Hounds, lately reorganised under Mr. +Parker, had their first run. The pack consisted of about thirty couples +of hounds. + +DECEMBER 19—At a public meeting at the Guildhall, of tradesmen and +others, with the Mayor in the chair, a resolution of confidence in the +different banks of the city was passed, and afterwards published with +upwards of 500 signatures. + +At a public meeting at Kidderminster, a similar vote of confidence was +passed as to Messrs. Wakeman and Turner’s bank. At Bewdley, the +inhabitants also met and expressed their reliance in the banking +establishment of Messrs. Pardoe, Nichols, and Baker. Bromsgrove—in the +house of Messrs. Rufford and Biggs. Stourbridge—Messrs. Hill, Bate, and +Robins, and Messrs. Rufford and Biggs. Dudley—in the houses of Messrs. +Dixon, Dalton, and Co., and Messrs. Hordern, Molineux, and Co. The bank +of Messrs. Hartland, having branches at Tewkesbury, Cheltenham, and +Evesham, was compelled to suspend payment; but this was the only concern, +connected with this county, unable to sustain the run which the terrible +panic of this year caused on every bank throughout the kingdom. + +LOCAL ACTS—Stourbridge Commissioners Act; for making and maintaining a +road from Birmingham to Pershore; for repair of Upton roads; to amend the +Stratford and Moreton Tramroad Act; for enclosure of land at Stock and +Bradley. + + + +1826. + + +To prevent the occurrence of such dire disasters as the previous year had +witnessed, a bill was brought in the moment Parliament met, to prohibit +the English banks from circulating notes under £5, after February, +1829—thus allowing them three years to recall their present issue. The +loss by the panic of the previous December is estimated at £40,000,000 +sterling; but matters soon began to right themselves, and the elasticity +of British resources never was more signally displayed. At Midsummer a +dissolution took place, the Parliament having sat for nearly seven years. +The questions which principally agitated the public mind were the Corn +Laws and Catholic Emancipation. The Corn Law of 1815 had dissatisfied +all parties, and the populace generally entertained the greatest +hostility to it. In Ireland the priests now first openly interfered in +the elections to procure the return of members pledged to the Catholic +cause; while in England a strong counter feeling was evoked, and in many +places Whig candidates were rejected, in spite of family influence, +because of their leaning towards Catholic Emancipation. The harvest +being a failure, as regarded oats and rye, peas and beans, the Government +issued an Order in Council to admit these kinds of food at a duty of 2s. +a quarter; and Parliament was called together in November to pass an Act +of Indemnity. Three per Cents. averaged 79; wheat averaged 58s. 8d. + +JANUARY 23—A silver salver, two waiters, and two decanter stands, +weighing in the whole 320 ounces, presented to J. Simpson, Esq., LL.D., +who for many years kept school in Worcester, by his former pupils. + +FEBRUARY—The glovemakers of Worcester made several ineffectual +remonstrances against the proposed alteration of the laws touching the +admission of foreign manufactured articles. They were told that gloves +would certainly be admitted in the ensuing July, though with the +protective duties already mentioned. These being considered +insufficient, the trade was brought to an entire stand-still. By the +exertions of Colonel Davies, however, the importation was limited to the +port of London only, and confidence was gradually restored to the +business. + +FEBRUARY 21—Messrs. Hartland and Co. resumed payment. + +JULY 1—A party of pleasure, consisting of the two sons and four daughters +of Mr. Joseph Hill, farmer, of Lintridge, near Dymock, and Miss Helen +Woodyatt, daughter of a Hereford confectioner, ascended Malvern Hills, +and being overtaken by a thunderstorm, took refuge in an alcove, on the +Worcestershire Beacon, which was roofed with iron. This attracted the +electric fluid, and in one discharge of lightning the whole party were +laid prostrate on the ground: three of the Misses Hill and Miss Woodyatt +were killed, and the others were seriously injured. + +JULY—Captain Brace, R.N., presented to the Corporation of Worcester the +second brass gun which now stands in the Guildhall—one which was taken +from a French battery near Toulon, in 1813, by H.M. ship Berwick, of +which Captain Brace was then Commandant. + +AUGUST 21—Lord Foley laid the foundation stone of Holt Fleet bridge. + +AUGUST—The growing importance and populousness of the town of Dudley +induced the Lord Chancellor to order an additional coroner to be elected +for that part of the county. Mr. W. Robinson, solicitor, of Dudley, who +had been very instrumental in obtaining the order, was elected to the +office without opposition. + +SEPTEMBER 26—Mr. Cobbett, the “lion” of the day, visited Worcester, and +spent a short time with some agriculturists in the neighbourhood, +afterwards staying with Sir Thomas Winnington, Bart., at Stanford Court, +for one night. Mr. Cobbett’s opinion of Worcester and Worcestershire +people may be found in the account which he gives of this trip in his +_Register_ for October 7 of this year. + +LOCAL ACT—For building Holt Fleet bridge. + + + +1827. + + +THAT the elections had caused considerable change in the constitution of +the House of Commons was made apparent by their coming, early in the +session, to a vote adverse to the Catholic claims—the votes of the Lower +House on this question having for many years past been favourable to +their consideration. A motion of Sir Francis Burdett to remove penalties +from the Catholics, though warmly supported by Mr. Canning, was lost by +276 votes to 272. Lord Liverpool’s illness requiring the reorganisation +of the cabinet, so much difficulty was experienced in the choice of a +prime minister that the country was virtually without a ministry for some +weeks. The Catholic question was put forward as the principal +difficulty—the chief members of Lord Liverpool’s administration refusing +to take office under a Premier who was favourable to the Catholic claims. +Immediately that Mr. Canning—whose talents unequivocally marked him out +for the position—kissed hands, the Duke of Wellington, Lord Eldon, Mr. +Peel, and others of the old cabinet resigned, and Mr. Canning could only +hold office by an unprincipled coalition with the Whigs—unprincipled +because such a ministry could only be carried on by one party or the +other totally belieing their previous political creed. Mr. Canning had +always avowed himself the determined foe of Parliamentary Reform and the +repeal of the Test Acts, but was popular because of his adhesion to the +Catholic claims and the policy he had adopted as Foreign +Secretary—separating this country from the Holy Alliance, recognising the +South American States, and interfering in defence of the independence of +Portugal. Earl Grey was the only member of the Whig party who openly and +honestly stood aloof from the new ministry. Immediately after the close +of the session, Mr. Canning—irritated, perplexed, exhausted, by the +forsaking of all his former friends—died. The new ministry was then +reorganised under the leadership of Viscount Goderich—formerly Mr. +Robinson. Three per Cents. averaged 84; wheat, 58s. 6d. + +JANUARY—The celebrated “Horace Bentley” controversy originated in a +paragraph which appeared this month in _Berrow’s Worcester Journal_, +stating that the Roman Catholics in Cavan, Ireland, were renouncing the +errors of their Church in considerable numbers. In the _Journal_ of +February 7, a person signing the initials “W. L.” begged, as an English +Catholic, to be informed what were the errors that the Catholics of Cavan +were renouncing, and pledged himself that, if any one would point out to +him only one error, either in morals or doctrine, which the Catholic +Church taught, he would, as soon as possible after, publicly read his +recantation in the parish church of B—. In a fortnight after W. L.’s +letter had appeared, one was inserted in reply, signed “Horace Bentley,” +offering, if the Bible was accepted as the test, to prove that the Church +of Rome taught “several fundamental and fatal errors.” W. L. replied +that he would “leave Mr. B. to take his own course. He might prove his +allegations from the Holy Scriptures, or from any source he might deem +expedient—he was ready to join the issue with him.” This, Horace Bentley +contended, was an evasion of the requirement—that an absolute test of +truth and error should be agreed upon; but, nevertheless, proceeded to +prove the existence of what are considered by Protestants to be the +principal errors of the Roman Church, by an extraordinary array of +quotations from Catholic authors and authorities themselves. The letters +were, on all hands, admitted to display singular ability. W. L., at +first, questioned the correctness of the quotations, and was evidently +astonished at their production. An offer was made by the Catholic party +to change their champion, on the ground of W. L.’s incompetence; and, +though this was not accepted, yet the last two letters under that +signature were plainly from another hand. In these, endeavour was made +to show that the doctrines of the Church of England were, in many +respects, identical with those of the Church of Rome, and that “every +consistent Protestant must be an infidel.” The Protestant party were so +delighted with their disputant, that a proposal was made to purchase a +piece of plate by subscription. The _incognito_ was, for a long time, +most admirably preserved, and the letters of Horace Bentley were pretty +generally ascribed to the Rev. Dr. Hook, then Dean of Worcester. It has +now, however, long been known that they were written by the Rev. G. +Redford, D.D., LL.D., minister at Angel Street Chapel, Worcester. The +original W. L. was a machine manufacturer at Bromsgrove. + +MARCH 3—A duel took place on Kempsey Ham between John Somerset Russell, +Esq., of Powick Court, and Mr. John Parker, master of the Worcestershire +Fox Hounds. They fired at each other, but neither of the balls took +effect; and the seconds then interfered and effected a reconciliation. +An officer came on the ground, armed with a warrant, to arrest the +disputants, but of course he was “too late.” The quarrel arose about +some matter connected with the hunt. + +MARCH 27—Colonel Davies voted in a minority of nineteen on an amendment, +moved by Mr. Hume, to admit wheat at all times at a fixed duty of 10s. a +quarter. Colonel Davies also succeeded in obtaining the appointment of a +committee to inquire into the mode of taking the poll at elections for +cities and boroughs. + +MARCH—An eccentric fellow at Droitwich cut his throat, having previously +left some most singular instructions respecting his funeral, which were +obeyed to the letter. He was buried with his shoes on, with a penny in +one hand and a halfpenny in the other. Some of the earth surrounding his +mother’s coffin was put into his, and his body was wrapped in the sheet +on which she had been laid out. The carriers of the coffin and mourners +ran, as soon as the funeral was over, at their topmost speed, to a public +house, where they sang _one_ song and _two_ psalms, afterwards drinking +peace to the soul of the departed till they were all drunk. + +JUNE 29—At a meeting of the Worcester Corporation, on the motion of Henry +Clifton, Esq., the freedom of the city was unanimously voted to the Right +Hon. Robert Peel, “late principal Secretary of State for the Home +Department, in testimony of the high sense they entertained of his +consummate abilities and inflexible integrity as a statesman, and his +unshaken fidelity and attachment to the Constitution in Church and +State.” + +NOVEMBER 29—Mr. T. A. Knight, only son of T. A. Knight, Esq., of Downton +Castle, accidentally shot by John Barneby, Esq., of Brockhampton, while +they were both sporting on Mr. Knight’s demesne. + +DECEMBER—The Worcestershire Yeomanry disbanded by order of Government, in +common with all those corps which had not been engaged in actual service +of any kind for the previous ten years. The regiment was first raised in +1794, by the Hon. Somers Cocks. The Kidderminster troop, which was a +separate body, raised in 1798 and commanded by Captain Boycot, was also +disbanded. + + + +1828. + + +THE discordant materials of which the Canning ministry was composed after +his death, soon brought it to an end: before Parliament met this year +Lord Goderich had resigned, and the Wellington and Peel cabinet was +formed. The most important measure of the year was the repeal of the +Test and Corporation Acts; the principle of which having been affirmed in +the House of Commons, on the motion of Lord John Russell, by a majority +of 237 to 193, was adopted by the Government, and they carried through +the bill as their own measure. Consols averaged 86; wheat 60s. 5d. + +JANUARY 1—The tolls on carriages and horsemen passing over Worcester +bridge discontinued—the bridge having been erected forty-six years, and +the trustees having now paid off the debt, and laid by a fund yielding a +revenue of £125 a year to be applied in the repairs of the bridge and its +approaches. + +JANUARY 3—Holt Fleet bridge opened to the public. Its extreme length is +226 feet, and consists of one arch of 150 feet span; the centre being 35 +feet above the river at ordinary periods. The design was furnished by +Telford. The entire cost was £8,300. + +FEBRUARY 26—Four elegant silver corner dishes and covers, weighing nearly +300 ounces, presented to the Rev. George Turberville of Hanley Castle, +for his long and valuable services as an active magistrate of the county. +The presentation took place at a dinner at the White Lion, Upton, at +which Sir Anthony Lechmere, Bart., presided. + +SEPTEMBER 3—The Rev. Mr. Ketley, appointed by the London Missionary +Society to take the place of the ill-treated Smith, of Demerara, whose +case had occupied so large a share of public attention, was publicly +ordained at the Independent Chapel, Worcester. + +SEPTEMBER 26—A sumptuous silver vase, presented to Viscount Eastnor by +the Yeomanry, “as a farewell token of the cordial and lasting esteem +which is felt for him by all ranks of the corps.” + +OCTOBER 29—The inhabitants of Bewdley, following _suite_ with the Kentish +Brunswickers on Penenden Heath, declared in public meeting that “the +Protestant constitution shall not be changed.” John Williams, Esq., the +High Bailiff, was in the chair; and the petition against the Catholic +claims was moved by the Rev. John Cawood, and seconded by John Nichols, +Esq. There was no opposition. The Mayor and Corporation of Evesham +forwarded a similar petition. + + + +1829. + + +THE ministry—supposed by all England to be determined to resist, _a +l’outrance_, the claims of the Catholics to emancipation—astounded the +country by making the King recommend, in his speech at the opening of +Parliament, that these claims should be immediately taken into +consideration. The Catholic Association and Mr. O’Connell’s election for +Clare were supposed to have been the causes immediately compelling +ministers to give way; but the Emancipation Act really owed its existence +to the continuous efforts of the great Liberal party and the weight of +public opinion in England. The measure was passed in the Commons by a +majority of 173, and in the Lords of 105. The circulation of small notes +came to an end in the early part of this year, and although so much time +had been afforded for preparation for this step, and it had been so +repeatedly postponed, it nevertheless produced much straitness in +commercial transactions, and had its effect in reducing both the price of +the provisions and the wages of labour. Three per Cents. averaged 88; +wheat averaged 66s. 3d. + +JANUARY—A subscription entered into for the relief of the Worcester poor. + +FEBRUARY—The petitions against Catholic Emancipation, got up by the +Brunswick Club, received about 6,000 signatures in this county. On the +presentation of the petition in the House of Lords, Lord Lyttelton +characterised the manner in which it was got up as “anomalous and +irregular.” + +FEBRUARY 9—The WORCESTER LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTION established +at a public meeting held at the Guildhall, presided over by Mr. Daukes of +Diglis House. It was for some years warmly supported by Lord Lyttelton +and most of the literati of the county. + +FEBRUARY 17—An alarming fire in the outbuildings of Mr. Joseph Ross of +Sneachill, White Lady Aston, consuming altogether about four thousand +pounds’ worth of property, and wholly uninsured. Three hundred guineas +were offered as a reward for the discovery of the incendiary, no doubt +being entertained that it was wilful. + +MARCH 24—Meeting of the clergy of the diocese, with Archdeacon Onslow in +the chair, to petition against the Catholic Relief Bill. The tone of the +proceedings and petition was very moderate. The Hon. H. B. Lygon was the +only member for this county who voted against the Bill. + +MAY 29—Presentation of plate (a massive silver vase) to Archdeacon +Onslow, having been Vicar of Kidderminster for twenty-eight years, by +general subscription of the inhabitants there. + +JUNE 17—The Duc de Chartres visited Worcester, with its manufactories and +Cathedral. + +JUNE 22—Ombersley Church consecrated by the Lord Bishop of the Diocese. +This very elegant little church is built of white stone from the +Ombersley quarries, in the decorated English style. Its extreme length +is 117 feet, and the spire is 154 feet high; and the church will +accommodate about 1,000 persons. The Marchioness of Downshire gave the +stone, the additional land to extend the churchyard, the organ, and the +stained windows, &c. + +JULY 16—The new Catholic Chapel, Sansome Street, Worcester, opened. The +Rev. Dr. Walsh, Bishop of the Midland District, officiated; and the Very +Rev. Dr. Weedall, President of St. Mary’s College, Oscot, preached. The +chapel is capable of containing about 800 persons. The collection at the +door on this occasion amounted to about £48. + +AUGUST 26—Silver Street Chapel (Baptist), Worcester, reopened, after +enlargement, on which occasion a sermon was preached by the celebrated +Robert Hall of Bristol. + +DECEMBER 10—The Marquis of Anglesey visited Worcester, and was +entertained by the Corporation in great style; the freedom of the city +being presented to him in common hall by Lord Deerhurst. + + + +1830. + + +MINISTERS, having alienated their old friends by their conduct on the +Catholic question, held office by support of the Whigs, but towards the +close of the session these also deserted them. The revolutions at Paris +and Brussels, the demise of George IV, and the distress amongst the +agricultural labourers giving rise to fearful incendiarism through the +whole of the south of England, imparted extraordinary interest and +importance to the question of Parliamentary Reform. Public meetings were +everywhere held upon the subject, and at the elections which took place +in August, Reformers were returned for all those towns where the +constituency was at all on a popular basis. The result was a loss of +more than fifty members to ministers; and they managed to involve +themselves in still more unpopularity and dislike by their unqualified +declarations against all Reform, and by dissuading the King from +accepting an invitation to dine at Guildhall on Lord Mayor’s Day, on the +ground of apprehended disturbance. The new Parliament met on the 2nd of +November, and on the 15th Sir Henry Parnell moved for a committee to +revise the civil list. A division took place, and ministers were left in +a minority of 29—233 votes being given for the motion, and 204 against +it. Ministers immediately resigned, and Earl Grey was called to His +Majesty’s Councils, with the understanding that Parliamentary Reform was +to be a cabinet measure. Thus, after twenty-three years’ exclusion from +office, the Whigs found themselves in power, and their principles +triumphant. Consols averaged 98½; wheat averaged 64s. 3d. + +JANUARY—Subscription for the relief of the poor again entered into at +Worcester, and £1,108 raised. Distributed in soup and bread. £200 +raised with a like object at Bewdley, and a subscription at Droitwich. + +JULY 2—Petitions from various towns of the county against the Beer House +Bill, which was also strongly opposed by Colonel Davies. + +AUGUST 6—The Duchess of Kent and the Princess Victoria arrived at +Malvern, for the purpose of making a considerable stay there. + +AUGUST 25—Most serious riots at Kidderminster. The carpet weavers, +instigated by the “Society of Workmen,” attacked, almost without notice, +the factory of Mr. Cooper, because he employed a number of men upon a +particular description of light work at three halfpence per yard less +than the customary price. In the evening the mob again assembled, and +broke the windows not only of Mr. Cooper’s house, but those of Mr. Simcox +Lea, Mr. Best, Mr. Brinton, Mr. Dobson, and Mr. Gough, manufacturers; of +George Constance, Esq., High Bailiff; Messrs. Hallen and Talbot, +solicitors; Mr. Boycot; Mr. Russell, coal merchant; the Town Hall; and +the Black Horse Inn—nor was the town restored to quiet till a troop of +the 14th Dragoons arrived at six o’clock on Wednesday morning. The +property stolen and destroyed was valued at £3,000. Eight men were +immediately afterwards apprehended, and committed by the magistrates for +the part they had taken in the disturbances. Rewards amounting to £1,000 +were offered for the conviction of the ringleaders. + +SEPTEMBER 7—The Duchess of Kent and the Princess Victoria visited +Worcester, accompanied by Sir John and Lady Conroy and the Baroness de +Lehzen, and received the Mayor and Corporation at the Deanery. They +inspected the three china manufactories; and the young Princess, then +twelve years of age, displayed the greatest interest in the ingenious +processes to which the porcelain clay is submitted. + +SEPTEMBER 18—Frightful accident to the Aurora, day coach from London, +which was crammed with passengers inside and out, bringing persons to the +ensuing Worcester Musical Festival. The coachman neglected to put the +drag on the wheel in coming down Severn Stoke hill, and the speed which +the vehicle gained as it came down, upset it shortly after rounding the +turn at the bottom. Mr. Bennett, organist of Christ Church, Oxford, was +killed on the spot; and Mr. Hughes, glover, of Sidbury, Worcester, died +next morning. Several other passengers were most seriously hurt. The +jury upon the inquest refused to return a verdict of manslaughter against +the coachman, although directed to do so by the coroner; but put a +deodand of £30 upon the coach and horses, in each case. + +SEPTEMBER 9—Date of the death of the celebrated Mr. Huskisson, who was +born at Birtsmorton in this county. + +OCTOBER 26—St. George’s Chapel, Barbourne, a chapel of ease to Claines +Church, consecrated by the Lord Bishop of the Diocese. The sermon was +preached by Prebendary Benson, and the collection afterwards realised +£60. The presentation of the chapel is vested in the incumbents of +Claines. The total cost of the building was £3,500; of this, Sir H. +Wakeman, Bart., contributed £500. £1,200 was raised by private +subscriptions, &c. The Church Building Commissioners contributed the +remainder. The painted window at the east end was the gift of James +Wakeman, Esq. It will accommodate 750 persons, 400 of the sittings being +free. + +OCTOBER 29—The WORCESTER MENDICITY SOCIETY formed at a meeting at the +Guildhall, with H. B. Tymbs, Esq., Mayor, in the chair. This Society +still continues to exist, and has acted most beneficially both in +discovering cases of imposture and in aiding the truly unfortunate. It +is only a pity that it is not more generally supported and confided in. + +DECEMBER—Riots at Tardebigg amongst the needle makers, who thought +themselves aggrieved by the introduction of machinery to stamp the eyes +of the needles. They commenced an attack on the machinery and house of +Mr. Baylis of Tardebigg, but were interrupted by the arrival of +constabulary from Redditch, and six men were committed by the magistrates +for trial. Five agricultural labourers were also committed to gaol for +breaking a thrashing machine, which had been left on the road side at +Hanley William. A thatched cattle shed, with two cows, a hay rick and +stubble rick, the property of Mr. Nind of Dumbleton, burnt down by an +incendiary fire. + +LOCAL ACT—For enclosing lands at Hagley. + + + +1831. + + +THE measure of Reform, introduced by the Grey ministry a few days after +the meeting of Parliament, so much exceeded general expectation in extent +and boldness, that the people immediately adopted it with enthusiasm; and +the cry was, “The Bill, the whole Bill, and nothing but the Bill.” After +a debate of seven nights’ duration, leave was given to bring it in +without a division, and the trial of strength was reserved for the second +reading, which was carried by a majority of one only; the numbers +being—for, 302; against, 301. The ministers, however, persevered with +it; but, in committee, General Gascoyne moved that the number of members +for England and Wales should not be diminished, and this was carried +against ministers by a majority of eight. The consequence was, that the +bill was for a while abandoned, and another appeal made to the country. +The elections, which now took place in the midst of unparalleled +excitement, gave ministers such a decided majority in the Commons, that +the second reading of the bill was carried by a majority of 136, and it +went through committee without any material alteration. The Lords, +however, had not the prudence quietly to pass a measure which the people +had so unequivocally demanded, and the second reading was negatived in +the Upper House by a majority of 41. Riots and disturbances everywhere +ensued; and none can understand, except those who actually took part in +the year’s events, how near the nation was to convulsion and revolution. +The cholera made its appearance in the country on the 26th October, and +was very fatal in many places. Consols averaged 81; wheat averaged 66s. +6d. + +JANUARY 10—The Vice Chancellor gave his decision in the case of the St. +Oswald’s Hospital property, Worcester, declaring that the leases which +had been granted by the governors were illegal, and must be set aside. +This decision affected large properties in the Tything, which, having +been held for leases of forty years at a nominal rent, and these renewed +at a fine only amounting to about one year’s rent, had been treated in +the market as little inferior to freehold. The proceedings were based on +an act passed at the instance of the celebrated Dr. Fell, Bishop of +Oxford in 1660, and who was then master of this hospital. This act +expressly provided that, in the leases granted of the property belonging +to the hospital, “the best improved value that the lands and houses +should be yearly worth should be reserved for the respective yearly rents +thereof.” The solicitor, on the part of the information, was Mr. S. +Godson of Worcester. + +JANUARY 21—Graves opened in Hanley Castle churchyard, and two recently +interred bodies taken away. They had been sent in packing cases from the +Anchor Inn, Upton-on-Severn, to London, but, parties following them +immediately, the cases were recovered, and the bodies restored to their +resting places, but the disturbers of the grave’s quiet were not caught. + +MARCH 9—The Kidderminster carpet weavers presented Mr. Godson with a very +handsome hearth rug, for his exertions in their behalf at the sessions of +the previous August. + +MARCH 23—On the first division on the Reform Bill, on Sir R. Vyvyan’s +amendment, “That the Bill be read a second time that day six months,” all +the members for Worcestershire were present. The Hon. T. H. Foley, +Colonel Davies, Mr. Robinson, Mr. J. H. H. Foley, and Earl of Sefton +voted against the amendment; and Hon. H. B. Lygon and W. A. Robarts, +Esq., for it. + +JUNE—The Worcester Militia reorganised; and ten troops of Yeomanry raised +by the Earl of Plymouth. + +AUGUST 25—In the Marquis of Chandos’s celebrated amendment to the Reform +Bill, giving farming tenants at will, to the amount of not less than £50, +votes for counties, Colonel Davies and Mr. Robinson voted in the majority +against ministers, and the Hon. T. H. Foley, Captain Spencer, and Mr. +Godson in the minority for them. Colonel Davies, in the progress of the +bill, moved several amendments, which were discussed at length, and only +defeated by small majorities: one was to prevent persons, having votes in +boroughs, from voting at county elections. + +SEPTEMBER 14—Presentation of colours to the Worcestershire Yeomanry. +This took place at Hewell, the Countess of Plymouth presenting the +cornets with the colours. The ceremony was performed in the presence of +an immense concourse of spectators. A dinner was afterwards given on the +ground, by the Earl of Plymouth, to the nobility of the county and +officers of the regiment. + +OCTOBER 19—The Worcester Society of Artists opened an exhibition in the +rooms of the Old Library in Angel Street, containing altogether some 164 +pictures, from the easels of professional artists and amateurs in the +city and county. + +NOVEMBER 5—Worcester Riots.—The ferment which the rejection of the Reform +Bill by the Lords had created having spread generally through the +country, and much terror caused by the Bristol anti-Wetherell riots, the +Mayor and magistrates of Worcester swore in a number of special +constables this week; and, at the request of the Mayor, the Home +Secretary directed a troop of the 7th Hussars to take up their quarters +at Droitwich. It was thought possible that the ill disposed might make +the county Reform meeting, held this day, a _point d’appui_, and the 400 +special constables had express orders to hold themselves in readiness for +action at any moment. However, the proceedings passed off very quietly, +and the day closed without any disturbance; but unfortunately a small and +purely accidental fire broke out in the back premises of Mr. Woakes in +High Street. A great number of people were gathered to the spot, and a +squabble occurred in the crowd, during which the hose of the fire engines +was cut, and the mob seemed to regard this as the signal for disorder. +Some rascals harked them on to mischief, and they first of all made an +incursion into Foregate Street, where they broke all the windows in the +house of Mr. France, solicitor, and on their return smashed those of Sir +Anthony Lechmere and other individuals known to belong to the unpopular +party. The Mayor and magistrates were already at the Hall, with a large +body of special constables, and the bells of the city churches were set +tolling to collect the remainder. This roused the whole town, and all +the bad characters it contained were speedily enrolled amongst the mob. +The special constables at the command of the Mayor sallied out of the +Town Hall and engaged the rioters, and some smartish encounters took +place in various directions. Several of the mob were captured and +carried off to prison; but none of the specials were much hurt. The +tumult still continuing, the Mayor sent off expresses to Pershore and +Droitwich for the military; but, in the interim, he addressed the +rioters, and attempted to induce them to disperse. Some of the leaders +said they would do so if he would release the prisoners who had been +taken. The Mayor, hereupon, went down to the gaol, and, amidst the +huzzas of the mob, liberated the captives; but they then wanted the +release of the other prisoners confined in the gaol. This the Mayor +positively refused, and returned to the Guildhall. At a quarter after +one Captain Bathurst, with a troop of the 7th Hussars, rode up to the +Guildhall, and the mob threw some stones at them; and, as they showed no +disposition to disperse, the Mayor read the Riot Act, but had no sooner +done so than a stone was hurled at him, which struck him on the head. He +immediately ordered the military to clear the streets, which they did in +a very short time. A great number of stones were thrown at them; but the +resistance speedily ceased, and many parties were again taken into +custody and conveyed to the gaol. Several of the mob were cut, though +not seriously, by the sabres of the military. A detachment of the 91st +Infantry arrived from Pershore about three a.m., but their services were +not then required. The city, for two or three nights afterwards, wore an +unquiet aspect, and desultory mobs were collected, but no further harm +was done. The magistrates examined the prisoners afterwards—amounting, +in all, to about thirty persons. Most of them were liberated on entering +into their own recognizances to keep the peace, and a few of the worst +were fined or sent to the treadmill. + +LOCAL ACTS—For erecting a County Hall and Courts of Assize at Worcester; +for better repairing the road from Bromsgrove to Birmingham. + + + +1832. + + +THE ministers, calling Parliament together again almost immediately, +proposed another Reform Bill, differing from the former one in the +apportionment of boroughs in the schedules, in preserving the rights of +freemen by birth and servitude, and in giving freeholders in boroughs the +right to vote in county elections. The second reading was carried, on +the morning of Sunday, the 18th of December, 1851, by a majority of 324 +to 162; the majority being thus much larger than before. The bill passed +a second reading in the Lords by a majority of 9; seventeen peers who +voted against the bill in 1831 voted for it in 1832, and others absented +themselves. Immediately on going into committee, however, Lord Lyndhurst +proposed to postpone the disenfranchising to the enfranchising clauses, +and this was carried against ministers by a majority of 35. Earl Grey +then applied to the King for powers to carry the bill as it stood; and, +on the King’s refusing a _carte blanche_ for the creation of peers, +ministers resigned _en masse_. Lord Lyndhurst was sent for by the King; +but the Commons pledged themselves, by an overwhelming majority, to +support only the former ministers, and, in the face of such a resolution, +no ministry could be formed. Then came the thunders of the _Times_, +declaring that “the Queen had done it all,” the threatened run upon the +Bank, and symptoms of disaffection among the soldiery. At last the King +found himself obliged to put into Earl Grey’s hands all the powers he +required, and he returned to office on the 15th of April. The opposition +peers then, at the King’s request, absented themselves from the House, +and the bill passed with little further discussion. It received the +royal assent on the 7th of June. Parliament was soon afterwards +dissolved; and the new constituencies, of course, returned a very large +preponderance of Whig or Reform members. Three per Cents. averaged 83½; +wheat averaged 58s. 8d. + +JANUARY—Several attempts made to fire carpet manufactories in +Kidderminster. The trade of the town in a deplorable condition; 779 +heads of families receiving out-door relief weekly. + +FEBRUARY 1—Colonel Davies moved, in the House of Commons, for a committee +of inquiry on the glove trade. He stated that not one-third of the +number of gloves were made in Worcester that there were formerly, when +120 masters each manufactured 100 dozen a week. He attributed this +distress and loss of trade entirely to the free trade in French gloves. +Mr. Poulett Thomson contended, on behalf of Government, that the general +manufacture of gloves in this country had increased, for the kid skins +imported in the last five years had been 3,679,000, to 2,600,000 in the +five years prior to the duty being taken off gloves. The distress he +believed to be owing to the late increase in the importation of skins, to +the use of Berlin gloves instead of kid, and to overtrading. The numbers +were—against the committee, 223; for it, 168: majority against the +motion, 55. + +FEBRUARY 28—A petition from the operative glovers of Worcester, having +2,206 signatures, and praying that the “system, falsely called free +trade,” may be abandoned, forwarded to the Earl of Coventry for +presentation. + +APRIL 2—The freedom of the city presented to the Earl of Plymouth and +Lieutenant Colonel Elrington by the hand of the recorder, the Earl of +Coventry. To the former, principally in approval of his raising the +Yeomanry corps; and to the latter, for his public services in the east. +Colonel Elrington presented the Corporation with arms and armour, taken +by him from pirates in the Persian Gulf. + +APRIL 5—At a dinner given at the Guildhall, Dr. Malden in the chair, a +very handsome service of plate was presented to the Mayor, Henry Clifton, +Esq., in remembrance of the vigilance and energy he had shown in +repressing the Worcester riots. + +APRIL 17—On the memorable second reading of the Reform Bill in the House +of Lords, by a majority of nine, the Earl of Coventry, Lord Northwick +(both of whom had voted against the former bill), Earl Somers, Lord +Foley, Lord Lyttelton, and the Bishop of Worcester voted in its favour; +and Earls Plymouth and Beauchamp and the Bishop of Rochester against it. + +MAY 23—The Mayor of Worcester, Henry Clifton, Esq., was presented at +_levée_ by the Bishop of Worcester, and thanked by His Majesty for the +“important services he had rendered on a late occasion.” + +MAY 29—The trade on the Severn stopped by the general resistance of the +bow-halliers to the use of horses in towing barges up the river. They +nailed the gates up along the towing path, and assembled in great numbers +to prevent any horses being attached to the vessels. The magistrates +made several attempts to convince them of the unreasonableness and folly +of their proceedings, but to no purpose. At last the Riot Act was read, +and a troop of Scotch Greys marched into Worcester from Kidderminster. +Under this escort the gates were opened and several vessels taken up the +river, but not without determined opposition and much disturbance. Eight +men were committed for trial to the sessions. + +JUNE 11 AND 12—Celebration of the passing of the Reform Bill, in +Worcester. On the Monday the Worcester Political Union, with a great +number of lodges and friendly societies, paraded the streets with banners +and music, and in the evening dined at various public houses. On the +Tuesday evening the city was illuminated—the lighting up being almost +universal, and costly transparencies and devices in many instances +adopted. + +JUNE 15—A Reform festival at Evesham, 700 persons dining at tables set +out along the open street—Vine Street. In the space between the tables +were raised twelve casks of ale, inscribed—“The King,” “Reform,” “Grey,” +“Brougham,” &c. Mr. Workman presided. Dinners also at Droitwich, +Redditch, &c. + +JULY 14—The cholera first made its appearance in Worcester: most of the +cases occurring in the Pinch, at the back of Bridge Place, Hylton Street, +a most dirty and close locality. It continued to rage till the middle of +October: 293 cases having occurred in the whole; and the deaths amounted +to 79. The medical men, forming the Board of Health, had been most +indefatigable in their labours and attentions to the sick in the Cholera +Hospital at Henwick. A very handsome subscription was entered into for +the relief of cholera sufferers and their families, and the proceeds of a +collection after a sermon by the Rev. Canon Benson, and of a concert at +the College Hall (£156), were devoted to the same good object. The +cholera visited every town in the county with more or less severity. It +raged most fearfully at Droitwich, Redditch, and Dudley; the cases in the +latter town amounting to 1,132, with a proportion of 250 deaths. Warm +salt baths were found very beneficial at Droitwich. The Yeomanry, this +year, assembled at Warwick, because of the prevalence of the disease in +Worcester. + +JULY 19—The PROVINCIAL MEDICAL AND SURGICAL ASSOCIATION formed, at a +meeting held in the board room of the Worcester Infirmary. More than +fifty medical men were present; and the venerable Dr. Johnstone, of +Birmingham, was called to the chair. The opening address was read by Dr. +Hastings, the founder of the association; another on the objects and +modes of medical investigation by Dr. Barlow; with various medical papers +by Dr. Milligan, Dr. Malden, Dr. Jeffery, and others; with “A proposal to +establish County Natural History Societies” by Dr. Conolly. The value +and importance of this association are now fully established. + +OCTOBER 9 AND 10—Musical Festival at Kidderminster, in St. George’s +Church, for the benefit of the National Charity Schools. _The Messiah_ +was performed one morning, and a selection of sacred music the other. +There was also a grand miscellaneous concert on Tuesday evening, and a +ball on Wednesday evening. The result was highly satisfactory. The +receipts were—for tickets, £853; collections, £209; donations, £180: +total, £1,242. The expenses amounted to £792, and £450 was thus left as +a balance in favour of the charity. + +OCTOBER 27—The revising barristers having completed the inquiry into the +first registration of the voters of the city of Worcester under the +Reform Act, there were left upon the list 1,521 freemen and 721 £10 +householders in addition, making a total of 2,242. Under the old state +of things there were about 1,600 resident and 800 non-resident freemen, +so that the Reform Act somewhat lessened the number of voters. It was +stated, incidentally, that from the year 1760 to 1832 (seventy-two years) +the Corporation of Worcester had admitted 5,092 freemen—viz., 2,625 by +right of servitude, 1,222 by birth, 1,103 by purchase, and 142 had been +honorarily admitted. The constituency of the county, after revision of +the lists, amounted to 8,283—viz. 3,122 for the western and 5,161 for the +eastern division. Total population, 110,348. The voters for the city +and various boroughs numbered 4,235. + +NOVEMBER 5—The Duchess of Kent and Princess Victoria passed through the +county, escorted by the Worcestershire Yeomanry, who in reward for this +service have since received the appellation of the “Queen’s Own.” The +royal party passed through Tenbury, Witley, Worcester, and Bromsgrove to +Hewell, where they stayed for the night, being welcomed at each of these +places with the utmost loyalty and enthusiasm. At Hewell, the +townspeople of Bromsgrove and Redditch presented addresses, and the +nobility of the county assembled in the evening to pay their respects to +their Royal Highnesses. + + + +1833. + + +MEASURES called for by the state of Ireland occupied the first session of +the Reformed Parliament. The Coercion Bill, for the repression of crime, +was easily passed, and then came the Irish Church Bill, to abolish the +Church cess or rate, in that country, to impose a graduated tax on +clergymen, instead of taking first-fruits, and to abolish ten out of +twenty-two bishoprics. The bill passed with little opposition; but a +most important alteration was made in the Lords, as to the appropriation +of the revenues of the suppressed sees. A motion, made in the Commons, +for a repeal of half the Malt Tax, was carried by 162 to 152; but +ministers, a few days afterwards, got the vote rescinded. Consols +averaged 88; wheat averaged 52s. 11d. + +JANUARY 25—A police force, organised by the Worcester City Commissioners, +with Inspector Sharpe at their head. + +JANUARY—The Worcester Philharmonic Society, just formed, gave their first +concert. + +MARCH 26—Mr. G. R. Robinson moved for a committee to revise the taxation +of the country, and to inquire into the propriety of substituting a +property tax in lieu of a great portion of it. The motion was defeated +by the opposition of Government: 155 members, however, voted in its +favour; amongst the minority being the Hon. H. B. Lygon and Sir Thomas +Winnington. + +APRIL 8—THE WORCESTERSHIRE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY formed, at a meeting +held at the Guildhall, Worcester, with Sir C. S. Smith, Bart., in the +chair. + +MAY 1—The Hirondelle coach, passing through Worcester, was driven from +Liverpool to Cheltenham, a distance of 136 miles, in 9 hours and 33 +minutes—14 miles an hour, including stoppages. + +MAY 17—On Mr. W. Whitmore’s motion to substitute a fixed duty on corn for +the alterative duties then in force, Mr. G. R. Robinson and Mr. R. Godson +voted in the minority. Colonel Davies also paired off in favour of the +motion. + +JUNE 6—Colonel Davies moved a vote of confidence in ministers, with +reference to their conduct towards Portugal, which was carried by a +majority of 263. + +JULY 22—Funeral of the Earl of Plymouth, in Tardebigg Church. The whole +of the Yeomanry were assembled on the occasion, and great crowds gathered +to witness the procession. The burial service was performed by the Lord +Bishop of Worcester, assisted by the vicar of Tardebigg, the Right Hon. +and Rev. Lord Aston. + +SEPTEMBER 9—The Government Commissioners made their inquiries at +Worcester into the Charter and Corporation of the city. The forty-eight +members of the old Corporation were, of course, self-elected, and the +nomination virtually rested with a few of the body. They rigidly +excluded all professional men and all Dissenters. The income of the body +was stated to the Commissioners to be £2,100 per annum, and the +expenditure about £2,000; this included subscriptions and donations for +charitable purposes, amounting to about £300 a year. It was accidentally +discovered, during the inquiry, that the sword bearer charged one penny +per pot on all fruit brought into the market, though the toll was only +one farthing. A complaint was made that the £20 charged upon persons, +not freemen, who wished to trade within the limits of the city, had the +effect of discouraging young men from entering upon small businesses. + +OCTOBER—The _Bridgwater Treatises_ presented to the Rev. George Redford, +by some members of the Worcester Literary and Scientific Institution, for +“his just castigation of their scandalous libeller, ‘O. S.,’ for his +refutation of the assertion ‘That the diffusion of useful knowledge leads +to atheism,’ and for his defence of the anti-sectarian principles upon +which the London University is founded.” + +OCTOBER 25—A prisoner, named M‘Kenzie, confined in the City Gaol for +robbery, made his escape—slipping out of his cell just as the turnkey was +locking up. He had to make a jump of eleven feet from the top of one +building to another; and he afterwards said that, before making it, his +courage failed him, so he knelt down and asked God to assist him, and, by +God’s help, he succeeded! A truly curious instance of superstitious +profanity. He was retaken at Bridgnorth. + +NOVEMBER 14—Mr. Cockburn, the Government Commissioner for inquiring into +Municipal Corporations, attended at Bewdley. The burgesses and capital +burgesses of the borough were all elected, or chosen by the Corporation, +and, before the passing of the Reform Act, the privilege of voting was +thus confined to some thirty or forty persons. Previous to Mr. Robarts +being elected the member, it was customary for the candidate who found +favour to give some £300 or £400, and then there never was any opposition +to his taking his seat. It was said that these “compliments” had always +been applied to public purposes. Fifty guineas were allowed annually, +out of the Corporation funds, for the bailiff’s feast. No satisfactory +account was rendered of the Corporation property and receipts; and the +corporate officers refused to answer any questions about the Bridge +Trust, or the tolls taken thereat. The toll on foot passengers, it +appeared, had been discontinued for eighteen years; but £400 a year was +raised from the toll on carriages and horses. + +LOCAL ACT—To enable the Stratford and Moreton Railway Company to make a +branch to Shipston-on-Stour. + + + +1834. + + +ON the 1st of August in this year slavery ceased to disgrace the British +colonies. The Irish Church continued to be the principal subject of +discussion in Parliament; and on the 27th of May, Mr. Ward moved that the +temporalities of that church ought to be reduced; and as a majority of +the cabinet had resolved so far to accede to the motion as to appoint a +commission of inquiry, Mr. Stanley, Sir James Graham, the Duke of +Richmond, and the Earl of Ripon resigned their offices. The other +measures of the ministry with regard to Ireland were equally embarrassing +in their results. The unadvised disclosures of Mr. Littleton to Mr. +O’Connell, respecting the supposed intentions of the cabinet as to the +Coercion Bill, led to the retirement of Earl Grey, and Viscount Melbourne +became Prime Minister in his stead. The measures proposed for the relief +of Dissenters were withdrawn from the opposition of Dissenters +themselves; and the only act passed this session, of great public +importance, was that for the amendment of the Poor Laws, which received +the assent of almost all parties. Mr. Hume’s motion for a gradual repeal +of the Corn Laws was negatived by 312 to 155—Sir James Graham being the +principal speaker against it. In November, when the death of Earl +Spencer removed Lord Althorpe to the Upper House, and so further weakened +the Whigs, the King dismissed them, and called the Duke of Wellington to +his councils. Sir Robert Peel was then appointed Prime Minister, and +Parliament was dissolved. Three per Cents. averaged 90½. wheat, 46s. 2d. + +JANUARY—Mr. G. R. Robinson, M.P. for Worcester, elected chairman at +Lloyds. + +FEBRUARY—Lord Foley made strenuous endeavours to get Worcester created a +bonded port. + +APRIL 8—The “Athenæum,” Foregate Street, a building erected for the +accommodation of the Worcester Literary and Scientific Institution, +opened by an inaugural address from C. H. Hebb, Esq., the president. A +dinner, of the members and supporters of the institution, afterwards took +place at the Bell Inn, Broad Street, with Colonel Davies, M.P., in the +chair. + +MAY 9—Paganini performed in Worcester. + +MAY 15—The first stone of the Monument on the Lickey, erected to the +memory of the Earl of Plymouth, laid by Lord Lyttelton—the gentry of the +neighbourhood, the Cavalry, and a large concourse of spectators being +present. It was raised by public subscription. It is a simple obelisk +of Anglesea marble, raised on a pedestal 17 feet high and 20 feet square; +the top of the pillar is 91½ feet from the ground, and it is so situated +as to be seen at a distance of many miles. + +MAY 16—The first anniversary of the Worcestershire Natural History +Society held in the Guildhall, Edward Holland, Esq., the newly elected +president, in the chair. Dr. Streeten read the report of the committee. +In the evening the members dined together at the Crown Hotel, Broad +Street. + +JUNE 2—The first general exhibition of paintings opened in Worcester, in +the lecture room of the Athenæum, Foregate Street. It contained 195 +pictures, and was a most admirable selection. Amongst others were—“Cupid +interceding for Psyche,” by Etty; Constable’s “Barge on the Stour;” David +Roberts’s “Antwerp Cathedral;” two from the easel of Alexander Frazer; +and others by Stanfield, Danby, Pickersgill, Chalon, Jackson, Howard, +Creswick, &c.; while the local artists were also very fairly represented. +The pictures were very ably criticised in the _Worcester Herald_, by a +gentleman named Cary, who, for this purpose, adopted the sobriquet of +“Lorenzo.” + +JULY—Petitions sent up to Parliament, from various parishes in the city +and county, expressing confidence in the Established Church, and praying +that Dissenters might be kept out of the Universities. + +AUGUST 1—The first number of _The Analyst_, a monthly journal of +literature and natural history, principally devoted to the midland +counties, published in Worcester. It was edited by William Holl, Esq., +and reached a tenth volume. It was a clever and readable publication. + +AUGUST 17—The Bishop of Exeter preached at Hallow Church on behalf of the +Sunday schools. Next day the Rev. Prelate visited Worcester, and was +presented by the Mayor with a handsomely bound copy of _Green’s History +of Worcester_, as a token of admiration of his zealous defence of the +establishment. + +SEPTEMBER 1—Lord Deerhurst, while shooting in Sir Charles Cockerell’s +covers, at Sezincote, received the contents of a gun in his face, and +lost the sight of his right eye. + +SEPTEMBER 25—Church rate contest at Dudley, carried on with all the zeal +witnessed at a general election. The anti-rate party had a few weeks +before defeated the church party in vestry, but another meeting was +called for this day, when a rate of 10d. in the pound was proposed by Mr. +Isaac Badger, and carried on a poll by 474 to 390 votes. + +LOCAL ACT—For better supplying the town of Dudley with water. + + + +1835. + + +As the Reform enthusiasm had passed away, the elections resulted +unfavourably for the Whigs—the great majority of the counties returning +Conservative members. The Whigs, however, finding that they still +possessed a majority in the new house, set themselves to oppose Sir +Robert Peel’s Government on every point. They carried Mr. Abercromby, as +Speaker, by a majority of 10, and an amendment on the address by a +majority of 7. Sir Robert, however, continued to bring forward his +measures, some of which were generally approved of, and he bade fair to +gain the confidence of the country even under such disadvantageous +circumstances. But on the introduction of the Tithe Bill for Ireland, +Lord John Russell moved that no settlement of Irish Church affairs would +be satisfactory on any other basis than that of appropriating its surplus +revenues to educational purposes; and this was carried by a majority of +27. Sir Robert Peel and his colleagues then retired from office, and +Lord Melbourne again became Prime Minister. The rest of the session was +almost wholly spent in passing the Municipal Reform Bill, and an attempt +to carry a Bill for regulating the Irish Church, which was so mutilated +in the Lords that ministers abandoned it. Consols averaged 91; wheat, +39s. 4d. + +FEBRUARY 19—In the well-remembered division on the choice of Speaker for +the new House of Commons under Sir R. Peel’s ministry, Sir T. Winnington, +Bart., Sir C. Cockerell, Captain Winnington, Mr. G. R. Phillips, and Mr. +Cookes voted in the majority of 316 for Mr. Abercrombie—and Mr. Holland, +Mr. Robinson, Colonel Lygon, Mr. Borthwick, Mr. Hawkes, Mr. Bailey, and +Mr. Barneby in the minority of 306 for Sir C. M. Sutton. Thus the whole +12 county members were present, and 5 voted for Mr. Abercrombie and 7 for +Sir C. Manners Sutton. + +MARCH 10—On the Marquis of Chandos’s motion for a repeal of the Malt Tax, +which was defeated by a majority of 158, T. H. Cookes, Esq., E. Holland, +Esq., Captain Winnington, J. Bailey, Esq., G. R. Robinson, Esq., Sir T. +Winnington, and Mr. Hawkes voted in the majority—and Col. Lygon, Mr. G. +R. Phillips, Mr. Borthwick, and Mr. Barneby in the minority. + +APRIL 20—The East Worcestershire Conservative Association formed at a +meeting at Droitwich, over which John S. Pakington, Esq., presided; the +object being to rescue the Eastern Division from the hands of the Whigs. +The annual subscription was fixed at 5s., but large donations were given +by Lord Redesdale, Lord Eastnor, and others. + +APRIL—Addresses sent to Sir Robert Peel—requesting him to continue to +hold office, and expressing confidence in his administration—from +Worcester, Droitwich, Evesham, Hagley, and Oldswinford. A public meeting +was held at Kidderminster, for the purpose of sending an address to His +Majesty—the chair taken by Thomas Bradley, Esq., the High Bailiff—praying +the King to continue the Government in Sir Robert Peel’s hands. The +address received 1,473 signatures. + +MAY 25—The first stone of the Worcestershire Natural History Society’s +Museum and Lecture Room, Foregate Street, Worcester, laid by Lord +Lyttelton. + +JUNE 12—Petition presented by Mr. Robinson, from Worcester, in favour of +the Municipal Corporation Bill, to which 4,300 signatures were attached. + +JUNE 15—The second exhibition of modern paintings opened at the Athenæum, +Foregate Street, containing 228 pictures. Amongst them was M‘Clise’s +fine picture, “The Installation of Captain Rock;” Danby’s “Enchanted +Island” and “Solitude;” five of Constable’s; two of Creswick’s; with +others by Copley Fielding, Lee, &c. The Worcester artists were well +represented. + +JULY 30—The first stone of St. Paul’s Church, Blockhouse, Worcester, laid +by the Lord Bishop of the Diocese; the Recorder, Earl Coventry, the +Corporation, and a large concourse of spectators attending. The church +was built entirely by voluntary subscription, being intended to meet the +spiritual wants of the population living in the extra-parochial district, +and consequently not formally under the charge of any particular +clergyman. + +AUGUST 4—Mr. Sidebottom, as Town Clerk of Worcester, examined before the +House of Lords, as one of the witnesses against the Municipal +Corporations Reform Bill. His testimony went to say that the +Corporation, as it was, was very good—that there was never any +jobbing—that the freemen had held their rights ever since 1540—that the +freemen were become such by servitude or birth, saying nothing about +purchase—and that any alteration must be for the worse. + +OCTOBER 4—The clergy and Dissenting ministers generally, throughout the +county, celebrated the third centenary of the Reformation, and the +printing of the first entire English Protestant Bible by Coverdale, by +preaching appropriate sermons on this day. + +OCTOBER 6, 7, AND 3—Mr. John Constable, R.A., the celebrated painter, +lectured at the Athenæum, Worcester, on landscape painting. + +OCTOBER—Pershore and Upton Poor Law Unions incorporated. + +DECEMBER—Election of the Municipal Corporations—At Kidderminster the +Conservatives had a decided majority; and W. B. Best, Esq., was chosen +Mayor. At Evesham, also, they preponderated; William Barnes, Esq., the +former Mayor, was here reëlected. At Bewdley the new body were all +Conservatives; Slade Baker, Esq., chosen Mayor. At Droitwich they were +all liberals; and E. B. Penrice, Esq., was elected chief magistrate. + +LOCAL ACT—For improving the turnpike roads leading into and from the city +of Worcester. + + + +1836. + + +THE Tithe Commutation Act and the Dissenters’ Marriage Act were the two +principal measures carried this year; the other bills proposed by +Government, respecting the Irish Church, Irish Corporations, and +Charitable Trusts, being so altered in the Lords, that the Commons +refused to agree to their amendments, and they were dropped. Consols +averaged 90; wheat averaged 48s. 6d. + +JANUARY 19—Evesham first lighted with gas. + +JANUARY 26—THE WORCESTER DIOCESAN CHURCH BUILDING SOCIETY formed at a +meeting at the Guildhall, Worcester. + +FEBRUARY—The Kidderminster Town Council having sent up a list of six +gentlemen (all Conservatives) as magistrates for the borough, Lord John +Russell refused to approve it, and substituted three other parties (two +being Whigs) for three of the names on the list. + +APRIL—The Commissioners appointed to inquire into the revenues of the +Established Church presented their report, from which it appeared that +the total number of benefices in the see of Worcester was 223; gross +total income per annum £73,255: 111 curates were employed at a gross +stipend of £9,002; average, £81 per annum. The incomes of the incumbents +varied from £20 to £1,500 a year. The gross income of the see of +Worcester was set down at £6,916, and of the Dean and Chapter at £12,088. +The eight minor canons received £34 a year, the precentor £14. 15s., the +schoolmaster £39. 19s. 6d., the under master £28. 1 s. 5d. + +APRIL 11—Dinner given at the Star Hotel to T. C. Brock, Esq., by the Hunt +Committee, on his resignation of the mastership of the hounds into the +hands of Captain Candler. The Hon. W. J. Coventry took the chair; and J. +S. Pakington, Esq., was vice president. + +APRIL 26—The first stone of Hartlebury New Church laid by Mrs. Baker, +wife of the rector, and daughter of the Bishop of the Diocese. + +JUNE 30—A splendid silver vase presented, at the George Hotel, Droitwich, +to Mr. T. G. Curtler, “in gratitude for his long services as Town Clerk +of the borough, and as a tribute of respect and esteem for his high +professional integrity and private character.” J. S. Pakington, Esq., +was called to the chair by the meeting, and presented the plate in a +highly eulogistic speech. + +JULY 8—_The Kidderminster Messenger_ started by Mr. Arthur Brough, a +bookseller in that town, and also carrying on a similar business at +Stourport. It at first professed to be a neutral newspaper, and, as +such, had an extensive circulation amongst men of all parties in +Kidderminster and the neighbourhood. Mr. Brough afterwards thought he +could, as a commercial speculation, improve the paper by making it a +thorough going Tory print, and he gave it the name of the _Ten Towns’ +Messenger_, alluding to ten towns round Kidderminster in which it +circulated. From this time it was furious in its politics and in the +language employed to advocate its principles. It reached its greatest +circulation when it extended its labours to Birmingham; the news of which +town was given at much length, and it assumed, consequently the +additional title of _The __Birmingham Times_. This was in 1839–40; and +from 1,700 to 1,800 copies, weekly, were sold at this time. In 1841, +however, Mr. Brough started the _National Advertiser_, by which he +expected to make much more money than by the _Ten Towns_, and in June, +1842, he sold it to the Rev. Charles Eckersall. The Tractarian +principles which it now advocated were, however, by no means palatable to +the majority of its readers, and the circulation of the paper gradually +declined, till Mr. Eckersall—like most other amateur newspaper +proprietors, having lost much money by it—got rid of it. The paper then +became the property of Mr. Friend, bookseller, of Kidderminster, but, +from various causes continued to fall off in circulation; and when it had +sunk to some 400 weekly, it was at last altogether discontinued on the +30th of June, 1849. + +AUGUST 25—Two superb pieces of plate—a silver vase and salver, weighing +together 286 ounces—presented to the Rev. J. Topham, M.A., of Droitwich, +by J. H. H. Foley, Esq., on behalf of the parishioners and friends of Mr. +Topham, who had purchased them by subscription, “as a token of respect to +his general character, and a testimony of the sense entertained by them +of his services in the cause of civil and religious liberty.” The +ceremony of presentation took place at the Court House. + +SEPTEMBER 26—St. Peter’s Church, Malvern Wells, consecrated. + +SEPTEMBER 31—Mr. Macready performed at Worcester Theatre in _Ion_. + +DECEMBER 14—Worcester Union incorporated under the New Poor Law, and the +guardians elected by the several city parishes. H. B. Tymbs, Esq., was +elected chairman of the new board, and Mr. Alderman R. Evans +vice-chairman. + +DECEMBER 24—The Lord Chancellor appointed, as trustees of the Worcester +charities, the gentlemen nominated by the Town Council, in preference to +those named by the old Corporation. The trustees thus appointed were—the +Mayor (C. H. Hebb, Esq.), Alderman R. Evans, John Dent, Esq., Mr. +Alderman Hall, Robert Berkeley, jun., Esq., Alderman W. Corles, William +Shaw, Esq., John Nash, Esq., George Allies, Esq., Mr. Thomas Grainger, +Humphrey Chamberlain, Esq., J. P. Lavender, Esq., Mr. Alderman Howell, +Francis Thomas Gibb, Esq., John Williams, Esq. The charities under the +management of the six masters were exempted from the operation of the +seventy-first section of the Municipal Reform Act. The Rev. E. Crane +resigned the chaplaincy of Berkeley’s Hospital, and the Rev. Edwin +Faulkner elected in his stead. Mr. E. Corles was chosen solicitor to the +trust. + +LOCAL ACT—For making the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway. + + + +1837. + + +THE subjects which occupied the attention of the legislature this year +were many and important, but no measures of great public polity actually +passed. Ecclesiastical matters formed the prominent topic, and a bill to +abolish church rates, and provide for the reparation of churches, by +putting the property of bishops, deans, and chapters into commission, was +read a second time, but the majority was so small, five votes only, that +ministers could not proceed with it. King William IV died on the 20th of +June; and, in the elections which followed the accession of the young +Queen, the Whigs with difficulty maintained their majority. Consols +averaged 91½; wheat averaged 55s. 10d. + +SEPTEMBER—Great excitement in Bromsgrove over politico-parochial matters. +Two parties were appointed by the Conservative party at the usual +time—Easter week; but this appointment, on an appeal to Dr. Phillimore, +the Chancellor of the Diocese, was declared informal and illegal. There +was, consequently, a fresh election in this month, when the whole parish +was routed up to vote. The result was, the choice of the two +liberals—Messrs. Ellins (who had 945 votes) and Hill (who had 915). The +Conservatives were Messrs. Edwards and Penn, who obtained 381 and 372 +votes respectively. A scrutiny was demanded, and it dragged out a weary +length with all sorts of expenses, but left the result of the election +unaltered. + +SEPTEMBER 13—Bazaar at Evesham, for the restoration of St. Lawrence’s +Church, producing £250. + +OCTOBER 30—Public meeting of the burgesses of Worcester at the Bell Inn, +to consider the best means of declaring their grateful sense of Mr. +Hebb’s constant endeavours in the behalf of civil and religious liberty, +and their approval of his conduct during the two years he had filled the +office of chief magistrate. It was determined that he should be +requested to sit for his portrait, and that the Council should be asked +to place it in the Assembly Room, where it now hangs. + +LOCAL ACTS—For amending and enlarging the powers of the act for erecting +a County Hall and Courts of Assize; the New Cattle Market Act; Birmingham +and Gloucester Railway Amendment Act, with powers to make branches to +Worcester and Tewkesbury. + + + +1838. + + +IRISH Tithes and Corporations—Church Rates—Jamaica and the Negro +Apprenticeship System, and the Canadas—formed the subjects of discussion +in Parliament. In the year previous had commenced that series of +deficits which contributed so much to the weakness and ultimate downfall +of the Melbourne administration: for finance is, after all, the +life-blood of a ministry. The Whigs could not, however, fairly be blamed +for the state of the national exchequer, which, in truth, was the +unavoidable consequence of the measures of former years. Immediately +after the restriction of small notes, in the year 1829, the prices of +merchandise and the amount of mercantile transactions rapidly declined; +though as the seasons were unfavourable, speculators managed, by aid of +the sliding scale, to keep up the price of corn till 1833, when it fell +to less than 40s. a quarter. Speculation in the American trade gained +for a time the appearance of prosperity; but on the failure of the United +States Bank in 1836, affairs were brought to a crisis, and our +manufacturers and merchants were plunged into extreme distress—trade was +utterly stagnated—and when the scarcity of 1839 necessitated large +importations of corn, and a drain of gold to pay for it, the Bank of +England was well nigh brought into the peril of 1825. Consols averaged +93; wheat averaged 64s. 7d. + +JANUARY—The _Worcestershire Chronicle_ established by a joint stock +company, at the head of which were some of the leading Reformers of the +city and county. It was designed to supply a want, then beginning to be +generally felt by this party, of an organ for the advocacy of their +opinions, and the advancement of their interests through the medium of +the press. The first number was published on the 3rd of January, 1838. +In the year 1842 the concern passed into private hands, and was +transferred to the present proprietors. + +JANUARY 22—Mr. Pakington made his Parliamentary _debût_ in a speech on +Canadian affairs, which was very well received. + +JANUARY—Subscriptions at Evesham, Redditch, and Pershore, for the relief +of the local poor during an inclement season. + +FEBRUARY—George Williams, Esq., surgeon, of Bewdley, nominated by Lord +John Russell as a magistrate of that borough, and the Town Council +thereof very indignant at not having been consulted. The Liberals +afterwards _fêted_ Mr. Williams at a dinner at the George Inn. + +MARCH 27—Celebration of Lord Ward’s majority at Himley, Sedgley, Dudley, +&c., by a succession of dinners and donations to the poor. The barrel of +ale called “Big Ben,” which had been brewed on Lord Ward’s natal day, and +reserved especially for this occasion, was tapped and distributed. His +lordship layed the first stone of a new church at Gornal, and afterwards +entertained a party of fifty gentlemen to a sumptuous feast at Himley +Hall. He declared himself a Conservative. + +JUNE 28—Celebration of Her Majesty’s coronation in Worcester and other +county towns. In Worcester the Yeomanry and Militia, the Town Council, +5,000 Sunday school children, and the various trade companies made up a +procession to the Cathedral, where a sermon was preached by Dr. Faussett. +2,100 poor people dined at the public expense in the Guildhall, Market +House, and Sansome Walk. 200 gentlemen dined together at the Shire Hall; +George Allies, Esq., Mayor, in the chair. Fireworks in the evening; and +a public breakfast for the ladies next morning in the Shire Hall. + +OCTOBER 4—At the annual assembly of the Yeomanry this year, Colonel Clive +presented Captain Emmott with a splendid service in silver, which had +been subscribed for generally by the regiment. The officers this year +gave a grand ball in the New Shire Hall. + +OCTOBER 27—A man named George Burrows committed from Droitwich for +stealing hay, made his escape from the County Gaol, having managed to +secrete himself in the yard until all the rest of the prisoners were +marched into the chapel to attend service. All his gaol clothes were +found returned one morning, being thrown into the court yard of the +prison. + +DECEMBER 4—Consecration of the church of St. Peter the Great, Worcester, +by the Lord Bishop of the Diocese. The sermon was preached by the Rev. +C. Benson. The old building would only accommodate 350 persons; the +present church contains 408 appropriated, and 624 free sittings. The +total cost was £3,600. £169 were collected after the services this day. + +DECEMBER 6—Consecration of Christ Church Chapel, Catshill, near +Bromsgrove, by the Lord Bishop of Rochester. This chapel, built for the +accommodation of a populous district, contains 520 sittings. £45 were +collected after a sermon by the Bishop. + +DECEMBER 16—Great excitement created at Bromsgrove and its neighbourhood, +by the supposed murder of a Redditch needle pointer, named Joshua +Hollier. He went to the Malt Shovel public house at Burcott, and was +drinking, quarrelling, and fighting there during the whole of this +(Sunday) afternoon, with “navvies” who worked on the Birmingham and +Gloucester line then making in the neighbourhood. He went out of the +house about eight o’clock, and was soon after found lying on the ground +insensible. His shoes had been taken away. He was brought into the +house, and shortly afterwards died without having spoken. The coroner’s +jury, after six days’ examination of witnesses, returned a verdict of +wilful murder against John Rose, a “navvie” who went to the house with +him, and was supposed to have kicked the deceased as he lay on the +ground, and so caused his death. He was heard afterwards to say he “had +given him enough,” and such like expressions. The grand jury before whom +the case came threw out the bill. + + + +1839. + + +THE Whigs being reduced to an extremity of weakness, resigned office in +May, when the measures they proposed to take with regard to Jamaica were +only carried by a majority of five. Sir Robert Peel, however, was unable +to form a Government, because Her Majesty would not consent to change the +ladies of her bedchamber, and Lord Melbourne once more assumed the +Premiership. The Chartist disturbances at Newport and elsewhere were the +most notable occurrences of the year. The Corn Law question began to +secure increased attention. Consols averaged 92½; wheat averaged 70s. +8d. + +JANUARY—Discussions on Socialism rife in Worcester. Robert Owen having +been propounding his plans, John Brindley, head master of the Oldswinford +hospital, delivered a series of lectures to refute him. A public +controversy between them at the Guildhall attracted great crowds. Dr. +Malden took the chair, and Brindley spoke first. Owen afterwards at +great length gave a rambling account of his opinions, till he at last +gave utterance to a very gross sentiment, at which a general yell arose, +and the proceedings terminated in the utmost confusion. A vote of +censure was passed on Owen in dumb show, and the people were so excited +that he narrowly escaped some very rough treatment. + +JANUARY 15—Bewdley first lighted with gas. + +JANUARY—The gaol fever raged in the county prison, in which, though only +built for 90, no less than 209 prisoners were confined. + +FEBRUARY 18—The members for this county who voted against Mr. Villiers’s +motion that parties should be heard at the bar of the House against the +Corn Laws, were Mr. Bailey, Mr. Hawkes, General Lygon, Mr. Pakington, Mr. +Horace St. Paul, Captain Rushout, Sir T. Winnington, and Captain +Winnington. Colonel Davies and Lord M. Hill voted for it, and Mr. Godson +was absent. The motion was negatived by 361 to 172. + +MAY 7—Public meeting of the citizens of Worcester to sanction the newly +formed CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, as an association simply intended to promote +the commercial interests of the city without reference to politics. Mr. +Alderman Allies filled the chair, and gentlemen of all parties spoke +warmly in support of the Chamber. + + + +1840. + + +PARLIAMENT was engaged for a great part of the session with the question +of privilege arising out of the Stockdale and Hansard case. The Whigs +continued to hold office on most precarious tenure, being defeated in +their proposal to allow Prince Albert £50,000 a year. A want of +confidence motion, however, proposed by Sir J. Yarde Buller, resulted in +a majority of 21 in their favour. The happy marriage of the Queen with +Prince Albert of Saxe Coburg and Gotha was celebrated on the 10th +February. Consols averaged 91; wheat averaged 66s. 4d. + +FEBRUARY 4—The Board of Guardians for the Pershore Union petitioned the +House of Lords for the dismissal of the assistant poor law commissioners, +as a useless and expensive body of men. The Rev. F. Best opposed the +motion, but it was carried by 25 to 5. The Droitwich Guardians did the +same. + +FEBRUARY 10—Her Majesty’s marriage kept in Worcester as a general +holiday—dinners given to operatives by their employers—and a ball in the +evening at the Guildhall. Public dinners at Great Malvern, Droitwich, +and Evesham; and at the latter place a subscription was entered into for +the poor, which amounted to 100 guineas. + +MARCH 28—The Worcestershire Agricultural Society held a general meeting +of members to petition against any alteration of the Corn Laws. Sir A. +Lechmere, Bart., was in the chair; and the petition, which was proposed +by Mr. John Williams and seconded by Mr. John Dent, was unanimously +adopted. + +APRIL 18—A rule granted by the Court of Queen’s Bench, calling upon E. B. +Penrice, Esq., Mayor of Droitwich, to show cause why a writ of _quo +warranto_ should not be issued against him for having held the office of +Mayor of that borough for three successive years. This discreditable +proceeding was taken under an obsolete statute of Queen Anne’s time. +Though the proceedings were abandoned, Mr. Penrice resigned the office, +and Mr. Alderman Tombs was elected in his stead. + +MAY—The PRISONERS’ RELIEF SOCIETY first established. This association, +with very limited means, has done much good, and that of a very necessary +kind, in assisting well behaved prisoners to go to their homes and escape +from temptation on their release from confinement. The credit of +suggesting it is wholly due to the Rev. Thomas Pearson. + +MAY—The _Paul Pry_ made its appearance in Worcester, filled with +scurrilous lampoons upon individual character, and the agent in that city +received a sound horsewhipping in his own back parlour from one of the +parties libelled. + +JUNE 11—An excited church rate contest in the parish of St. Martin, +Worcester; the numbers at the close of the poll being—for a rate of +four-pence in the pound, 185; against it, 183. A similar contest took +place in St. Peter’s parish a few days afterwards, which ended in a +majority of 66 for the rate—185 votes for and 119 against it. + +JULY 22—Great dinner of the operatives of Bromsgrove, in an immense tent +on the bowling green of the Bell Inn. G. F. Iddins, Esq., filled the +chair, and nearly 1,200 persons sat down at the tables. William Acton, +Esq., Mr. Twamley, Rev. T. Ashwell, Mr. J. B. Crane, Mr. F. T. Elgie, and +the Rev. Mr. Blakeman were the chief speakers, and the obnoxiousness of +church rates (a subject of great agitation at Bromsgrove) the chief +theme. + +JULY 31—Silver bread basket and waiter, pair of snuffers and tray +presented to Captain Rayer of Hillworth, by the tithepayers and +titheowners of Castlemorton, for the upright manner in which he had acted +as agent for the great tithes of that parish for twenty years. + +AUGUST 7—The Beer House Bill, introduced by Mr. Pakington, received the +royal assent. + +AUGUST 10—The Worcester Bridge Trustees having determined to widen the +bridge, and offered a premium of ten guineas for the best plan, awarded +the same to Mr. E. L. Williams, in preference to the plans of Mr. Daukes +and Mr. Varden, by a majority of five. The bridge has been widened in +accordance with Mr. Williams’s plan, and the alteration proves to be both +elegant and durable. + +SEPTEMBER 23—Several bodies of dead infants found in an old house at +Droitwich, where Mary Hall, an aged crone of very eccentric habits, +resided. Her husband had been sexton of the parish of St. Peter’s, +Droitwich, and during his last illness the woman had pretended to see his +duties properly performed. These bodies, however—instead of taking the +trouble to have them buried—she had stowed away amidst a variety of +remnants of food and other odds and ends. The whole house was in a state +of most disgusting filth. Mr. Hughes held an inquest on the skeletons, +and verdicts of “Died by the visitation of God” were returned. Mr. W. H. +Ricketts protested against all such proceedings, as unnecessary, and said +that at the Michaelmas Sessions he should move for the disallowance of +the expenses. + +NOVEMBER 10—The boiler of a new locomotive, which had been brought on the +Birmingham and Gloucester Railway for trial, exploded while standing in a +shed at the Bromsgrove Station, and two men in the Company’s employ, +named Rutherford and Scaife, were killed. The boiler plates were +supposed not to have been of sufficient thickness. + +NOVEMBER 13—Lord Lyttelton became a candidate for the office of High +Steward of Cambridge, in opposition to Lord Lyndhurst. Lord Lyndhurst +had 973 votes, to 487 given for Lord Lyttelton. + +LOCAL ACT—For the establishment of a Court of Requests for the parishes +of Kingsnorton and Northfield. + + + +1841. + + +THE Government having determined to seek an escape from the exigencies of +their financial position by a reduction of the custom duties on articles +of general consumption, the party in the country, who had for some time +been seeking the abolition of all such duties, immediately assumed a much +greater importance. The article first chosen for operation was +sugar—Lord John Russell at the same time giving notice that he intended +to propose a fixed duty of 8s. upon corn. The ministers, however, were +defeated in their proposal to reduce the sugar duties, by a majority of +36; and a vote of want of confidence moved by Sir R. Peel, was carried by +a majority of one. Ministers then dissolved Parliament, avowedly +appealing to the country on their free trade measures. The elections, +however, were decidedly against them. On the reassembling of Parliament +an amendment was carried on the address, by a majority of 91, and the +Whigs resigned. Sir Robert Peel then took office, but nothing more was +done this year in the way of legislation—the finances being made to +square by adding the £2,100,000 deficiency in the revenue to the National +Debt. Consols averaged 89; wheat, 64s. 4d. + +JANUARY 20—Accident on the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway, at Bredon. +A train, in passing through a deep cutting, had shaken down a large +quantity of earth, in which the engine became embedded, and ran off the +line. The chain connecting the engine and tender snapped, and so no harm +occurred to the passengers; but the stoker fell between the two, and his +legs being cut off in a most dreadful manner, he soon afterwards died. + +JANUARY 26—The body of a respectable young female, named Mary Anne +Patrick, found in Salwarpe Brook, under what at first appeared to be very +suspicious circumstances. She had been visiting relations at Wichbold, +and went out on the Wednesday morning for a walk by herself, but no +tidings were afterwards heard of her. When nearly a week had elapsed, +the Bromsgrove fire engine was passing through the brook, and the body +suddenly came to the surface. There appeared to be some severe wounds on +the head, which of course originated the belief that she had been +murdered; but when a _post mortem_ examination came to be made, it was +clear that she had fallen a victim to the pernicious practice of tight +lacing, and had fallen into the brook in an apoplectic fit. The +coroner’s jury returned an open verdict. + +JULY 25—The fatal affray between Mr. Emanuel Maiden, of the Shakspere +Inn, and John Fisher, ostler at the Star Hotel, which caused so much +excitement in Worcester, occurred this evening. Maiden and Fisher had +long been upon bad terms, and this night, about half-past twelve o’clock, +they unfortunately met in Angel Street, and a furious quarrel took place. +Maiden broke away from Sergeant Chipp, who was trying to keep him back, +and ran after Fisher. Several witnesses said they saw Maiden strike +Fisher on the back of the head, and he fell across the pavement. From +the effects of the blow, or the fall, Fisher died on the succeeding +Wednesday; and after several days’ inquiry, the coroner’s jury returned a +verdict of manslaughter against Maiden. He was admitted to bail on +Judge’s order, and tried at the ensuing Lent Assizes, when he was found +guilty, with a recommendation to mercy, and sentenced to a month’s +imprisonment without hard labour. + +SEPTEMBER 12—Bazaar and concert at Evesham, for raising funds towards +building new national school-rooms, by which about £200 were obtained. + +NOVEMBER—John Hill Clifton, Esq., T. G. Curtler, Esq., William Dent, +Esq., Francis Hooper, Esq., Matthew Pierpoint, Esq., and R. Yapp, Esq., +all Conservatives, put in the commission of the peace for the city of +Worcester. + +DECEMBER 6—The WORCESTER OPHTHALMIC SOCIETY formed, and a sharp contest +for the assistant surgeonship between Mr. T. Walsh and Mr. Everett, the +former of whom had 162, and the latter 130 votes. + +DECEMBER 18—Several daring robberies committed on the road between Severn +Stoke and Tewkesbury, and a locksmith named Richard Kington found +dead—robbed, and apparently murdered—at Clifton, about midway between +Severn Stoke and Kempsey. The coroner’s jury returned a verdict of +“wilful murder” against a man of bad character living at Severn Stoke. +Kington’s knife and tobacco were found in Tippin’s small clothes, and the +waggoner’s whip, which he had been carrying, in an outhouse adjoining to +Tippin’s abode. Tippin was tried at the ensuing assizes, but was +acquitted of the murder because there was some doubt whether the hurts on +the person of the deceased might not have been caused by a cart wheel +passing over his body; but he was found guilty of robbing the deceased, +and sentenced to transportation for life. + +LOCAL ACTS—For better assessing and collecting the poor rates in +Kidderminster. For repairing the road from Hagley to Birmingham. To +extend the jurisdiction of the Kingsnorton Court of Requests. + + + +1842. + + +SIR ROBERT PEEL’S measures, which he would not disclose “till he was +regularly called in,” proved to be a three per cent. income tax, a +sliding scale of duties on corn, intended to keep the price at 56s., and +a new tariff—all of which, in spite of many dissentients on both sides of +the house, he carried by large majorities. Consols averaged 92; wheat, +57s. 3d. + +JANUARY—New magistrates added to the commission of the peace at +Kidderminster and Evesham. At Kidderminster, John Sutton Barber, George +Hooman, James Morton, John Welch, and Thomas Bradley, Esquires. At +Evesham, E. T. Perrott, Robert Blayney, and John Thomas, Esquires. Of +course all were Conservatives. + +FEBRUARY 16—In the division on Lord John Russell’s amendment to Sir +Robert Peel’s proposal to alter the sliding scale, Mr. Bailey, Mr. +Borthwick, Mr. Barneby, Mr. Godson, Mr. Hawkes, Mr. Pakington, Mr. +Taylor, General Lygon, and Mr. F. W. Knight, voted in the majority of 351 +against the amendment, and Lord M. Hill and Sir T. Winnington, Bart., in +the minority of 228 in its favour. Sir Thomas Wilde paired off in its +favour. + +APRIL 1—The Worcester glove manufacturers met and discussed Sir Robert +Peel’s proposal to reduce the duty on gloves in the new tariff, and said +that they should be obliged to cease to employ any men at all if it was +adopted. A deputation of the glovers afterwards waited on Lord Ripon, +and Sir Thomas Wilde very ably stated their case—a plea _ad +misericordiam_. + +APRIL 26—Riots in Dudley, in consequence of a reduction of wages amongst +the nailors. Several people hurt by the Enniskillen Dragoons, in +clearing the streets, and others committed to gaol. + +JUNE 27—The Mayor of Worcester (Edward Evans, Esq.), Mr. Alderman +Hastings, Mr. Alderman Lilly, and Mr. E. Webb, added to the Worcester +Charity Trustees, to fill up vacancies. The Conservatives presented a +petition, praying that the number of trustees might be increased from +fifteen to twenty-one, of course expecting that the additional names +would be appointed from their party, and so they might obtain a +preponderance in the body; but this was opposed by the existing trustees, +and the Lord Chancellor refused to sanction it. + +JULY 2—Sir Thomas Winnington brought home his amiable bride (eldest +daughter of Sir Compton Domville) to Stanford Court, and was greeted by +his tenantry and neighbours in a very enthusiastic manner—triumphal +arches, music, strewing flowers, long processions, and other modes of +welcome being adopted to exhibit the feeling entertained towards the +honourable baronet. + +JULY 25—First stone of Wittington Church laid by the Rev. W. R. Holden. + +AUGUST 6—The colliers near Dudley struck for an increase of wages, and +the Dudley troop of Yeomanry being called out, came upon them as they +were proceeding to violence at the Cotsall pits, and took ten men +prisoners. + +AUGUST 23—St. Michael’s Church, Worcester, consecrated by the Lord Bishop +of the Diocese. + +OCTOBER 15—Military _fêtes_ at Hewell. The usual permanent duty of the +Worcestershire Yeomanry was this year dispensed with, as many of the +troops had been engaged in harrassing service in the collieries during +the strikes; but the review was held in Hewell Park—the inspecting +officer being Colonel Thorne. The whole regiment was afterwards invited +by their colonel to dinner in an immense tent near the hall—900 persons +sitting down to the feast. Amongst the company at the principal table +were Colonel Clive (chairman), Lord Lyttelton, Lord Foley, Earl Somers, +Viscount Eastnor, Lord Ward, Lord Sandys, Earl of Dartmouth, Colonel +Thorne, Sir William Clinton, Sir O. Wakeman, Sir C. Throckmorton, J. H. +H. Foley, Esq., J. S. Pakington, Esq., Hon. and Rev. W. W. C. Talbot, &c. +Colonel Clive’s health was proposed by Lord Lyttelton, and drank with the +greatest enthusiasm. + +LOCAL ACTS—For the Improvement of the River Severn; Stourbridge Roads +Act; Bromyard Roads Act. + + + +1843. + + +DISTRESS in the manufacturing districts gave increased force and vigour +to the anti-corn law agitation; but Lord Howick’s motion for a committee +of inquiry into the causes of that distress was negatived by a majority +of 306 to 191, and Mr. Villiers’s annual motion for a committee of the +whole House upon the corn laws was supported by only 125 members, while +381 voted against it. The defeat of Sir James Graham’s educational +measure by the opposition of the Dissenters was the most remarkable +feature in the Parliamentary year. In Scotland the year was most +signally marked by the secession of the non-intrusionist ministers from +the Established Church, carrying with them the bulk of the laity—in +Ireland, by the violence of the repeal agitation, and the arrest of Mr. +O’Connell—and in Wales, by the singular outbreak against turnpike gates, +known as the Rebecca riots. Consols averaged 95; wheat averaged 50s. 1d. + +FEBRUARY 21—The WORCESTER CITY MISSION, a Christian society which has +been, and continues to be, the means of doing a great deal of good +amongst the poor, with a very small income, established at a meeting held +at the Natural History Society’s room, over which the Mayor presided. + +APRIL 4—The Worcester magistrates, at their quarter sessional meeting, +appointed Mr. Herbert Budd as surgeon to the City Gaol, in the room of +Mr. F. Walter, retired. The Council had claimed the right to see to all +the expenses of the gaol, and not leave the supply of provisions in the +hands of the visiting magistrates; and the magistrates claimed the right +of appointing all officers, under the 38th clause of 1st Vict., cap. 78. + +APRIL 17—Dinner to the Dudley magistrates, to express approval of their +conduct during recent disturbances. Lord Ward presided, and Lord +Lyttelton and about one hundred other gentlemen were present. The +magistrates had refused to accept as bail for Chartists persons of the +same political opinions, and the matter had been made subject of severe +comment in the House of Commons. + +MAY—The Dissenters throughout the county petitioned urgently against the +educational measures proposed by Government. + +JUNE 20—A meeting held at Bromsgrove, with the view of alleviating the +distress of the nailors, whom low wages, and a strike in consequence, had +reduced to a condition of grievous wretchedness. The Right Hon. and Rev. +Lord Aston took the chair, and a subscription was entered into, and a +goodly sum raised, to be laid out under the management of a committee. + +AUGUST 1—A Commission of Inquiry opened at the Angel Inn, Pershore, into +the conduct of the Rev. William Smith, Vicar of Overbury. The +commissioners appointed by the Bishop were Dr. Phillimore, Chancellor of +the Diocese; Archdeacon Timbrill; Rev. F. D. Gilby; Rev. T. A. +Strickland; and Rev. W. Parker. The charges preferred by the +parishioners were twenty-two in number, and were supported by Mr. +Elgie—Mr. Foley appearing for the vicar. The inquiry lasted four days, +and a great number of witnesses were examined _pro._ and _con._ On the +18th, the chancellor pronounced the decision of the Commission in the +Lady Chapel at the Cathedral, Worcester. Many of the charges were +abandoned; and of those that remained, the chancellor said that on six a +_prima facie_ case had been made out for the Bishop to institute further +proceedings. These were, the removal of tombstones without a faculty; +thrice forcibly expelling the clerk during the service; placing persons +in the singing gallery to “read him down;” refusing to ask the prayers of +the congregation for a parishioner; and interfering in the election of +churchwardens. There was also a special presentment as to his general +conduct. As the Rev. gentleman refused to submit the matter to the +Bishop, further proceedings were referred to the superior courts, but +none were taken. The Bishop afterwards addressed an admonitory letter to +the Rev. gentleman, which was published, and drew from him a very +singular reply. + +AUGUST 2—A porter on the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway, named John +Killcash, having been drinking in the evening, laid himself down upon the +rails and fell asleep. The next train which came up severed his head +from his body. + +AUGUST 8—The Queen Dowager took up her abode at Witley Court. Triumphal +arches, and other methods of welcome, were adopted at Droitwich. On the +following Monday week Her Majesty visited Worcester, and attended divine +service in the Cathedral. Her return was to have been a public progress, +but the torrents of rain which descended spoilt the whole affair; so that +all the civic dignitaries could do was to rush down the Guildhall steps +in their scarlet robes, just as Her Majesty passed, and bow their +acknowledgments at the carriage door. On the evening after, the +tradesmen honoured by Her Majesty’s patronage illuminated their houses. +The Queen Dowager afterwards sent a cheque for £100 to the funds of the +Worcester Infirmary. + +AUGUST 19—The first stone of a new Chapel of Ease laid at Barnard’s +Green, by the Lady Emily Foley. + +AUGUST 30—The SEVERN AND TEME FISHERIES ASSOCIATION formed at a public +meeting held in the Guildhall, Worcester; Matthew Pierpoint, Esq., in the +chair. + +OCTOBER 7—Messrs. Cobden and Bright visited Worcester, in furtherance of +the anti-corn law agitation, and addressed an audience of about 1,200 +people in the Guildhall. The High Sheriff refused to call a county +meeting; therefore Edward Holland, Esq., took the chair. But a small +proportion of the meeting were farmers. There was a show of opposition +on the part of the Chartists, but it was very feeble and soon put down. +The corn law repealers afterwards had a dinner at the Bell Inn; W. B. +Collis, Esq., in the chair, and Robert Hardy, Esq., vice-president. + +OCTOBER 29—The new parish church at Oldswinford opened for divine +service, with two sermons by the Lord Bishop and the Rev. T. L. +Claughton. The collections amounted to £207. This church cost about +£5,000, and it contains 1,457 sittings—781 of which are free. + +OCTOBER 27—The Chapel of Ease at Headless Cross consecrated. The Lord +Bishop preached, and £60. 11s. were collected. The building will seat +about 250 persons, and most of the sittings are free. + +DECEMBER 10—Earl Beauchamp’s cash box, containing about £120, stolen +during the night from his dressing-room, at Madresfield Court. The thief +was never discovered. + +DECEMBER 18—A Winter Assizes before Mr. Baron Rolfe, occupying three +days. None of the cases tried were of much importance. + +LOCAL ACTS—To enable the Worcestershire and Staffordshire Canal Company +to lend money to the Severn Navigation Commissioners; to enable the +Birmingham and Gloucester Railway Company to raise a further sum of +money, and to amend the acts relating thereto. + + + +1844. + + +THE legislature was this year occupied with many exciting subjects; +especially the state of Ireland, then agitated by the proceedings on Mr. +O’Connell’s trial; restrictions on labour in factories; and the +Dissenters’ Chapel Bill. The financial measures of the year were +likewise very important; including, as they did, the reduction of the +Three-and-half per Cents., and the passing of the Bank Restriction Act—an +act, the wisdom of which is yet to be determined. Mr. Villiers’s annual +motion for repeal of the Corn Laws was negatived by 328 to 124. Consols +in October reached 100⅞, and averaged throughout the year, 99; wheat +averaged 51s. 3d. + +FEBRUARY 16—The OMBERSLEY LABOURERS’ FRIENDLY SOCIETY, for granting +allotments in that parish, set on foot by the Hon. and Rev. W. W. C. +Talbot. + +APRIL 12—The WORCESTERSHIRE LABOURERS’ FRIENDLY SOCIETY formed at an +influential meeting of landowners and farmers at the Shire Hall, over +which Lord Lyttelton presided. The object of the society was to +ameliorate the condition and standing of the agricultural labourers, by +giving them allotments. + +JULY 29—A silver tankard, weighing fifty ounces, presented to T. C. +Hornyold, Esq., by his tenantry, at their audit dinner. + +OCTOBER 5—Great festivities at Eardiston, on Sir William Smith attaining +his majority. + +DECEMBER 1—The Lord Bishop of the Diocese, in delivering an ordination +charge, expressed very decidedly his disapproval of Tractarianism and the +revival of obsolete customs in the Church, such as preaching in the +surplice. + +DECEMBER 28—An illicit still, which had been for some time quietly at +work in Worcester, discovered and seized by the police. + +LOCAL ACT—To alter and extend the provisions of the Severn Improvement +Act. + + + +1845. + + +SPECULATION and wild schemes, such as England had not seen since the +hey-day of South Sea projects, signalised the earlier part of the year. +The railway mania, indeed, continued till November; and then came a +sudden collapse, of which it is only to be wondered that its effects were +not more serious and lasting. In Parliament, the most important measures +were the re-imposition of the Income Tax, with an amended tariff, and the +increase of the Maynooth Grant from £9,000 to £26,360 per annum, +henceforth to be paid out of the Consolidated Fund, instead of being an +annual Parliamentary grant. A large number of petitions were presented +against the measure, but the second reading was carried by 323 to 176. +Consols, which stood at 100⅝ in January, sunk in December to 94⅝; wheat +averaged 50s. 10d. + +APRIL 19—In the division on the second reading of the Maynooth Grant +Bill, when ministers had a majority in favour of the Bill of 147 in a +House of 503, Mr. Barneby, Mr. Godson, Mr. J. S. Pakington, Sir Thomas +Wilde, and Sir Thomas Winnington, voted with the majority; and Mr. F. W. +Knight and Mr. J. A. Taylor with the minority. General Lygon, Lord +Marcus Hill, Mr. Borthwick, and Mr. Benbow were absent. + +MAY 24—Festivities at Hewell, continuing during several days, to +celebrate the attainment of Mr. Robert Clive’s majority. Several dinners +in the tennis court, dancing parties among the labourers, treats to the +school children, &c. + +JULY 3—Mr. Pierpoint brought forward a motion, at the meeting of the +Worcester Turnpike Trustees, for an amalgamation of the different +districts, so as to enable the poorer roads to get out of debt. This was +opposed by the gentlemen who lived in the more lightly taxed districts, +and lost on a division by 18 to 10. + +AUGUST 11—The first Worcester regatta. + +AUGUST 30—A fearful collision occurred at the Defford station; first in a +luggage train dashing against another that was being moved to a siding, +and then in the down train dashing into the wreck of the luggage train, +and becoming itself a mass of confusion. Three passengers lost their +lives, and several others were injured; one engine was smashed, and +several carriages were set on fire. The coroner’s jury laid a deodand of +£1,500 upon the engine, because there appeared to have been much +negligence on the part of the officials. + +NOVEMBER 7—A brick maker, named Humphrey Willis, having become +intoxicated, wandered on to the railway at Stoke Prior, and was killed by +the night mail train. + +DECEMBER 25—Abberley Hall, the residence of Mrs. Moilliett, destroyed by +fire. + +LOCAL ACTS—The Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway Act. To +enable the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway Company to make a branch at +Stoke Prior, and for other purposes. To make and maintain a road from +Stanford bridge to Ham bridge, Clifton-on-Teme. + + + +1846. + + +SIR ROBERT PEEL having, from the failure of the potato crop and the +imminence of famine, become convinced that the Corn Laws could no longer +be maintained, resigned office in December, 1845, and resumed it again +for the purpose of carrying Free Trade measures when Lord John Russell +had failed to form a Government. His measure for a gradual reduction of +the duties on corn was ordered to go into committee, after twelve nights’ +debate, by a majority of 337 to 240. After the settlement of the new +commercial policy, the Government was defeated by a union of the Whigs +and Protectionists, in a proposal to carry a bill for the repression of +outrage in Ireland; and this was followed by Sir Robert Peel’s retirement +from office, which had for some time been foreseen as unavoidable. Lord +John Russell then became Premier. Consols averaged 95½; wheat, 54s. 8d. + +JANUARY 13—St. Matthias’ Church, Malvern Link, in the parish of Leigh, +consecrated by the Lord Bishop of the Diocese. £130 were collected after +a sermon by his lordship. The total cost was £1,700, and it will seat +350 persons. + +FEBRUARY 27—In the first division on Sir Robert Peel’s Free Trade +measures, the majority included Mr. Benbow, Hon. R. Clive, Viscount +Eastnor, Mr. R. Godson, Lord Marcus Hill, Mr. Robert Scott, Sir Thomas +Wilde, and Sir Thomas E. Winnnington. Mr. Borthwick, Mr. F. W. Knight, +General Lygon, Mr. Pakington, Mr. R. Spooner, and Mr. J. A. Taylor voted +with the minority. + +MARCH 21—The Queen Dowager took her final leave of Witley Court. + +MAY 11—The Worcester New Gas Company’s Bill went into committee. The +Marquis of Granby, as chairman, suggested an amicable arrangement between +the New and Old Companies. The committee accordingly adjourned for two +days, and an agreement was then effected, principally by the zealous +endeavours of Sir Thomas Wilde. The New Company consented to become +purchasers of the Old Company’s plant, works, and stock at a valuation by +arbitrators, and to pay £1,000 over and above the valuation, but to give +nothing for “goodwill;” this being the point which had been the principal +difficulty in the way of an arrangement. + +JULY 3—Blowing-up of the Droitwich Patent Salt Company’s Works by the +sudden explosion of the steam pipes. Two men named Carter, father and +son, were so severely scalded that they died in a few hours after the +accident. + +AUGUST 4—First meeting of the Worcestershire Archery Society at Strensham +Court. The Dowager Lady Winnington was Lady Paramount. The first prizes +were won by Miss Clive and Miss Marion Bearcroft, Captain Clowes and J. +H. Galton, Esq. + +AUGUST 21—The Catholic Church at Hanley opened. A sermon preached on the +occasion by Dr. Wiseman. + +DECEMBER 26—The last number of the _Worcestershire Guardian_ published, +the interest of the paper being afterwards identified with the _Worcester +Journal_. It was one of the many Tory papers started by influential +parties in London, during the years 1833 and 1834, for the purpose of +regaining the power which the Conservative party lost in the Reform Bill +agitation. It fought the battles of the party with much fidelity; and +during the years in which Mr. George Hyde was editor, its attacks upon +the Liberals were distinguished by a good deal of smartness and ability, +though too highly seasoned with personality. + +LOCAL ACTS—For paving, cleansing, and improving the town of Bromsgrove; +Worcester New Gas Company’s Act; Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton +Railway Amendment Act; Severn Navigation Commissioners’ Amendment Act; +for making a railway from the Birmingham and Gloucester line at +Kingsnorton to Halesowen; Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and Dudley Railway +Act. + + + +1847. + + +THE terrible condition of Ireland, and the decimation of its inhabitants +by famine, occupied the greater share of the attention of Parliament. +The Corn and Navigation Laws were entirely suspended until towards the +close of the year; in spite of which, the average price of wheat in May +was 100s. 5d. The issuing of the Minutes of the Council on Education, +which have since been acted upon, and the increase of the grant to +£100,000 per annum for the purpose of carrying them into effect, may be +regarded as the most important measure of the year. Parliament was +dissolved in July, and the elections tended to confirm the predominance +of Free Trade principles. Parliament met again on the 18th November. +Consols averaged 87; wheat, 69s. 9d. + +JANUARY 26—An elegant silver salver, with appropriate inscription, +presented to the Rev. Thomas Pearson by the honorary members of the +Worcestershire Friendly Institution, in testimony of the value of the +services by which, as chairman of the board of directors, he had so +greatly increased the efficiency and usefulness of the society. + +FEBRUARY 4—A massive silver tureen and four corner dishes presented to +Captain Candler on his retirement from the mastership of the fox +hounds—which he had held for ten years—at a splendid banquet given at the +Star, Lord Lyttelton in the chair. + +APRIL—Petitions presented from various of the Dissenting bodies +throughout the county against the new Educational Minutes of the Privy +Council. + +APRIL 22—The first County Court held in Worcestershire, under the +presidency of Benjamin Parham, Esq., then recently appointed the Judge of +the Worcester District. + +AUGUST 6—Shelsley Beauchamp Church reopened, after some costly +alterations. The Rev. T. L. Claughton preached on the occasion, and £566 +were collected; Lord Ward being a donor of £500. + +AUGUST 6—An engine running off the rails on the Birmingham and Gloucester +Railway at Kingsnorton, the driver, named John Warburton, was dashed to +pieces. + +AUGUST 16—The allottees took possession of the O’Connorite Lowbands +settlement at Redmarley. The National Land Scheme, under which this +estate, with others in different parts of the country, was purchased, set +out into lots, and divided to the few drawers of prizes in a lottery to +which thousands of others had subscribed, was one of the hugest delusions +to which the working men of this country ever lent themselves under +demagogue leadership. They allowed themselves to be persuaded, not only +that to leave their manual handicraft and become squatters on an acre or +two of ground would be the climax of independence and happiness, but that +by some legerdemain of compound interest, their money and estates would +be so reproductive that all the subscribers would in a few years get +allotments, which, being freehold, would give them immense political +power, and be the regeneration of the land. The fortunate allottees soon +found that they did not hold the fee simple of their acres, but were +called upon by O’Connor to pay a large rent, and being unaccustomed to +husbandry were speedily reduced to the condition of ruined paupers, +subsistent on the charity of the farmers among whom they were located. +The affairs of the company are now being wound up under an Act of +Parliament. + +AUGUST 17—A Provincial Grand Lodge of Freemasons established in the +county. Dr. Roden of Kidderminster was appointed Deputy Provincial Grand +Master of Worcestershire. + +AUGUST 17—Grand Bazaar in Mr. J. H. H. Foley’s grounds at Prestwood, in +aid of the funds of the Stourbridge Mechanics’ Institute. It continued +open for three days, and realised £1,117. + +SEPTEMBER 14—At the annual assembly of the Queen’s Own Yeomanry Cavalry, +the portrait of the gallant Colonel of the regiment, which had been +purchased by a general subscription of the officers and privates, and +painted by Pickersgill, R.A., was presented to Lady Harriett Clive in the +Shire Hall, Worcester. The pleasing duty of presentation was performed +by Major Martin, as senior officer, and Colonel Clive acknowledged the +compliment at length. + +OCTOBER 7—A meeting held at Dee’s Hotel, Birmingham, to take steps for +the establishment of a WORCESTER DIOCESAN TRAINING SCHOOL. The Right +Rev. The Lord Bishop took the chair. The resolutions were moved by Lord +Lyttelton, Archdeacon Spooner, Viscount Lifford, and Sir John Pakington, +Bart., M.P., and a large sum was subscribed upon the spot. The first +stone of the new school was laid by Sir John Pakington, October 10, 1850. + +LOCAL ACTS—For rating, to the relief of the poor, the owners instead of +the occupiers of certain property in the parishes of Kingsnorton, +Northfield, and Beoley. + + + +1848. + + +THIS year is to be gratefully remembered on account of the happy escape +which our country had from the confusion and revolution which raged over +the ill-governed kingdoms of the continent. A proposal of Government to +increase the Income Tax was defeated by the general expression of popular +disapprobation. Consols averaged 85; wheat, 50s. 6d. + +FEBRUARY 12—On the second reading of the Jewish Disabilities Bill, J. H. +H. Foley, Esq., O. Ricardo, Esq., and Lord M. Hill voted in the majority +for their removal—and R. Godson, Esq., T. J. Ireland, Esq., Hon. General +Lygon, Sir J. S. Pakington, Bart., F. Rufford, Esq., Captain Rushout, and +Sir H. Willoughby in the minority. + +FEBRUARY—The Corn Exchange dispute now raged in Worcester, being made in +great measure a question of politics; the Protectionists supporting the +proposal to build a new exchange in Angel Street, and the Free Traders +insisting on the old site, from which they contended it could not be +removed without much injustice to the shopkeepers and owners of property +in the Corn Market. The Mayor, Mr. Webb, made many strenuous efforts to +effect an amicable arrangement between the parties, but without success; +and the silly result was, that instead of uniting the funds to build a +handsome hall that would have been a credit to the city, two were built. +The erection in Angel Street entailed great loss upon the subscribers; +and the handsome room in the Corn Market, though left without many +embellishments which had been intended to be added, was a ruinous affair +both to the shareholders and the contractor. As the agriculturists all +steadfastly attended the Angel Street room, the one in the Corn Market +was at last obliged to be closed as a corn exchange, and was sold under +the Joint Stock Company’s Winding-up Act for £1,710—the price to the +shareholders being upwards of £4,000. It is now transformed into a very +handsome Music Hall. + +APRIL 22—The Worcestershire Agricultural Protection Society dissolved +itself, and voted its funds in hand, amounting to £500, towards the +erection of the Angel Street Corn Exchange. The Messrs. Dent, with Mr. +Francis Hooper and Mr. Lucy, protested against the appropriation of the +money to the building of the Angel Street Corn Exchange. + +JUNE 19—Sir John Pakington moved an amendment on Lord John Russell’s plan +for gradually reducing the duties on colonial sugar, and was only +defeated by a majority of 15—260 members voting with ministers, and 245 +with Sir John Pakington. Mr. Benbow, Mr. Godson, Viscount Mandeville, +Mr. Rufford, Captain Rushout, Sir H. Willoughby, and Sir J. Pakington +voted in the minority, and Mr. J. H. H. Foley, Mr. O. Ricardo, and Lord +M. Hill with the majority. + +JULY 31—Several Worcester theatrical amateurs performed Sheridan +Knowles’s _Hunchback_ with great success and excellence of acting. The +proceeds of this and another night’s performance were devoted to the +establishment of a gloving school. + +AUGUST—The British Archæological Association, under the presidency of +Lord Albert Conyngham, held their annual congress in Worcester. They +were received by the Mayor and Corporation—held morning and evening +sederunts, at which papers were read and antiquities exhibited—visited +Sudeley Castle and other places of interest in the neighbourhood—unrolled +a mummy at the County Courts, &c. The meeting was concluded by a +_soirée_ at the Guildhall, given by Lord and Lady Conyngham, at which Mr. +Silk Buckingham delivered a lecture on Thebes, &c. + +SEPTEMBER—After a lapse of ten years an EXHIBITION OF PAINTINGS was again +opened in Worcester, and proved upon the whole very successful. The +catalogue numbered 200 pictures, amongst which were Constable’s +“Salisbury Cathedral,” and works by Etty, Sidney Cooper, Müller, &c. + +LOCAL ACTS—Worcester New Gas Company’s Amendment Act; to authorise the +Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway to raise a further sum of +money; to authorise an alteration in the Oxford, Worcester, and +Wolverhampton Railway; to enable the Worcester Turnpike Trustees to make +alterations in roads, &c. + + + +1849. + + +THE extreme distress in Ireland caused by the continuance of the potato +blight—the repeal of the Navigation Laws, carried on second reading by +266 to 210—and the admission of Jews to Parliament, refused by the +Lords—were the chief topics of Parliamentary discussion. Consols +averaged 92½; wheat, 44s. 3d. + +FEBRUARY 3—Mdlle. Jenny Lind gave a concert in the College Hall, +Worcester, in aid of the funds of the Infirmary, to compensate for the +disappointment which had been felt by her non-appearance at the Festival +in the previous year. The band of the 5th Dragoon Guards and the +Worcester Harmonic Society took part in the concert. Thirteen hundred +persons attended. The total receipts were £1,100, and £840 were cleared +for the Infirmary. + +APRIL—The WORCESTER MADRIGAL SOCIETY, recently formed, gave their first +concert. This society, which executes the quaint music of the old +madrigalists in excellent style, has already extended its fame far beyond +the limits of the “faithful city.” + +JUNE 29—The cholera broke out in Worcester, and continued fitfully to +seize upon its victims till the middle of October, when it altogether +disappeared. There were altogether eighty-nine cases, out of which +forty-three were fatal. The expenses of the Cholera Hospital amounted to +£832. Dr. Stevens’s saline treatment, only partially put in practice +there, seemed to be successful, so far as opportunity was allowed for its +trial. + +AUGUST—The seventeenth anniversary of the Provincial Surgical and Medical +Association was this year held at Worcester—Dr. Hastings, the founder of +the association, being president. Many interesting discussions, on +topics connected with medical science and the status of the profession, +took place, and valuable papers were read at the different sittings. The +meeting closed with a dinner at the Guildhall, at which the principal +county gentlemen attended. + +SEPTEMBER 21—St. Peter’s Church, Cookley, consecrated. William Hancocks, +Esq., was the principal contributor to the expense of this handsome +building, which cost some £3,400, and will accommodate upwards of 400 +persons. + +NOVEMBER 15—This day was very generally and religiously observed +throughout the county as one of thanksgiving for the abatement of the +cholera in the land. + +DECEMBER 10—Rejoicings at Prestwood, Stourbridge, Stewponey, &c., in +celebration of Mr. Henry Wentworth Foley’s coming of age. + +LOCAL ACT—For better assessing the poor rates on small tenements in +Kidderminster. + + + + +THE COUNTY ARISTOCRACY. + + +PEERS. + + +BEAUCHAMP, Earl—Seat, Madresfield Court. William Lygon, Esq., having for +some years represented the county in Parliament, was elevated to the +peerage by the title of Baron Beauchamp of Powyke Court, Worcestershire, +26 February, 1806, and created Viscount Elmley and Earl Beauchamp 1 +December, 1815. He assumed the surname and arms of Pyndar, instead of +those of Lygon, in October, 1813. He married Catherine, only daughter of +James Denn, Esq., and had issue eight children. His lordship died 21 +October, 1816, and was succeeded by his eldest son, William Beauchamp, +who for some years acted as Chairman of Quarter Sessions, and represented +the county from 1806. At his decease, unmarried, May, 1823, the honours +devolved upon his brother, JOHN REGINALD, the present Earl. He married, +first, 14 March, 1814, Charlotte, only daughter of the first Earl of +Clonmel, who died 26 April, 1846; and, secondly, 1851, the third daughter +of the Baroness Braye, and relict of Henry Murray, Esq. Is patron of +four livings. + +COVENTRY, Earl of—Seat, Croome Court; created, 1697. George William, +sixth Earl, died 1809, and was succeeded by George William, the seventh +Earl, Recorder of Worcester and High Steward of Tewkesbury, who died +1831, and was succeeded by George William, eighth Earl, Lord Lieutenant +and Custos Rotulorum of the county of Worcester. He married, first, 16 +January, 1808, Emma Susanna, second daughter of William, first Earl of +Beauchamp, and had issue George William, Viscount Deerhurst, who married +Harriett Anne, daughter of Sir Charles Cockerell, Bart., and died in +November, 1838, leaving one son, the present Earl, and one daughter. The +eighth Earl died May, 1843, when the title devolved on his grandson, who +was born 9 May, 1838, and is, consequently, at present a minor. Is +patron of five livings. + +LYTTELTON, Lord, Baron of Frankley, county of Worcester—Seat, Hagley +Park. William Henry, Governor of Carolina county, Jamaica, &c., was +created Baron, in Great Britain, 1794, the title having expired with his +nephew, Thomas, the second Lord Lyttelton (the probable author of the +_Letters of Junius_), who died November, 1779. William Henry, Lord +Lyttelton, died 14 September, 1808, and was succeeded by his eldest son, +George Fulke; at whose decease, unmarried, 12 November, 1828, the title +devolved on his brother by a second marriage, William Henry, third Baron. +He married, 4 March, 1813, Lady Sarah Spencer, eldest daughter of the +second Earl Spencer. His lordship died 30 April, 1827. He represented +the county in Parliament from 1807 to 1820, during which time he was the +consistent supporter of Liberal measures, and to him we are indebted for +the extinction of state lotteries. He was a fluent and argumentative +speaker. He was the warm friend of literary and educational institutions +in the county. His lordship was succeeded by his eldest son, GEORGE +WILLIAM, the present peer. The present Lord Lyttelton was born 31 March, +1817; he married, 25 July, 1839, Mary, daughter of the late Sir Stephen +Glynne, Bart. Is patron of three livings. + +FOLEY, Baron, of Kidderminster; created, 1776. Thomas Foley, Esq., M.P. +for the county of Worcester, was elevated to the peerage 1711, but his +son died unmarried, and the barony then expired. Thomas Foley, Esq., of +Witley Court, his cousin, was made Baron Foley, 20 May, 1776. Thomas, +the third Baron, married, 18 August, 1806, Lady Cecilia Fitzgerald, fifth +daughter of the second Duke of Leinster, and had issue four sons and four +daughters. He was Lord Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum of the county of +Worcester, and extremely popular with all classes of the inhabitants. He +died 16 April, 1833, and was succeeded by his son, THOMAS HENRY, the +present peer, who was born 11 December, 1808, and married, 1849, the +eldest daughter of the thirteenth Duke of Norfolk—has been Captain of the +corps of the Gentlemen Pensioners-at-arms, is Lord High Steward of +Kidderminster, and is patron of one living. His lordship sat in +Parliament, for the county of Worcester, from 1830 to 1833. + +SANDYS, Baron, of Ombersley—Seat, Ombersley Court; created, 1802. Samuel +Sandys of Ombersley, Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1741, was elevated to +the peerage, as Baron Sandys, in 1743. The title, however, became +extinct in 1801, when the second Baron died without issue. The +Marchioness of Downshire, to whom his estates fell, was created Baroness +Sandys of Ombersley, 15 June, 1802, with remainder to her four younger +sons by the Marquess of Downshire, and their male issue. Her ladyship +died in 1836, and was succeeded by her second son, ARTHUR MOYSES WILLIAM +HILL. His lordship is a major general in the army. Is patron of the +living of Ombersley. + +WARD, Baron of Birmingham—Seats, Himley Hall, Dudley Castle, and Sedgley +Park; created, 1644. John Ward, Esq., of Sedgley Park, became sixth +Baron on the death, without issue, of his kinsman William, fifth Baron. +He was created Viscount Dudley and Ward, April, 1763; but his son dying +without issue, that title devolved on his half brother William, third +Viscount, born January, 1750, who died 25 April, 1823. He was Recorder +of Kidderminster, and represented the city of Worcester in the +Parliaments of 1780 and 1784. His contributions in furtherance of +benevolent objects were truly munificent, and the public charities of +Worcester always largely participated in his largess. He was succeeded +by his son, John William, fourth Viscount, who was created Earl Dudley of +Dudley Castle in 1827; but as he died unmarried in 1833, this title and +the Viscounty became extinct. The Earl was a man of powerful talents, +but withal most eccentric in his manners; and during the last few years +of his life was obliged to withdraw altogether from society. He was +Secretary for Foreign Affairs under Mr. Canning, Lord Goderich, and +during a part of the Wellington administration; and his speeches at this +time always commanded great attention, and were admired for their +classical eloquence and style. He wrote a somewhat celebrated article in +the _Quarterly Review_ on the _Life and Character of Horne Tooke_, with +others on Sydney Smith’s sermons, &c. The barony of Ward fell to his +second cousin William Humble, in holy orders, who died December, 1835, +and was succeeded by his son WILLIAM, the present peer. His lordship +married, 24 April, 1851, Selina Constance, eldest daughter of Robert de +Burgh, Esq., of West Drayton, who died without issue 14 November, 1851. +His lordship is patron of thirteen livings, and has very extensive +property in the county of Worcester; the whole of the Foley estates +passing into his hands by purchase in the year 1838: the purchase money +was said to be £890,000. + +SOUTHWELL, Viscount (Irish peerage)—Seats, Hindlip, Worcestershire, and +Court Mattress, Limerick. Thomas Southwell, Esq., of Court Mattress, was +created a Baronet by Charles II, and, after the Restoration, was +succeeded by his grandson, who took an active part in the cause of +William III. He was created a Baron of the kingdom of Ireland by George +I, in 1717. Thomas George, the third Baron, was, in 1776, created +Viscount. He died 1780, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Thomas +Arthur, fourth Baron and second Viscount, who married, in 1774, the +daughter of Francis John Walsh, de Sérrant. He died February, 1796, and +was succeeded by the present lord, THOMAS ANTHONY, under the title of +fifth Baron and third Viscount Southwell. Lord Southwell married, May, +1799, Jane, the younger daughter of John Berkeley, Esq., of Hindlip, in +whose right he came into possession of the Worcestershire property. His +lordship, in 1836, received from his late Majesty the dignity of the +Knighthood of the Order of St. Patrick. Is patron of the living of +Hindlip, Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Worcester, &c. + + + +BARONETS. + + +PAKINGTON—Seat, Westwood Park; created, 1620; revived, 1846. Sir John +Pakington, who died 6 January, 1830, in his 70th year, being unmarried, +and the title became extinct. His sister Elizabeth married William +Russell, Esq., of Powick Court, and her surviving son, JOHN SOMERSET +RUSSELL, assumed the name of his maternal ancestors, and inherited the +Pakington estates. The family honours were gracefully revived in his +person: he was elevated to the rank of a Baronet of the United Kingdom in +1846. He married, first, Mary, only child of Moreton Aglionby Slaney, +Esq., and by her (died in 1843) has issue one son, John Slaney Pakington, +Esq., married, 4 July, 1849, to Lady Diana Boyle, youngest daughter of +the late Earl of Glasgow; Sir John married, secondly, 1844, Augusta, +daughter of the Right Rev. George Murray, D.D., Bishop of Rochester; and, +thirdly, June, 1851, Augusta, relict of the late Colonel Davies, of +Elmley Park. Sir John is patron of the living of Hampton Lovett; has +been Chairman of the Worcestershire Quarter Sessions since 1834; is +Captain of the Westwood Troop of Worcestershire Yeomanry; twice +unsuccessfully contested the representation of the county; and has sat +for the borough of Droitwich since 1837. On the accession of Earl +Derby’s administration, he was appointed Her Majesty’s Secretary of State +for the Colonies. + +SMITH—Seat, Eardiston House; created, 1809. William Smith, Esq., of +Eardiston, married, 18 October, 1780, Mary, daughter of Edward Wheeler, +Esq., of Lambswick; was created a Baronet 23 September, 1809; and died +March, 1821; when he was succeeded by Sir Christopher Sidney Smith, born +14 May, 1798; married, December, 1822, Mary, daughter of the Rev. R. +Foley, and had issue one son and three daughters. Sir Christopher +married, secondly, Harriette, only daughter of the late Thomas Lee, Esq., +of Headingley, near Leeds, and relict of — Murphy, Esq. He died 19 +November, 1839, and his widow in 1840. He ably filled the chair at +Quarter Sessions from 1829 to 1834. Sir WILLIAM, the present Baronet, +was born 5 October, 1823—married 5 May, 1843, Susan, fourth daughter of +Sir William George Parker, Bart., R.N. + +WAKEMAN—Seat, Perdiswell House; created, 1808. Henry Wakeman, Esq., of +Perdiswell, married, first, in August, 1787, Theodosia, daughter of John +Freeman, Esq., of Gaines—which marriage was dissolved by Act of +Parliament—secondly, in June, 1797, Sarah, only daughter and heir +apparent of Richard Ward Offley, Esq., of Hinton, Salop; and had issue +two sons and one daughter. He was created a Baronet 20 February, 1808. +He died 23 April, 1831; and Lady Wakeman in 1843. Sir OFFLEY PEMBURY, +the present Baronet, was born 17 May, 1799; married, 1848, only daughter +of the late Thomas Adlington, Esq. Is patron of one living. + +WINNINGTON—Seat, Stanford Court; created, 1755. Sir Edward, the second +Baronet, married, in 1776, Anne, daughter of Thomas, the first Lord +Foley; and died in 1805, being then member for Droitwich. He was a very +learned scholar, and possessed of much critical acumen. Sir Thomas +Edward, his son, married, November, 1810, Joanna, daughter of John +Taylor, Esq., of Moseley Hall, and had issue three sons and four +daughters. Sir Thomas died 24 September, 1839. He was a steady +supporter of Whig measures, and represented Droitwich from 1807 to 1818, +the county from 1820 to 1830, and Bewdley till 1837. Sir THOMAS EDWARD +WINNINGTON, M.P., the present Baronet, was born 11 November, 1811; +married, 21 June, 1842, Anna Helena, eldest daughter of Sir Compton +Domville, Bart.; represented Bewdley in the Parliament of 1837, and is +now its member. Is patron of three livings. + +LECHMERE—Seat, The Rhydd; created, 1818; Anthony Lechmere, Esq., born +November, 1776, was created a Baronet 3 October, 1818. He filled the +office of Mayor of Worcester in 1816, and was the devoted friend of +agriculture. He died 25 March, 1849, and was succeeded by Sir EDMUND +HUNGERFORD LECHMERE, the present Baronet, born 25 May, 1792; married, +1819, Maria Clara, daughter of the late Hon. David Murray, and has issue +one son and one daughter. Is patron of two livings. + +BLOUNT—Seats, Sodington, Worcestershire; Mawley Hall, Shropshire; and +Haggeston, Northumberland. Sir Walter, the seventh baronet, died 31st +October, 1803, and was succeeded by Sir EDWARD, the present baronet, born +3 March, 1795; married, 14 September, 1830, Mary Frances, eldest daughter +of Edward Blount, Esq. + +PHILLIPS—Seat, Middle Hill. Thomas Phillips, Esq., of Middle Hill, +F.R.S. and F.S.A., was created a Baronet in July, 1821, and married +Harriett, daughter of Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Molyneaux, Bart., and +by her had issue three daughters. Sir Thomas, in 1842, married, +secondly, Elizabeth Harriett Anna, daughter of the Rev. W. J. Mansel, of +Iscord: is a Deputy Lieutenant of the County. + + + +HONOURABLES. + + +CLIVE, ROBERT HENRY—Seats, Hewell Grange, Oakley Park, &c.; second son of +the first Earl of Powis; married, 19 June, 1819, Harriet, daughter of the +fifth Earl of Plymouth. Has been lieutenant colonel in the army, and is +Colonel of the Queen’s own Regiment of Worcestershire Yeomanry Cavalry. +Was Under Secretary of State for the Home Department from April, 1818, +till January, 1822. Sat for Ludlow from 1818 till 1832, and since that +year for South Shropshire. Is patron of three livings. His eldest son, +Robert Clive, Esq., is now M.P. for Ludlow. + +COVENTRY, THOMAS HENRY, Rector of Severn Stoke and Croome Hill, and +WILLIAM JAMES (Earl’s Croome), brothers of the late Earl of Coventry. + +COCKS, JOHN SOMERS, Canon of Worcester and Prebendary of Hereford +Cathedral, brother of the late Earl Somers. + +LYGON, HENRY BEAUCHAMP—Seat, Spring Hill, Broadway. Third son of the +first Earl Beauchamp—a lieutenant colonel in the army and Colonel of the +10th Hussars. Has sat for the county since 1817, with the exception of +the short Parliament of 1831. Married, 8 July, 1824, Susan Caroline, +daughter of the second Earl of St. German’s; she died, 1835. + +LYTTELTON, SPENCER, Hagley, and WILLIAM HENRY, Hon. Canon of Worcester +and Rector of Hagley, brothers of Lord Lyttelton. + +TALBOT, WILLIAM WHITWORTH CHETWYND, Vicar of Ombersley, and WELLINGTON +PATRICK MANVERS CHETWYND, of Honeybourne, Captain of the 7th Foot, sixth +and seventh sons of Earl Talbot. + + + + +THE CHURCH. + + +BISHOPS OF THE DIOCESE. + + +1800—Dr. Richard Hurd. + +1808—JUNE—The Rev. Dr. Folliot Herbert Walker Cornwall, translated from +the See of Hereford. + +1831—SEPTEMBER 13—Dr. Robert Carr, translated from the See of Chichester. + +1841—MAY 1—Dr. Henry Pepys, translated from the See of Sodor and Mann. + + + +DEANS OF WORCESTER. + + +1800—Rev. Arthur Onslow, D.D. + +1817—OCTOBER—The Rev. John Bankes Jenkinson. + +1825—AUGUST—The Rev. James Hook, LL.D. + +1828—MARCH—The Rev. Dr. Murray, Bishop of Rochester. + +1845—DECEMBER—The Rev. John Peel, Rector of Waresley, and brother of the +Premier, in the stead of the Bishop of Rochester, who gave up this piece +of preferment in accordance with the arrangements of the Ecclesiastical +Commissioners. To the Deanery of Worcester had hitherto been attached +the Vicarage of Bromsgrove, with which were the Vicarage of Kingsnorton +and the Chapelries of Christ Church, Moseley, and Wythal. All of these +had been held by the Bishop of Rochester, and Bromsgrove had been without +a resident Vicar for half a century. These preferments are now separated +from the Deanery. + + + +THE CHAPTER. + + +1800—Rev. J. Torkington, LL.D. Rev. J. Stillingfleet, D.D. Rev. John +Plumptre, M.A. Rev. Richard Kilvert, M.A. Rev. Charles Talbot, M.A. +Rev. Septimus Collinson, D.D. Rev. John Carver, M.A. Rev. Thomas +Fountain. Rev. Thomas Evans, D.D. Rev. Thomas James, D.D. + +1803—Rev. John Wingfield, D.D. + +1804—Rev. James Meakin, A.M. + +1804—Rev. J. F. Seymour Fleming St. John, M.A. + +1808—Rev. John Bankes Jenkinson, M.A. + +1813—Rev. William Digby, A.M. + +1815—Rev. Townsend Forrester, D.D. + +1815—Hon. and Rev. Edward Rice, M.A. + +1817—Hon. and Rev. Richard Bagot, M.A. + +1817—Rev. Herbert Oakley, M.A. + +1818—Rev. Anthony Pye, M.A. + +1822—Rev. C. R. Sumner, M.A. + +1825—Rev. T. Gaisford, M.A. + +1826—Rev. J. Davison, B.D. + +1826—Rev. Christopher Benson, M.A. + +1827—Rev. Godfrey Faussett, B.D. + +1829—Thomas Singleton, M.A., to Deanery. + +1830—Hon. and Rev. James Somers Cocks. + +1833—Rev. E. Winnington Ingram, M.A. + +1834—Hon. and Rev. John Fortescue, M.A. + +1841—Rev. J. R. Wood, M.A., Chaplain to the Queen Dowager. + +1845—Rev. J. Peel, D.D., Dean. + +1848—Rev. E. H. Cradock, M.A. + +The number of Canonries is now reduced from ten to four. + + * * * * * + +1834—FEBRUARY—The office of Rural Dean was revived by the Bishop of +Worcester, having been allowed in this diocese to remain in abeyance for +nearly a century. The Right Hon. and Rev. Lord Aston was the first +appointed. + + + +PROCTORS + + + ELECTED TO REPRESENT THE DIOCESE IN CONVOCATION. + +1802—The Rev. T. R. Nash, D.D., Rector of Leigh, and the Rev. Francis +Mills, M.A., Rector of Barford. + +1806—Dr. Nash and the Rev. Francis Mills reëlected. The Rev. James +Stillingfleet, M.A., Prebendary, chosen to represent the Dean and +Chapter. + +1807—Dr. Nash and the Rev. F. Mills reëlected. The Rev. James +Torkington, LL.D., elected Proctor for the Dean and Chapter. + +1812—The Rev. Richard Kilvert, M.A., Rector of Hartlebury, and the Rev. +Francis Mills, M.A., elected for the body of the Clergy; and the Rev. Dr. +Torkington to represent the Dean and Chapter. + +1818—The Rev. John Wingfield, D.D., Vicar of Bromsgrove, and the Rev. +Francis Mills, for the Clergy; and the Rev. James Meakin, M.A., for the +Dean and Chapter. + +1820—The same clergymen reëlected. + +1826—The Rev. John Walker Baugh, M.A., Rector of Ripple, and the Rev. +Francis Mills, for the Clergy. + +1830—The Rev. J. W. Baugh, and the Rev. Francis Mills, for the Clergy; +and the Rev. William Digby, Sub-Dean, for the Dean and Chapter. + +1831—The same clergymen reappointed. + +1832—The Rev. J. W. Baugh, and the Rev. Francis Mills, for the Clergy; +and the Rev. Townsend Forrester, D.D., Sub-Dean, for the Dean and +Chapter. + +1835—The same clergymen reëlected. + +1837—The Rev. Thomas Baker, M.A., Rector of Hartlebury, and the Rev. +George Leigh Cook, B.D., Rector of Cubbington, Warwickshire, for the +Clergy; and the Rev. William Digby, M.A., Prebendary, for the Dean and +Chapter. + +1841—The Rev. Henry Arthur Woodgate, B.D., Rector of Bellbroughton, and +the Rev. John Howells, Vicar of St. Trinity, Coventry, for the Clergy; +and the Rev. William Digby for the Chapter. + +1847—The Rev. H. A. Woodgate, and the Rev. Robert Chapman Savage, M.A., +Vicar of Nuneaton, for the Clergy; and the Hon. and Rev. Somers Cocks for +the Chapter. + +1852—The Rev. H. A. Woodgate and the Rev. R. Seymour were elected by the +clergy. Two other clergymen were proposed, viz., the Rev. P. M. Smythe +and the Rev. R. C. Savage; the latter as a gentleman opposed to the +revival of Convocation; and a show of hands was taken. For Mr. Woodgate +20 hands were held up; for Mr. Seymour, 23; for Mr. Smythe, 17; and for +Mr. Savage, 9. + + + + +THE EXECUTIVE. + + +LORDS LIEUTENANT OF THE COUNTY. + + +1800—The Earl of Coventry. + +1808—NOVEMBER—The Right Hon. Lord Viscount Deerhurst appointed Lord +Lieutenant in the place of his father, who resigned in consequence of his +age and increased infirmities. + +1831—MARCH—The Right Hon. Lord Foley, in the room of the Earl of +Coventry, deceased. + +1833—MAY—The Right Hon. Lord Lyttelton, in the room of Lord Foley, +deceased. + +1837—JULY—The Right Hon. Lord Foley, in the room of Lord Lyttelton, +deceased. + +1839—OCTOBER—The Right Hon. Lord Lyttelton, in the room of Lord Foley, +resigned. + + + +CHAIRMEN OF COUNTY QUARTER SESSIONS. + + +1800—William Welch, Esq. + +1817—Earl Beauchamp. + +1823—Benjamin Johnson, Esq. + +1824—Lord Plymouth. + +1829—Sir C. S. Smith, Bart. + +1834—J. S. Pakington, Esq. + + + +HIGH SHERIFFS OF THE COUNTY. + + +1800—William Smith, Esq., Eardiston. + +1801—Thomas Phillips, Esq., Broadway. + +1802—Thomas Newnham, Esq., Broadwas. + +1803—John Phillips, Esq., Winterdyne. + +1804—Edward Knight, Esq., Wolverley (_ob._), and Thomas Holme Esq., +Beoley. + +1805—John Amphlett, Esq., Clent. + +1806—Sir Thomas Winnington, Bart., Stamford. + +1807—Thomas Bland, Esq., Ham Court. + +1808—Sir John Pakington, Bart., Westwood. + +1809—Henry Bromley, Esq., Abberley Hall. + +1810—Joseph Smith, Esq., Sion Hill. + +1811—Thomas Hawkes, Esq., Dudley. + +1812—John Baker, Esq., Wolverley. + +1813—E. Lechmere Charlton, Esq., Hanley. + +1814—John Knight, Esq., Lea Castle. + +1815—Edward Dixon, Esq., Dudley. + +1816—Joseph Lea, Esq., The Hill. + +1817—John Taylor, Esq., Strensham. + +1818—Samuel Wall, Esq., Hallow Park. + +1819—John Jeffreys, Esq., Blakebrook. + +1820—Richard Griffiths, Esq., Thorngrove. + +1821—Elias Isaac, Esq., Boughton House. + +1822—Samuel Ryland, Esq., Northfield. + +1823—John Williams, Esq., Pitmaston. + +1824—Sir C. S. Smith, Bart., Eardiston. + +1825—T. S. Vernon, Esq., Shrawley. + +1826—James Taylor, Esq., Moor Green. + +1827—George Farley, Esq., Henwick House. + +1828—George Meredith, Esq., Berrington, near Tenbury. + +1829—E. Rudge, Esq., Manor House, Evesham. + +1830—John Scott, Esq., Stourbridge. + +1831—O. Ricardo, Esq., Bromsberrow Place. + +1832—John Joseph Martin, Esq., Ham Court. + +1833—John Brown, Esq., Lea Castle. + +1834—John Howard Galton, Esq., Hadzor House. + +1835—Sir Edward Blount, Bart., Mawley Hall. + +1836—Sir O. P. Wakeman, Bart., Perdiswell. + +1837—W. A. Roberts, Esq., Bewdley. + +1838—Robert Berkeley, jun., Esq., Spetchley. + +1839—William Congreve Russell, Esq. + +1840—James Foster, Esq., Stourton Castle. + +1841—T. C. Hornyold, Esq., Blackmore Park. + +1842—Edward Holland, Esq., Dumbleton. + +1843—William Robins, Esq., Hagley. + +1844—John Richards, Esq., Wassell Grove. + +1845—Thomas Simcox Lea, Esq., Astley Hall. + +1846—William Hemming, Esq., Bordesley Park. + +1847—E. G. Stone, Esq., Chambers Court. + +1848—John Frederick Ledsam, Esq., Northfield. + +1849—John Dent, Esq., Worcester. + +1850—J. G. Watkins, Esq., Woodfield. + + + +CHAIRMEN OF PETTY SESSIONAL DIVISIONS. + + +WORCESTER DIVISION—Early part of present century—Thomas Bund, Esq. + +1810 to 1820—Rev. Arthur Onslow, D.D., Dean of Worcester. + +1820 to 1842—Rev. John Foley, Holt. + +Present Chairmen (alternately)—T. G. Curtler, Esq., and Rev. John +Pearson. + +HUNDRED HOUSE DIVISION—To 1834, Sir C. S. Smith, Bart. + +Present Chairman—The Rev. Thomas Pearson. + +PERSHORE DIVISION—1800 to 1836—Thomas Beale Cooper, Esq., M.D., Richard +Hudson, Esq., and Lieutenant General Thomas Marriott. + +Present Chairman—C. E. Hanford, Esq. + +BROMSGROVE DIVISION—1833 (when the Petty Sessions were first held +here)—The Hon. and Rev. Walter Hutchinson Lord Aston. + +Present Chairman—The Rev. William Vernon. + +EVESHAM DIVISION (formed 1842)—Thomas B. Cooper, Esq., M.D. + +STOURPORT DIVISION (formed 1848)—Thomas Simcox Lea, Esq. + +TENBURY DIVISION (formed 1845)—Rev. Charles Turner Farley. + +BLOCKLEY DIVISION—Early part of the present century—Rev. J. R. Hall and +William Broughton, Esq. + +1827 to present time—William Dickens, Esq. + +DUDLEY DIVISION—1800—The Rev. Joseph Cartwright. + +1811—The Rev. William Smith. + +Present Chairmen—Thomas Badger, Esq., or the senior magistrate in +attendance. + +DROITWICH DIVISION—Early part of the century—The Rev. J. V. Vashon and +the Hon. and Rev. Lord Aston. + +1844—Rev. William Vernon. + +UPTON DIVISION—18-- Rev. George Turberville. + +1838—Rev. Charles Dunne. + +1850—Rev. A. B. Lechmere. + +In the Kidderminster, Halesowen, Northfield, and Stourbridge Divisions it +has not been the practice to appoint any permanent chairmen. + + + +COUNTY CLERKS OF THE PEACE. + + +1803—John Soley, Esq. + +1822—Thomas Blayney, Esq. + +1839—H. B. Domville, Esq. + +1843—W. Nichols Marcy, Esq. + + + +CHAPLAINS OF THE COUNTY PRISON. + + +1800—Rev. — Faulkner. + +18-- Rev. — Myddleton. + +18-- Rev. J. Hadley. + +1833—Rev. J. Adlington. + + + +CHIEF CONSTABLE OF THE COUNTY POLICE. + + +1839—Mr. R. R. Harris. + + + +GAOLERS OF THE COUNTY PRISON. + + +1800—Mr. William Davies. + +1820—Mr. J. P. Lavender. + +1846—Mr. Benjamin L. Stable. + + + +MAYORS OF WORCESTER. + + +1800—E. Isaac, Esq. + +1801—H. Hughes, Esq. + +1802—Richards Rowlands, Esq. + +1803—John Blew, Esq. + +1804—John Forrest, Esq. + +1805—John Dillon, Esq. + +1806—James Wakeman, Esq. + +1807—Thomas Allies, Esq. + +1808—Samuel Crane, Esq. + +1809—Herbert Rogers, Esq. + +1810—William Blew, Esq. + +1811—John Dowding, Esq. + +1812—Benjamin Johnson, Esq. + +1813—Thomas St. John, Esq. + +1814—Robert Brown, Esq. + +1815—Samuel Garmston, Esq. + +1816—Anthony Lechmere, Esq. + +1817—Robert Chamberlain, Esq. + +1818—William Moore, Esq. + +1819—W. H. Chamberlain, Esq. + +1820—Elias Isaac, Esq. + +1821—Francis Hooper, Esq. + +1822—John S. Ballard, Esq. + +1823—William Shaw, Esq. + +1824—William Dunn, Esq. + +1825—Edward Blew, Esq. + +1826—John Dent, Esq. + +1827—R. R. Garmston, Esq. + +1828—Thomas Best, Esq. + +1829—John Fletcher, Esq. + +1830—John Morton, Esq. + +1831—H. B. Tymbs, Esq. + +1832—Henry Clifton, Esq. + +1833—John P. Lavender, Esq. + +1834—William Dent, Esq. + +1835—Thomas Leonard, Esq., and J. W. Lea, Esq. + + PASSING OF MUNICIPAL ACT. + +1836—C. H. Hebb, Esq. + +1837—C. H. Hebb, Esq. + +1838—George Allies, Esq. + +1839—Richard Evans, Esq. + +1840—Thomas Chalk, Esq. + +1841—C. A. Helm, Esq. + +1842—Edward Evans, Esq. + +1843—John Lilly, Esq. + +1844—William Lewis, Esq. + +1845—William Lewis, Esq. + +1846—E. J. Lloyd, Esq., (_ob._) and William Lewis, Esq. + +1847—F. T. Elgie, Esq. + +1848—Edward Webb, Esq. + +1849—R. Padmore, Esq. + +1850—J. W. Lea, Esq. + + + +RECORDERS OF WORCESTER. + + +1800—The sixth Earl of Coventry. + +1808—The seventh Earl of Coventry, in the room of his father. + +1831—The eighth Earl of Coventry, in the room of his father. + +1836—Under the Municipal Reform Act the Recorder was made virtually, as +he had been before nominally, the chief administrator of justice in all +corporate cities and boroughs having a Quarter Sessions; and the +appointment was vested in Government. John Buckle, Esq., +barrister-at-law, was appointed Recorder of Worcester—the Government not +acceding to the wishes of the Town Council, who had recommended Mr. +Stinton. + + + +CITY CORONERS. + + +1817—Mr. John Platt and Mr. Nathaniel Mence. + +1825—James Wakeman, jun., Esq., in the room of John Platt, Esq., +deceased. + +1828—Mr. Gwinnell and Mr. J. B. Hyde, in the room of Mr. N. Mence +(suddenly gone to America because of some defalcations), and Mr. Wakeman, +resigned. Mr. Gwinnell died 1835, and the vacancy thus occasioned was +not filled up. + +1836—Mr. J. B. Hyde reappointed Coroner by the new Municipal Corporation. + + + +TOWN CLERKS OF WORCESTER. + + +1800—Richard Cocks, Esq. + +1801—Benjamin Johnson, Esq. + +1829—William Welles, Esq. + +1830—Charles Sidebottom, Esq. + +1836—John Hill, Esq. + + + +GAOLERS OF THE CITY PRISON. + + +1800—Mr. Tyers. + +1802—Mr. James Griffiths. + +1819—Mr. William Griffiths. + + + +MAYORS OF BEWDLEY. + + +1800—James Fryer, Esq. + +1801—Thomas H. Crane, Esq. + +1802—Thomas Baker, Esq. + +1803—Jonathan Skey, Esq. + +1804—Joseph Crane, Esq. + +1805—Samuel Baker, Esq. + +1806—Jonathan Skey, Esq. + +1807—Rev. Edward Baugh. + +1808—James Fryer, Esq. + +1809—W. A. Roberts, jun., Esq. + +1810—Thomas H. Crane, Esq. + +1811—Joseph Crane, Esq. + +1812—Wilson A. Roberts, Esq. + +1813—George Baker, Esq. + +1814—Joseph Seager, Esq. + +1815—W. A. Roberts, jun., Esq. + +1816—James Fryer, Esq. + +1817—Thomas H. Crane, Esq. + +1818—Joseph Crane, Esq. + +1819—John Brookholding, Esq. + +1820—Robert Pardoe, Esq. + +1821—Thomas Cartwright, Esq. + +1822—Thomas Pilkington, Esq. + +1823—Joseph Crane, Esq. + +1824—Thomas Shaw, Esq. + +1825—George Baker, Esq. + +1826—John Brookholding, Esq. + +1827—Thomas Pilkington, Esq. + +1828—John Williams, Esq. + +1829—Thomas H. Crane, Esq. + +1830—James Fryer, Esq. + +1831—T. S. Cartwright, Esq. + +1832—John Brookholding, Esq. + +1833—Thomas Cartwright, Esq. + +1834—Slade Baker, Esq. + +1835—Slade Baker, Esq. + + * * * * * + +1836—John Bury, Esq. + +1837—John Nichols, Esq. + +1838—John Beddoe, Esq. + +1839—James Cole, Esq. + +1840—William Bucklee, Esq. + +1841—T. S. Cartwright, Esq. + +1842—George Baker, Esq. + +1843—James Holder, Esq. + +1844—Joseph Farmer, Esq. + +1845—George Masefield, Esq. + +1846—T. T. Lankester, Esq. + +1847—James Banks, Esq. + +1848—Adam Prattinton, Esq. + +1849—John Baker, Esq. + +1850—John Bury, Esq. + +1851—Slade Baker, Esq. + + + +TOWN CLERKS OF BEWDLEY. + + +1775—W. A. Robarts, Esq. + +1808—Samuel Baker, Esq. + +1816—Slade Baker, Esq. + +1833—William N. Marcy, Esq. + + + +MAYORS OF DROITWICH. + + +The close Corporation of Droitwich used formerly to elect two Bailiffs +and two magistrates, year by year, out of their own number; the Lords +Foley, from time to time, holding the office of Recorder. The two last +Bailiffs, for the year immediately preceding the passing of the Municipal +Reform Act, were E. B. Penrice and W. H. Ricketts, Esqs. The following +is a fist of Mayors under the Municipal Act. + +1836—E. B. Penrice, Esq. + +1837—John Robeson, Esq. + +1838–9—E. B. Penrice, Esq. + +1840—E. B. Penrice, Esq., (resigned) and S. Tombs, Esq. + +1841—William Trehearn, Esq. + +1842—Samuel Tombs, Esq. + +1843—Edward Smith, Esq. + +1844—John Pumfrey, Esq. + +1845–6—T. G. Smith, Esq. + +1847—Edward Smith, Esq. + +1848–9–50—John Bradley, Esq. + + + +TOWN CLERKS OF DROITWICH. + + +1800—Thomas Jacob White, Esq. + +1820—Thomas Gale Curtler, Esq. + +1836—Samuel Tombs, jun., Esq. + + + +MAYORS OF EVESHAM. + + +1800—Hon. & Rev. G. Rushout. + +1801—Anthony Roper, Gent. + +1802—John Lord Northwick. + +1803—George Day, Gent. + +1804—Thomas Gore, Gent. + +1805—William Barnes, Gent. + +1806—William Soley, Gent. + +1807—W. F. Preedy, Gent. + +1808—Thomas B. Cooper, Esq. + +1809—John Hunter, Gent. + +1810—Sir C. Cockerell, Bart. + +1811—Rev. E. Dolman Cooper. + +1812—W. F. Preedy, Gent. + +1813—Matthias Stratton, Gent. + +1814—Rev. H. P. Cooper. + +1815—George Day, Gent. + +1816—Thomas B. Cooper, Esq. + +1817—Hon. & Rev. G. Rushout. + +1818—Daniel Edge, Gent. + +1819—Edward Savage, Gent. + +1820—Rev. Joseph Martin. + +1821—Thomas B. Cooper, Esq. + +1822—William Barnes, Gent. + +1823—Benjamin Murrell, Gent. + +1824—William Soley, Gent. + +1825—W. F. Preedy, Gent. + +1826—George Day, Gent. + +1827—Thomas B. Cooper, Esq. + +1828—William Byrch, Gent. + +1829—John Procter, Gent. + +1830—John Thomas, Gent. + +1831—Daniel Edge, Gent. + +1832—John Walford Izon, Gent. + +1833—Sir C. Cockerell, Bart. + +1834—Alfred C. Cooper, Gent. + +1835—William Barnes, Gent. + + * * * * * + +1836—William Barnes, Gent. + +1837—Thomas B. Cooper, Esq. + +1838—T. N. Foster, Merchant. + +1839—Ben. Workman, Solicitor. + +1840—John New, Esq. + +1841—J. M. G. Cheek, Esq. + +1842—Thomas White, Tanner. + +1843—Anthony New, Esq. + +1844—Richard Gibbs, Gent. + +1845—John Bromford, Gent. + +1846—Zaccheus Hughes, Draper. + +1847—J. B. Haynes, Surgeon. + +1848—Anthony Martin, Surgeon. + +1849—R. H. Hughes, Merchant. + +1850—John Clarke, Esq. + + + +TOWN CLERKS OF EVESHAM. + + +1800—James Taylor, Esq. (reappointed 1836) + +1838—Oswald Check, Esq. + + + +MAYORS OF KIDDERMINSTER. + + +Prior to 1836 the chief officers of Kidderminster were High Bailiffs. +The following are the Mayors elected since 1836: + +1836—William Butler Best, Esq. + +1837—George Hooman, Esq. + +1838—George Talbot, jun., Esq. + +1839—Charles Talbot, Esq. + +1840—Henry Brinton, Esq. + +1841—Joseph Newcombe, Esq. + +1842—Wm. Henry Worth, Esq. + +1843—James Morton, Esq. + +1844—Wm. Butler Best, Esq. + +1845—George Hooman, Esq. + +1846—Wm. Butler Best, Esq. + +1847—Wm. Boycot, sen., Esq. + +1848—Wm. Boycot, sen., Esq. + +1849—Wm. Roden, Esq., M.D. + +1850—Wm. Boycot, jun., Esq. + + + +TOWN CLERKS OF KIDDERMINSTER. + + +1800—James Pinches, Esq. + +1801—George Hallen, Esq. + +1826—Thomas Hallen, Esq. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + +TABLE A—POPULATION. + + 1801. 1811. 1821. 1831. 1841. 1851. +County of Worcester 139,333 160,546 184,424 211,365 233,484 276,926_a_ +City of Worcester 11,131 13,551 16,207 _b_18,442 27,023 27,528 +Dudley 10,307 13,925 18,611 23,443 31,232 37,954 +Stourbridge (including 8,297 9,755 11,227 13,571 17,483 19,246 +the Lye and Upper +Swinford) +Kidderminster Bor. & 8,036 10,025 12,752 17,913 17,500 20,852 +For. +Bromsgrove 5,898 6,932 7,511 8,612 9,676 10,310 +Redditch 1,000 — — — 3,314 4,774 +Stourport 1,603 2,352 2,544 2,952 2,952 2,993 +Evesham 2,837 3,068 3,472 3,976 4,245 4,605 +Pershore 1,910 2,179 2,328 2,536 — 2,717 +Droitwich 1,840 1,977 2,176 2,487 2,779 3,125 +Upton 1,858 2,167 2,319 2,343 2,599 2,698 +Tenbury 1,541 1,562 1,668 1,768 1,776 1,784 +Great Malvern — — — — 2,768 3,763 + +_a_ By the Act 7 and 8 Victoria, c. 61, part of Halesowen parish, +containing 18,827 persons in 1851, and parts of other parishes, locally +situated in Worcestershire, but belonging to other counties previously, +became parts of Worcestershire. Taking the same limits, the population +of Worcestershire in 1841 was 248,460. + +_b_ The population of Worcester, even at this time, was estimated at +25,000; but the figures given above, up to this census, only indicate the +population included within the old city boundary. + + +WORCESTERSHIRE.—CENSUS OF 1851. + + HOUSES. POPULATION. + Inhabited. Uninhabited. Building. Males. Females. Total. +Eastern Division 32,136 1,387 236 81,441 81,067 162,508 +Western Division 23,503 1,336 101 55,515 58,903 114,418 +Entire County 55,639 2,723 337 136,956 139,970 276,926 + +TABLE No. 2.—CRIMINAL STATISTICS. + + +The following statistics only relate to the county of Worcester. Prior +to 1821 there are no records of convictions, &c., in existence; the +Table, therefore, commences with that year. + +Year. In what Court Tried. Number of Prisoner Number Number No. Sentenced Number Summary Total Number of Proportion of + Tried. Capitally Sentenced to various terms Acquitted or Convictions. Persons Convicted to + Convicted. Transportation. of Discharged. Convicted. Population. + Imprisonment. +1821 Assizes 80 25* 15 18 22 + Sessions 167 — 26 92 49 292 468 1 in 359 +1822 Assizes 58 16 6 10 26 + Sessions 132 — 22 57 53 324 437 1 in 390 +1823 Assizes 69 15* 8 20 26 + Sessions 68 — 12 35 21 348 438 1 in 397 +1824 Assizes 49 16 5 12 16 + Sessions 86 — 8 37 41 352 430 1 in 408 +1825 Assizes 54 15 6 21 12 + Sessions 103 — 14 51 38 363 469 1 in 379 +1826 Assizes 90 27* 10 30 23 + Sessions 70 — 8 36 26 304 405 1 in 446 +1827 Assizes 110 34 25 29 22 + Sessions 124 — 17 79 28 332 516 1 in 354 +1828 Assizes 42 13 6 10 13 + Sessions 156 — 27 88 41 304 448 1 in 414 +_a_1829 Assizes 83 39 5 13 26 + Sessions 154 — 34 75 45 287 453 1 in 412 +1830 Assizes 80 32* 3 12 33 + Sessions 142 — 25 81 36 319 470 1 in 405 +1831 Assizes 90 43* 7 23 17 + Sessions 220 — 41 112 67 402 628 1 in 307 +1832 Assizes 74 28* 9 16 21 + Sessions 164 — 36 83 45 373 545 1 in 345 +1833 Assizes 73 22 13 19 19 + Sessions 258 — 53 137 68 448 692 1 in 285 +1834 Assizes 69 3* 20 23 23 + Sessions 260 — 63 124 73 526 759 1 in 262 +1835 Assizes 51 11 6 16 18 + Sessions 139 — 24 82 33 373 512 1 in 393 +_b_1836 Assizes 47 4 14 12 17 + Sessions 212 — 32 125 55 357 544 1 in 363 +_a_1837 Assizes 66 14* 10 24 18 + Sessions 278 — 47 141 90 328 564 1 in 354 +1838 Assizes 64 3 23 21 17 + Sessions 303 — 36 179 88 425 687 1 in 292 +1839 Assizes 70 1 16 31 22 + Sessions 323 — 44 190 89 411 693 1 in 292 +_c_1840 Assizes 76 — 10 36 30 + Sessions 474 — 68 278 128 566 958 1 in 202 +1841 Assizes 99 1 9 60 29 + Sessions 383 — 43 231 109 461 805 1 in 256 +1842 Assizes 101 1 16 59 25 + Sessions 440 — 57 252 131 439 824 1 in 253 +1843 Assizes 120 2 14 44 60 + Sessions 418 — 39 245 142 535 879 1 in 242 +1844 Assizes 141 1 17 78 45 + Sessions 390 — 31 239 120 535 901 1 in 237 +1845 Assizes 135 1 20 66 48 + Sessions 368 — 28 220 120 460 785 1 in 298 +1846 Assizes 154 — 17 79 58 + Sessions 329 — 7 220 102 377 700 1 in 337 +_a_1847 Assizes 88 — 7 52 29 + Sessions 458 — 30 302 126 458 849 1 in 281 +1848 Assizes 109 — 12 70 27 + Sessions 515 — 21 354 140 599 1056 1 in 228 +1849 Assizes 99 3* 10 33 53 + Sessions 452 — 50 289 113 614 999 1 in 244 +1850 Assizes 115 3 15 62 35 + Sessions 427 — 38 280 109 605 1003 1 in 246 + +* Executions in all these years—vide pp. 146, 148. + +_a a_ Criminal code greatly mitigated. Various offences hitherto only +triable at Assizes, transferred to the jurisdiction of Quarter Sessions. + +_b_ Prisoners’ Counsel Bill passed. + +_c_ County Police established. + +_d_ Sir John Pakington’s Juvenile Offenders’ Act passed. + + * * * * * + +*** In 1836 the jurisdiction of the City Quarter Sessions was extended +to the new city boundary, and the deduction of population from the county +raises the proportion of convicted persons from that year forwards. In +1845 the outlying parts of the county were included in the jurisdiction +of the County Quarter Sessions, and the ratio of convicted persons is +proportionably diminished. + + + +TABLE No. 3.—PROVISION FOR RELIGIOUS WORSHIP. + + +It is not pretended that the following statistics are absolutely +accurate—the amount of accommodation afforded being altogether matter of +computation. Neither do they afford reliable data for comparing the +relative increase of different religious denominations, because a +considerable proportion of the old churches have been enlarged in the +present century; while, on the other hand, many of the new chapels built +by Dissenters, especially the Wesleyans, were erected in the place of +preaching rooms used before the year 1800. + + Built before Accommodation. Built after Accommodation. + A.D. 1800. A.D. 1800. +Places of 210 63,680 24* 14,590 +Worship in the +County +connected with +the +Established +Church +Wesleyans 6 3,240 34 6,760 +Baptists 13 3,654 17 3,498 +Independents 4 2,283 10 3,176 +Primitive — — 13 1,906 +Methodists +Wesleyan New — — 8 2,526 +Connexion +Wesleyan — — 4 950 +Association +Countess of 1 1,400 9 2,790 +Huntingdon +Catholics 2 630 10 2,089 +Unitarian 8 2,300 — — +The Friends 7 1,500 — — +Other Sects — — 4 500 + +* The Churches built in the county since 1800 are—Redditch (chapel of +ease); St. George’s Chapel, Kidderminster; St. Andrew’s, Netherton; St. +George’s Chapel, Claines; St. Peter’s, Malvern Wells; Christchurch +Chapel, Broadheath; Christchurch Chapel, Catshill; Bartley Green Chapel, +Northfield; Christchurch Chapel, Lye; St. James’s, Dudley; St. John’s +Chapel, Kate Hill, Dudley; St. Michael’s Chapel, Broadway; Christchurch +Chapel, Trimpley, Kidderminster; Yardley Wood, Yardley; St. John’s +Chapel, Kidderminster; Aston Magna, Blockley; St. Matthias, Malvern Link; +St. Paul’s, Worcester; St. Peter’s, Cookley; North Hill District Church, +Mathon; The Quinton, Halesowen; Langley Green, Halesowen; St. Peter’s, +Worcester; Amblecote, Oldswinford; Trinity Church, Malvern. + + + +TABLE No. 4.—OBSERVATIONS AS TO FALL OF RAIN. + +Year. Worcester. * Cleobury. † Orleton. ‡ +1835 — 29.16 27.265 +1836 — 32.93 28.155 +1837 24.465 31.18 28.545 +1838 23.850 28.73 26.355 +1839 34.595 37.70 34.145 +1840 20.715 26.94 25.800 +1841 29.649 34.82 32.770 +1842 — 25.09 25.480 +1843 — 30.42 29.935 +1844 — 23.56 21.730 +1845 — 27.91 27.405 +1846 — 29.24 27.015 +1847 — 28.60 27.985 +1848 — 36.69 39.015 +1849 23.88 30.79 26.945 +1850 18.66 22.84 24.615 +1851 18.93 21.33 28.276 + +* The first series of these observations at Worcester were taken by Mr. +T. R. Hill, at the Literary and Scientific Institution, and those for +1849–51 by Dr. Turley, St. John’s. It would seem as though less rain +fell in this neighbourhood than in other parts of the county; but the +years given happen to be amongst the drier ones, and in general it will +be found that more rain falls at Worcester than in most other parts of +England. The mean height of the thermometer in the midland districts of +England is about 50°, at Worcester the mean will be found slightly to +exceed that figure. + +† From observations taken by Mr. Hunter of Mawley Gardens. + +‡ From observations taken by Mr. T. H. Davis of Orleton, who possesses an +accurate register of the rain which has fallen in each month for the last +twenty years. The result shows May to be the driest, and November the +wettest, month, and gives 2.19 as the average of January; February, 2.21; +March, 1.91; April, 2.05; May, 1.82; June, 2.41; July, 2.39; August, +2.70; September, 2.41; October, 2.80; November, 3.16; December, 2.17; and +of the whole year, 28.276 inches. + + + +ELECTIONS OF 1852. + + +WORCESTERSHIRE EAST—J. H. H. Foley, Esq., and Captain Rushout reëlected +without opposition. + +WORCESTERSHIRE WEST—Hon. General H. B. Lygon and F. W. Knight, Esq., +reëlected without opposition. + +WORCESTER—MAY—(Election on Mr. Rufford’s accepting the Chiltern +Hundreds)—William Laslett, Esq., of Abberton Hall, had some time +previously announced himself as a candidate for the representation +whenever a vacancy should occur, professing Radical opinions. The +Conservatives brought forward Mr. Charles M‘Garel, who declared himself a +supporter of Lord Derby’s Government; but as he was not explicit on the +subject of “Protection,” he found so little favour with the voters, that +after four days’ canvass he left the city. Mr. Laslett was then returned +unopposed. JULY—Mr. Ricardo and Mr. Laslett united the suffrages of the +Whig and Radical parties, and the candidate supported by the +Conservatives was J. W. Huddleston, Esq., the well known barrister on the +Oxford Circuit. He avowed himself a Free Trader, but would support Lord +Derby’s Government in other matters. The Sheriff’s return showed 1,212 +votes given for Mr. Laslett, 1,164 for Mr. Ricardo, and 661 for Mr. +Huddleston. + +KIDDERMINSTER—Mr. John Best, the former member, was opposed by Robert +Lowe, Esq., a member of the Australian Council from 1843 to 1850, and +member for Sydney in 1848. He professed to be ready to support Lord +Derby’s Government according to their measures, though a thorough Free +Trader. He thus obtained the support of the Whig and Radical parties in +the borough, and also of a section of the moderate Conservatives. He was +returned on the poll by a majority of 94: the numbers being—Lowe, 246; +Best, 152. + +BEWDLEY—Sir Thomas E. Winnington, Bart., Liberal, and Joseph Sandars, +Esq., Conservative, were the candidates—Viscount Mandeville having been +previously elected for Huntingdonshire. The votes were—for Winnington, +169; Sandars, 151. + +EVESHAM—Lord Marcus Hill retired from the representation, and the +candidates were Charles Lennox Grenville Berkeley, Esq., formerly member +for Cheltenham, Liberal; Sir Henry Willoughby, Bart., Conservative; and +Sergeant Wilkins, Radical. The votes given were—for Willoughby, 189; +Berkeley, 170; Wilkins, 87. + +DUDLEY—John Benbow, Esq., the former member, Conservative, and James +Baldwin, Esq., an alderman of Birmingham, Radical, were the candidates. +The votes given were—for Benbow, 400; Baldwin, 231. + + + +WORCESTER RACES. + + +THE following are the winners of the “GOLD CUP,” value 100 guineas, the +surplus in specie—4 miles—which used to be the principal race at the +Worcester Summer Meeting, and which was first run for in the year 1812. + +1812—August 12—Mr. Shawe’s b. h. Offa’s Dyke. + +1813—August 11—Mr. Munsey’s b. m. Meteorina. + +1814—August 10—Sir W. Wynn’s b. c. Bravo. + +1815—August 8—Hon. W. B. Lygon’s b. c. Tozer. + +1816—August 14—Mr. Charlton’s b. c. Tozer. + +1817—August 13—Sir W. Wynn’s b. c. Piscator. + +1818—August 12—Mr. Charlton’s ch. c. Indus. + +1819—August 11—Mr. West’s br. h. Fitz Orville (w. o.) + +1820—August 9—Lord Stamford’s ch. c. Comet. + +1821—August 15—Mr. L. Charlton’s Master Henry. + +1822—August 14—Lord Stamford’s Peter Lely. + +1823—August 15—Mr. Mytton’s ch. g. Euphrates. The Grand Stand was first +used at these races. + +1824—August 11—Mr. Mytton’s br. c. Comte d’Artois (w. o.) + +1825—August 4—Mr. Mytton’s ch. g. Euphrates. + +1826—August 2—Mr. Mytton’s b. h. Longwaist. + +1827—August 22—Sir W. Wynn’s ch. c. May Fly. + +1828—July 30—Mr. Mytton’s ch. g. Euphrates. + +1829—August 19—Sir T. Stanley’s ch. g. May Fly. + +1830—August 11—Mr. Davies’s ch. g. Villager. + +1831—August 10—Mr. Beardsworth’s br. g. Independence. + +1832—August 16—Mr. Griffith’s Thorngrove. + +1833—August 7—Mr. Phillips’s b. c. Tom Brown. + +1834—August 6—Mr. L. Day’s b. m. Diana. + +1835—August 5—Sir T. Stanley’s b. c. Intriguer. + +1836—August 3—Mr. Haywood’s br. g. Lentulus. + +1837—August 2—Mr. Speed’s gr. g. Darling. + +1838—August 8—Mr. Speed’s gr. g. Isaac. + +1839—August 8—Mr. Tomes’s gr. g. Isaac. The “Gold Cup” was discontinued +after this year. + +Winners of the WORCESTERSHIRE STAKES, 20 sovs. each, 2 mile heats, from +1840. + +1840—August 4—Mr. Collins’s gr. g. Isaac. + +1841—July 8—Mr. J. Taylor nas. Earnest. + +1842—July 7—Major Hay’s ch. g. Retriever. + +1843—July 6—Lord Palmerston’s b. m. Ilione. + +1844—July 11—Lord Warwick’s b. c. Yardley. + +At the Worcester Autumn Meeting this year was run, the celebrated match +between Mr. Timms’s Cora and Mr. T. Smith’s Lady Harkaway, both ridden by +the owners: Cora winning by a length only. Time, 9 minutes; 52 seconds; +4 miles; 6 flights of hurdles. + +1845—July 8—Mr. Collett’s b. h. Coranna. + +1846—July 7—Captain Harcourt’s br. c. The Druid. + +1847—July 6—Mr. Bristow’s ch. f. Marietta. + +1848—July 4—Mr. J. Day’s b. m. Milliner (w. o.) + +1849—August 7—Mr. Mynors’s br. f. Miss Bunney (w. o.) + +1850—August 6—Mr. Sharratt’s b. f. Egret. + + + +STEEPLE CHASES. + + +1836—March 2—The first steeple chases ever run in Worcestershire came off +this day. The ground chosen was on the west bank of the Severn, from +Frieze Wood to the centre of the Lower Powick Ham, about four miles of a +stiffish hunting country. Captain Lamb’s Vivian, ridden by Captain +Beecher, beat Midnight and Saladin. + +1841—March 24—Steeple chases at Crowle. Cotton Ball won the first and +Fairy the second. + +1844—March 14—The first of the Worcester grand annual steeple chases. +Sixteen horses started for the Royal Birthday Stakes, which were won by +Discount—Vanguard being second and Harkaway third. + +1845—March 19—Seventeen starters for the Royal Birthday Handicap. Won by +Mr. W. Holman’s The Page. Value of stakes, £819. + +1846—November 7—Twelve starters for the Grand Annual. Won by Lord +Strathmore’s Switcher; Marengo second, and Pioneer third. + +1847—November 6—Sixteen horses started. Winner, Mr. Little’s br. g. +Chandler; Glaucus second. + +1848—November 4—Nineteen horses started. Winner, Proceed; Red Lancer +second. + +1849—November 2—Ten horses started. Winner, Mr. Vevers’s Vainhope; Young +’Un second. + +1850—December 4—Twelve starters. Winner, Miss Collingwood; Tipperary Boy +second. + + * * * * * + + BIRMINGHAM: + PRINTED BY JOSIAH ALLEN AND SON, + 3, COLMORE ROW. + + + + +ADDENDA AND ERRATA. {337} + + +IN addition to the Enclosure Bills enumerated in note, p. 6, must be +mentioned the following: Aldington, Astley, Abberley, Broughton Hackett, +Bredon, Bonehill, Badsey, Churchill, Little and Great Comberton, Crowle, +Eckington, Flyford Flavel, Holdfast (Ripple), Iccomb, Inkberrow, North, +South, and Middle Littleton, Norton, Overbury, Pensham, North Piddle, +Rushock, Salwarp, Sedgberrow, Shipston-on-Stour, Strensham, Tibberton, +Wick (Pershore). + + * * * * * + +Page 97, line 3—_for_ “Rev. George Turnbull,” _read_ “Rev. George +Turberville.” + +Page 188, line 19—_for_ “small majorities,” _read_ “small minorities.” + +Page 241, line 5—_for_ “vestin,” read “vesting.” + +Page 264, line 24—_for_ “accepted as the text,” _read_ “accepted as the +test.” + + + + +FOOTNOTES. + + +{6} The number of enclosure bills passed between 1800 and 1814 was +1,448; in the next year they fell off remarkably; and between 1814 and +1830, only 557 passed the legislature. The enclosure bills passed for +Worcestershire in the present century are Astley, Bayton, Ombersley, +Hartlebury, Alton (Rock), Feckenham, Minith Wood, Coston Hackett, Burlish +Common, Stock and Bradley, Hagley, Harberrow and Blakedown, Fladbury, +Yardley. And since the passing of the General Enclosure Act, powers have +been obtained to enclose part of Welland Common, Areley Common, Longdon, +Newbold-on-Stour, and Hatfield (Kempsey). + +{65} The ports were opened, at 1s. a quarter duty, from the end of +February, 1818, when some superior white wheat was fetching 102s. a +quarter, to the end of March, 1819. + +{90} On the Sunday during or immediately following the Assizes, which +used to be known as Assize Sunday, and kept as a great fair, the keepers +at the county gaol were accustomed to show the prisoners through the bars +to the curious crowd, and collect sixpences in a boot for pointing out +those who were sentenced to be hanged, &c. + +{156} The titles of the projects were—Worcester and South Wales +Junction; East and West Junction; Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and Stour +Valley, Midland and Eastern Counties Railway; London, Warwick, +Leamington, and Kidderminster; Direct Birmingham and Leicester Railway; +Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton Branches; Worcester, Hereford, Ross, +and Gloucester; Warwickshire and London; Derbyshire, Staffordshire, and +Worcestershire Junction; Worcester, Tenbury, and Ludlow; Trent Valley, +Midlands, and Grand Junction; Worcester and Leominster; Worcester and +Portdynllaen; Birmingham and Oxford Junction; Birmingham, Wolverhampton, +and Dudley; South Staffordshire Junction; Gloucester and Hereford Canal +and Worcester; Welsh Midland: Welsh Midland Extension; Midland and +Eastern Counties; Oxford and Worcester Extension and Chester Junction; +Birmingham and Bristol; Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and Stour Valley (No. +2); Warwickshire and London (Worcester to Weedon); Birmingham and +Gloucester (branches); Northampton, Banbury, and Cheltenham; Leamington, +Warwick, and Cheltenham; Worcester, Warwick, and Rugby; Shropshire Union; +Dudley, Madeley, Broseley, and Ironbridge; Cambrian and Grand Junction; +Warwick and Worcester; Warwick and Birmingham; Rugby, Warwick, and +Worcester. + +{165} Some facts, with regard to currents and the course of running +water, established during the course of the recent alterations in the +Severn, were totally opposed to all the theories previously held by +hydraulic engineers; and when first brought under their notice were +scarcely credited, though backed by the best of testimony. + +{171} The present commissioners are Lord Hatherton, The Right Hon. Sir +John Pakington, Bart., M.P., T. C. Hornyold, Esq., John Benbow, Esq., +M.P., H. E. Strickland, Esq., Thomas Fulljames, Esq., W. H. Hyett, Esq., +J. W. Lea, Esq., E. Evans, Esq., J. M. Gutch, Esq., E. Webb, Esq., D. M. +Walker, Esq., T. Sturge, Esq., N. P. Price, Esq., M.P., W. H. Barrow, +Esq., M.P., Richard P. King, Esq., S. Tombs, jun., Esq., William +Dowdeswell, Esq., W. R. Anstice, Esq., Richard Blakemore, Esq., J. M. G. +Cheek, Esq., J. Rogers, Esq., J. S. Rutter, Esq., William Mabson, Esq., +P. Baldwin, Esq., A. H. Jenkins, Esq., John Home, Esq., E. L. Kendall, +Esq., W. Wills, Esq., John W. Hughes, Esq. + +{337} The errata have been applied in this Project Gutenberg eText.—DP. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORCESTERSHIRE IN THE NINETEENTH +CENTURY*** + + +******* This file should be named 44040-0.txt or 44040-0.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/4/4/0/4/44040 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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C. Turberville</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + P.gutsumm { margin-left: 5%;} + P.poetry {margin-left: 3%; } + .GutSmall { font-size: 0.7em; } + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4, H5 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + table { border-collapse: collapse; } +table {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;} + td { vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid black;} + td p { margin: 0.2em; } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-weight: normal; + color: gray; + } + img { border: none; } + img.dc { float: left; width: 50px; height: 50px; } + p.gutindent { margin-left: 2em; } + div.gapspace { height: 0.8em; } + div.gapline { height: 0.8em; width: 100%; border-top: 1px solid;} + div.gapmediumline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + div.gapmediumdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%; + border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; + margin-left: 40%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid; } + div.gapdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 50%; + margin-left: 25%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; margin-left:40%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + .citation {vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + img.floatleft { float: left; + margin-right: 1em; + margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.floatright { float: right; + margin-left: 1em; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.clearcenter {display: block; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em} + --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Worcestershire in the Nineteenth Century, by +T. C. Turberville + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Worcestershire in the Nineteenth Century + A Complete Digest of Facts Occuring in the County since the Commencement of the year 1800 + + +Author: T. C. Turberville + + + +Release Date: October 26, 2013 [eBook #44040] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORCESTERSHIRE IN THE NINETEENTH +CENTURY*** +</pre> +<p>Transcribed from the 1852 Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans +edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org</p> +<h1>WORCESTERSHIRE<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">IN THE</span><br /> +NINETEENTH CENTURY.</h1> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center">A COMPLETE DIGEST OF FACTS +OCCURRING IN THE<br /> +COUNTY SINCE THE COMMENCEMENT OF<br /> +THE YEAR 1800.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">BY</span><br +/> +T. C. TURBERVILLE.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center">LONDON:<br /> +LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS,<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">AND SOLD BY ALL BOOKSELLERS.</span><br /> +<span class="GutSmall">1852.</span></p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><a name="pageii"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. ii</span><span +class="GutSmall">BIRMINGHAM:</span><br /> +<span class="GutSmall">PRINTED BY JOSIAH ALLEN AND SON,</span><br +/> +<span class="GutSmall">3, COLMORE ROW.</span></p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><a name="pageiii"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. iii</span>THIS VOLUME</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">IS, BY KIND +PERMISSION,</span></p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">DEDICATED +TO</span></p> +<p style="text-align: center">THE RIGHT HON. SIR JOHN SOMERSET +PAKINGTON,</p> +<p style="text-align: center">OF WESTWOOD PARK, BART., M.P.,</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">PRINCIPAL +SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES.</span></p> +<h2><a name="pagev"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +v</span>ADVERTISEMENT.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> this day the man who writes a +useless book, commits a great sin against society. The aim +of this volume is utility; although the word, as applied to it, +must be interpreted in a very limited sense. Beyond a +circuit of a few miles it will have no interest; and even in +respect to its legitimate sphere it only assumes to be a record +of facts by which the man in public life may refresh his memory +as to the particulars of past events, or by which those who have +lived and moved amongst the occurrences here set down may call up +pleasant associations of things and times gone by. By its +means all persons resident in or connected with Worcestershire +may possess themselves of a knowledge of the history of the +County during the century, besides having at their command a +repertory of all the principal events of the locality. It +would in many instances have been more gratifying to the writer +to have exchanged the chronicle for the narrative—the annal +for something more pretentious as a history, but the +“utility” of the book would thereby have been +impaired, and he refrained. To have attempted a +continuation of <i>Nash</i> would have been mere pedantry, and +the mode would have been wholly unsuitable for a record of modern +Worcestershire. As for the opinions which may be found +scattered here and there on the following pages, the writer is no +further anxious about them than as being naturally desirous that +what he believes to be truth should be accepted and acted upon by +others. But as to the facts professed to be narrated, he +hopes that they will be found scrupulously accurate and +undistorted by anything like party bias; of the faults of +omission, no one can be so conscious as the writer himself, but +the book, even now, is larger than he had at first +intended. If errors should be found, those whose censure +would be the weightiest will readily be able to suggest abundance +of excuses, and to their forbearance he unhesitatingly trusts the +following pages.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Worcester</span>, <span +class="smcap">October</span>, 1852.</p> +<h2><a name="pagevii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +vii</span>INDEX.</h2> +<table> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">PAGE</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p><span class="smcap">Introductory +Review</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page1">1</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p><span class="smcap">Parliamentary +Elections</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page20">20</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">County of Worcester</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page21">21</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">City of Worcester</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page28">28</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">Evesham</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page39">39</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">Droitwich</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page45">45</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">Bewdley</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page47">47</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">Kidderminster</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page50">50</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">Dudley</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page53">53</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p><span class="smcap">Elections of County +Coroners</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page55">55</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p><span class="smcap">Public Meetings</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page59">59</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p><span class="smcap">The County +Magistracy</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page88">88</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p><span class="smcap">Remarkable +Trials</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page110">110</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Oddingley Murder</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page123">123</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">Executions</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page144">144</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p><span class="smcap">Railways</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page150">150</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">Birmingham and Gloucester</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page150">150</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">Grand Connexion Project</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page154">154</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Schemes of</span> 1845</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page156">156</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">Oxford, Worcester, and +Wolverhampton</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page158">158</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p><span class="smcap">Improvement of the River +Severn</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page165">165</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p><span class="smcap">Worcester Town +Council</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page177">177</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p><span class="smcap">Worcester +Infirmary</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page197">197</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p><span class="smcap">Worcester Musical +Festivals</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page204">204</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p><span class="smcap">Natural +Phenomena</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page209">209</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p><span class="smcap">Miscellaneous +Occurrences</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page216">216</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p><span class="smcap">The County +Aristocracy</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page312">312</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p><span class="smcap">The Church</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page318">318</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p><span class="smcap">The Executive</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page321">321</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p><span class="smcap">Appendix</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page328">328</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<h2><a name="page1"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +1</span>WORCESTERSHIRE IN THIS NINETEENTH CENTURY.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">Before</span> entering on a detail of +occurrences which possess, comparatively speaking, only an +isolated interest, I shall occupy a few pages in the +consideration of some general facts and statistics, which may +enable the reader to judge of the advance which the County of +Worcester has made during a truly remarkable half-century. +No former period in the world’s history ever witnessed such +mental activity and progress.</p> +<p>The <span class="smcap">Increase of Population</span>, though +not a perfect test of general prosperity, yet indicates that the +employments which engage the attention of the inhabitants of any +given district are flourishing, that there is no such apprehended +deficiency of the articles of wealth as seriously to check +marriage, and that there is an absence of some of those evils +which are constantly at work to retard the replenishment of the +earth by the human family. For the statistics of population +in this county I refer the reader to Table 1, in the Appendix, +from which he will perceive that a continuous, and in some +instances a rapid increase has taken place in the manufacturing +districts. Until the last ten years, however, the increase +of population in this county, though exceeding that of many +counties, did not quite come up to the average increase of the +entire <a name="page2"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +2</span>kingdom. The rate of increase from 1801 to 1811, +was—</p> +<table> +<tr> +<td><p>Worcestershire,</p> +</td> +<td><p>15 per cent. England,</p> +</td> +<td><p>14½ per cent.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1811 to 1821 „</p> +</td> +<td><p>15 „ „</p> +</td> +<td><p>17½ „</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1821 to 1831 ,,</p> +</td> +<td><p>15 „ „</p> +</td> +<td><p>16 „</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1831 to 1841 „</p> +</td> +<td><p>10.4 „ „</p> +</td> +<td><p>14.5 „</p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<p>From 1841 to 1851, the rate of increase for Worcestershire was +slightly above the average, being as nearly as possible 13 per +cent., while that of England, as a whole, had declined, and was +only about 12.7. This is a fact upon which no +interpretation can be put, except such as is flattering to the +condition and prospects of our county. <span +class="smcap">Emigration</span> has been slowly going on from our +manufacturing districts during the last fifteen years, but there +has been no remarkable exodus at any particular period. +Many farm labourers and small occupants of land have also been +seduced by the Mormons to seek an imaginary paradise in the Far +West. Even this desultory emigration cannot but be +beneficial. Great Britain has yet, however, to acquire the +practical wisdom of the ancients in carrying out a systematic +colonization, and it still remains for her people to perform the +noble mission which their national advantages and insular +position seem to assign them—that of peopling the solitudes +of the earth with a race which has hitherto proved equal to all +difficulties, and who would carry with them the laws of an +Alfred, the language of a Shakspere, and, above all, the +ennobling influences of the Christian religion.</p> +<p>A tabular statement of <span class="smcap">Criminals</span> +convicted, and of the nature of the sentences inflicted upon +them, will also be found in the Appendix. When the +improvement in the machinery for detecting crimes and bringing +offenders to justice is taken into account, there would not seem +to be any serious increase in the amount of crime committed; but +there certainly is no room for believing that the <a +name="page3"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 3</span>intelligence of +the age, or the activity of the police, have been successful in +diminishing it. Neither does the comparative leniency of +the punishments inflicted afford any proof that the crimes +committed are less heinous than formerly. The decrease in +severity of punishments is to be attributed solely to the +amelioration of our criminal code, and the humane desire to +reclaim rather than to punish, which now distinguishes our +legislature and even pervades the judiciary. +Worcestershire, it must be admitted, holds a bad preëminence +both in respect to the number and character of the offences +committed within its boundaries: a recent return, made by order +of the Privy Council, assigns it the very lowest place amongst +the English counties as to the proportion of criminals to the +population, and within three of the bottom of the list in degree +of crime.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Education</span> is regarded by many as +the panacea which is to empty our prisons and render the +judge’s office a sinecure; and, without being inclined to +attribute to it any such efficacy, it cannot be doubted that it +does act as a check to the commission of many of the grosser +offences against society. A private individual has not at +his command the means necessary to compile complete statistics on +a subject like this; it is a matter of congratulation, however, +that Government caused inquiries to be made, at the last census, +which will by and by put us in possession of much important +information on this head. Without pretending to accuracy, I +believe it will be found that there are in Worcestershire about +550 private and public day and boarding schools, having +accommodation for the instruction of 20,000 scholars. It is +not, indeed, want of accommodation that is now so much to be +complained of—for few of the school-rooms are +filled—as inferiority in the quality of the instruction +imparted. Earnest efforts are, however, being made by all +educational societies and the supporters of public schools to +remedy the admitted deficiency. <a name="page4"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 4</span>Nearly all the schools now existing in +the county, with the exception of the Grammar and Free Schools of +which there are some seventy-six, have been founded during the +present century, and owe their existence, and in greatest part +their continuance, to the voluntary benevolence of persons +residing on the spot. Within the last three or four years, +public attention has been much directed to the lax administration +of the funds of the various charity schools in the county, and +should the gentlemen who have taken the matter so zealously in +hand be successful in bringing about the reforms which these +institutions so imperatively need, the poor of many future +generations will have reason to thank them for their +labours. I must not omit to notice here the means which +have been taken in the latter part of this half-century to induce +a love and pursuit of knowledge amongst the working classes, by +the establishment of Mechanics’ Institutions, one of which +is now to be found in almost every town in the county. The +elder born of these societies are, unfortunately, already passing +to decay, and, as at present conducted, they do not seem to +possess any inherent vitality. They have undoubtedly been +useful in displaying the more attractive results of study and +science—the flowers by the wayside, which may tempt +triflers to venture a short distance on Learning’s easier +paths—but they offer little or no assistance to those who +would resolutely dare its difficult ascents. The efforts of +the friends of education should be directed to making these +institutions what their projector, Lord Brougham, intended they +should be—People’s Colleges.</p> +<p>An estimate of the provision made for <span +class="smcap">Religious Instruction</span> in this county will be +found in the Appendix—Table No. 3. The Established +Church, by new buildings or enlargements, has increased the +accommodation for attendants on its forms of worship, since the +year 1800, by one fifth to one fourth. Upon looking at the +large numbers <a name="page5"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +5</span>provided for by Wesleyanism, in its various forms, the +thought cannot but occur that if the Church of England could have +retained John Wesley and his followers, as Rome did St. Francis +D’Assissi, to be its evangelists among the masses of the +population, it must have received a vast accession of +strength. The Wesleyans in forsaking their first simple +object of evangelism for that of building up a permanent +ecclesiastical polity, seem to have mistaken the source of their +own power, and during the last two years their numbers have +considerably decreased from disaffection in the body. The +Independents and Baptists have been deficient in proselytism, +conceiving their special mission to be to keep in purity the +faith committed to them from their Puritan forefathers. The +Unitarians and Friends are stationary sects. The Roman +Catholics have built ten small chapels in this county during the +present century, and as to numbers, they have barely kept pace +with the increase of population. The annual value of church +livings in this county is about £62,000; the income of the +See of Worcester is fixed at £5,000; and the net revenue of +the Dean and Chapter of Worcester is returned at +£8,698. The various bodies of Protestant Dissenters +raise at least £20,000 annually for the support of their +ministers, Sabbath schools, missions, and other religious +institutions.</p> +<p>This county yields at once the richest fruits of the soil and +the most practically valuable mineral productions. The +total acreage of the county, exclusive of roads and rivers, is +431,616; and by far the larger portion of this surface is devoted +to <span class="smcap">Agriculture</span>. According to Mr. +Fowler’s valuation, made in the year 1842, the total value +of property assessable to the county rate is £912,863; of +which £263,000 may be taken as representing the rental of +buildings and land in the towns and manufacturing districts, +leaving £650,000 as the annual value of agricultural +property. In this statement the city of Worcester, the +rateable <a name="page6"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +6</span>rental of which is about £75,000, is, of course, +not included. If it is assumed that 380,000 acres are +arable and grass land, that will probably be an approximation to +the truth. In the total absence of agricultural statistics +any attempt to compute the present produce of the county would be +quite out of the question, but that it has greatly increased of +late years cannot be doubted. A gentleman, upon whose +practical knowledge and information the most entire reliance may +be placed, informs me that the average yield per acre throughout +the Vale of Evesham is now about 27 bushels in wheat, 32 in +barley, 40 in oats, 27 in beans; and that there has been an +increase of fully 15 per cent. in the wheat and barley crops, and +of 10 per cent. in the bean crop, within the last 20 or 25 +years. Hops, however, for which this county has been and +still is so famous, have to a great extent gone out of +cultivation; and while at the beginning of the century some 6,000 +acres were devoted to their growth, there are now not more than +1,625 acres of hop plantation. With regard to the general +progress of agriculture, the half-century may be divided into +three periods. During the war the high prices of provisions +stimulated improvement, and much drainage was then done, though +in so rude and unscientific a way that it has since been found +necessary to replace a great deal of it. The Earl of +Plymouth, the Earl of Coventry, and A. Lechmere, Esq., in this +county, very early bestowed great pains on the drainage of their +estates. From 1814 to 1830 agriculture, comparatively +speaking, was at a stand still; <a name="citation6"></a><a +href="#footnote6" class="citation">[6]</a> but during the last +twenty years many and signal improvements have <a +name="page7"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 7</span>been made in +its science. Many persons still living can recollect whole +hamlets and villages in this county in which there was scarce an +enclosure; and nearly the whole of the land was cultivated in +common by the resident farmers, to each one of whom would be +assigned a certain quantity in wheat, barley, vetches, and +fallow. Between each ploughed land was left a strip of +mere, into which the surface water from the adjoining ridges all +sank and rendered it little better than a constant bog, which +diseased the few poor sheep grazing upon it and made the ague a +common and hereditary ill to farmer and labourer alike. The +amount of unenclosed land now to be found in the county is quite +unimportant; thorough drainage is regarded as essential to all +cultivation; burnt soil has been much used to lighten the heavy +clays; manures of all kinds are extensively employed; and +implements of a very improved and economic description are used +in almost every farming operation. The increased +cultivation of the turnip, and better management of the clay +fallows, are marked features in Worcestershire agricultural +improvements. Clay lands, that formerly were allowed to lie +fallow every fourth or fifth year, are now planted with vetches, +and sheep-folded. A remarkable advance, too, has been made +in the character of the stock reared, especially in the size and +quality of the sheep. The better drainage of the land has +prevented much of the disease which used formerly to thin out the +flocks year by year, and there has been no serious rot in the +county since 1831. The local agricultural societies, which +have been established during the last fifteen years, have done +much by their premiums and annual exhibitions to stimulate +improvement, but our chief confidence for progress in the future +lies in our being able to number amongst our landowners and +occupiers men of intelligence and enterprise, who, in all +quarters of the county, are seriously engaged in adjusting the +relations of landlord and <a name="page8"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 8</span>tenant to the circumstances of the +times, and by improved modes of farm management and cultivation +seeking to meet successfully unrestricted foreign +competition.</p> +<p>Our mineral productions are <span class="smcap">Coal</span> +and <span class="smcap">Iron</span>, both of which are found in +large quantities at the northern extremity of the county, and +coal is also raised in the neighbourhood of Bewdley. The +Dudley division of the South Staffordshire coal field is +celebrated for producing what is known as the ten yard or thick +coal—so named because the bed is thirty feet in +thickness. It is, indeed, the largest and most important +bed of coal in the kingdom, and its good qualities are too well +known to every housekeeper in this district to need that I should +expatiate upon them here. With the associated thin coals +and ironstone this bed is worth at least £1,000 per +acre. The number of tons of coal raised in the Dudley +district (Worcestershire only) during 1851 may be approximately +reckoned at 700,000, worth perhaps £25,000. It was in +this district that coal was first used for the purpose of +smelting iron, in the year 1619. The duties on the +introduction of foreign iron were cither removed or rendered +merely nominal in 1826, and the production has since nearly +quadrupled, and now amounts to 2,250,000 tons annually. The +South Staffordshire and Worcestershire iron district ranks second +in importance, far surpassing Scotland in the manufacture of +wrought iron, and the quality is superior to that of South +Wales. The number of furnaces now in blast in this county +is twenty-eight, and eighteen out of blast. Nearly 150,000 +tons of iron were made here in 1851, and prices ranged from 50s. +to 57s. 6d. hot blast; cold blast, 60s. to 67s. 6d.; best makes, +120s., and second ditto, 110s. per ton. The make of iron +has not greatly increased in Worcestershire during the last few +years, but no branch of our productive industry rests on surer +foundations, or has more prospect of continuous extension, than +the iron trade.</p> +<p><a name="page9"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 9</span>The <span +class="smcap">Glass</span> manufacture, of which Stourbridge is a +principal seat, affords a most striking instance of the tendency +of excessive duties, collected under regulations which interfere +with and cramp industrial processes. In 1811 the home +consumption of glass amounted to 417,911 cwt.: in 1812 the excise +duties on this article were doubled; the average consumption of +the next three years was but 264,931 cwt.; and up to the time of +the reduction of the duties by two-thirds, in 1835, there had +been no increase whatever in the consumption of British glass +since the commencement of the present century. Since the +entire abolition of the duties, in 1845, the consumption has +increased to a surprising extent, and glass has been applied to +uses previously undreamt of. The manufacture was introduced +into Stourbridge, about 1556, by refugees from Lorraine, and has +continued to flourish there ever since. The descriptions +principally made here are flint, bottle, and chemical utensil +glass. There are now twelve glass manufactories in the town +and neighbourhood, employing about 1,050 pairs of hands, and the +trade generally is in a prosperous state. The manufacture +of <span class="smcap">Fire Bricks</span>, and the sale of clay +for glass works, is a trade at Stourbridge, now almost as +important as the manufacture of glass itself; and as it is one +with the details of which the public are not generally +conversant, I shall enter somewhat into particulars. +Beneath all coal strata is found a clay, which, from the +peculiarity of its ingredients, is remarkably well adapted to +stand the action of intense heat. An analysis of the best +clay raised at Stourbridge, gives</p> +<table> +<tr> +<td><p>Silica</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">72.516</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Alumina</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">20.264</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Lime</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">0.891</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Peroxide of Iron</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">3.308</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Protoxide of Manganese</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1.488</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Phosphate of Lime</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1.533</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">100.000</p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<p><a name="page10"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 10</span>The +presence of lime or iron in any considerable quantities would +render the clay fusible, but when the silica and alumina so +greatly preponderate, it will stand any amount of heat that can +be raised in ordinary furnaces. The best clay fetches about +55s. per ton, and is used for glass-house pots and the bricks +used in making glass furnaces, not only in England but other +countries; it is exported to North America in large quantities, +and to South America, France, Holland, and Germany. Besides +the best clay, inferior descriptions called +“seconds,” “black,” and +“offal” clay are raised to a considerable +extent. The first (black), mixed in certain proportions +with “seconds,” potsherds, &c., is chiefly used +for making crucibles, in which metals are melted; and of these +Birmingham alone takes about 100 dozen weekly from this +district. The “offal clay,” or that which is +raised from the mine in the mixed or broken state, is not +“picked” (or selected), but ground and sold at 10s. +per ton: with this the great bulk of fire bricks are made. +The trade is one of ancient date; Rufford’s clay works have +been carried on during the whole of this century under the same +name, but its principal development has taken place within the +last forty years. Formerly the owners did not get half the +best or other clays, and forty years ago there was no better +speculation than taking to what was then considered a broken, or +worked-out mine. Nor did they attempt any but square or +roughly-made bricks, whereas the trade now can model and finish +neatly. Even now the capabilities of Stourbridge fire clay +are not generally understood. It has had a steady +unfluctuating demand, and notwithstanding the discovery of fire +clay in various parts of the island, Stourbridge never did a +larger business than at present. The Stourbridge clays and +bricks are sold freely both in the north and in Wales. +About 15,000 tons of best clay are raised annually in the +Stourbridge district. There are <a name="page11"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 11</span>four proprietors of clay mines in +Stourbridge, and two firms renting mines; five out of the six +being also manufacturers of fire bricks and other articles in +which the clay is used. The fire bricks are made of all +sizes; the largest kept in regular stock weighs 635lbs. The +glass-house bricks are sold “green” (dry) and but +seldom burnt. The common description for gas works, iron +works, and all other purposes, are burnt. About 14,000,000 +of bricks of all descriptions are made annually in the +Stourbridge district, consuming about 46,000 tons of clay, and +may be valued at £50,000. An important branch of the +trade, and one which has been gradually increasing for the last +seven years, is the manufacture of clay retorts for gas works, +and they are now generally preferred to metal. The most +striking purpose to which the fire clay has been turned is the +manufacture of large baths in one piece. At the suggestion +of Prince Albert, the Society of Arts in 1846 offered a premium +for the production of such an article, and in 1850 one was made +at the works of F. T. Rufford, Esq., which gained the Gold Isis +Medal. It had been thought impossible to manufacture such +an article in one piece because of the great contraction which +all pottery undergoes in burning, but after much patient +experiment, the ingenuity and skill of the practical men in Mr. +Rufford’s works produced a perfect and beautiful vessel +which may be said to be imperishable, will never discolour, is +cleansed without labour, and is incapable of retaining the poison +of any contagious disease in an active form. The clearness +of the colour (white or marbled) is effected by veneering china +on the inner surface of the fire clay, and the contractile effect +of burning is overcome by assimilating the two clays. Many +public baths are now supplied with this useful article, which +bids fair altogether to supersede the metallic baths. The +number of hands employed at Stourbridge in the manufacture of +bricks and other articles <a name="page12"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 12</span>from fire clay is about 900. +The town has been considerably improved since 1820: the bridge +over the Stour was widened in 1840; a new market hall has +recently been erected, and the inhabitants generally seem to have +somewhat of the spirit and enterprise expected in a flourishing +manufacturing place.</p> +<p>The manufactures of <span class="smcap">Kidderminster</span> +are of many years standing. In 1536 it was enacted that +“No person of what degree or quality soever they be, shall +make within the shire of Worcester any manner of woollen cloths, +except only within the city of Worcester, the borough and towns +of Kidderminster, Evesham, Droitwich, and Bromsgrove, under pain +of forfeiting, for every broad cloth elsewhere made, the sum of +ten pounds;” and in the time of Charles II an act was +passed “for regulating the manufacture of Kidderminster +stuffs.” Arras, frieze, cheneys and ratteens, poplin, +prunellas, rich brocades and quilted stuffs were all made here in +their turn, but the <span class="smcap">Carpet +Manufacture</span>, to which the town has entirely owed its +prosperity and fame in later years, was not introduced till the +middle of last century. At first the Scotch carpets only +were made, but afterwards Wilton and Brussels, and the +Kidderminster goods at once acquired celebrity for substantial +workmanship and brilliancy of colouring. At the beginning +of the present century there were probably about 400 looms at +work here, but there are now at least 3,000. The trade has +of course been subject to many fluctuations, and there have been +several seasons of severe distress amongst the weavers, which +have been for the most part coincident with stagnation in other +departments of manufacture, and are traceable to the same general +causes. During the last ten years the business has been +comparatively prosperous, there has been a great increase of +production, and the tapestry carpeting is largely exported to the +Continent, where its cheapness secures sale in the teeth of the +elegant, but costly, <a name="page13"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 13</span>“velvets” of +France. The many improvements which have been introduced +into the method of manufacture during the present century, have +principally had reference to the construction of the looms, and +economy in the amount of wool used; in design there is still +something to be accomplished. The principal varieties now +made are the ordinary Venetian carpeting, the Scotch or +Kidderminster, Brussels, Wilton, Genoa velvets, Axminster, +Saxony, and the patent tapestry carpetings, which last are among +the most recent and important introductions. Some of the +yarns employed in the fabrication of these were printed and +arranged in Halifax, under a patent from Messrs. Crossley, which +however expired in September last. Steam looms for tapestry +under patents from the same firm are already at work in the town, +and steam looms for the manufacture of Brussels carpeting are +about to be introduced, the effect of which, upon the general +character of the trade, must needs be exceedingly important; but +though the change can scarcely fail to occasion temporary +distress, it may fairly be hoped that, like all other +improvements, it will result in a large increase of the +manufacture, and add to the demand for labour and its +remuneration. The other manufactures carried on here, +principally relate to the preparation of leather; damask silks +are made by one manufacturer; and there are one or two spinning +mills. There are various tin forges in the neighbourhood, +and iron, tin, and screw works at Cookley employing many +hands.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Redditch</span> and its neighbourhood is +the principal seat of the needle and fish hook manufactures in +this kingdom, and has been so for upwards of a century. In +1800 perhaps 500 persons found employment in this business at +Redditch, while the present number, including children, is at +least 2,300, and the quantity of needles made has increased from +150 to 1,000 millions per annum. A very large population is +also engaged in the manufacture, at Astwood Bank, <a +name="page14"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 14</span>Feckenham, +Crab’s Cross, &c., but all the needles so made are +known as Redditch needles. The superiority of the article +manufactured here ensures it a sale all over the world, and it is +only in the common and inferior descriptions that the German +makers come into competition with those of this county; in fact, +the Germans themselves send to Redditch for their best +goods. Some very important improvements have been lately +introduced into the manufactories, and especially a contrivance +for carrying off the fine steel dust created in the operation of +grinding the needles, which was formerly very destructive of the +lives of the persons employed. The fish hook trade is +carried on to a considerable extent in this neighbourhood, and +large quantities of barbs, from the fly fisher’s delicate +tackle to the whaler’s harpoon, are annually exported to +all quarters of the globe. There is also one pin +manufactory in the town. The operative needle makers are +amongst the most intelligent of our artizans, and the future +prospects of the trade are in most respects encouraging.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Nail Making</span> employs a large number +of people both at Bromsgrove and in the neighbourhood of +Stourbridge. In the former town and district there were, +some sixty years ago, only five or six nail masters or factors, +and not more than 400 or 500 persons engaged in the business, but +it now furnishes occupation for ten times that number. +Twenty-five years since the trade was in a prosperous state, but +about this time, owing to the demand being good, an inferior +article was made, with which the customers were dissatisfied; and +the result of this state of things was the invention of a machine +which, by singular ingenuity and application of mechanical skill, +cuts every part of the nail at once out of a solid sheet of +iron. The rapidity, ease, and cheapness with which nails +were thus multiplied, of course caused a great change in the +condition and prospects of the nail-making districts. The +demand, however, still <a name="page15"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 15</span>continues for many descriptions of +the article which cannot be made, or so well made, by machine, +and supplies a tolerable amount of employment. The French +and Germans now successfully compete with us in the manufacture, +and the export trade to America is decreasing in consequence of +the prohibitory duty imposed by the government of that +country. The nailors, as a class, are almost as destitute +as the colliers of everything like intelligence, and this is +chiefly owing to the early age at which the children work at the +trade and are able to earn a livelihood for themselves. The +truck system—by which the employer pays the wages of his +workpeople, not in money, but in goods of his own providing, and +at prices of his own fixing—is an evil of monstrous growth, +which has greatly assisted in the degradation of the +workpeople. Recently, however, many benevolent efforts have +been made to provide them with education and to remedy the social +evils which exist amongst them. Thirty or forty years ago +there was a considerable linen trade carried on at +Bromsgrove. A good deal of flax was once grown in this +neighbourhood, and the manufacture by the hand loom was +considerable, but the introduction of machinery superseded this +mode of making, and enterprise and capital, necessary to the +establishment of factories with the latest improvements in +machinery, were wanting. Moreover Bromsgrove linens got +into disrepute, because those of inferior make were sent here for +bleaching and sold as of Bromsgrove manufacture. Bromsgrove +itself has been much improved within the last twenty years. +In the year 1846 an Act of Parliament was passed for paving, +cleansing, draining, and improving the town, and for the better +assessing and collecting the parochial rates.</p> +<p>The <span class="smcap">Salt Manufacture</span> of Droitwich +is one of the most ancient businesses in the kingdom, having been +carried on for upwards of 1,000 years, and the salt made here has +<a name="page16"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 16</span>always +been celebrated for its strength and purity. From the year +1805 until 1823 salt was subject to a duty of 15s. a bushel or +£30 a ton, and this impost was collected by the excise +every six weeks. A large capital was therefore required to +carry on the trade, and the price of fine salt was at least +£32 per ton. In that year, however, the duty was +reduced to 2s. a bushel, and in 1825 it was removed altogether; +and the highest price of fine salt, since its repeal, has been +£1. 2s. 6d. per ton. That such a reduction in price +must have led to a greatly increased consumption is self-evident, +but there was no very immediate or considerable increase in the +make. The proprietors of the original salt works in this +borough sought to protect themselves against competition, by +buying up most of the land that would be available for the +erection of new works, and for a time they kept up their +profits. Rival companies, however, did at length find means +of establishing themselves, and about twelve or fourteen years +ago a large increase of production took place, but the price of +the article has been so reduced by this competition that the +business has become very unremunerative. Repeated failures +have taken place amongst the more recent firms; and half a +million of capital, invested in the manufacture within the last +twenty-five years, has been entirely lost. Within the last +fifty years the primitive method of simply boring for the brine +has been improved upon by casing the pit with wood, and more +recently shafts have been sunk quite through the fresh water +springs, the bottom and sides of which are secured with iron +cylinders before boring down to the brine springs. By this +means the brine (which lies 173 feet from the surface) is +obtained at its full saturation of 42 parts of salt to 100, while +formerly it varied between 28 and 37 percent. The present +annual make at Droitwich of all kinds of salt is about 80,000 +tons, and at the works at Stoke, from 25,000 to 30,000 tons; the +average price per ton is scarcely more <a name="page17"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 17</span>than 10s. The Droitwich trade +labours under considerable disadvantage in the heavy tonnage +which the manufacturers have to pay for the carriage of the +article to the outports, and the iniquitous tax imposed upon the +article in the East Indies, where it is almost a necessary of +life, is a great hindrance to an extension of sale.</p> +<p>The manufactures with which <span +class="smcap">Worcester</span> itself is associated, during the +half-century just closed, have reached their meridian and have +seriously declined. Our porcelain factories were once +almost as famous as those of Sévres, and notices will be +found in the following pages of continual visits from Royal and +distinguished personages to witness the art of the potter, and to +give large orders for splendid services of China; but this is one +of those articles the demand for which has been greatly affected +by a change of fashion, and plate has now almost wholly +superseded China for dinner services amongst people of +wealth. Truth requires it to be said also that our +manufacturers have allowed themselves to be outstripped, in +spirit and improvement, by those of other places. At the +beginning of this century there were forty or fifty master +glovers in Worcester. The trade received a serious check by +the suspension of our intercourse with America in 1812, +nevertheless, the number had increased in 1826 to 120; but the +repeal of the import duty in that year, together with the more +general use of Berlin and silk gloves, has had such a damaging +effect upon the trade, that there are at present only twenty +master glovers in the city. One firm, however (known as the +Messrs. Dent’s), has a world-wide celebrity, and +manufactures on a very large scale. It was not so much in +price as in quality that the Worcester makers had to dread +foreign competition; the article sent out from their workshops +before the repeal of the duty was clumsily and badly made. +Worcester gloves are now equal in every respect to those imported +from France, and are often sold <a name="page18"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 18</span>as French to accommodate the +prejudice of the customer. It seems hard to say why +Worcester, a city so centrally situated, and, before the railway +era, so advantageously situated as regards the means of +communication with other parts of the kingdom, has not become a +manufacturing emporium and a place of much greater +importance. In my belief, one principal reason has been the +hindrance to speculative or <i>bonâ fide</i> building, +which exists in the bad tenure of land everywhere around the +city; there can be no doubt that this has driven enterprising men +to settle in places which in other respects were less suitable +for their undertakings. There has, moreover, been a lack of +unity and coöperation amongst the inhabitants in the +promotion of the general good which has been “the worm +i’ the bud” to many schemes which would in all +probability have greatly advanced the prosperity of the +city. Considerations of the common weal have been postponed +to the interests of partizanship. To make an application of +our civic motto—Worcester, if faithful to herself, may +flourish ever. Worcester is rich in charitable institutions +and revenues for alleviating the distresses of poverty. It +may be a question, indeed, whether these have not reached the +point at which eleemosynary aid ceases to be advantageous, begins +to foster dependence, and eats out the energy of a community; but +their abundance has at any rate not had the effect of drying up +the streams of private benevolence. At least £40,000 +have been raised in Worcester at different periods of distress +and necessity which have occurred since 1800, for the relief and +aid of its own poor.</p> +<p>There are many minor manufactures carried on in the county, +especially the preparation of leather at Bewdley, Stourport, and +Worcester, which need not be further particularised, and for the +remaining towns and boroughs—these—like an honoured +aristocracy—repose on their historical associations; the +fame which the touches of a master <a name="page19"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 19</span>hand, such as Fielding’s, may +have cast around their name; or the remembrances of former +activity and bustle. But I must not omit a passing notice +of <span class="smcap">Malvern</span>, that gem of nature’s +setting, on whose hills the purest air is breathed, the purest +water drank, and the richest and most unique inland landscape to +be seen in all England. Formerly what is called Malvern +Wells was the only part of the hills at which visitors stopped, +but for the last twenty years Great Malvern has been gradually +growing as a place of resort, and is now a “town” by +Act of Parliament. And whether for pleasure or for health +it must continue to be resorted to, and to increase in fame and +importance; for it abounds in nature’s simplest but most +efficacious restoratives, and its beauties will bear repeated +inspection, and will be appreciated just in proportion to the +cultivation of the mind that dwells on them.</p> +<p>Even from this hasty and cursory glance at the progress of the +county during the first half of the nineteenth century, it will +be apparent that Worcestershire has not been deficient in +contributing her quota to the general prosperity. The age +is remorseless in its demands; we cannot stand still. The +years that are past press with all their accelerated momentum on +the heels of those that follow and hurry them to a yet greater +speed. But our resources are not exhausted, nor need we +fear that they shall ever be. We do not trace the decay of +nations to any failure in the material of greatness, but in the +enervation of the mind that should develop it. It only +remains for us, then, to be found in the practice of intelligence +and industry—which make a people great—and of the +virtues which make a people happy.</p> +<h2><a name="page20"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +20</span>PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> great change in constituencies +and elections which divides with so marked a line the period over +which the records of this volume extend has long been accepted by +all parties as <i>un fait accompli</i>, and few, if any, would +revert to the system of former days, even if it were +possible. All now see that by its means we have been +enabled to take Reform as our watchword, instead of Revolution, +and to escape anarchy and despotism—the Scylla and +Charybdis into which the continental nations have been +continually falling. Elections in Worcestershire have of +course been much the same as elections elsewhere; often scenes of +riot and corruption, now and then the occasions of an +irresistible burst of popular feeling, but very far from being at +any time exercises of calm, deliberative, and patriotic +judgment. As to the changes which should be made in the +constituencies with a view to remedy existing evils, and to add +strength to our constitutional edifice, everybody now-a-days has +his own crotchet, and the writer’s is an educational +franchise. He believes that it would be perfectly feasible +to make a register of all parties who could read and write, in +the presence of the revising officer, some declaration of the +privileges and responsibilities of a vote, and who could satisfy +him that they understood <a name="page21"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 21</span>the functions of a +representative. No one that had not so far qualified +himself for the exercise of the franchise could in these days +reasonably complain of being denied it, and it would give a +greater impulse to elementary education than all the grants of +public money that ever have or ever will be made for the +establishment of schools.</p> +<h3>COUNTY OF WORCESTER.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Before</span> the passing of the Reform +Bill the number of electors on the county register was not much +more than 3,500. At the last revision there were in the +eastern division, 6,515; western, 4,135.</p> +<p>1802—<span class="smcap">July</span> 12—(General +Election, the old Parliament having run out its legal +term.)—The Hon. Edward Foley, of Stoke Edith, and Wm. +Lygon, Esq., reëlected without opposition.</p> +<p>1803—<span class="smcap">July</span> 19—(Vacancy +occasioned by the death of the Hon. E. Foley.)—The Hon. W. +Ward elected without opposition.</p> +<p>1806—<span class="smcap">March</span> 3—(Vacancy +occasioned by the elevation of Wm. Lygon, Esq., to the +Peerage.)—The nomination takes place in the Castle Yard, +Worcester. The Hon. W. B. Lygon, son of the peer recently +created, was proposed by the Rev. Mr. Pyndar, and seconded by +Thomas Hornyold, Esq. The Hon. W. H. Lyttelton, undeterred +by the Beauchamp influence, then thought to be overwhelming, came +forward “to assert the independence of the county,” +and was proposed by John Amphlett, Esq., of Clent, and seconded +by the Rev. Mr. Onslow, Vicar of Kidderminster. The show of +hands was in favour of Mr. Lygon, and a poll demanded by his +opponent. After five days’ polling Mr. Lyttelton +resigned, the numbers then being—Lygon, 1,502; Lyttelton, +1,145—majority for Lygon, 357. A sharp +correspondence, imputing artifices, fraud, &c., afterwards +took place between the candidates. The representation of +the county had not been contested previously since the general +election of 1741 (64 years before), when the numbers were +Lechmere, 2,309; Pitt, 2,120; Deerhurst, 1,930; Lyttelton, +1,412.</p> +<p>1806—<span class="smcap">November</span> +7—(General Election on the accession of the short-lived Fox +ministry.)—The Hon. Mr. Lygon, and the Hon. <a +name="page22"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 22</span>Mr. +Lyttelton, returned together without opposition; the Hon. Mr. +Ward having retired from the representation in consequence of ill +health.</p> +<p>1807—<span class="smcap">May</span>—(General +Election—Change of Ministry, and Appeal by the King to the +country on the Catholic Question.)—Hon. W. B. Lygon, and +Hon. W. H. Lyttelton, reëlected without opposition. A +storm came on while the election was proceeding, and the Sheriff +was obliged to retire into the Castle to finish the +proceedings. It is noticed that the accommodation in the +Castle Yard was of the worst possible description.</p> +<p>1812—<span class="smcap">October</span>—(General +Election.)—The Hon. W. B. Lygon, and Hon. W. H. Lyttelton, +returned again without opposition.</p> +<p>1816—<span class="smcap">November</span>—(On the +elevation of Lord Elmley, the Hon. W. B. Lygon, to the peerage by +the death of his father, Earl Beauchamp.)—Col. H. B. Lygon, +younger brother of the former member, elected without +opposition.</p> +<p>1818—<span class="smcap">June</span>—(General +Election.)—Col. Lygon, and the Hon. W. H. Lyttelton, +reëlected without opposition.</p> +<p>1820—<span class="smcap">March</span>—(General +Election on the demise of George III)—The Hon. W. H. +Lyttelton retired from the representation from family +considerations, and Sir Thomas Winnington, Bart., offered himself +as a candidate in his stead. At the nomination, Col. Lygon +was proposed by Sir A. Lechmere, and seconded by Sir William +Smith, Bart.; and Sir Thomas Winnington was proposed by T. S. +Vernon, Esq., and seconded by E. M. Wigley, Esq. There was +no opposition.</p> +<p>1826—<span class="smcap">June</span>—(General +Election. Parliament dissolved by George IV, its possible +sands having almost run out.)—Col. Lygon and Sir Thomas +Winnington, Bart., reëlected without the shadow of an +opposition.</p> +<p>1830—<span class="smcap">August</span>—(General +Election on the accession of William IV.)—Sir Thomas +Winnington retired from the representation, and the Hon. Thomas +Henry Foley, son of Lord Foley, was elected in his stead, with +Colonel Lygon, who thus for the fifth time was returned without +opposition.</p> +<p>1831—<span class="smcap">May</span>—(General +Election to take the sense of the country on the Reform +Bill.)—The Reformers from the first moment that this +election became imminent, looked about for a candidate to oppose +Col. Lygon. First, Mr. Sergeant Russell was mentioned, and +then John Richards, Esq., of Stourbridge. The last named +gentleman actually did one week issue an address to the +freeholders, but, frightened at hearing that the Dowager Lady +Beauchamp had subscribed £50,000 <a name="page23"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 23</span>to fight the country, he hastily +withdrew on the next. However, a few days before the +election, Captain Spencer, brother to Lord Althorp, allowed +himself to be named as a candidate, and a tremendous struggle +ensued. Col. Lygon, while canvassing in the Corn Market, +Worcester, was attacked by a town’s rabble, and compelled +to take refuge in a neighbouring tavern. On the morning of +the nomination, Col. Lygon assembled his friends at Madresfield; +Mr. Foley at the New Inn, Ombersley Road; and Captain Spencer, at +the Talbot, Tything. The nomination took place in the +Castle Yard, Osman Ricardo, Esq., High Sheriff, being returning +officer. John S. Pakington, Esq., proposed Col. Lygon, who +was seconded by John Phillips, Esq.; T. T. Vernon, Esq., +proposed, and T. C. Hornyold, Esq., seconded, the Hon. Mr. Foley; +and Sir C. S. Smith, Bart., and Robert Berkeley, Esq., were +Captain Spencer’s proposer and seconder. Before the +show of hands was taken, Dr. Beale Cooper demanded proof of +Captain Spencer’s qualification, whereupon the Captain said +he had expected such a demand, and handed to the under sheriff a +deed <i>bearing date April</i> 30, purporting to be a grant from +Earl Spencer to Captain Spencer, of a rent charge to the amount +of £600 upon manors and estates in the county of +Herts. The show of hands was declared to be in favour of +Foley and Spencer, whereupon Col. Lygon demanded a poll, which +immediately commenced. Col. Lygon headed the poll the first +day, but never afterwards; and on the morning of the seventh day +he resigned all further contest, the numbers then +being—Foley, 2,034; Spencer, 1,765; Lygon, 1,335. At +the close of each day speeches were made by the candidates and +their friends, from the booths at the back of the Talbot Inn, +Tything; and the coalition formed between Foley and Spencer, on +finding that Colonel Lygon’s friends were plumping for him, +formed a most fertile topic for talk. A riot took place in +Broad Street one evening, in consequence of one of Col. +Lygon’s friends having imprudently irritated the mob by +throwing a decanter amongst them from the committee-room. +The windows of the room were immediately broken, and other +disturbances took place. There can be no doubt that the +result of this election had great effect upon the country +generally.</p> +<p>A dinner was given in the next week to the Hon. Mr. Foley and +Captain Spencer, at the Bell Inn, with Sir Thomas Winnington, +Bart., in the chair. Sir C. S. Smith was in the vice-chair, +and Lord Lyttelton and about 100 other gentlemen were +present. Dinners were also given to the successful +candidates at Hagley, Kidderminster, Evesham, Stourbridge, +Dudley, and Birmingham. The Birmingham <a +name="page24"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 24</span>dinner was +held at Dee’s Hotel, with Dr. Edward Johnstone in the +chair.</p> +<p>Immediately after the election a meeting of Col. Lygon’s +friends was held at the Hoppole, Worcester, “to take into +consideration the best mode of testifying their approbation of +his manly, spirited, and patriotic conduct upon the late +election; and for his faithful services during the fifteen years +he represented this county in Parliament.” J. S. +Pakington, Esq., was called to the chair, and there was a very +respectable attendance. Mr. Pakington asserted that the +minority who had voted for the Colonel, comprised the majority of +the education and respectability of the county. The +“discreditable coalition” proved the theme of much +lamentation. Resolutions approving of Col. Lygon’s +Parliamentary career and general conduct were agreed to, and a +subscription entered into for the purchase of plate. This +was presented at a dinner at the Hoppole, in February, +1832. It was a superb vase, 57 inches in circumference, +supported on a massive column and plinth, decorated with embossed +Acanthus leaves, and weighing in the whole 600 oz. It was +designed by the inscription to be “a testimony of the +gratitude of his political friends for his long and faithful +attention to their interest in Parliament, and especially for his +support of our glorious and long cherished +constitution.” John S. Pakington, Esq., was the +president of the evening, and presented the testimonial.</p> +<p>1832—<span class="smcap">December</span>—(Election +rendered necessary by the passing of the Reform Bill.)—The +county now divided into two divisions.—<i>West +Worcestershire</i>.—The Hon. T. H. Foley (Whig), and Col. +Lygon (Conservative), returned without opposition. The +nomination took place in the space fronting the County Gaol, and +the candidates were not proposed or seconded, the cries of +“Foley and Lygon” by the crowd, without any other +person being named, being taken by the Sheriff as sufficient.</p> +<p><i>East Worcestershire</i>.—The nomination of candidates +took place at Droitwich, Mr. Pakington (Conservative), being +proposed by James Taylor, Esq., and John Phillips, Esq., of +Hanbury Hall; Thomas Henry Cookes, Esq., (Whig) by Sir Thomas +Winnington, Bart., and C. E. Hanford, Esq.; and Wm. Congreve +Russell, Esq., (Whig) by T. T. Vernon, Esq., and W. Acton, +Esq. The High Sheriff declared the show of hands to be in +favour of Mr. Pakington and Mr. Cookes, whereupon a poll was +demanded for Mr. Russell. After the two days’ poll +the numbers were declared to be—Russell, 2,576; Cookes, +2,516; Pakington, 1,916. The whole proceedings were +conducted in a peaceable and gentlemanly manner, and Mr. +Pakington, who addressed <a name="page25"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 25</span>the electors at the +“Declaration,” as well as the successful candidates, +was very well received. He complained of broken promises, +and the coalition of his opponents as fettering the +“independence” of the county, but declared himself +neither disheartened nor offended.</p> +<p>1833—<span class="smcap">May</span>—<i>West +Worcestershire</i>.—(Vacancy occasioned by the elevation of +the Hon. T. H. Foley to the House of Peers, on the death of his +father.)—The nomination took place in the field at the back +of the Talbot Inn, Tything. Sir Christopher Smith, Bart., +proposed Captain H. J. Winnington, who was seconded by Robert +Berkeley, Esq. John Williams, Esq., and T. C. Brock, Esq., +proposed and seconded John S. Pakington, Esq., who, to the great +detriment of his cause, was not present during any part of the +proceedings—having just previously sailed to America. +Major Bund spoke at the hustings on his behalf. A Mr. +Crowther also made many attempts to be heard, but was hissed +down, and he afterwards explained in a letter to the newspapers +that instead of being Mr. Pakington’s opponent, as +formerly, he intended to be his supporter, because Captain +Winnington and the Whigs had voted for the erection of the New +County Courts, while Mr. Pakington, on the contrary, “had +always opposed that unnecessary and shameful expenditure of the +freeholders’ money.” The show of hands was very +decidedly in favour of Captain Winnington, and the Court was +declared adjourned (from the Wednesday) to the following +Monday. At the end of the first day’s poll Captain +Winnington was 79 a-head, and the utmost excitement +prevailed. Lord Eastnor addressed the multitude on Mr. +Pakington’s behalf, and the Rev. Thomas Pearson spoke for +Captain Winnington. The second day only increased Captain +Winnington’s majority, but the result was not certainly +known till the declaration of the numbers by the High Sheriff, on +Thursday morning, when they were announced to be—for +Captain Winnington, 1,369; for Pakington, 1,278: majority for +Winnington, 91. Mr. Pakington had a majority in the +Worcester and Upton divisions, but was beaten in those of +Stourport and Tenbury. Out of 3,122 voters, 2,647 were +polled, and though there had never been so close a contest in the +county before, it was carried on with very good humour. +Captain Winnington’s return was celebrated by a dinner at +the Star and Garter Hotel, with Sir C. S. Smith in the chair.</p> +<p>1835—<span class="smcap">January</span>—<i>East +Worcestershire</i>.—(General Election on the breaking up of +the Grey and Spencer cabinet, and the accession of the Duke of +Wellington and Sir R. Peel to power.)—Mr. Russell retired +from the representation at this election, on the score of +ill-health, and his place was taken on the Reform interest by +Edward Holland, Esq., <a name="page26"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 26</span>of Dumbleton. Mr. Horace St. +Paul was brought forward late in the day by the +Conservatives. Sir Thomas Winnington, M.P., and C. E. +Hanford, Esq., proposed Mr. Cookes, the former member. +James Taylor, Esq., of Moseley Hall, and Mr. Whitmore Jones, +proposed Mr. St. Paul; and Mr. Bate, of Stourbridge, and Mr. +Acton, Mr. Edward Holland. The choice of the people at the +nomination was declared to have fallen on Messrs. Cookes and +Holland, and a poll was demanded for Mr. St. Paul. At the +end of the two days’ poll the numbers were—Holland, +2,254; Cookes, 2,192; St. Paul, 2,145. Majority of Cookes +over St. Paul, 47. 4,125 persons voted out of 5,226 on the +register. There was some rioting at Stourbridge, which +necessitated the sending for two troops of lancers from +Birmingham, and Mr. St. Paul, declaring that some of his voters +had been prevented from coming to the poll by violence, presented +a protest against the election. A petition was talked of on +this ground, but it came to nothing. A dinner was given to +the successful candidates, at the Golden Cross Hotel, Bromsgrove, +at which Colonel Davies presided. A similar dinner at +Stourbridge, with J. H. H. Foley, Esq., in the chair, gave rise +to a correspondence between Messrs. Robins, Hickman, Hodgetts, +and Trow, and Mr. Robert Scott and Lord Lyttelton. The +first named gentlemen chose to believe that some remarks made by +Mr. Scott on the partiality and incompetency of the county +magistracy generally, were intended for themselves, and they +appealed to Lord Lyttelton to institute an inquiry. The +Lord Lieutenant not only refused to accede to their request, but +rebuked them for the language they had used.</p> +<p><i>West Worcestershire</i>.—The candidates were as +before, Colonel Lygon and Mr. Pakington, who professed to +coalesce on the Conservative interest, and Captain Winnington, +Whig. Sir A. Lechmere and the Hon. W. Coventry proposed +Col. Lygon; Mr. Osman Ricardo and Mr. Berkeley, Captain +Winnington; and Lord Eastnor and Mr. T. C. Brock, Mr. +Pakington. The show of hands was declared to be in favour +of Captain Winnington and Mr. Pakington. At the close of +the poll the numbers were—Lygon, 1,945; Winnington, 1,938; +Pakington, 1,773: majority for Winnington, 165. 3,619 +persons voted out of 4,126 upon the register.</p> +<p>1837—<span class="smcap">July</span>—(General +Election on the death of William IV.)—<i>West +Worcestershire</i>.—General Lygon and Captain Winnington +reëlected without opposition.</p> +<p><i>East Worcestershire</i>.—Here there was a fierce +contest, ending in the return, for the first time, of two +Conservatives. Before the election took place the +Conservatives offered a compromise, and <a +name="page27"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 27</span>suggested +that one of each party should be allowed to walk over, but the +Liberals were so sanguine of winning that they would not listen +to the proposal. Mr. Cookes had retired from the +representation from ill-health, but his place was supplied by Mr. +J. H. H. Foley, who, with Mr. Holland, came forward in the +Liberal interest, while the Conservative candidates were Mr. H. +St. Paul and Mr. Barneby. On the hustings Colonel Davies +and Sir William Rouse Boughton, Bart., proposed Mr. Holland; T. +H. Cookes, Esq., (the late member) and James Foster, Esq., Mr. +Foley; James Taylor, Esq., and Thomas Hawkes, Esq., M.P., Mr. H. +St. Paul; and Lord Eastnor and Edward Dixon, Esq., Mr. +Barneby. The show of hands was in favour of Messrs. Barneby +and St. Paul; and after the two days’ poll they were +declared duly elected; the numbers being—St. Paul, 2,595; +Barneby, 2,528; Holland, 2,175; Foley, 2,168. In the +Stourbridge, Bromsgrove, and Evesham districts only, had the +Liberal candidates a slight majority. Mr. Horace St. +Paul’s expenses at this election are said to have been +£16,000.</p> +<p>1841—<span class="smcap">June</span>—(General +Election. The Parliament having declared their want of +confidence in the ministers, the Whigs appeal to the people on +the Corn Law, Sugar, and Irish Registration questions. Sir +Robert Peel’s “no confidence” motion had been +carried by a majority of one against ministers.)—<i>West +Worcestershire</i>.—General Lygon and F. Winn Knight, Esq., +nephew of the late John Knight, Esq., of Downton Castle, were +elected without opposition. Captain Winnington had retired +from the field in consequence of the division amongst his +supporters on the Corn Law question. He had constantly +voted against any alteration of the Corn Laws, and therefore did +not please the constituencies of the towns. With this state +of things, added to the loss of the Foley interest in the county, +he could have had no chance, and therefore refused to disturb the +division by a contest.</p> +<p><i>East Worcestershire</i>.—John Barneby, Esq., and +James Arthur Taylor, Esq., returned. Mr. Horace St. Paul +retired from the representation because of ill-health, and for +the same reason Mr. Holland declined to offer on the Liberal +interest. The Hon. Captain St. George Foley, brother of +Lord Foley, offered himself to the electors as an advocate of +Liberal measures, and of a moderate fixed duty upon corn. +At the nomination at Droitwich, Mr. Barneby was proposed by J. S. +Pakington, Esq., M.P., and W. Hemming, Esq.; Captain Foley, by +James Foster, Esq., and Robert Scott, Esq. M.P., in long +and able speeches; and Mr. Taylor, by C. Noel, Esq., and Whitmore +Jones, Esq. The show of hands was in favour of Barneby and +Taylor, <a name="page28"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +28</span>and Captain Foley’s friends demanded a poll. +At a meeting, however, which was held at Mr. Galton’s, +shortly after nomination, it was decided, much to Captain +Foley’s own mortification, not to proceed to a poll, and +that determination was communicated the same evening to the +opposite party. The Sheriff at first thought that he should +be obliged to take a poll, under the circumstances, +notwithstanding, and the Attorney General’s opinion was +taken upon the point, but this being in favour of the propriety +of dispensing with the poll, Messrs. Barneby and Taylor were +declared duly elected without further trouble.</p> +<p>1847—<span class="smcap">January</span>—<i>East +Worcestershire</i>.—(Election to supply the vacancy caused +by the decease of John Barneby, Esq.)—Captain Rushout was +the first candidate announced, but J. H. H. Foley, Esq., having +intimated his intention of contesting the division, a meeting of +the Conservative party was called at Droitwich, at which an +arrangement was entered into, by which Mr. Foley retired from the +field at present, and was to be permitted to come in unopposed at +the next election, when it was expected that a vacancy would be +caused by the retirement of Mr. James Arthur Taylor. This +created a great deal of dissatisfaction amongst the Conservative +electors, but the contracting parties were too influential to +admit of their decision being contravened. Captain Rushout +was, therefore, on this occasion elected without opposition.</p> +<p>1847—<span class="smcap">August</span>—(General +Election on the retirement of Sir Robert Peel from office, after +carrying his free trade measures.)—<i>East +Worcestershire</i>.—In consequence of the arrangement +noticed above, Mr. J. H. H. Foley was allowed to come in in the +place of Mr. J. A. Taylor, who retired from Parliament, and with +Captain Rushout was returned unopposed.</p> +<p><i>West Worcestershire</i>.—General Lygon and Mr. Knight +were returned without opposition.</p> +<h3>CITY OF WORCESTER.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> constituency of the city is no +larger now than it was in days of yore, when freemen were made in +any quantity at the pleasure of the corporation; often while the +election was proceeding. The number of voters now on the +register <a name="page29"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +29</span>is about 2,200; of these, 1,099 still qualify as +freemen, and nearly 700 have no other qualification.</p> +<p>1802—(General Election)—The electors having been +convened together in the Guildhall for the nomination in the +usual manner, the Mayor (Mr. Rowlands) proposed the +reëlection of Edward Wigley and Abraham Robarts, Esqs., the +previous members. This proposition was seconded, and the +business of the day went on most smoothly until within seven +minutes of the hour at which the writ was made returnable, when +the hall became suddenly and most violently agitated by the +arrival of Joseph Scott, Esq., of Great Barr, a relative of Lord +Dudley and Ward, who came forward and declared himself a +candidate, as he said, in compliance with the wishes of a number +of the inhabitants. A poll was demanded on his behalf, +which immediately commenced, and continued for four days; at the +end of which, the numbers were—Robarts, 2,163; Scott, +1,197; Wigley, 1,180. On the fifth morning Mr. Wigley +retired, and Robarts and Scott were declared duly elected. +There was no disturbance. Politics seem to have entered +very little into consideration, and the matter to have been +decided by person and purse. Mr. Wigley, in his retiring +address to the “Worthy Freemen of the City of +Worcester,” intimated that he had come forward thirteen +years before, at their own request, to rescue their city from +becoming a Government nomination borough, and he did not see why +he should now have been rejected. To those “who +promised him their support, but voted for his opponent, he had +nothing to say, because he could say nothing that would be +pleasing to himself.” A meeting of his friends and +supporters was afterwards held at the Crown Inn, Henry Wakeman, +Esq., presiding, at which resolutions were passed thanking Mr. +Wigley for his conduct in Parliament, and his great attention to +the interests of this city, where he and others of his family had +resided for more than thirty years, and “been an example, +rarely exceeded, of piety, benevolence, and charity.”</p> +<p>1806—<span class="smcap">October</span>—(General +Election.)—Candidates, Abrm. Robarts, Esq., the former +member; Colonel Bromley, of Abberley Lodge; and William Gordon, +Esq., who rested his claims to support on the fact of his being a +mercantile man, and, as such, better fitted to represent the city +of Worcester than Colonel Bromley, a country gentleman. He +was supported by gentlemen who were disgusted by the unblushing +bribery of previous elections. After three days’ +polling, Mr. Gordon retired, the numbers being—Robarts, +856; Bromley, 563; Gordon, 348: total number of freemen polled, +902. Mr. Gordon was afterwards <a name="page30"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 30</span><i>fêted</i> at the Crown +Hotel, on which occasion he attributed his defeat to his being so +late in the field. Mr. Gordon, however, afterwards +presented a petition against Colonel Bromley’s return, +which that gentleman declined to defend, and accepted the +Chiltern Hundreds, so that the seat again became vacant.</p> +<p>1807—<span class="smcap">February</span> 13—At the +election thus rendered necessary, Alderman Squires proposed +William Gordon, Esq., and Alderman Carden, John Attersoll, Esq., +both gentlemen being London merchants. Mr. Gordon declared +himself to be a staunch Church and King man, and utterly opposed +to the continuance of the Slave Trade. Mr. Attersoll talked +a little more about civil and religious freedom. There +seems to have been no show of hands taken, and both parties +required a poll, which was commenced amidst a great deal of +fighting and outrage. After three days’ polling Mr. +Attersoll retired, the numbers being—Gordon, 766; +Attersoll, 414: majority for Gordon, 352. A petition was +next presented against Mr. Gordon’s return, on the score of +bribery, by several inhabitants of the city. A meeting was +held at the Crown, to take steps to counteract this petition, Mr. +J. Palmer in the chair. Mr. Hebb moved the resolutions, in +a speech which the reporter of the time says “displayed +great constitutional knowledge and erudition.” The +petition was dismissed in consequence of the necessary +recognizances not being entered into.</p> +<p>1807—<span class="smcap">May</span> 6—(General +Election.)—Mr. Robarts and Mr. Gordon returned without +opposition. Mr. Attersoll having canvassed the electors, +and found that he had no chance, retired on the eve of the +contest.</p> +<p>This election was chiefly remarkable for the quantity of pens +and ink wasted upon it. Mr. Gordon, after being returned as +an “independent” member, followed the example of most +of his contemporary M.P.’s, in turning his position to +account, and obtained from the Government a license to trade with +Spain. He was warned of the consequences of becoming a tool +of Government by Mr. Hebb, in a series of letters bearing the +signature of Cato Uticensis. Then followed various blasts +and counter-blasts, especially a sheet of rhyme called the +<i>Doctoriad</i>, to which there was a smart replication under +the title of the <i>Gordonian</i>; and these were for some time +the <i>poemes celébres</i> of Worcester elections.</p> +<p>1812—<span class="smcap">October</span> 5—(General +Election.)—Mr. Robarts and Mr. Gordon again candidates, +though, as the latter was out of the country, he was represented +by his father-in-law, Sir George Cornewall. A day or two +before the election, a number of freemen <a +name="page31"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 31</span>presented a +requisition to Lord Deerhurst, pressing him to offer himself, +which he did. At the nomination, Mr. Robarts and Lord +Deerhurst obtained the show of hands, and a poll was demanded on +behalf of Mr. Gordon. After eight days’ +contest—severer than any which had taken place in the city +since the celebrated one in 1761, between Sir William Watkin +Lewes and Mr. Rouse—the numbers were found to +be—Robarts, 1,248; Gordon, 939; Deerhurst, 855. Lord +Deerhurst then retired, having won golden opinions from all sorts +of men, by the eloquence of his speeches, the courtesy of his +manner, and the good humour he had maintained. He polled a +majority of the resident freemen, but was beaten by the +out-voters. The number of freemen polled at this election +was 1,765. No particular political principle seems to have +been at all involved in the contest. A gold cup was +afterwards purchased by Lord Deerhurst’s supporters, and +presented to him at a dinner at the Crown; Thomas Farley, Esq., +in the chair.</p> +<p>1816—<span class="smcap">December</span>—(Vacancy +on the death of A. Robarts, Esq.)—Lord Deerhurst again +offered himself as a candidate, and Colonel Davies made his first +appearance in Worcester. He continued an active canvass for +some time, but at last finding that Lord Deerhurst had +indubitably secured a majority of votes, he withdrew. Lord +Deerhurst was proposed at the hustings by the Mayor (R. +Chamberlain, Esq.), and seconded by E. M. Wigley, Esq. The +chairing took place immediately afterwards, and the chair itself +was very prematurely demolished by the mob in High Street. +On the following day a grand dinner was given to the new member +at the Hoppole.</p> +<p>1818—<span class="smcap">June</span> 15—(General +Election.)—This was one of the severest contested elections +which had been known in the city of Worcester, and it terminated +in the return of Colonel Davies to Parliament for the first +time. The city had been kept in great excitement for some +months before the election, by the continued canvassing of all +the candidates. All parties were enthusiastic in their +support of Lord Deerhurst, whose return was safe from the first, +and the contest lay between Sir William Duff Gordon and Colonel +Davies. Sir William Gordon had forfeited some of his +popularity by the course he had taken in voting with Government, +for the orders in council altering the import duties, and which +were supposed to have had a great effect upon the glove +trade. Colonel Davies, shortly before the election, gave up +his commission in the Guards, that he might make the better +Member of Parliament, by having his time entirely +unfettered. Though not much was <a name="page32"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 32</span>said about political principles in +the addresses of the different candidates, it was understood that +Colonel Davies was more Whiggish in his views than either of the +other men. Tumults took place both at Kidderminster and in +London amongst the out-voters, who were canvassed there by the +different parties, and at the polling places the riot and +disturbance was worse than ever before recollected. At the +nomination, Lord Deerhurst was proposed by the Mayor (S. Wall, +Esq.), and seconded by Mr. John Dent. Sir William Gordon +was proposed by Major Bund and Mr. Thomas Dent; and Colonel +Davies by Alderman Nash and Mr. Richards. After seven +days’ polling, Sir William Gordon withdrew from the +contest; the numbers then being—Deerhurst, 1,422; Davies, +1,024; Gordon, 874. Colonel Davies had a majority both in +the city and out-votes; but he was principally the gainer among +the London freemen. The total number polled was +1,963. The two members were chaired as usual the day after +the election had concluded, and the chairs demolished by the +populace, according to their ancient prerogative and right.</p> +<p>Petitions were presented against both Colonel Davies’s +and Lord Deerhurst’s return. The latter, however, was +withdrawn. On the 16th March, 1819, the committee to +investigate Colonel Davies’s return was ballotted for, and +Mr. Alexander Baring, M.P. for Taunton, chosen chairman. +The petition alleged bribery and treating, but the necessary +witnesses were kept out of the way. Colonel Davies was +declared duly elected by the casting vote of the chairman, and +the news was received in Worcester with great rejoicings by his +supporters.</p> +<p>1820—<span class="smcap">March</span>—(General +Election.)—Lord Deerhurst and Colonel Davies returned +without opposition: the former being proposed by Thomas Carden, +Esq., and seconded by Samuel Crane, Esq.; and the latter, by +Richard Nash, Esq., seconded by E. M. Wigley, Esq. The +chairing, on this occasion, was a very splendid affair.</p> +<p>1826—<span class="smcap">June</span>—(General +Election.)—So long before this election as March, 1824, +George Richard Robinson, Esq., a London merchant, announced his +intention of becoming a candidate on “independent” +principles, and by a free expenditure of money made himself +popular. All parties had been engaged in a very active +canvass, but in May Lord Deerhurst suddenly announced his +determination not again to offer himself as a candidate. +This caused immense chagrin, not only to his pledged supporters, +who said his victory was certain, but also to all those who had +revelled in the prospect of the high price which votes would +fetch in a prolonged and doubtful contest—such as the +forthcoming one promised to be. Lord Deerhurst made <a +name="page33"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 33</span>his +appointment as a Vice Lieutenant, and his other numerous public +duties, the plea for retiring. Richard Griffiths, Esq., of +Thorngrove, was induced to come forward in his stead at the +eleventh hour. On the hustings, Colonel Davies was proposed +by Mr. Alderman Carden and Mr. John Palmer; Mr. G. R. Robinson, +by Mr. Alderman Ballard and Major Bund; and Mr. Griffiths, by Mr. +John Dent and Mr. Henry Clifton. Colonel Davies avowed +himself in favour of reform, economy, and free trade; Mr. +Robinson intended generally to support ministers, but declared +himself independent; and Mr. Griffiths was a thorough Church and +King man. After six days’ poll the numbers +were—Robinson, 1,542; Davies, 1,268; and Griffiths, +1,036. Mr. Griffiths then withdrew from the contest, having +spent, during the week he was in the city, some £8,000, and +thus answered the chief end of the parties who dragged him +forward. There indeed was scarcely ever such a dear +election, to all the candidates, in the city of +Worcester—the most unprecedented exertions in fetching +voters from a distance, &c., being made. The entire sum +spent is said to have been £25,000. The total number +of freemen polled was 1,963—viz., 1,184, city; 246, from +London; and 433, country. This was the largest number on +record as having polled at any election. Davies had 322 +plumpers; Robinson, 132; and Griffiths, 50. The chairing +took place as usual, and the elegant cars were broken to pieces +at the bottom of Broad Street, at the imminent risk of the new +members’ lives. A dinner was given in the succeeding +week to Mr. Robinson, at the Hoppole, Mr. Alderman Ballard +presiding. Colonel Davies’s friends met to form a +committee to secure his return in future at less expense; and Mr. +Griffiths announced his firm intention of offering himself again, +whenever a vacancy should occur.</p> +<p>1830—<span class="smcap">July</span> 30—(General +Election.)—Colonel Davies and Mr. Robinson returned without +opposition; all the efforts of the third-man-no-matter-who party +having failed to produce a candidate.</p> +<p>1831—<span class="smcap">May</span>—(General +Election.)—The Tory party three days before the election +brought forward a candidate in the person of the Hon. Colonel +Henry Fitzroy, brother to Lord Southampton, but the Reform +enthusiasm was so strong that his voice was drowned in the +disapprobation of the people the moment he opened his lips, and +all the significant hints that he had plenty of money to spend +were thrown away. The Colonel soon found that he was in a +false position, and did not appear on the hustings at the day of +nomination. Colonel Davies was proposed by George Farley, +Esq., and seconded by Mr. John <a name="page34"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 34</span>Palmer; while Archibald Cameron, +Esq., proposed, and Thomas Scott, Esq., seconded, Mr. +Robinson. They were declared duly elected, and the chairing +took place forthwith, but the chair was demolished sooner than +usual.</p> +<p>1832—<span class="smcap">December</span>—(General +Election.)—Colonel Davies and Mr. Robinson again +returned. A few weeks before the election a third candidate +appeared on the scene, in the person of R. A. Dundas, Esq., +cousin of Viscount Melville, intending to contest the city on +Conservative principles, but after a canvass he gave the matter +up as hopeless. Mr. Robinson having in an address to the +electors, said that Mr. Dundas had been “deluded with hopes +of success, which proved utterly fallacious”—his +supporters sent for him back again, and declared that he should +stand a poll unless Mr. Robinson withdrew these +“offensive” expressions. A long conference took +place, and some modification of the terms, or explanation of +their intention, was conceded, and Mr. Dundas once more made his +bow. Colonel Davies was proposed by Mr. Hebb and Mr. George +Allen; and Mr. Robinson by Mr. Spooner and Mr. Munn. The +members went through the city in an open carriage drawn by six +grey horses, instead of in a chair, and the mob having shewn some +disposition to destroy the carriage, they were disappointed by +the postillions turning suddenly along the back streets into the +Hoppole yard. Some of the crowd climbed the gates, and +began to tear the decorations, but they were beaten off. A +dinner was afterwards given to the two members unitedly, at the +Bell Inn, Mr. Hebb in the chair.</p> +<p>1835—(General Election.)—On this occasion a +candidate was brought forward by the Conservatives in the person +of Joseph Bailey, Esq., a very opulent ironmaster from Glanusk, +in Monmouthshire. Mr. Robinson appeared to be an universal +favourite, as by the comparative moderation of his views he had +conciliated many of the Tory party, but they concentrated all +their animosity against Colonel Davies, who had not only been a +very determined but very active promoter of Reform measures in +the House of Commons. The Colonel had lost favour with some +of the glovers by his support of free trade principles. The +most strenuous exertions were made by the Colonel and Mr. Bailey, +between whom it was at once seen that the struggle would lie, +while Mr. Robinson rested upon his oars in security. At the +nomination, Mr. Hebb and Mr. Allies proposed Colonel Davies; Dr. +Hastings and Mr. Thomas Scott, proposed Mr. Robinson; and Mr. +John Williams, of Pitmaston, and Mr. Dent, proposed Mr. +Bailey. The show of hands was entirely in favour of the two +old members, and <a name="page35"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +35</span>a poll was demanded by Mr. Gutch in favour of Mr. +Bailey. At the end of the first day’s poll the +numbers were—Robinson, 1,309; Davies, 882; Bailey, 835; but +the second day altered the state of things, and the final return, +as made by the Sheriff, was—Robinson, 1,611; Bailey, 1,154; +Davies, 1,137: majority for Bailey, 17. There was a sharp +affray between the street partizans of the various candidates on +Tuesday evening, and several heads were broken. Immediately +after the election a dinner was given to Colonel Davies and Mr. +Robinson, at the Bell Inn, W. Sanders, Esq., in the chair; at +which it was announced to be the intention of Colonel +Davies’s friends to bring the result of the election before +a committee of the House of Commons. Captain Winnington, +Mr. Cookes, and Mr. Holland, the three recently elected Whig +members for the county, were present. A dinner was given to +Joseph Bailey, Esq., M.P., at the Hoppole, in February. The +party numbered nearly 200, and Mr. Richard Spooner was in the +chair. The various speakers boasted of the +“reaction” which had taken place in favour of +Conservative principles. Mr. Bailey paid his first visit to +Worcester after his election in October; dinners were provided +for his supporters, and <i>eighty public houses</i> were +“opened” in the evening. The principal party +was given at the Unicorn Inn, Broad Street, where Mr. Richard +Spooner presided. Mr. Henry Clifton and Mr. Pierpoint were +vice-chairmen.</p> +<p>As soon as the session opened, a petition was presented +against Mr. Bailey’s return, and a scrutiny of votes took +place before a committee of the House of Commons, which was +ballotted for March 31st, and consisted of seven Tories and four +Whigs; Mr. J. E. Denison (Nottinghamshire) being chairman. +After a sitting of eleven days, fifty-five votes were struck off +by the petitioners, and forty by Mr. Bailey, still leaving that +gentleman in a majority of one; and the petitioners then gave up +the struggle, in consequence of several adverse decisions on the +part of the committee. The following is a summary of the +votes struck off on each side:</p> +<table> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="GutSmall">BY THE PETITIONERS.</span></p> +</td> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="GutSmall">BY MR. BAILEY.</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Pauper votes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">33</p> +</td> +<td><p>Pauper votes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">8</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Personation</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">2</p> +</td> +<td><p>Change of qualification</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">17</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Employed and paid</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">11</p> +</td> +<td><p>Employed and paid.</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">9</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Change of qualification</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">8</p> +</td> +<td><p>Not registered</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">3</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Wager</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1</p> +</td> +<td><p>Dead before election</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Wagers</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">2</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">55</p> +</td> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">40</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Objections not admitted.</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">16</p> +</td> +<td><p>Objections not admitted.</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">4</p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<p>The petitioners alleged three cases of bribery on Mr. +Bailey’s part, <a name="page36"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 36</span>but failed in the proof; and the +votes of a number of Mr. Bailey’s professional agents, +objected to by the petitioners, were retained, in consequence of +the memorable evidence of one of their number—that their +services were all gratuitously rendered. The conduct of the +petition was intrusted to Mr. John Hill, and by him managed most +admirably. The expenses were all covered by the +subscriptions, which had been previously raised, and that almost +entirely among the citizens themselves. Mr. Bailey’s +expenses are said to have been £16,000. The expenses +of the election itself were but trifling. Of course the +greatest excitement prevailed in the city during the progress of +the petition, and Mr. Bailey’s party had great rejoicings +on the issue.</p> +<p>In September, 1836, a dinner was given by the Worcester +Conservative operatives to Mr. Bailey, at the Theatre. 427 +persons sat down to table, and there were many spectators. +The chief speakers were Mr. Bailey, Mr. Spooner, Mr. Pakington, +and Mr. John Dent. There were great congratulations on the +“reaction” which had taken place in the city, as +elsewhere, in favour of Toryism.</p> +<p>Immediately afterwards (October 24) the operative Reformers +got up a great dinner in the Town Hall, to refute the cry about +“reaction.” Eight hundred persons sat down to +dinner in the outer hall, 500 in the assembly room, and others at +different inns. Mr. Arrowsmith was in the chair; supported +on his right by the Mayor, and on the left by Colonel +Davies. The whole party met in the outer hall after dinner +(this being brilliantly lighted up for the occasion), and a +number of appropriate toasts were given.</p> +<p>1837—(General Election.)—The candidates at this +election were Mr. Bailey and Mr. Robinson (the former members), +and Colonel Davies; but on the day of nomination Mr. Robinson +retired in the most unexpected manner. This was owing to +many of the Liberal electors having refused to give him their +promises on his canvass, because they thought he had not behaved +well to Colonel Davies at the previous election, and had, +moreover, offended them by some votes in the House, which did not +savour sufficiently of party. Mr. Bailey and Colonel Davies +were declared duly elected, under protest from Mr. J. D. +Stevenson, who had proposed (but a little too late) Mr. James +Morison, of London.</p> +<p>Mr. John Hood and Mr. Joseph Lingham proposed Mr. Robinson on +this occasion; Mr. John Williams and Mr. John Dent, Mr. Bailey; +the Mayor and Mr. George Allies, Colonel Davies.</p> +<p>Barristers’ opinions were afterwards obtained, declaring +that the <a name="page37"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +37</span>return of the Sheriff was, under the circumstances, +incorrect. In anticipation of another election, therefore, +a Mr. Turton, son of Sir Thomas Turton, a Sussex baronet, was +introduced to the electors as a candidate on the Liberal +interest. He addressed a public meeting in the Guildhall in +October, at which it was resolved—first, to petition; and, +secondly, to support Mr. Turton if a vacancy then occurred. +Colonel Davies’s friends refused to promise a coalition +with Mr. Turton. At the eleventh hour the petition was +abandoned, and Mr. Bailey brought an action against the +petitioners to recover £174, the sum which he had expended +in preparing to defend his seat; but on an appearance being put +in, the claim was abandoned.</p> +<p>1841—<span class="smcap">July</span>—(General +Election.)—Colonel Davies retiring from the representation, +because of ill-health, was succeeded by Sir Thomas Wilde, who, +during his candidateship for the city, was made Attorney General, +in the room of Sir John Campbell, elevated to the Irish +Chancellorship. Mr. Bailey again offered himself on the +Conservative interest, and Mr. Robert Hardy, of the firm of Hardy +and Padmore, ironfounders, being determined that the Tories +should not have the seat uncontested, presented himself as the +candidate of the Radical party, of which he had long been a +leading member. Mr. Hardy’s personal character and +liberality had caused him to be greatly respected in the city; +but his ultra opinions, and especially the fact of his being a +Dissenter, left him little chance of success. The usual +meetings took place before the election, and Sir Thomas Wilde +availed himself of the opportunity to make some most able +speeches in exposition and defence of the policy of the +ministry. The nomination in the Guildhall presented more +than the usual scene of confusion, and a fight with bludgeons +took place in the midst of it, which had well-nigh proved fatal +to one young man, who was accidentally struck on the head. +Mr. Bailey was proposed by Mr. John Dent and Mr. Pierpoint; Sir +Thomas Wilde, by Mr. George Farley and Alderman Corles; and Mr. +Hardy, by Mr. Edward Lloyd and Mr. Ledbrook. Sir Thomas +Wilde and Mr. Hardy had a great majority on the show of hands, +and a poll was demanded by Mr. Bailey. The numbers, as +declared by the Sheriff, were—Wilde, 1,187; Bailey, 1,173; +Hardy, 875. All parties were surprised to find that Mr. +Hardy had obtained so many votes.</p> +<p>The supporters of Mr. Hardy afterwards presented him with a +large silver salver “for his generous and patriotic conduct +in coming forward to vindicate, by his example, purity of +election, and to afford his fellow citizens an opportunity of +redeeming their opinions from misrepresentation by a +Tory.”</p> +<p><a name="page38"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +38</span>1846—<span +class="smcap">July</span>—(Election caused by Sir Thomas +Wilde taking office under the new Whig ministry.)—Sir +Thomas Wilde having been appointed Attorney General, he came to +Worcester to be reëlected by his constituency, and on the +Monday (July 6) he addressed his supporters in the large room of +the Bell Hotel. They unanimously agreed to renew their +adhesion, and no other candidate was thought of. The +election was fixed for Wednesday, but on Tuesday evening Sir +Thomas was apprised by Lord John Russell of the sudden decease of +Sir Nicholas Tindal, and of the intention to elevate Sir Thomas +to the chief justiceship of the Common Pleas. Of course, +under these circumstances, Sir Thomas could no longer be member +for Worcester, but Government had taken care to provide a +candidate in the bearer of the message, Sir Denis Le Marchant, +Bart., now chief clerk of the House of Commons. The Liberal +party were hastily summoned together on Wednesday morning, and on +the recommendation of their late representative, they transferred +their support from Sir Thomas to Sir Denis. Walking from +the place of meeting to the hustings, Sir Denis was proposed by +the Mayor, and seconded by Francis Edward Williams, Esq., as the +member for the city of Worcester. Sir Thomas Wilde spoke on +his behalf, and no other candidate having been proposed, Sir +Denis was declared duly elected. He afterwards spoke at +some length, declaring himself a thorough free trader, and +generally a supporter of the Liberal government. Edward +Evans, Esq., and George Allies, Esq., then moved a vote of thanks +to their late representative, Sir Thomas Wilde, and it was +carried with loud acclamations. Sir Thomas replied with +great <i>empressement</i> and feeling, and after a vote of thanks +to the Sheriff, Mr. Elgie, the singular election of 1846 +ended. The gentleman thus suddenly made the representative +of Worcester proved, during the short time he held that office, +one of the most practically useful members which the city ever +had. Four days elapsed between the election and the usual +procession, and in that interval Sir Denis returned to town to +negociate, as is generally believed, the support of the +<i>Times</i> to the Whig ministry. The subsequent tone of +the “leading journal” may be supposed to give some +corroboration to this rumour.</p> +<p>1847—<span class="smcap">July</span>—(General +Election.)—Sir Denis Le Marchant and Mr. Bailey, having +each withdrawn their pretensions to represent the city (the +latter, in order that he might be elected for his native county +of Breconshire), both political parties had to look out for fresh +candidates. The Liberals fixed upon Osman Ricardo, Esq., of +Bromsberrow Place, a country gentleman who had taken little part +in <a name="page39"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 39</span>public +matters, but was known as a man of principle, and who laid +himself out for the substantial good of the neighbourhood in +which he lived. The Conservatives were not quite so easily +suited, or so unanimous in their choice. Mr. Sergeant +Glover was first named by one section of the party, but he at +length gave way to Mr. F. Rufford, who, as chairman of the +Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway Company, possessed +some amount of popularity in the city. Mr. Rufford, in his +addresses to the electors, indignantly denied that he was a +monopolist, and certainly led people to believe that he was what +was called in common parlance, “a free trader,” and +on the hustings said, “I am here to advocate free trade to +its fullest extent,” but in practice he turned out to be a +Protectionist. Mr. Robert Hardy again came forward on the +Radical interest, avowed his desire to see a separation of Church +and State, and disapproved of Government education.</p> +<p>Mr. Alderman Lilly and Mr. Alderman John Hall proposed Mr. +Hardy; Mr. William Stallard, jun., and Mr. H. D. Carden, Mr. +Rufford; and Dr. Hastings and Mr. Alderman Edward Evans, Mr. +Ricardo. The show of hands being in favour of Messrs. +Ricardo and Hardy, a poll was demanded for Mr. Rufford, and at +its close the numbers were—Ricardo, 1,163; Rufford, 1,142; +Hardy, 930. The “open house” iniquity rioted in +a rankness which had never been equalled at previous +elections. Probably, too, half the electors were paid for +their votes under what is called “the messenger +dodge.” Mr. Rufford, in 1851, became a bankrupt, and +his examinations showed that he certainly was not solvent when he +offered himself as a candidate at this election, yet he admitted +that he expended considerably more than £4,000.</p> +<h3>EVESHAM.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Evesham</span> has enjoyed the privilege +of sending two representatives to Parliament from a very early +date. In 1295 two burgesses were chosen to represent the +town in a parliament of Edward I, but there is no record of any +return from that date till the incorporation of the borough by +James I. Some of the elections which have taken place here +during the present century have been <a name="page40"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 40</span>remarkable for profuseness of +expenditure and tricks of party warfare. The number of +voters now on the register is 345.</p> +<p>1802—<span class="smcap">July</span>—(General +Election.)—Charles Thelluson, Esq., the former member, +Patrick Crawford Bruce, Esq., a London merchant, and Humphrey +Howorth, Esq., for many years a physician in India, were the +candidates. After five days’ poll the latter retired +from the contest, the number of votes then being—Thelluson, +261; Bruce, 249; Howorth, 183. A petition was afterwards +presented against the return, on the score of alleged bribery, +but the committee report that the sitting members were duly +returned, though the petition was not frivolous.</p> +<p>1806—<span class="smcap">November</span>—(General +Election.)—Mr. Howorth and W. Manning, Esq., a West India +merchant, returned without opposition, neither of the former +members standing again.</p> +<p>1807—<span class="smcap">May</span>—(General +Election.)—Sir Masseh Manasseh Lopez, Bart., entered the +field at this election against the former members, and after six +days’ poll, the numbers of votes recorded stood +thus—Manning, 494; Lopez, 334; Howorth, 320. This +result was obtained by the returning officer admitting 122 +freeholders to the poll, contrary to former decisions, which had +determined that freemen and paymasters alone had the right to +vote. “A most gratifying interchange of compliments +passed,” says the reporter of the period, “during the +closing of the poll books, between the candidates, the mayor (W. +Soley, Esq.), the assessor, and the professional gentlemen +employed; and though perhaps there never was a severer contest, +yet never was the conduct observed more honourable to all +parties.” It seems to have been altogether, and +undisguisedly, a matter of money. In a few days after the +election an address was presented to Mr. Howorth, by E. Rudge, +Esq., and 189 burgesses, complimenting him upon his conduct in +the House of Commons, and begging him “to bring their joint +cause before a committee of the House,” assured that +“their insulted rights will be henceforward fixed on such a +basis as will baffle the attempts of those who will dare to +violate them.” A petition was accordingly presented, +and in 1808, February 22nd, the report of the committee was +brought up, and Sir M. M. Lopez, Bart., was declared to have been +unduly elected, and Mr. Howorth ought to have been returned; +opposition to petition not frivolous. Mr. Howorth, in his +published address after this result, declares that he was ousted +at the election by the votes of “a class of persons having +no common <a name="page41"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +41</span>interest or common feeling with the freemen and +inhabitants of the borough.” He had “vindicated +their rights, and triumphed over this foreign +influence.” Mr. Howorth’s constituents +afterwards presented him with a piece of plate.</p> +<p>1812—<span class="smcap">October</span>—(General +Election.)—W. Manning and H. Howorth, Esqs., reëlected +without opposition.</p> +<p>1818—<span class="smcap">June</span>—(General +Election.)—A very sharp contest distinguished by all sorts +of manœuvres, violence, and questionable practices. +The poll was kept open for twelve days, and the numbers at its +close were—for Mr. Howorth, 410; Mr. Rouse Boughton, 359; +and Sir Charles Cockerell, 341. Mr. Rouse Boughton was son +of Sir Charles William Rouse Boughton, Bart., and Sir Charles +Cockerell, was a brother to Lord Northwick. Two petitions +were presented as soon as Parliament met, against Mr. Rouse +Boughton’s return; one from Sir Charles, alleging bribery, +and another from voters of Evesham, against the admission of the +votes of certain persons. It seemed that it had actually +been the custom to admit any man to vote who had paid poor-rates +for six months prior to an election, so that Evesham almost +enjoyed universal suffrage. It was, however, against these +votes that the petition was presented. The committee +decided that Mr. Boughton was not duly elected, and struck off +all the scot and lot voters from the roll, declaring that the +election of members for Evesham was vested in the mayor, +aldermen, capital and other burgesses, members of the +corporation. The name of Sir Charles Cockerell was ordered +to be inserted in the return in lieu of that of Mr. Rouse +Boughton. Lord Palmerston was taken into custody for not +being present when this committee was ballotted for, but +discharged, of course, on payment of the fees, amounting to +£30. A handsome piece of plate was afterwards +presented by the supporters of Mr. Boughton, to Mr. Edward Lawes, +of Sergeant’s Inn, for his exertions on that +gentleman’s behalf.</p> +<p>1820—<span class="smcap">March</span>—(General +Election.)—Sir Charles Cockerell, Bart., and Mr. William E. +Rouse Boughton elected without opposition; Mr. Howorth having +retired from the representation because of continued +ill-health.</p> +<p>1826—<span class="smcap">June</span>—(General +Election.)—There were three candidates in the field when +this election was first talked of: Sir Charles Cockerell (one of +the former members), Sir Roger Gresley, Bart., and Mr. Protheroe; +but a coalition was formed between Sir Charles and Mr. Protheroe, +and Sir Roger Gresley retired from the contest. Mr. William +E. Rouse Boughton did not again offer himself. Many <a +name="page42"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 42</span>of the +electors were very angry at being “sold,” as they +called it, and looked out for a third candidate, who would spend +a proper quantity of money, and they found one in the person of +Patrick Grant, Esq., of Spring Gardens, London, who drove up to +the hustings just in time to be put in nomination. Having +stood a three days’ poll, however, he retired; the numbers +then being—Cockerell, 235; Protheroe, 137; Grant, 87.</p> +<p>1830—<span class="smcap">August</span>—(General +Election.)—Sir C. Cockerell and Lord Kennedy (heir apparent +of the Earl of Cassilis) returned. Alexander Raphael, Esq., +of London, was a third candidate, but retired after two +days’ poll; the numbers then being—Cockerell, 231; +Kennedy, 148; Raphael, 110. The return was immediately +petitioned against, on the score of bribery and treating, and it +was proved that sixteen freemen had gone down from London and +received £12 each (for their loss of time it was said), +independently of their expenses. The election was declared +void (Mr. Raphael being implicated in this bribery), and both Sir +Charles Cockerell and Lord Kennedy were thus incapacitated from +sitting in that Parliament. The issue of another writ was +suspended, on the motion of the Marquis of Chandos, to allow of +time for further Parliamentary inquiry. The Marquis +afterwards brought in a bill for the disenfranchisement of the +borough, which was read a second time; but Parliament was +dissolved before it could be passed, and a writ was, therefore, +issued to the returning officer in the usual course.</p> +<p>1831—<span class="smcap">May</span>—(General +Election.)—Sir Charles Cockerell and Lord Kennedy (the +lately ousted members), and Thomas Hudson, Esq. (Reformer), a +Portuguese merchant, were the candidates at this election; and +the numbers at the close of the poll were—Sir Charles, 208; +Mr. Hudson, 157; Lord Kennedy, 136. The two former +gentlemen were then declared duly elected. Lord Kennedy did +not appear in the town at all during the election.</p> +<p>Evesham having been retained in schedule C of the Reform Bill, +continued to send two members to Parliament in spite of the +smallness of the population—at that time only numbering +3,998 individuals. The out-voters being deprived of their +right to poll, the number of electors was only 359.</p> +<p>1832—<span class="smcap">December</span>—(General +Election.)—Sir Charles Cockerell and Mr. Hudson +reëlected. Mr. Rudge, Mr. Skirrow, and other gentlemen +had “come like shadows and so departed,” declaring +their intentions to be third candidates, but suddenly retreating +from the field. However, at the eleventh hour, Mr. Peter +Borthwick, who had <a name="page43"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +43</span>signalised himself by lectures in favour of negro +slavery, was put forward by the Tory party, but only received 126 +votes—Sir Charles Cockerell polling 234, and Mr. Hudson +212. The number of electors who voted was 329.</p> +<p>1835—<span class="smcap">January</span>—(General +Election.)—Sir Charles Cockerell again came forward as a +candidate; but Mr. Hudson retired at the last moment, being +opposed by Mr. Peter Borthwick, the unsuccessful candidate at the +previous election. However, Mr. Rudge was put in nomination +in his absence by the Liberals, and a poll demanded on his +behalf; the show of hands being in favour of Sir Charles and Mr. +Borthwick. On the hustings Mr. George May charged Mr. +Borthwick with having failed as a bookseller in Dalkeith, and +having been excommunicated by the Scotch United Secession +Church. Mr. Borthwick denied it, and said it was a relative +whose debts he had paid for him. Mr. Rudge eventually +declined to stand the poll, and Sir Charles Cockerell and Mr. +Borthwick were declared duly elected. In June a dinner was +given to Mr. Borthwick in the Guildhall, the chair being taken by +Lieutenant Amherst; and a party of 160 sat down. The charge +made against Mr. Borthwick having been repeated in the <i>Bath +Guardian</i>, near which town he then lived, he commenced an +action against the proprietors for libel, which was tried in +April, 1836, and ended in a verdict for Mr. Borthwick on some +counts of the indictment, with £100 damages; but the jury +held it proved that Mr. Borthwick had been a bookseller in +Dalkeith—had failed—had been in gaol—and had +been a professional, but unsuccessful, performer on the stage of +the Surrey Theatre.</p> +<p>1837—<span class="smcap">February</span>—(Election +in consequence of the death of Sir Charles Cockerell.)—The +candidates were Lord Marcus Cecil Hill, brother of the Marquis of +Downshire, on the Liberal interest, and George Rushout Bowles, +Esq., nephew of Lord Northwick and the Dowager Lady Cockerell, on +the Conservative side. On the hustings, Lord Hill was +proposed by Mr. Benjamin Workman and Mr. T. N. Foster; and Mr. +Bowles by Mr. Thomas Blayney and the Rev. Joseph Harling. +The Mayor declared the show of hands to be in favour of Mr. +Bowles, though his decision was questioned. The contest was +a close one, ending in Mr. Bowles’s election; the numbers +being—Bowles, 165; Hill, 140. About 60 electors did +not vote.</p> +<p>1837—<span class="smcap">July</span>—(General +Election.)—The Hon. George Rushout and Mr. Peter Borthwick, +the former members, coalesced to prevent the return of Lord +Marcus Hill—who, for the second time, came forward on the +Liberal interest—and they were successful; the numbers <a +name="page44"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +44</span>being—for Rushout, 168; Borthwick, 166; Hill, +156. Of 490 votes recorded, 124 were plumpers; and 119 of +these were for Lord Hill. The Liberal party were loud in +their indignation against the bribery which they asserted to have +been practised. The return was petitioned against; and the +committee ballotted for, consisted of six Conservatives and five +Liberals: Sir Robert Peel, Bart., being chairman. Mr. +Cockburn and Mr. Rushton were the counsel for the petitioners, +and Mr. Thessiger, Mr. Austin, &c., for the sitting +members. Shortly after the opening of the case, the +petition, as far as regarded Mr. Rushout, was abandoned, and Mr. +Borthwick alone proceeded against. Mr. Borthwick was +charged with bribery, both by himself and his agents; he was also +declared to want qualification; and as many as 100 of his votes +were objected to. The cases of bribery alone were gone +into; and the one proved was that of Ebenezer Pierce, to whom Mr. +Borthwick had presented a silver snuff box. He canvassed +this voter personally, about a week before the election, and +promised him a silver snuff box, which Mr. Charles Best +afterwards brought him, with Mr. Borthwick’s compliments, +and told him to put it by till after the election. It was +proved that the box had been purchased at Stow and +Mortimer’s by Mr. Borthwick, in the interim, and he had +ordered them to engrave on it—“<i>Ex dono amici sui +conducit</i>.” The committee, upon this, decided that +Mr. Borthwick had been guilty of bribery. Mr. Austin +abandoned the scrutiny, and permitted Lord Marcus Hill to be put +in a majority of one, by permitting the votes of several persons, +who admitted that they had been Mr. Borthwick’s paid +agents, to be struck off; but he declared that the decision of +the committee in the snuff box case had struck him with the +utmost surprise, and begged to be allowed to call evidence to +clear Mr. Borthwick’s character. Mr. Cockburn did not +object, but the committee refused to hear any more +evidence. The committee reported on March 20, 1838, and the +return being amended, Lord Marcus Hill took his seat immediately +afterwards. Soon after the decision of the committee was +known, a dinner was given to Mr. Borthwick, and he was presented +with an oblong silver salver, which had been subscribed for by +the wives and daughters of the Conservative electors. The +Rev. Mr. Harling presented the plate, and J. Amherst, Esq., +presided at the dinner. Mr. Borthwick made a very long +speech, reviewing his connection with the borough, and +animadverting upon his late colleague, Mr. Rushout, in unmeasured +terms, for having forsaken him before the committee. The +language he made use of caused a challenge, and <a +name="page45"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 45</span>the two +gentlemen met at Wormwood Scrubs. After a second discharge, +without effect, Mr. Borthwick withdrew the offensive +expressions. Lord Marcus Hill was also entertained at a +dinner at the Town Hall, over which T. N. Foster, Esq., (the +Mayor) presided; and a party of 200 gentlemen sat down to the +tables.</p> +<p>1841—<span class="smcap">July</span>—(General +Election.)—The candidates were again Lord Marcus Hill, Mr. +Rushout, and Mr. Peter Borthwick; the latter, indeed, did not +make his appearance throughout the election, but he was strongly +supported by a section of the Conservatives, who thought he had +been ill used by Mr. Rushout in the matter of the previous +election—and, generally, he seemed to be a favourite with +the populace. At the hustings, Lord Marcus Hill was +proposed by Edward Rudge, Esq., and the Rev. B. Bonaker; Mr. +Rushout by Dr. Beale Cooper and the Rev. M. Shaw; and Mr. +Borthwick by R. Blayney, Esq., and G. Eades, Esq. Mr. +Francis Holland spoke for Mr. Borthwick; and on the show of +hands, three-fourths of the meeting held up theirs for that +gentleman, about one half for Lord Marcus, and but few for Mr. +Rushout. At the close of the poll the numbers +were—Hill, 188; Borthwick, 161; Rushout, 137. Lord +Hill had 108 plumpers; Borthwick, 42; and Rushout, 34. +After the canvass, but prior to the election, Lord Marcus was +made a privy councillor, and appointed to the office of +Comptroller of the Royal Household.</p> +<p>1847—<span class="smcap">July</span>—(General +Election.)—Mr. Borthwick retired from the representation, +and his place was taken by Sir Henry Willoughby, a moderate +Conservative and free trader. A third candidate came into +field, late in the day, in the person of Sir Ralph Howard, +formerly member for Wicklow, who professed Radical views. +At the nomination, Lord Marcus Hill and Sir Ralph Howard had the +show of hands. The polling was a very quiet affair, and at +the close of the struggle Lord Marcus Hill was found to have 195 +votes; Sir Henry Willoughby, 172; and Sir Ralph Howard, 131.</p> +<h3>DROITWICH.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Droitwich</span> was formerly one of the +closest of Whig boroughs, and was entirely under the influence of +the Foley family. To the return for the first election +recorded below, the names of nineteen persons are appended in the +books of the Droitwich Corporation; and at a much <a +name="page46"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 46</span>more recent +date, ten persons returned two members to Parliament. The +present constituency of the borough numbers 368.</p> +<p>1802—<span class="smcap">July</span>—(General +Election.)—Sir Edward Winnington, Bart., and the Hon. +Andrew Foley, reëlected.</p> +<p>1805—<span class="smcap">February</span>—(Vacancy +on the death of Sir Edw. Winnington.)—Thomas Foley, Esq., +son of the Hon. Andrew Foley, elected.</p> +<p>1806—<span class="smcap">November</span>—(General +Election.)—The Hon. Andrew Foley, and Lieutenant Colonel +Foley.</p> +<p>1807—<span class="smcap">May</span>—(General +Election.)—Colonel Foley becomes a candidate for +Herefordshire, and the Hon. A. Foley and Sir Thomas Winnington, +Bart., are returned for this borough.</p> +<p>1812—<span class="smcap">October</span>—(General +Election.)—Hon. A. Foley and Sir T. Winnington +reëlected.</p> +<p>1816—<span class="smcap">April</span>—Sir Thomas +Winnington having accepted the Chiltern Hundreds, Lord Sefton is +elected in his stead.</p> +<p>1818—<span class="smcap">June</span>—(General +Election.)—Hon. A. Foley and the Earl of Sefton +reëlected.</p> +<p>1819—<span class="smcap">February</span>—(Vacancy +on the death of the Hon. Andrew Foley.)—Colonel Foley, son +of the late member, elected.</p> +<p>1820—<span class="smcap">March</span>—(General +Election.)—Earl of Sefton and Colonel Foley +reëlected.</p> +<p>1822—<span class="smcap">February</span>—(Vacancy +on the death of Colonel Foley.)—John Hodgetts Hodgetts +Foley, Esq., elected.</p> +<p>1826—<span class="smcap">June</span>—(General +Election.)—Lord Sefton and J. H. H. Foley, Esq., +reëlected.</p> +<p>1830—(General Election.)—Earl of Sefton and J. H. +H. Foley, Esq., reëlected.</p> +<p>1831—<span class="smcap">May</span>—(General +Election.)—Mr. J. H. H. Foley and Sir T. E. Winnington +elected; the Earl of Sefton making way for the hon. baronet.</p> +<p>1832—<span class="smcap">December</span>—(General +Election.)—The borough was deprived of one of its members +by the Reform Bill; and on this occasion J. H. H. Foley, Esq., +was returned alone, having been proposed by Sir A. Lechmere, +Bart., and seconded by T. T. Vernon, Esq.</p> +<p>1835—(General Election.)—For the first time since +1711 this borough was contested and a Tory returned. The +candidates were J. H. H. Foley, Esq. (the former member), and +John Barneby, Esq., of Brockhampton. The former was +proposed by Captain Vernon and Mr. Francis; the latter, by Dr. +Steward and Mr. Lilley, of Wichbold. The Rev. Mr. Topham +also addressed the populace in Mr. Foley’s favour, <a +name="page47"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 47</span>and bore +testimony to his attachment to the Church. The show of +hands was in Mr. Foley’s favour. At the end of the +first day the numbers were—Barneby, 115; Foley, 113: and at +the close of the poll—Barneby, 125; Foley, 122: majority +for Barneby, 3. Out of a constituency of only 281, 34 did +not vote. The election issued in a petition against the +return, and on the 17th of March a committee of the house was +ballotted for to decide the matter; but it was constituted very +unfavourably to Mr. Foley, having at least eight Tories upon +it. They refused to reopen the register, so the inquiry was +limited to a few disputed votes on either side. Mr. Foley +succeeded in striking off three of Mr. Barneby’s votes, and +so reducing matters to an equality; but Mr. Barneby then struck +off Lord Southwell’s vote, objected to on account of his +peerage. This left Mr. Foley in a minority of one, and Mr. +Barneby retained his seat.</p> +<p>1837—<span class="smcap">July</span>—(General +Election.)—John Barneby, Esq., having determined to contest +the county, made way for Mr. Pakington to come in for this +borough, of which he has ever since been the +representative. J. H. Galton, Esq., of Hadsor, made a +canvass of the electors on the Liberal interest; but finding that +his chances were not very good he retired from the contest. +Mr. Allen, barrister, also made a flying visit to the place, +intending to put up as a Reformer, but soon took his +departure. Mr. Pakington was proposed at the hustings by W. +H. Ricketts, Esq., and Mr. John Tolley; and having made a long +confession of his political creed (in which he avowed himself a +staunch Conservative, but would not vote for a repeal of the Malt +Tax, and approved of the new Poor Law), he was declared duly +elected.</p> +<p>1841—<span class="smcap">July</span>—(General +Election.)—J. S. Pakington, Esq., reëlected without +opposition.</p> +<p>1847—<span class="smcap">July</span>—(General +Election.)—Mr. C. Lloyd, nephew of Lord Mostyn, canvassed +the electors on the Liberal interest, and had some promise of +support from the agents of a noble lord in the neighbourhood +(Lord Ward), who was expected rather to have thrown his influence +into the Conservative scale; but, notwithstanding this, Mr. Lloyd +found that he had very little chance of success, and consequently +retired, leaving the field free for Sir John Pakington, Bart., +who was reëlected.</p> +<h3>BEWDLEY.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">This</span>, before the Reform Bill, was a +close Tory borough, <a name="page48"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +48</span>with some thirty or forty self-elected burgesses, who +returned their member with no confusion or turmoil. Under +the new state of things, Stourport joins with it in the exercise +of the franchise, and the united constituency now includes 371 +electors. Parties have been very evenly balanced here of +late years.</p> +<p>1802—<span class="smcap">July</span>—(General +Election.)—Miles P. Andrews, Esq., who had for some time +represented the town, again chosen.</p> +<p>1806—<span class="smcap">November</span>—(General +Election.)—Mr. Andrews reëlected.</p> +<p>1807—<span class="smcap">May</span>—(General +Election.)—Mr. Andrews reëlected.</p> +<p>1812—<span class="smcap">October</span>—(General +Election.)—Mr. Andrews reëlected.</p> +<p>1814—<span class="smcap">August</span>—(Vacancy +occasioned by the death of Mr. Andrews.)—Charles Edward +Wilson, Esq., of Bognor, Sussex, chosen.</p> +<p>1818—<span class="smcap">June</span>—(General +Election.)—Wilson Aylesbury Roberts, Esq., returned; Mr. +Wilson having retired in his favour.</p> +<p>1820—<span class="smcap">March</span>—(General +Election.)—W. A. Roberts, Esq., reëlected.</p> +<p>1826—<span class="smcap">June</span>—(General +Election.)—W. A. Roberts, Esq., reëlected.</p> +<p>1830—<span class="smcap">July</span>—(General +Election.)—W. A. Roberts, Esq., reëlected.</p> +<p>1831—<span class="smcap">May</span>—(General +Election.)—W. A. Roberts, Esq., reëlected.</p> +<p>1832—<span class="smcap">December</span>—(General +Election.)—After the passing of the Reform Bill, Mr. +Roberts did not choose again to offer himself, and Sir Thomas +Winnington, Bart., was elected without opposition. He was +proposed by Arthur Skey, Esq., and Jonathan Worthington, Esq.</p> +<p>1835—<span class="smcap">January</span>—(General +Election.)—Sir Thomas Winnington reëlected without +opposition.</p> +<p>1837—<span class="smcap">July</span>—(General +Election.)—Sir Thomas Winnington resigned in favour of his +son, T. E. Winnington, Esq., who was elected without +opposition.</p> +<p>1841—<span class="smcap">July</span>—(General +Election.)—For the first time this century this borough was +contested, Mr. Robert Monteith, son of a Lanarkshire gentleman +who had accumulated a fortune as a Glasgow merchant, coming +forward to oppose Sir Thomas Edward Winnington. At the +nomination Sir Thomas was proposed by A. Skey, Esq., and seconded +by J. Williams, Esq.; and Mr. Monteith by W. A. Roberts, Esq., +and K. Watson, Esq. Sir Thomas declared himself for an +alteration of the Corn Laws, but for some measure of +protection. Mr. Monteith declared himself a thorough +Conservative. The show of hands was in favour of Mr. +Monteith, and the struggle throughout was a most severe +one. In the Bewdley district Mr. Monteith had a majority of +<a name="page49"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 49</span>eight, but +this was more than counterbalanced by Sir Thomas’s +advantage at Stourport. The total numbers +were—Winnington, 173; Monteith, 168: majority, 5. A +scrutiny was threatened but not proceeded with. A dinner +was afterwards given at the Swan Inn, Stourport, to congratulate +Sir Thomas Winnington on his return. The chair was filled +by George Harris, Esq., and the vice chairs by B. Devey and P. +Baldwin, Esqs.; and the company numbered 180. In September, +the Conservative party entertained Mr. Monteith at a dinner in a +large marquee—400 persons sitting down to the tables; Slade +Baker, Esq., presided. In the ensuing month Mr. Monteith +sent £100 to be distributed amongst the various charities +of the two towns.</p> +<p>1847—<span class="smcap">July</span>—(General +Election.)—Sir T. Winnington was again opposed, and this +time successfully, by Thomas James Ireland, Esq., of Hooton Hall, +Suffolk, professing high Church and State principles, and liberal +in the expenditure of his money. At the hustings, Sir +Thomas was proposed by Mr. Skey and Mr. Baldwin; and Mr. Ireland +by Mr. Nicholas and Mr. Heath. The show of hands was in Mr. +Ireland’s favour, and after a most exciting struggle Mr. +Ireland was declared to have 160 votes, and Sir Thomas only +158.</p> +<p>The return was petitioned against; and on the 4th March, 1848, +the inquiry commenced before the Parliamentary committee, +consisting of three Liberals and two Conservatives. Mr. +Sergeant Wrangham and Mr. Sergeant Kinglake were the principal +counsel employed by Sir Thomas Winnington; and Mr. Alexander, by +Mr. Ireland. After five days’ examination of +witnesses, the committee decided that Mr. Ireland was not duly +elected—that it had been proved that a voter, named Price, +had received £15 for his vote—and that treating had +been proved against Mr. Ireland’s agents. The +recriminatory case against Sir Thomas Winnington occupied six +days, and the committee decided that he had been guilty of +treating, by his agents, and that therefore the election was +void. Mr. Elgie, his principal agent, was himself examined, +and proved that 26 or 27 inns were opened on Sir Thomas’s +side, some of which supplied as many as 1,000 gallons a +day. The committee made a special report to the House that +a most pernicious system of intimidation, kidnapping and treating +prevailed in the borough, and the writ was suspended, on the +motion of Mr. Hume, until the evidence was printed and laid +before the house. On the 12th of April, Captain Rushout +moved that a new writ should issue, but Sir John Hanmer proposed +its further suspension. After a debate, in which the +corruption disclosed <a name="page50"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 50</span>in the evidence before the committee +was pretty freely commented upon, the House came to a division, +and 80 members voted for issuing the writ, and 38 against it; so +the writ was ordered, and a fresh election took place +in—</p> +<p>1848—<span class="smcap">April</span> 17—The +candidates on this occasion were Viscount Mandeville, son of the +Duke of Manchester (Conservative), and the Hon. Spencer Lyttelton +(Liberal). On the hustings, Mr. Lyttelton was proposed by +Mr. Skey and Mr. Pierce Baldwin; and Viscount Mandeville by Mr. +Nicholas and Mr. Heath. The show of hands was in favour of +Mr. Lyttelton, but Viscount Mandeville headed the poll +throughout; the numbers at the close being—Mandeville, 171; +Lyttelton, 156. Of course this election was, to a great +extent, free from the corrupt practices of former ones, but the +circumstances under which it occurred furnished matter enough for +excitement.</p> +<h3>KIDDERMINSTER.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Kidderminster</span> once returned two +members to Parliament, but not liking to have to pay them was, +upon its own petition, relieved of the +“honour.” It was again enfranchised by the +Reform Bill; but had only one member allotted to it. The +constituency here is remarkably small, in comparison with the +population, owing to so few of the operatives living in houses +which pay £10 a year rent. The number of electors now +on the register, including duplicates, is 490.</p> +<p>1832—(General Election.)—In anticipation of the +passing of the Reform Bill, Richard Godson, Esq., a barrister on +the Oxford Circuit, who was very popular with the weavers because +of his successful defence of some of their number when tried for +riot, made an entry into the town on the 4th April, 1831, and +gave a public statement of his political principles. He was +not, he said, the nominee of some lord, but one of the people, +come to represent the people. The Reform Bill was merely a +restoration of the good old constitution, which would give every +man his proper weight in the national assembly. All other +reforms must follow it; the defects of the church must be +removed; and, especially, there must be a free trade in +corn. And though he was interested in a West Indian <a +name="page51"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 51</span>estate he +should advocate Emancipation, &c. &c. His reception +was, altogether, most enthusiastic. He was, however, +opposed by G. R. Phillips, Esq., of Weston House, Warwickshire, +also professing reform principles. Mr. Phillips was +proposed, on the hustings, by J. Newcombe, Esq., and H. Talbot, +Esq.; and Mr. Godson by William Boycot, jun., Esq., and Mr. James +Cole. A very severe contest took place, and the numbers at +the close were—Godson, 172; Phillips, 159: majority for +Godson, 13. The total constituency was 388.</p> +<p>1835—(General Election.)—Mr. Godson was again +opposed by Mr. Phillips. Mr. Godson still professed to be a +Reformer, but was supported by the Conservatives. The show +of hands was almost even, but decided by the High Bailiff in Mr. +Godson’s favour, and a poll was demanded by Mr. Phillips, +who was, eventually, returned by a majority of 73; the numbers +being—Phillips, 197; Godson, 124. Mr. Phillips +refused to be chaired, saying that he should spend the money +amongst the people in other ways. On the 10th of June, a +piece of plate (ornament for the dinner table, in silver, worth +£150) was presented to Mr. Godson, by 1,975 inhabitants of +the borough, “in grateful remembrance of his ever watchful, +independent, and patriotic conduct when in +Parliament.” The presentation was made by Mr. +Alderman Joseph Boycot, on the balcony of the Lion Hotel, in the +presence of some 7,000 persons.</p> +<p>1837—(General Election.)—Mr. Phillips, some time +before the writ was issued for this election, declared his +intention of withdrawing all pretensions to the representation; +being evidently afraid of a defeat, or that a triumph could only +be purchased on terms too dear. Mr. Godson, however, found +an opponent in the person of John Bagshaw, Esq., ex-M.P. for +Sudbury. Mr. Godson was proposed by Mr. Morton and Mr. +Cole; Mr. Bagshaw by Mr. Turner and Mr. Joseph Newcombe. +The show of hands was considerably in Mr. Godson’s favour, +and a poll was demanded for Mr. Bagshaw. Mr. Godson headed +the poll from the first, and in the course of the afternoon Mr. +Bagshaw retired; the numbers being—Godson, 198; Bagshaw, +157.</p> +<p>1841—(General Election.)—Mr. Godson was opposed by +Mr. Sampson Ricardo, brother of Osman Ricardo, Esq., who came +forward at the last moment, after the Liberals had been +disappointed by the candidate they had fixed upon—a Mr. +Rennie. Mr. Godson was proposed by Mr. Morton and Mr. Cole; +Mr. Ricardo by Mr. Charles Talbot and Mr. H. Worth; and the Mayor +fairly enough <a name="page52"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +52</span>declared the show of hands to be in his favour, though, +for so doing, he was assailed by the Conservatives in a most +discourteous manner. The contest was, what Kidderminster +contests always have been, a very sharp one; but Mr. Godson was +returned by a majority of 12; the numbers being—Godson, +212; Ricardo, 200.</p> +<p>1847—(General Election.)—Mr. Godson was +reëlected without opposition.</p> +<p>1849—<span class="smcap">September</span>—(Vacancy +occasioned by the sudden demise of Mr. Richard Godson.)—The +first candidate in the field was John Best, Esq., a barrister of +short standing, son of W. B. Best, Esq., of Blakebrook House, who +came forward as a Conservative and Protectionist. Thomas +Gisborne Esq., of Yoxall Park, near Burton-on-Trent, next made +his appearance on the Reform side, professing very liberal +opinions. He had, formerly, been member for +Nottingham. A diversion was speedily effected by the +arrival of a third man, in the person of Crawshay Bailey, Esq., +of Tredegar, South Wales, who was also Conservative in his views, +and apparently entertaining similar opinions to those of Mr. Best +upon all subjects. He was supported by a very influential +section of the Kidderminster Conservatives, and a downright split +amongst them seemed inevitable. However at the end of a +week Mr. Bailey finding he had little chance, withdrew from the +contest, and left the two first to fight it out. +Considerable soreness of feeling, however, was felt amongst the +Conservatives by this temporary division, and the opponents built +thereupon very sanguine expectations of success. At the +nomination Mr. Best was proposed by Mr. William Boycot, sen., and +Mr. Henry Chellingworth; and Mr. Gisborne by Mr. William Holmes +and Mr. Henry Brinton, in whose favour the show of hands was +declared to be. Mr. Gisborne headed the poll till twelve +o’clock, when some thirty voters, who had been supporters +of Mr. Bailey up to the time of his retirement, and who, it was +hoped by one party, and feared by the other, would now remain +neutral, came to the booths and recorded their votes for Mr. +Best. This decided the struggle; and when the clock struck +four, Mr. Best was found to have 217 votes against 200 only +recorded for Mr. Gisborne. The election, on the whole, +passed off quietly, and with decorum.</p> +<p>In the session of 1850 a petition was presented by some of the +Liberal electors against Mr. Best’s return, on the score of +bribery and corruption, and the matter came before a committee of +the House of Commons, on the 15th of April. The committee +consisted of Mr. Bouverie (chairman), Lord Enfield, Mr. Augustus +Stafford, Mr. David Morris, and Sir William Joliffe; the majority +being Liberals. <a name="page53"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 53</span>Mr. Sergeant Kinglake led the case +for the petitioners, and Mr. Alexander, Q.C., for Mr. Best. +The committee sat seven days, and a variety of witnesses were +examined on behalf of the petitioners; but bribery was only +attempted to be proved in two cases, the evidence, on all points, +being decidedly weak. The committee confirmed Mr. +Best’s return.</p> +<h3>DUDLEY.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> privilege of sending a member +to Parliament was conferred on this borough by the Reform +Bill. The number of voters now on the register is 912.</p> +<p>1832—(General Election.)—Sir John +Campbell—then the Whig Solicitor General, and long a +practitioner on the Oxford Circuit, now Lord Chief Justice of +England—was returned. He had an opponent in the +person of Horace St. Paul, Esq., who contested the election on +Tory principles. Sir John was proposed by Mr. Twamley and +Mr. Braidley; and Mr. St. Paul by Mr. Dixon and Mr. +Salisbury. The numbers, at the close of the poll, +were—Campbell, 315; St. Paul, 225: majority for Campbell, +90.</p> +<p>1834—<span class="smcap">February</span> +27—(Election rendered necessary by Sir John +Campbell’s elevation to the Attorney +Generalship.)—Sir John was this time opposed, on the +Conservative interest, by Thomas Hawkes, Esq. The show of +hands, at the nomination, was in favour of Sir John; whereupon a +poll was demanded by Mr. Hawkes’s friends, and commenced +immediately with great briskness. At three o’clock, +Sir John’s committee, finding great difficulty in bringing +their friends to the poll, gave up in a huff, and Mr. Hawkes was +declared duly elected; the numbers being—Hawkes, 322; +Campbell, 242: majority, 80. This result was said to be +mainly owing to the Dissenters and ultra-radicals refusing to +vote for Sir John, “in order to teach ministers a +lesson;” but the effect was rather to disgust the Whigs +than to urge them forward with church reform. Sir John had +also made enemies by an attack, in the House, on the Dudley +magistrates.</p> +<p>1835—(General Election.)—Mr. Hawkes returned by a +majority of 93 over his Whig opponent, Captain Forbes.</p> +<p>1837—(General Election.)—Mr. Hawkes again +elected. Mr. Merryweather Turner was the candidate on the +Liberal interest, and obtained the show of hands at the +nomination; but at the poll <a name="page54"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 54</span>the numbers were—Hawkes, 385; +Turner, 289: majority for Hawkes, 96. A challenge resulted +from some speeches at this election, and the Dudley magistrates +issued their warrants to bind over both Mr. Turner and Mr. Hawkes +to keep the peace. Mr. Turner did not get the challenge +till half an hour after he had been bound over at the instigation +of Mr. Hawkes’s friends.</p> +<p>1841—(General Election.)—Mr. Hawkes again elected; +though opposed, on the Liberal interest, by Mr. W. A. Smith, son +of the then member for Norwich. Mr. Downing and Mr. B. Best +proposed Mr. Hawkes at the hustings; and Mr. Thomas Lister and +Mr. Thomas Hill proposed Mr. Smith, who had the show of +hands. The numbers on the poll were—Hawkes, 436; +Smith, 189: majority for Hawkes, 247.</p> +<p>1844—<span class="smcap">August</span> 8—Mr. +Thomas Hawkes’s acceptance of the Chiltern Hundreds, in +consequence of the embarrassed state of his affairs, having +caused a vacancy, John Benbow, Esq., agent for Lord Ward, and, +therefore, possessing much influence in the borough, was put in +nomination on the Conservative interest, and opposed by Mr. +William Rawson, an Anti-Corn-Law lecturer. Mr. Benbow was +proposed, on the hustings, by Mr. Thomas Badger and Captain +Bennitt; and Mr. Rawson by Mr. Charles Twamley and the Rev. J. +Palmer. The show of hands was in favour of Mr. +Rawson. The polling was a very quiet affair, and at the +close the numbers were—Benbow, 388; Rawson, 175: majority, +213.</p> +<p>1847—(General Election.)—A Mr. Joseph Linney, +Chartist operative from Bilston, was put in nomination on the day +of election, in opposition to Mr. Benbow—addressed the +crowd, and got the show of hands; but having no money to pay his +share of the expenses of a poll, was obliged to withdraw, and Mr. +Benbow was declared duly elected.</p> +<h2><a name="page55"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +55</span>ELECTIONS OF COUNTY CORONERS.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> number of coroners appointed +for each English county was formerly regulated by usage, the +statute of 3 Edw. I, cap. 10, merely enacting that “in all +shires a sufficient number of men should be chosen as +coroners;” but it was competent for the Lord Chancellor to +issue a writ for the election of additional coroners, upon a +petition from the freeholders of the county and the approbation +of the justices in quarter sessions. The manner of the +election was regulated by the statute of 58 Geo. III, cap. 35, +and the poll might be kept open ten days. By cap. 6 of 28 +Edw. III, it was enacted, “that all coroners of the +counties should be chosen in the full counties, by the commons of +the said counties, of the most meet and lawful people that should +be found,” &c. Although by this statute the +election is not expressly confined to freeholders, yet as none +but freeholders are suitors at the county court (who were +“the commons of the counties” referred to by this +statute) the usage has been for freeholders only to vote. +The amount of estate not being defined, any <i>bonâ +fide</i> freehold interest in lands in the county, however small, +will confer the right to vote. Previous to the division of +the counties into districts—power to do which was given to +the Privy <a name="page56"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +56</span>Council, on petition of the County Justices, by 7 and 8 +Vic., cap. 92—each coroner acted throughout the whole +county, and every freeholder was entitled to vote at each +election. Now, however, the coroners, though still +considered coroners for the whole county, cannot hold inquests +out of their respective districts, except in special cases; and +only the freeholders residing within the district are entitled to +vote at the election for that district. The justices, of +course, virtually assign the districts; and a dispute which arose +in this county, between the magistrates and one of the coroners, +on his claiming compensation for loss of emolument by the +division they had made, will be found noticed in a subsequent +part of this work. The poll at elections for coroners is +now limited to two days.</p> +<p>1801—<span class="smcap">August</span> 13—Richard +Barneby, Esq., elected coroner in the room of Humphrey Littleton, +Esq., deceased. No opposition.</p> +<p>1809—<span class="smcap">April</span> 26—Election +of a coroner for the county, in the room of Mr. George Best, +removed, took place this day at the Talbot Inn, Claines. +Mr. Godson, of Tenbury, Mr. Cheek, of Evesham, and Mr. Griffiths, +of Broadway, were the candidates; but to save the expenses of a +poll, they agreed to leave the choice to three +gentlemen—one nominated by each candidate. The +gentlemen chosen were—J. Philips, Esq., H. Wakeman, Esq., +and T. Bund, Esq.; and they determined (by drawing lots) on Mr. +Godson, of Tenbury, who was thereupon declared duly elected.</p> +<p>1810—<span class="smcap">February</span> +14—Election for a coronership in consequence of the +resignation of Mr. Richard Barneby. The candidates on this +occasion were Mr. J. H. Griffiths, of Broadway, and Mr. George +Hill, of Worcester. Both candidates rested their claim for +support on the locality of their residence—Mr. Griffiths +saying that, as the other coroners lived one at Chaddesley and +the other at Tenbury, the Evesham side ought to have one resident +there—and Mr. Hill contending that there should be one, at +least, living in the county town. The nomination took place +at the Talbot, in the Tything, Worcester; and Mr. Griffiths was +proposed by T. Bund, Esq., of Wick, and seconded by — +Knowles, Esq., Broadway; Mr. Hill by R. Berkeley, Esq., +Spetchley, and seconded by Philip Gresley, Esq., <a +name="page57"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 57</span>High +Park. The numbers after the first day’s poll +were—Hill, 395; Griffiths, 79: and then Mr. Griffiths +retired from the contest.</p> +<p>1815—<span class="smcap">February</span> 10—Mr. +Thomas Hallen, of Kidderminster, elected a county coroner, in the +room of Mr. Fidkin, deceased. Mr. H. Robeson, of +Bromsgrove, had been a candidate, but retired before the +election. Mr. Hallen was proposed by E. M. Wigley, Esq., of +Shakenhurst, and seconded by the Rev. R. F. Onslow, vicar of +Kidderminster.</p> +<p>1822—<span class="smcap">September</span> +27—Election to supply the place of William Godson, Esq., of +Tenbury, then lately deceased. The nomination took place in +the College Yard, at the east end of the Cathedral. Earl +Mountnorris proposed Mr. Charles Best, of Evesham, and this +nomination was seconded by Thomas B. Cooper, Esq.; T. S. Vernon, +Esq., proposed, and John Phillips, Esq., of Hanbury Hall, +seconded, Mr. S. H. Godson, of Tenbury, son of the deceased +coroner. The show of hands was in favour of Mr. Best, and +Mr. Godson demanded a poll. This went on vigorously till +five o’clock in the evening, when the numbers +were—Best, 635; Godson, 230. Mr. Godson then retired +from the contest, and Mr. Best was duly sworn in.</p> +<p>1826—<span class="smcap">December</span> 13—The +most determined contest ever known in this county for a +coronership commenced this day. Immediately on the death of +Mr. George Hill, five candidates announced themselves for the +office—viz., Mr. William Smith, Worcester; Mr. Frederick +Stokes, Worcester; Mr. Stephen Godson, Worcester; Mr. Charles +Beville Dryden, Worcester; Mr. Thomas Davis, Worcester; and Mr. +Skey, Upton. Of these, however, all had withdrawn before +the nomination day, excepting Mr. Smith and Mr. Stokes. The +Sheriff had at first fixed that the nomination should take place +in the Castle Yard, but this property had recently been sold by +Government to Mr. Eaton, with a reservation of it for the +nomination of members of Parliament; but nothing had been said +(according to Mr. Eaton’s view of the matter) about +coroners, therefore he refused to allow it to be used. The +nomination, therefore, took place at the Hare and Hounds Inn, +Sidbury; where Mr. Smith was proposed by Major Bund and John +Williams, Esq.; and Mr. Stokes by Sir Thomas Winnington, Bart., +and the Rev. George Turberville. The show of hands was +declared to be in favour of Mr. Smith, and a poll was demanded +for his opponent; and this was continued for ten days—the +utmost period allowed by law. For the first three days Mr. +Stokes headed his adversary considerably; Mr. Smith, on the fifth +day, however, obtained the ascendancy, and kept it, though with +<a name="page58"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 58</span>varying +numbers, to the last day, when he very materially increased his +majority, which, in the end, amounted to 189 votes. The +numbers polled were—Smith, 3,875; Stokes, 3,686: total +number of freeholders polled, 7,561. The contest resolved +itself quite into a political struggle—Mr. Smith +representing the Tory and Mr. Stokes the Whig interest. The +city, during the progress of the election, was in a state of the +utmost excitement—the voters being brought in to the sole +polling place, with flags and bands of music, in every possible +description of vehicle. On the sixth day, a fierce fight +took place between the partisans of the two candidates, on their +accidental meeting in the Tything; and several men with broken +heads were taken to the Infirmary. Mr. Stokes, at the +conclusion of the poll, demanded a scrutiny; and the matter of +right and power, on the part of the Sheriff, to grant one, was +formally argued; but it was ultimately refused, and Mr. Smith was +sworn into the office. The contest cost each of the +candidates about £3,000 a day, while it lasted. [The +copy of the reservation clause in Mr. Eaton’s conveyance +was afterwards produced, on special application to Government, +and it seemed that the Sheriff was empowered to hold any court in +the Castle Yard which he pleased.]</p> +<p>1832—<span class="smcap">November</span> 7—Mr. W. +S. P. Hughes, solicitor, elected a county coroner, in the room of +Mr. Smith, who had absconded. Mr. Hughes was proposed by +the Rev. George Turberville, seconded by John Williams, Esq., and +no other candidate having offered himself, he was at once +declared duly chosen.</p> +<p>1838—<span class="smcap">November</span> +28—Election for county coroner, in the room of Mr. Thomas +Hallen, of Kidderminster, who had resigned. Mr. William +Boycot, jun., of Kidderminster, Mr. Henry Corser, of Stourbridge, +and Mr. Ralph Docker, of Kingsnorton, had offered themselves as +candidates; but the two first withdrew, and it was expected that +Mr. Docker would “walk over.” It was said that +the three gentlemen had “tossed up,” and so decided +the matter, but that was denied. However, on the evening +before the election, Mr. Thomas Waters, Clerk of the Peace for +the city, offered himself to the freeholders for election, and +there was every expectation of a sharp contest. Mr. Spooner +proposed Mr. Docker, who was seconded by Mr. Ellis; Mr. Waters +was proposed by Mr. Alderman R. Evans and Mr. Alderman +Stephenson. The show of hands was in favour of Mr. Docker, +and Mr. Evans demanded a poll for Mr. Waters. At the end of +the first day the numbers were—Docker, 246; Waters, 138: +and Mr. Waters then retired from the contest.</p> +<h2><a name="page59"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 59</span>PUBLIC +MEETINGS.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">It</span> may be that the interest +attaching to many of the meetings detailed here is gone for ever, +but the interest of others will perhaps increase as time +advances, and curiously serve to mark the ebb and flow of human +feelings and affairs. Though there is often reason to +coincide with the Duke’s apothegm—“Public +meetings are public farces,” yet they at least give us the +results of the popular instinct, which is often as sure a guide +as the popular reason would be; and, when most foolish in their +conclusions, they are to be regarded as fortunate escapements for +those excitements without which a community cannot exist long +together. If any explanation should be felt necessary by +the reader, of the public occurrences which called forth these +meetings, he will find it in another portion of this work.</p> +<p>1800—<span class="smcap">May</span> 14—County +meeting held in Worcester Town Hall, to consider what steps +should be taken in consequence of the high price of provisions, +which was very numerously attended. Resolutions were +passed, begging holders of corn to bring it into the market at +reduced prices; and requesting millers to grind for the poor at +half their usual charge. The Town Hall was granted as a +place of deposit for corn, to be retailed to the poor at prime +cost. The greatest pleasure was evinced by the meeting at +hearing that vessels were arriving from abroad with importations +of wheat. It is recorded that <a name="page60"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 60</span>many farmers attended Worcester +market, in consequence of this meeting, and sold wheat at 15s. to +18s. a bushel.</p> +<p>1800—<span class="smcap">June</span> 7—County +meeting to congratulate the King on his escape from assassination +by Hadfield; and meetings for a similar purpose held at +Stourbridge, Bromsgrove, &c.</p> +<p>1800—<span class="smcap">October</span> 9—A common +hall held at Worcester, at which resolutions were passed to +petition Parliament for fresh enactments against +“engrossing,” &c., and begging the legislature +<i>to fix a certain price</i>, <i>beyond which it might be +unlawful to sell wheat</i>.</p> +<p>1801—<span class="smcap">May</span> 25—Common hall +held at Worcester, at which a petition to Parliament was +unanimously agreed to, praying that wheat, and all other grain, +might be made saleable by weight only.</p> +<p>1806—<span class="smcap">May</span> 28—A public +meeting of the inhabitants of Worcester convened in the Town +Hall, John Dillon, Esq., in the chair, to petition against the +proposed tax on beer. Amongst other reasons against it the +petition alleged—“That it will prevent, in a great +measure, the frugal offices of hospitality and +charity.”</p> +<p>1807—<span class="smcap">April</span> 24—Common +hall at Worcester to take into consideration the critical state +of public affairs, at which an address, thanking His Majesty for +his strenuous opposition to the Catholic Services Bill, and +rejoicing in its rejection, was unanimously agreed to.</p> +<p>1808—<span class="smcap">April</span> 14—A common +hall, convened in Worcester, over which Mr. J. Palmer presided; +at which petitions were agreed to to both houses of Parliament, +in favour of the Bill then pending, for restricting the grants of +offices in reversion.</p> +<p>1809—<span class="smcap">April</span> 13—A common +hall, convened in Worcester, to adopt resolutions relative to the +investigation of the conduct of the Duke of York, as Commander in +Chief, in selling military promotions through his mistress, Mrs. +Clarke. The Mayor occupied the chair. Mr. J. Palmer +moved resolutions, thanking Colonel Wardle, M.P., for promoting +the inquiry, and Mr. Gordon, one of the city members, for voting +for it; which were seconded by Mr. Pope. Mr. J. Williams +moved, as an amendment, that the resolutions should be couched in +more general terms and no names mentioned in them; and Mr. B. +Johnson, Town Clerk, seconded it. The original resolutions +were, however, carried by a large majority. In this meeting +occur the first mutterings of the Reform agitation; for the last +of the resolutions declares that “the late decision of the +honourable Commons (negativing Colonel Wardle’s motion for +the Duke’s dismissal) has disappointed the hopes and +expectations of the people, and convinced us of the necessity of +a speedy and effectual <a name="page61"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 61</span>reform in the representation of the +Commons in Parliament, as a security to the throne, a support to +the nobility, and a safeguard to the people—against that +tide of corruption which has laid so many nations of Europe +prostrate at the feet of the ruler of France.”</p> +<p>1809—<span class="smcap">October</span> 25—County +meeting. Henry Bromley, Esq., Sheriff, in the chair. +To present an address to His Majesty on his entering the fiftieth +year of his reign.</p> +<p>1811—<span class="smcap">July</span> 8—A common +hall, Worcester, called by requisition to the Mayor, to consider +the best means of preventing the destruction of small fish in the +Severn, and the first Association formed for the protection of +the Fisheries: the great decrease of salmon lamented; and it is +said to fetch 3s. to 4s. a lb. The corporation subscribed +twenty guineas. A great many seizures of illegal nets +speedily made.</p> +<p>1812—<span class="smcap">May</span> 11—A public +meeting, held at the Guildhall, Worcester, Thomas Carden, Esq., +in the chair, to consider what steps should be adopted for the +relief of the poor, who were suffering severely from the +excessive price of all provisions. A very large +subscription was raised, and it was unanimously resolved that it +should be appropriated to the purchase of bacon, peas, and rice, +to sell again at reduced prices. The total number of +persons applying thus to be assisted was 7,418, and the sum +raised about £1,500.</p> +<p>1813—<span class="smcap">February</span> 10—A +common hall held at Worcester, with the Mayor presiding, at which +a petition was unanimously agreed to against the renewal of the +monopoly of the East India Company. The resolutions were +moved by Mr. Johnson, Town Clerk, and seconded by Mr. +Richards.</p> +<p>1813—<span class="smcap">April</span> 28—A +requisition, signed by seventy-four respectable freemen and +inhabitants of Worcester, was presented to the Mayor, requesting +him to call a common hall, for the purpose of addressing H. R. H. +the Princess of Wales, “on the late atrocious attempt +against her honour and her life;” but His Worship refused +to call one. A public meeting was therefore held at the +Bell, Mr. Robert Felton in the chair, at which such an address as +had been contemplated was unanimously agreed to.</p> +<p>1814—<span class="smcap">May</span> 25—A common +hall held in Worcester, the Mayor presiding, to petition against +the proposed imposition of corn duties. Mr. Nichols moved a +petition, which was seconded by Mr. Moseley, carried unanimously, +and received 6,000 signatures in two days. The petitioners +declared that corn, during the last twenty years, had been dearer +in this country than in any other in Europe, and, <a +name="page62"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 62</span>what was of +the utmost importance, the manufacturers of this country could +not vie with other markets if the prices of the necessaries of +life could not be brought nearer to the prices of other +countries. If it was imagined that at the then prices of +corn (wheat averaging 8s. 6d. per bushel, and the quartern loaf +selling at 10½d.) the present rent of land could not be +paid, the petitioners submitted that the proper remedy was to +lower the rents. The artisans, during the war, when the +price of corn and meat was excessive, had behaved themselves in +the most patient, loyal, and laudable manner, and it was hard +that they should not be allowed to share in the blessings of the +peace, &c.</p> +<p>Dudley, Droitwich, &c., petitioned against the measure, +which was rejected by the House of Commons, in bringing up the +report, by 116 to 110.</p> +<p>1814—<span class="smcap">June</span> 30—A public +meeting held in Worcester to petition the legislature against +that part of the recent treaty of peace with France which related +to the Slave Trade, and seemed likely to encourage its +revival. The Mayor took the chair. Mr. Stanley +Pumphrey moved, and Mr. Richard Spooner seconded, the resolutions +and petitions, which were unanimously adopted. The +petitions received about 1,000 signatures; and one with a similar +object, sent from Evesham, received 900 signatures.</p> +<p>1814—<span class="smcap">July</span> 29—A public +meeting of noblemen, gentlemen, and freeholders of the county +held at the Town Hall, Worcester, to vote an address to the +Prince Regent on the glorious termination of the war. Mr. +Clarke, Under Sheriff, in the chair. The address was moved +by Lord Deerhurst, seconded by the Hon. W. B. Lygon, M.P., and +passed unanimously.</p> +<p>1815—<span class="smcap">January</span> 16—A +common hall convened in Worcester to address Parliament on the +subject of the property and other war taxes. Mr. Josiah +Palmer first moved resolutions, which were opposed by Major +Wigley, as too strong, and aimed at the landed interest. +Mr. Richard Spooner moved others, which were seconded by Mr. +Hooper, and carried by a considerable majority. A petition +was founded upon them, praying for the repeal of the Income Tax, +and the taxes on malt, tea, leather, and salt.</p> +<p>1815—<span class="smcap">January</span> 25—A +county meeting held with much the same purpose; Mr. Clarke, Under +Sheriff, in the chair. Mr. E. M. Wigley moved a petition +against the Property Tax, which was seconded by Sir William +Smith, Bart., and adopted without opposition. The meeting +then passed to the consideration of the necessity of some <a +name="page63"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 63</span>protection to +the farming interest. Mr. Richard Spooner moved a petition +praying that “foreign corn, on importation, should be +subjected to the same rate of duty as is now paid by the British +farmer.” He said the agricultural interest was +greatly depressed, and the foreigners ought to pay a duty +equivalent to the taxes paid by the British farmer. Lord +Foley seconded the adoption of the petition, which was carried by +acclamation.</p> +<p>1815—<span class="smcap">March</span> 6—A common +hall held in Worcester; Samuel Garmston, Esq., Mayor, in the +chair; to petition against Mr. Robinson’s Corn Bill, +preventing the importation of wheat when under 80s. a +quarter. Mr. J. Palmer moved the petition, saying that the +question was one of cheap or dear bread, and not at all the +benefit of the farmers, many of whom signed the petitions against +the bill, for they saw that its object was to ensure the +landholders their enormous rents. The Mayor, Colonel Wall, +Mr. Brown, Mr. Felton, &c., supported the petition, which was +carried with enthusiasm, and <i>received</i> 7,965 <i>signatures +the same afternoon</i>, when it was obliged to be sent off by the +London mail.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Evesham</span>—One of the most +numerous meetings ever known in this borough was held on this +subject. Mr. Easthope (afterwards Sir John Easthope) moved +the petitions, which were supported by Mr. Phillips, Mr. Barnes, +&c., and opposed by Colonel Cooper, Rev. Mr. Shaw, and Mr. +Phelps. They were carried by a large majority.</p> +<p>1816—<span class="smcap">March</span> 14—A county +meeting held, with Joseph Lee, Esq., in the chair, to petition +for a reduction of expenditure. The speakers were E. M. +Wigley, Esq., Lord Deerhurst, Lord Elmley, and the Hon. W. H. +Lyttelton, and the general resolutions were then passed without +opposition. R. Spooner, Esq., then moved a petition praying +for a readjustment of the Property Tax, so that “occupiers +of land might not be taxed according to a fictitious assumption +of profit,” and further objecting to it as applied to the +ordinary profits of industry. It also prayed for the repeal +of the war taxes on malt and salt. Mr. Wigley moved that +the consideration of the resolution be postponed; and Mr. Talbot +moved as an amendment that the Property Tax ought not, under any +modifications, to be revived. Both these were negatived, +and Mr. Spooner’s petition carried.</p> +<p>1816—<span class="smcap">March</span> 15—A city +meeting was held for the same purpose, at which very similar +petitions were agreed to.</p> +<p>1817—<span class="smcap">February</span> 6—A +common hall held by the Mayor, to vote addresses to the Prince +Regent to congratulate him on his escape from assassination, and +also to petition Parliament “to make such <a +name="page64"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 64</span>arrangements +as should seem likely to restore the commerce, manufactures, and +agriculture of the kingdom to their former flourishing +state,” and praying for reduction of expenditure; but +adding that the petitioners “looked with anxiety to +Parliament firmly and strenuously to defend the constitution from +the imminent dangers of wild and speculative +innovation.” The hall was densely crowded. The +address to the Prince Regent was moved by Mr. Lechmere, seconded +by Mr. Spooner, and carried unanimously. But on the +petition being proposed, Mr. Josiah Palmer moved its rejection, +because it did not recommend retrenchment sufficiently, and +because a meeting was to be held on the same subject the +following day. Mr. Richard Mence seconded Mr. +Palmer’s amendment in a very energetic speech; and, after +several speeches, the petition was put to the meeting and +decidedly rejected.</p> +<p>1817—<span class="smcap">February</span> 7—A +requisition was presented to the Mayor to call a common hall to +petition the legislature in favour of Parliamentary Reform, but +His Worship (R. Chamberlain, Esq.) declined, though he would +grant the use of the hall to the requisitionists for that +purpose. Of this permission they availed themselves; and a +most crowded meeting was assembled, with Mr. Robert Felton in the +chair. The only speakers were Mr. J. Palmer and Mr. +Moseley, who moved petitions for reform, retrenchment, and the +abolition of sinecures, which were carried unanimously, and +forwarded to Lord Deerhurst for presentation.</p> +<p>1817—<span class="smcap">November</span> 28—County +meeting and common hall held in Worcester, at which addresses of +condolence were agreed to—to the Prince Regent, Her +Majesty, and Prince Leopold—on the death of the Princess +Charlotte.</p> +<p>1818—<span class="smcap">December</span> 12—A +county meeting held, at which the Earl of Coventry moved, and the +Lord Bishop seconded, an address of condolence to the Prince +Regent on the death of his mother, the Queen; which was, of +course, carried unanimously. A similar address was +presented from the corporation of Worcester.</p> +<p>1819—<span class="smcap">May</span> 1—A meeting of +the proprietors and occupiers of land in the county of Worcester, +held at the Crown Inn, Broad Street; George Wigley Perrott, Esq., +in the chair; when it was unanimously resolved that a memorial +should be signed by the parties present, and sent to the Right +Hon. Frederick John Robinson, President of the Board of Trade, +“to press the just claims of the cultivators of the soil to +a <i>full</i>, <i>fair</i>, <i>and ample protection</i> from the +legislature; the <i>imperious necessity</i> of which <a +name="page65"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 65</span>was becoming +daily more and more apparent.” The memorial, adopted +by the meeting, stated that “the unparalleled quantity of +26,000,000 bushels of foreign corn imported into this kingdom +within the last year, <span class="GutSmall">DUTY FREE</span>, <a +name="citation65"></a><a href="#footnote65" +class="citation">[65]</a> and of 13,000,000 lbs. of wool in three +quarters of a year, or nearly so, had occasioned a ruinous loss +to the tenantry and other occupiers of the soil, lessened the +demand for labour, increased the poor rates, diminished the means +of paying for them, and must also have tended materially to +injure the home trade of the country.” The +subscribers were—G. W. Perrott, Cracombe House; C. E. +Hanford, Wooller’s Hill; John Hawkes, Allesborough; E. F. +Welles, Earl’s Croome; John Fletcher, Hill Croome; John +Onley, Bransford; Thomas Hudson, Pershore; Joseph Smith, Henwick; +Francis Holland, Cropthorne; John Winnall, Braces Leigh; and +William Woodward, Birlingham.</p> +<p>1820—<span class="smcap">February</span> 28—A +county meeting held at the Guildhall, Worcester, to address His +Majesty on the decease of his venerable father, and to +congratulate him on his accession to the throne. The +address was moved by the Earl of Coventry, as Lord Lieutenant of +the County, and seconded by Lord Beauchamp.</p> +<p>1822—<span class="smcap">February</span> 8—A +county meeting to consider agricultural distress; E. Isaac, Esq., +High Sheriff, in the chair. Mr. J. Richards first addressed +the meeting. He alluded to the circumstances in which the +agricultural interest now found itself. In the previous +session of Parliament the petitions of the farmers had caused the +appointment of a select committee to inquire into the causes of +the distress. They, in their report, admitted that arable +land could now only be cultivated at a loss, but added that +Parliament could grant no redress—they must look only to +time and patience. But this was a mockery, for they had had +good seasons and harvests, and how then was their case to be +bettered by patience? Mr. George Webb Hall professed to +have discovered a remedy in the imposition of a very heavy duty +on foreign corn—the object of that was, of course, to +prevent its importation altogether, and increase the price at +home. But if that was done, where were the people to get +money to purchase it? The manufacturers would no longer be +able to compete with foreigners, and people would emigrate by +tens of thousands. It was not true that the price of corn +had fallen because of foreign importation—the price of meat +had fallen just in the same proportion, and <a +name="page66"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 66</span>cattle and +sheep were not imported. Prices were low all the world +over, and the only remedy for the present state of things was a +diminution of taxes. If it was asked why corn could not be +grown at 40s. a quarter now, as it could be in 1792, he would +reply, because taxes, rents, and tithes, were all much +higher. The Bank Restriction Act of 1797, and Mr. +Peel’s bill of 1819, had committed a fraud in the value of +money; and this was another cause of distress. Ultimate +relief, he thought, would only be obtained from a reformed +Parliament. He moved a series of resolutions in accordance +with these sentiments. Mr. Richard Spooner seconded +them. Mr. Beale Cooper then moved an amendment, +stating—“That for 150 years, from 1663 to 1814, +importation of the produce of the soil was never permitted +without the payment of some duty; and it is a matter of +historical truth that during that time the prosperity of +agriculture, commerce, and manufacture progressively increased to +a height of opulence unexampled in the history of the +world.” To the “unlimited competition” +(after 80s. a quarter) introduced for the first time by the bill +of 1815, the amendment attributed the depression of the produce +of the soil below that of every other commodity, necessarily +caused by diminution of circulating medium, and therefore the +amendment prayed for a prohibitory duty.</p> +<p>Mr. C. E. Hanford said if this amendment passed, the meeting +would be a farce. The Duke of Sussex, the Duke of Bedford, +and Mr. Coke thought the remedy was to be found in retrenchment +and Parliamentary Reform.</p> +<p>Mr. Spooner replied to Mr. Beale Cooper, who had told them +that because corn was imported duty free, therefore it had +diminished in price; but there had been no importation at all for +the last three years, and so that argument must be +fallacious. The conduct of Parliament in endeavouring to +swindle the nation into payment of an unjust debt, which, as it +had been incurred in paper, ought to be paid in paper, showed the +necessity for reform. He was for triennial Parliaments and +an extension of the franchise, so that those who by direct +taxation contributed towards the burdens of his country, should +have a voice in electing those by whom they were imposed. +He had been but a short time in Parliament, but he had had +sufficient opportunity of seeing how matters were managed there; +swarms of boyish members came in just at a division, and only +looked where the Marquis of Londonderry or Mr. Tierney stood, to +see on which side of the house they should go.</p> +<p>Mr. G. W. Perrott seconded Mr. Cooper’s amendment, +which, <a name="page67"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +67</span>however, was lost by a very large majority. Mr. +Richards’s resolutions were then all carried, excepting the +last, which called for Parliamentary Reform; but after several +persons, and the High Sheriff amongst others, had begged him to +withdraw it as not pertinent to the objects of the meeting, that +also was carried by acclamation. Petitions were then agreed +to, founded on Mr. Richards’s resolutions, and the meeting +broke up. Lord Foley and Sir Thomas Winnington, who were +unavoidably absent from the meeting, attached their names to the +petitions.</p> +<p>[Lord John Russell, just about this time, wrote a letter to +the farmers of Huntingdonshire, recommending them indeed to seek +for retrenchment and reform, but using all the arguments now in +vogue amongst Protectionists against the importation of corn, and +expressing his fears that Government were going to hand over the +country to political economists.]</p> +<p>1822—<span class="smcap">March</span> 30—A meeting +of the inhabitants of Kidderminster held, George Hallen, Esq., +High Bailiff, in the chair, to petition Parliament for a revision +of the Corn Laws; and it was resolved that the restrictions upon +the importation of corn were inconsistent with sound principles +of national policy, and were proved, by ten years’ +experience, to be injurious to the general interests of the +community; and a petition was therefore adopted for a moderate +import duty on corn; which, in addition to the unavoidable +expenses of importation, would be a fair protection to the +farmer, and would be much preferable to the perplexing state of +the law, as it then stood. They also prayed generally for +the relaxation of all commercial restrictions.</p> +<p>1823—<span class="smcap">April</span> 30—Meeting +in Worcester, William Wall, Esq., in the chair, at which a +petition to Parliament, praying for the abolition of Negro +Slavery in the British colonies, was agreed upon. One was +also forwarded from Evesham at this time.</p> +<p>1828—<span class="smcap">June</span> 20—Public +meeting in the Guildhall, Worcester, with the Mayor in the chair, +at which petitions were agreed to, praying for restrictions on +the importation of foreign gloves.</p> +<p>1828—<span class="smcap">November</span> 7—Public +meeting in the Guildhall, for the purpose of establishing an +Infant School in Worcester. The Mayor (James Fletcher, +Esq.) presided; and there were on the platform the Lord Bishop of +Rochester, Dean of Worcester, Rev. C. Benson, Sir A. Lechmere, +Bart., W. Wall, E. Isaac, J. P. Lavender, Esqs., Dr. Hastings, +Mr. Henry Newman, Mr. Josiah Newman, &c. A considerable +subscription was entered into, and the school was established in +Friar Street, where it still exists.</p> +<p><a name="page68"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +68</span>1828—<span class="smcap">November</span> +27—A meeting at the Guildhall, Worcester, convened by the +“City and County Brunswick Club,” of those “who +were friendly to its political principles,” for the purpose +of increasing the number of its members. The general +public, however, assembled in large numbers, and the opposition, +principally, took possession of the Nisi Prius Court. The +Brunswickers thereupon went into the Crown Court, and left Mr. +Payne, Roman Catholic, to harangue the company in the Nisi Prius +Court upon the unfairness of the proceeding. In the Crown +Court, Major Bund was called to the chair, and read the address +and resolutions of the Brunswick Club, with a view of obtaining +“the concurrence and support of those who might be friendly +to them.” He proceeded, amidst mingled cheers and +hisses, to propose petitions to the King and Parliament, praying +that no concession might be made to Catholics. Mr. Richard +Spooner endeavoured to put an amendment, but was told that he had +no right there unless friendly to the principles of the Brunswick +Club, and a show of hands was taken whether he should be +heard. The chairman having decided that it was against Mr. +Spooner, he retired, and the other resolutions were proposed by +Dr. Beale Cooper, E. Burroughs, Esq., John Phillips, Esq., and +carried without much opposition. On the suggestion of the +Rev. Mr. Havergal, three cheers were given at the close of the +meeting for Protestant ascendancy. Meanwhile, Mr. Spooner, +in the body of the hall, and Mr. Foster, of Evesham, in the Nisi +Prius Court, proposed resolutions to the people unable to get +into the Crown Court, declaring the Brunswick Club to be +unnecessary and uncalled for—and these were carried by +acclamation. The Brunswickers’ petition received +about 700 signatures on the day of meeting.</p> +<p>1830—<span class="smcap">March</span> 2—County +meeting, presided over by John Scott, Esq., High Sheriff, for two +objects—first, to consider the question of erecting a Shire +Hall; and, secondly, to petition Parliament on the subject of +agricultural distress.</p> +<p>As to the first matter, John Williams, Esq., moved a +resolution requesting the magistrates to be satisfied with +alterations and additions to the city Guildhall. This was +seconded by Richard Spooner, Esq. The Rev. Thomas Pearson +proposed, as an amendment, that the county ought to erect courts +suitable to its respectability, but that the measure should be +postponed till the depression of the agricultural interest had +passed over. Dr. B. Cooper seconded this. Sir C. S. +Smith and R. Spooner, Esq., supported the original proposition, +which was carried almost unanimously.</p> +<p><a name="page69"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 69</span>Colonel +Lygon having briefly addressed the meeting, warning them not to +regard Parliamentary Reform as a panacea for their ills, Richard +Spooner, Esq., rose and proposed a petition for the adoption of +the meeting: it complained, in the first place, of extravagant +salaries to placemen, and next of the standard of currency to +which the county had been obliged to return by Mr. Peel’s +act, and prayed for a thorough reform in Parliament as the only +means of setting these things right. Mr. Spooner bitterly +inveighed against the corruption of the Parliament as it then +existed. The petition was seconded by Charles Hanford, +Esq. Sir C. Smith, Major General Marriott, Dr. B. Cooper, +and J. Williams, Esq., agreed with all the statements of the +petition; but did not want reform, and begged Mr. Spooner to put +it into a separate petition by itself. Mr. S. refused, and +the petition was carried almost unanimously. It afterwards +received 2,180 signatures.</p> +<p>1830—<span class="smcap">February</span> +13—Meeting held in Worcester to form an “Agricultural +Society,” and to adopt such other measures as might be +deemed expedient in the present depressed state of the +agricultural interest. Charles Hanford, Esq., was called to +the chair. The Rev. H. Berry moved a petition to +Parliament, praying for inquiry into the causes of distress, for +economy and revision of the poor laws, and for a salutary reform +of Parliament. F. Holland, Esq., of Cropthorne, seconded +the adoption of the petition. Mr. Allen objected to the +“Reform” part of the business, and suggested that a +county meeting should be called. This was agreed to, and a +requisition to the High Sheriff immediately prepared. The +“Agricultural Society,” however, was formed.</p> +<p>1830—<span class="smcap">August</span> 6—County +meeting, to vote addresses of condolence and congratulation to +His Majesty King William IV, on the death of his brother and his +accession to the throne. John Scott, Esq., High Sheriff, in +the chair. The addresses were moved by Lord Deerhurst, and +seconded by Sir Anthony Lechmere, Bart.</p> +<p>1830—<span class="smcap">October</span> +13—Anti-Slavery meeting at the Guildhall; Dr. Hastings in +the chair. The speakers were the Rev. John Davies, the Rev. +Thomas Lowe of Hallow, the Rev. Daniel Wilson, Vicar of +Islington, Major Bund, Mr. Henry Newman, the Hon. T. H. Foley, +M.P., the Rev. Dr. Ross of Kidderminster, the Rev. Henry Hastings +of Martley, the Rev. George Redford, J. W. Isaac, Esq., the Rev. +John Brown, Mr. Stanley Pumphrey, and the Rev. Mr. Bell of +Knightwick. Both the attendance and the speeches were very +respectable. A petition was agreed to, which received 1,826 +signatures. <a name="page70"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +70</span>Petitions were also forwarded to Parliament, about this +time, from every town and many villages of the county.</p> +<p>1831—<span class="smcap">March</span> 17—City of +Worcester Reform meeting, to support the bill just then +introduced into the Commons. The Mayor, H. B. Tymbs, Esq., +refused to call a town’s meeting, but left the Guildhall at +the disposal of the requisitionists. On the motion of R. +Spooner, Esq., William Saunders, Esq., was called to the +chair. Mr. Allen moved, and Mr. Deighton seconded, the +first resolution, expressing the gratification of the meeting in +the measures proposed by His Majesty’s ministers. The +other speakers were Thomas Scott, Esq., Mr. Daniel George, Mr. +Timings, Dr. Corbett, Mr. George Brook, Mr. Greening, Mr. +Spooner, Mr. Gillam, Mr. Wensley, Mr. Williams, and Mr. +Thompson. The hall was crowded, and everything was +unanimous and orderly.</p> +<p>1831—<span class="smcap">March</span> 18—County of +Worcester Reform meeting; Osman Ricardo, Esq., High Sheriff, in +the chair. The meeting was most numerously attended, and +there was no opposition. The speakers in favour of Reform +were Sir Thomas Winnington, Sir Christopher Smith, C. E. Hanford, +Esq., H. E. Strickland, Esq., R. Berkeley, Esq., W. Welch, Esq., +W. Acton, Esq., T. C. Hornyold, Esq., T. T. Vernon, Esq., and H. +Bearcroft, Esq. Lord Lyttelton, after the resolutions had +all been carried, addressed the meeting at considerable length, +expressing his delight at having lived to see the day in which +the principles he had advocated through life were, at last, to +obtain a triumph in the wise and salutary measure of Reform +brought forward by the Government. The Hon. T. H. Foley, +M.P., also spoke in favour of the bill.</p> +<p>1831—<span class="smcap">September</span> +30—Public meeting in the Guildhall, Worcester, of citizens +and others, to petition the House of Lords in favour of the +Reform Bill, which had now reached the Upper House. William +Saunders, Esq., was called to the chair. The principal +speakers were Mr. Merryweather Turner, Mr. Curwood, and Mr. +Acton; the other movers and seconders of resolutions being Thomas +Scott, Esq., Mr. G. Brook, Mr. Smith, Mr. Blackwell, Mr. John +Bishop, and Captain Wilson. The hall was crowded and the +proceedings most enthusiastic.</p> +<p>1831—<span class="smcap">October</span> 14—The +Reform Bill having been rejected by the House of Lords by a +majority of 41, another meeting of the citizens was called in the +Guildhall, Worcester, to vote an address to the King, praying +“that he will continue his present confidential +advisers.” John Curwood, Esq., was in the chair, and +the speakers were much the same as on the previous +occasion. The tone of the meeting <a +name="page71"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 71</span>was tolerably +moderate. The Worcester Political Union and the +parishioners of All Saints and St. Michael met and agreed to +similar addresses.</p> +<p>1831—<span class="smcap">November</span> 5—The +county meeting, for a similar purpose, was held this day, Osman +Ricardo, Esq., High Sheriff, presiding. The meeting was +crowded and enthusiastic. The speakers were Sir Edward +Blount, Captain Winnington, Colonel Davies, T. C. Hornyold, Esq., +Sir Thomas Winnington, Bart., W. Acton, Esq., Lord Lyttelton, Sir +C. S. Smith, C. Hanford, Esq., John Richards, Esq., Richard +Spooner, Esq., A. Skey, Esq., G. Farley, Esq., Colonel Jefferies, +Rev. Mr. Berry, and the Hon. T. H. Foley, M.P. The various +speakers impressed upon the people the necessity of order, and +spoke confidently of obtaining reform shortly. Three cheers +were given at the conclusion of the meeting for Lord Lyttelton, +three groans for the Earl of Coventry, three cheers for the King, +three for Earl Grey, Lord Brougham, and Lord Althorp, and three +groans for the Corporation. Some disturbances took place in +the city, in the evening of this day, which will be found +narrated in another place.</p> +<p>1832—<span class="smcap">May</span> 14—The +Worcester Political Union met on the resignation of ministers, +because the Lords, for a second time, refused to accept the +principle of the Reform Bill. The meeting was held in +Pitchcroft, at five p.m., and the members of the Union went in +procession to the grand stand, headed by flags and a band. +It is said that at least 10,000 persons were present. C. +Hanford, Esq., was called to the chair by the acclamations of the +crowd, who were first addressed by Mr. Arrowsmith; and the other +speakers were Mr. Hornidge, Mr. Raby, Mr. Mansell, Mr. W. +Bristow, Mr. Southan, Mr. Meek, Mr. Roberts, Mr. Payne, Mr. +Bayliss, Mr. Coates, Mr. Barnes, Mr. Stevenson, and the Rev. Mr. +M‘Donnell and Mr. Salt of Birmingham. The resolutions +and petition prayed the House of Commons to refuse the supplies, +and not to pass the Mutiny Bill till the Reform Bill was +passed.</p> +<p>Meetings were held at Kidderminster (Henry Talbot, Esq., +presiding) and at Evesham (William Welch, Esq., in the chair) +with similar intentions and results.</p> +<p>1833—<span class="smcap">April</span> 12—A meeting +held at the Guildhall, Worcester, to petition Parliament on the +subject of Negro Slavery. It was very numerously +attended. Dr. Hastings occupied the chair, and the audience +was addressed by the Rev. John Davies, Rev. George Redford, Rev. +Peter Duncan, Lieutenant Davis, Colonel Davies, M.P., Rev. Thomas +Pearson, Rev. R. Turnbull, Rev. Jacob Stanley, Mr. <a +name="page72"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 72</span>Stanley +Pumphrey, Rev. Thomas Davis, Mr. J. T. Price, Captain +O’Brien, Mr. William Parry, Mr. Thomas Pumphrey, Rev. +Thomas Waters, and Rev. S. Webb.</p> +<p>1833—<span class="smcap">April</span> 18—Meeting +in the Guildhall, Worcester, to petition the legislature for a +repeal of the House and Window Taxes. In the absence of the +Mayor, Mr. John Blackwell was called upon to preside. Mr. +Prosser, architect, Mr. Greening, Mr. Wensley, Mr. Edward Hooper, +Mr. Pemberton, Mr. Scott, Mr. Williams, Mr. J. Davis, Mr. +Wheeler, &c., moved and seconded the resolutions, which +declared that the house duty was oppressive and especially +obnoxious, because of the power vested in the surveyor who levied +it—that the window tax was offensive in principle and in +practice—that they both pressed most heavily on the middle +classes—who had, indeed, to bear everything—and that +they ought to be forthwith abolished.</p> +<p>1834—<span class="smcap">January</span> 20—Meeting +of Dissenters at Kidderminster, Dr. Ross in the chair, to +memorialise Government for the redress of grievances. The +speakers were the Rev. Mr. Fry, Mr. Henry Brinton, Mr. Chadwick, +Rev. Mr. Smith, Rev. Mr. Warren, Rev. Mr. Coles, Mr. W. Brinton, +Mr. Charles Talbot, and Mr. Thomas Hopkins. The memorial +agreed to was directed to Earl Grey, and prayed, first, for +relief from Church Rates; second, the power of celebrating +marriages without conforming to the Church service; third, for +the right of interring their dead in parochial burial grounds by +their own ministers; fourth, the right of admission to the +universities; fifth, for a general system of registering births, +deaths, and marriages, without regard to religious +distinction.</p> +<p>1834—<span class="smcap">February</span> +24—Meeting of laity of the Church of England at +Kidderminster, to express unshaken confidence in the principles +of the Establishment, and to petition Parliament in its +behalf. The meeting was held in the National School-room, +and was numerously attended. Abraham Turner, Esq., was +called to the chair, and the resolutions were proposed by the +High Bailiff, Mr. Samuel Beddoes, Mr. Woodward, churchwarden, Mr. +J. Gough, Mr. Bradley, Mr. George Hooman, Mr. Thomas Hallen, Mr. +Boycot, sen., Mr. Dixon, Mr. Tomkins, and Mr. Harvey. The +resolutions were unanimously adopted. [The Catholic priest, +displeased at some allusion made to his religion at the +Dissenters’ meeting, declared that he thought a union of +Catholics with the Church of England not at all impossible.]</p> +<p>1834—<span class="smcap">April</span> 9—Meeting of +owners and occupiers of land, at the Bell Inn, Worcester, +“to consider the propriety of petitioning Parliament on the +ruinous state of the agricultural interest.” The <a +name="page73"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 73</span>room was very +much crowded; and the Earl of Coventry was called to the +chair. Sir Anthony Lechmere, Bart., moved the adoption of a +petition which attributed the greatest part of agricultural +distress to the alteration of the currency, by the Bill of 1819, +and therefore prayed that Parliament would institute an immediate +inquiry into the effects of that measure. The removal of +“the present, though inadequate” protection of the +Corn Laws, would certainly accelerate their destruction, which +was daily drawing nearer by reason of the enormous increase of +their various burdens. Earl Beauchamp seconded the adoption +of the petition. Major Bund moved that that part of the +petition which related to the currency should be left out, for +that was a subject into which if they once got they would never +be able to get out again. This called forth a long speech +from Mr. Spooner, “going into” the currency question +very fully; and the result was that the amendment was withdrawn, +and the petition carried unanimously. The petition had +3,000 signatures attached to it. Mr. T. Attwood, when it +was presented to the House by Colonel Lygon, “hailed it +with satisfaction, because it was the first agricultural petition +which traced the distress to its true source—the Currency +Bill of 1819.”</p> +<p>1835—<span class="smcap">July</span> 27—A meeting +at the Crown Inn, Worcester, to consider the ninetieth clause of +the Municipal Reform Bill, which, it was feared, would prevent +the new town councils from leasing the borough property on +anything like the same terms as the old corporations had +done. John Williams, Esq., was called to the chair. +Mr. John Hill proposed, and Mr. Francis Hooper seconded, a motion +suggesting that a committee should be appointed to inquire in the +proper quarter what was the precise intent of the clause. +Mr. Waters moved, and Mr. G. Allies seconded, as an amendment, +“that this meeting, not believing that property, held under +corporation leases, will be depreciated in value, are unwilling +to address the legislature on the subject.” Mr. +Waters’s motion was carried. The Mayor wished only +holders of corporation property to vote, but other parties, who +had thronged the room, insisted on their right to express an +opinion; and the result was regarded as a test of public opinion +in the city, with regard to the bill.</p> +<p>1835—<span class="smcap">August</span> 12—Meeting +in the Corn Market, Worcester, to address His Majesty on the +subject of the Municipal Reform Bill, requesting him to take +measures to ensure its passing the House of Lords without +mutilation. The Mayor, Mr. Leonard, had refused to grant +the use of the hall. C. H. Hebb, Esq., was called to the +chair; <a name="page74"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 74</span>and +the speakers were Mr. Carey, Mr. Munn, Mr. Sanders, Mr. C. A. +Helm, Mr. Greening, Mr. E. L. Williams, and Mr. B. Stokes. +A petition to the Commons was also agreed to at this meeting, +begging them not to consent to any alteration of the +measure. It received 6,221 signatures.</p> +<p>1835—<span class="smcap">September</span> +7—Protestant meeting, in the Guildhall, Worcester, the +alleged object being to disseminate a knowledge of the principles +and practices of Popery, and to promote the great principles of +Protestantism as maintained by the Established Church. The +assembly room was well filled. Richard Spooner, Esq., was +called to the chair. The Rev. Mortimer O‘Sullivan was +the chief speaker; the others being Sir Matthew Blakeston, Bart., +Rev. C. Benson, Colonel Taylor, Rev. George Turberville, Rev. +John Cawood, John Brown, Esq., Lea Castle, Dr. B. Cooper, C. +Hawkins, Esq., Samuel Kent, Esq., Rev. W. Chesshyre. A +“Protestant Association” was determined on, but the +meeting resolved itself, in reality, into an opposition to the +appropriating clauses of the Irish Church Bill, then before the +Lords. This meeting was the occasion of a correspondence +between Mr. Hanford and Mr. Spooner, and a whole host of general +letters in the newspapers. The Rev. T. M‘Donnell came +from Birmingham on purpose to preach about it at the Catholic +Chapel.</p> +<p>1835—<span class="smcap">September</span> +26—Meeting of the Worcestershire Agricultural Society, at +the Crown Inn, Worcester, numerously attended. Sir A. +Lechmere, Bart., the president for the year, in the chair. +It was first resolved that agriculturists had waited long enough +for the amelioration of their condition, which, according to a +committee of the Commons in 1833, was to result from “the +cautious forbearance rather than the active interposition of +Parliament.” That it was necessary the agricultural +body should be roused into energy to prevent the “total +ruin impending over both landlords and tenants.” That +Government were remitting all sorts of taxes to the manufacturing +interests, and none to them—and, then, that it was highly +desirable that the question of the currency should be brought +under the serious attention of Parliament; as the sudden +reduction of the amount of circulating medium had been one of the +chief causes of the ruinous prices of agricultural produce. +It would also be a great relief to the farmer to be allowed to +malt grain, the produce of his own farm, duty free. The +Marquis of Chandos was accepted as the farmers’ champion; +and he was to be urged to bring these matters before Parliament, +these being the only remedies suggested.</p> +<p>1835—<span class="smcap">October</span> 17—Meeting +of the agriculturists of the county at <a name="page75"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 75</span>the Crown Inn, Broad Street, to +consider the distress and ruinous condition of the agricultural +interest. Sir A. Lechmere, Bart., was called to the +chair. Mr. Spooner moved an address to the King, setting +forth the distress of the farmers, and suggesting that there +ought to be an alteration of the standard of value to relieve +them—they ought, also, to be allowed to malt their own +grain. Mr. Robinson, M.P., Captain Winnington, M.P., and +Mr. Pakington, M.P., were very averse to mixing up the currency +question with agricultural distress, and had a long argument with +Mr. Spooner thereon. Mr. Robinson had voted for repeal of +the malt tax, but would never consent to one set of men only +being exempt from the excise laws. The address, as it +originally stood, was carried by a large majority.</p> +<p>1836—<span class="smcap">May</span> +30—Town’s meeting at the Guildhall, Worcester, to +agree to an address to His Majesty’s ministers, and a +petition to the House of Commons, in favour of the Irish +Municipal Reform Bill. The Mayor, C. H. Hebb, Esq., was in +the chair; and there was a numerous gathering of citizens. +Mr. Acton, Mr. Hanford, Mr. Alderman Gibbs, Mr. Sheriff Allies, +Mr. Alderman R. Evans, Mr. Hardy, Mr. Carey, Mr. Parry, Mr. +Greening, Mr. Chapman, and Mr. Southan were the speakers. +The proceedings were unanimous.</p> +<p>1836—<span class="smcap">June</span> 30—Meeting in +the Guildhall, Worcester, to form a “Worcester Reform +Association;” the principal object alleged being to look +after the registration. Mr. Robert Hardy was called to the +chair, and the hall was crowded with operatives and others. +The meeting was addressed by Captain Corles, Mr. F. T. Elgie, +Colonel Davies, and others. G. Munn, Esq., was elected +president of the new association.</p> +<p>1837—<span class="smcap">January</span> 26—Meeting +in Worcester Town Hall, to petition for Vote by Ballot. The +meeting had, first of all, been called for the Thursday previous, +but the requisitionists having determined to postpone it, the +Mayor left the hall. A number of the Conservative party +were left waiting in the Crown Court, and not having been +properly apprised of the adjournment, they, after a little +interval, called Major Bund to the chair. Mr. Gutch and Mr. +F. Hooper moved a petition condemning the ballot, which was +declared to “lead to the corruption of public morals by the +general practice of treachery and hypocrisy.” This +was carried by a large majority. Mr. Gutch and Mr. Lingham +then moved that “the conduct of the Mayor and the +requisitionists in not attending the meeting, and not offering +any explanation of their absence, was an insult to the citizens +of Worcester, and highly censurable;” and this also met +with the approval of the <a name="page76"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 76</span>parties present. These +proceedings of course only made the original promoters of the +meeting more in earnest, and the hall was this day crowded by a +company entirely unanimous in favour of the ballot. The +Mayor was in the chair; and the various resolutions and petitions +were moved by Mr. F. T. Elgie, Secretary to the Worcester Reform +Association, W. Acton, Esq., Mr. Hardy, Mr. Arrowsmith, Mr. John +Hill, Town Clerk, Mr. Raby, C. Hanford, Esq., Mr. Alderman +Corles, Mr. John Hall, &c. Mr. Waters asserted that he +had told Major Bund, half an hour before the meeting of the +previous week, that it was postponed. The ballot was +declared, in the petition adopted by the meeting, to be +“essentially necessary to the purity of +election.”</p> +<p>1837—<span class="smcap">March</span> 30—Meeting +of the clergy of the diocese, at the Chapter House, to petition +against the Church Rate Bill, then lately introduced by +ministers. The Venerable Archdeacon Onslow was in the +chair. The Rev. John Peel, Rev. T. Baker, Rev. John Foley, +Rev. J. R. Gray, Rev. C. Benson, Rev. R. B. Hone, Rev. A. B. +Lechmere, Rev. H. Hastings, Rev. E. W. Wakeman, and the Hon. and +Rev. J. S. Cocks moved or seconded the resolutions. The +tone of the speeches generally was moderate; but the Tithe +Commutation Act was included in the animadversions of the +speakers, as well as the bill for abolishing church rates.</p> +<p>1837—<span class="smcap">May</span> 5—Public +meeting at Worcester, to consider the best means of alleviating +the distress existing amongst the operative glovers. The +Mayor, C. H. Hebb, Esq., was in the chair. John Dent, Esq., +Dr. Hastings, Mr. S. Pumphrey, E. H. Lechmere, Esq., John +Williams, Esq., W. Wall, Esq., Mr. Tymbs, Mr. Lavender, R. +Berkeley, Esq., and Mr. T. Newman moved the various +resolutions. The distress was not traced further, as to its +causes, than the decay of trade and want of orders. Many +hundreds of families had applied for relief. It was +determined that a general subscription should be entered into, +and a committee of master glovers was appointed to scrutinise the +applications for charity. About £1,000 was collected, +including £100 from the Earl of Coventry, £50 from +Earl Beauchamp, and £30 from a performance at the Theatre, +given for this purpose by Mr. Bennett.</p> +<p>1837—<span class="smcap">July</span> +18—Anti-Slavery meeting at the Guildhall, to hear an +address from Mr. Joseph Sturge, on the apprenticeship +system. Mr. Alderman R. Evans was called to the +chair. Dr. Redford, Mr. Stanley Pumphrey, Rev. Thomas +Waters, and Mr. Brewin moved resolutions declaring for total +abolition; and pledging the meeting only to support such +candidates, at the next election, as would vote <a +name="page77"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 77</span>for such a +step. Mr. Robinson and Colonel Davies gave the meeting +satisfactory assurances. Mr. Bailey was not present, but +Mr. Gutch read a note from him.</p> +<p>1837—<span class="smcap">August</span> 10—County +meeting held at the Guildhall, Worcester, to congratulate Queen +Victoria on her ascension to the throne, and to condole with the +Queen Dowager on her bereavement. The High Sheriff, W. +Roberts, Esq., was in the chair. The Earl of Coventry moved +the addresses; and the Bishop of Worcester seconded the one, and +the Lord Lieutenant, Lord Foley, the other. Earl Coventry +was requested to present them.</p> +<p>1837—<span class="smcap">December</span> +20—Meeting of the clergy in the Chapter House, the Ven. +Archdeacon Onslow in the chair. Addresses to Her Majesty, a +memorial to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and petitions to +Parliament were adopted against certain clauses in the Marriage +and Registration Acts, against the Tithe Commutation Act, and +against the constitution of the Ecclesiastical Commission. +The Revs. T. Baker, C. Dunne, Hon. J. S. Cocks, A. B. Lechmere, +G. W. Kershaw, C. Benson, R. B. Hone, J. F. Turner, W. R. Holden, +and W. A. Pruen, moved or seconded the resolutions.</p> +<p>1837—<span class="smcap">December</span> +30—Anti-Slavery meeting in the Town Hall, to petition for +the immediate abolition of the apprenticeship system. Mr. +Stanley Pumphrey was in the chair. The speakers +were—Dr. Redford, Mr. Bowly, Mr. George Thompson (London), +Mr. S. Burden, Mr. Alderman R. Evans, Mr. Ledbrook, and Mr. B. +Stokes.</p> +<p>1838—<span class="smcap">February</span> 6—Common +hall at Worcester, to petition for the ballot. Mr. Alderman +Hebb took the chair. The movers of the resolutions +were—William Acton, Esq., Mr. Arrowsmith, Mr. Elgie, Mr. +James Wall, Charles Hanford, Esq., Mr. Greening, Mr. Edward +Hooper, and Mr. George. A Mr. Davis, a native of Worcester, +but who had resided a considerable time in the United States, +said the ballot had not worked well there. Colonel Davies +and Mr. Turton, the expectant candidate, afterwards addressed the +meeting.</p> +<p>1838—<span class="smcap">September</span> +11—Meeting of citizens at the Guildhall, at which it was +resolved that an act should be applied for to obtain powers for +the better regulation and repair of the streets and highways +within the borough. Mr. Pierpoint proposed that the powers +under such act should rest in the City Commissioners, and Mr. +Deighton moved, as an amendment, that they should lie in the +Council. Mr. Pierpoint’s resolution was carried; and, +further, that the qualification of a Commissioner should be +reduced to an <a name="page78"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +78</span>income of £20 a year. In consequence of this +decision the Council refused to proceed further with the +bill.</p> +<p>1839—<span class="smcap">February</span> 23—County +meeting, in the New Shire Hall, on the Corn Law question. +The High Sheriff, Mr. Russell, presided. The outer hall was +completely filled, and the minority of Corn Law repealers were +very noisy. The first resolution, proposed by the Earl of +Coventry, and seconded by William Acton, Esq., was as follows: +“That taking into consideration the natural and artificial +causes which produce variations in the price of corn, and which +experience has proved it is beyond the power of human legislation +at all times to obviate or control, and looking at the slight +changes in prices which have occurred since the last corn act was +passed, which, while it regulates the duties on importation, +affords protection to the home grower—this meeting is of +opinion that it would be unjust and impolitic to make any +alteration in the principle of the present law.” The +remaining resolutions were merely routine, and were moved or +seconded by Sir Offley Wakeman, Bart., O. Mason, Esq., Hon. W. +Coventry, George Allies, Esq. (Mayor of Worcester), John Freeman, +Esq., Sir A. Lechmere, Bart., Earl Beauchamp, and General Lygon, +M.P. They were all carried by very large majorities. +Towards the close of the meeting the uproar was very +considerable, and at last, on the interposition of the Earl of +Coventry, Mr. F. H. Coates, though not a freeholder, was allowed +to speak in favour of a repeal of the Corn Laws, and was heard +with considerable attention.</p> +<p>1839—<span class="smcap">April</span> 6—Large +meeting of the clergy and laity of the Church of England held in +the Crown Court, New Shire Hall, to form a Diocesan Board of +Education in connection with the National School Society. +The Lord Bishop took the chair, and the Rev. Donald Cameron read +a report of a committee which had been previously appointed on +the subject. Archdeacon Spooner, Sir John Mordaunt, Bart., +M.P., Prebendary Digby, Mr. Pakington, and Canon Benson were the +principal speakers, and moved resolutions pledging the meeting to +form such a society as was suggested, and vigorously to support +it. A training school for teachers was especially +mentioned. Handsome donations were given on the spot.</p> +<p>1840—<span class="smcap">March</span> 27—The first +Anti-Corn-Law meeting held in Worcester. It was a gathering +of operatives, and took place in the Town Hall. Mr. John +Richardson, ironfounder, was called to the chair; and the +speakers were Mr. Robert Hardy, Mr. Thomas Waters, and several +operatives, by whom indeed the meeting was convened. <a +name="page79"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 79</span>A petition, +praying for a total repeal of the Corn Laws, was unanimously +agreed to. The meeting was held with the view of +strengthening Mr. Villiers’s hands in an approaching +debate, and the number of signatures attached to the petition was +3,326.</p> +<p>1840—<span class="smcap">June</span> 29—County +meeting, with the High Sheriff in the chair, to address the Queen +on her escape from the attempt at assassination by Oxford. +The resolutions were moved by Sir A. Lechmere, Mr. Pakington, +Lord Southwell, Colonel Davies, Dr. B. Cooper, and the Hon. and +Rev. W. W. C. Talbot.</p> +<p>1841—<span class="smcap">November</span> 15—Public +meeting in the Guildhall, Worcester, to vote congratulatory +addresses to the Queen and Prince Albert on the birth of the +Prince of Wales. The Mayor, Edward Evans, Esq., presided; +and the resolutions were moved by the Lord Bishop of Worcester, +John Williams, Esq., Sir A. Lechmere, Bart., Captain Thomas, +&c. A subscription was entered into to supply the poor +of the city with coal at a reduced rate, and this was called the +Prince of Wales’s Coal Fund—£1,021 were raised +by this means.</p> +<p>1842—<span class="smcap">February</span> 23—A +common hall convened at Worcester, to consider the distress of +the country. The requisition had been taken round for +signature by Mr. J. D. Stevenson, and a great number of persons +had affixed their names. The hall was densely filled with +operatives, and the proceedings were commenced by Mr. R. Hardy, +who moved a resolution declaring that the distress of the country +could be traced to “the Corn Laws and other restrictions on +the trade and liberties of the people.” This was +seconded by Mr. Edward Webb, and every hand was held up in its +favour, save one. Mr. Alderman Corles proposed another +resolution, declaring that the Corn Laws never would have been +enacted if the people had been fully represented in Parliament, +and that all bad statutes had arisen from class +legislation. This was seconded by Mr. Alderman Padmore, and +carried unanimously. Mr. Elgie moved the third +resolution—that the present Parliament was not the +people’s Parliament, and that it was necessary for the +operative and middle classes to unite for the overthrow of +monopolies. This was seconded by Mr. Fisher; but a +Chartist, named Davie, moved an amendment—“that the +principles of the People’s Charter should be embodied in +the petition;” this was seconded by an operative named +Williams, and two Birmingham Chartists, named Young and Mason, +wanted to speak to the amendment; but the Mayor would not let +them, because this was a “town’s meeting” and +they were strangers. This caused great uproar; so he put +the matter to the meeting, and requested those who were of <a +name="page80"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 80</span>opinion that +the people of Worcester could manage their own affairs, to go to +the right—and those who thought they were not competent so +to do, to the left. This but increased the disturbance, and +the Mayor put the question in the usual method; and, whether by +mistake or not, the great majority declared that strangers should +not be heard. The Mayor then put the amendment in favour of +the Charter, and two-thirds of the meeting held up their hands in +its favour. Davie then moved the adoption of the +“National Petition,” praying for universal suffrage, +repeal of the union, &c. &c. &c. The Mayor +objected that this was not put as the petition of the people of +Worcester. Dr. Redford made an attempt to convince the +operatives of their mistake in creating disunion, but after a few +sentences he gave up the task. The Mayor declined to put +the National Petition; and after asking whether any gentleman had +anything else to propose, he declared the meeting dissolved, and +left the hustings. The Chartists remained in the hall, and +having moved Mr. Stevenson into the chair, Mason and Whyte made +long orations, especially abusive of the Mayor, and the National +Petition was carried by acclamation.</p> +<p>1842—<span class="smcap">April</span> 16—A +numerous meeting of the agriculturists, held at the Crown Inn, to +consider Sir Robert Peel’s New Tariff. P. V. Onslow, +Esq., in the chair. Mr. Curtler, Mr. Williams, and others +thought they had not sufficient information before them to go +upon, and expressed confidence in Sir Robert Peel. Mr. +Woodward moved a series of resolutions, stating that the proposed +alterations would seriously injure the agriculturists, and they +could have no confidence in any ministry who proposed them. +Mr. Benson moved a resolution somewhat milder, but deprecating +the reduction of duty on cattle, &c., and this was carried by +a considerable majority.</p> +<p>1843—<span class="smcap">March</span> 13—Public +meeting in the Guildhall, Worcester, John Lilly, Esq., Mayor, +presiding, to petition against the tenth article of the Ashburton +treaty; which, in providing for the extradition of criminals from +Canada to the United States, was thought likely to interfere with +the liberty of escaped slaves. The resolutions were moved +by Dr. Redford, Alderman E. Evans, Rev. Mr. Holden, Rev. J. +Earnshaw, Mr. G. Grove, Rev. C. Lee, &c.; and Sir Thomas +Wilde was requested to present the petition.</p> +<p>1844—<span class="smcap">February</span> 27—Public +meeting at the Bell Hotel, to form an Agricultural Protection +Society for Worcestershire. P. V. Onslow, Esq., took the +chair; and the resolutions were moved by Mr. F. Woodward, Sir +Anthony Lechmere, Dr. B. Cooper, Mr. Henry <a +name="page81"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 81</span>Hudson, J. S. +Pakington, Esq., M.P., Mr. Onley, Mr. Curtler, Mr. James Taylor, +and the Hon. and Rev. W. W. C. Talbot. The meeting was +attended by about 300 farmers and landowners, and about +£550 were subscribed on the spot.</p> +<p>1844—<span class="smcap">October</span> 4—A +meeting of the medical profession of the county, convened in the +board room of the Worcester Infirmary, for the purpose of +considering the provisions of the Medical Bill introduced in the +late session of Parliament by Sir James Graham. Dr. Malden +was called to the chair; and Mr. Pierpoint, and Mr. Davis of +Pershore, moved a resolution approving of the bill in +general. Dr. Hastings, and Mr. A. Martin of Evesham, moved +a second, declaring that the bill was defective in not containing +a clause for the punishment of unqualified and unregistered +practitioners, and that it was the duty of every medical man to +oppose the bill unless such a clause were inserted. A +petition was agreed to, praying for the insertion of such a +protective clause.</p> +<p>1844—<span class="smcap">November</span> 28—A +town’s meeting called at Droitwich, to consider the +proposal of the Patent Salt Company to carry their brine down to +Camp by means of pipes, and convert it into salt there, so as to +save the great expense of tonnage on the Droitwich Canal. +The Mayor, T. G. Smith, Esq., presided. The meeting +unanimously agreed to petition against the proposed measure, as +one which would be utterly destructive of the trade of the +borough. Mr. Curtler, in moving the second resolution, went +at length into the whole matter, attributing the Salt +Company’s want of success to their own mismanagement; and +he blamed them for seeking to monopolise the whole trade in their +own hands. At the same time he admitted that they had a +right to complain of the heavy charges imposed by the Canal +Company, who fancied themselves bound by the guarantee given them +by the Worcester and Birmingham Canal Company to give them +£8 interest per share, to keep the tolls up to the +<i>maximum</i> of 3d. a mile per ton. But he said the Canal +Company were about to take steps to alter this state of +things. Mr. Pakington, who attended the meeting to learn +the wishes of his constituents, said he should give the Salt +Company’s measure his most strenuous opposition in +Parliament. The scheme was shortly afterwards +abandoned.</p> +<p>1844—<span class="smcap">December</span> 16—A +public meeting held in the Guildhall, Worcester, to consider what +steps should be taken for the relief of the poor in the city +during the winter, which had commenced with much severity. +The Bishop of Rochester took the chair; and it was unanimously +resolved that the balance left from the Prince of Wales’s +<a name="page82"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 82</span>Coal Fund +should be increased by a general subscription, and another +distribution of coal, blankets, &c., take place. Mr. +Mence suggested that the funds should be distributed by the +Visiting Society; but it was discovered that this had recently +become entirely a Church of England society, and Dr. Redford +protested against any general fund therefore being committed to +its charge. A committee, upon which all the Dissenting +ministers of the city were placed, was appointed by the meeting +for the distribution of the funds. The subscriptions +amounted to £702. 17s.</p> +<p>1845—<span class="smcap">December</span> 27—The +Agricultural Protection Society held a general meeting at the +Crown Hotel, Broad Street, Worcester; P. V. Onslow, Esq., in the +chair. The speakers were Mr. F. Woodward, Mr. Lucy, J. S. +Pakington, Esq., M.P., Mr. Curtler, the Hon. W. Coventry, Mr. +Gutch, and Mr. Whittaker. The proximate causes for calling +the meeting were—Lord John Russell’s letter avowing +himself a total repealer, and the certainty that some measures +affecting the agricultural interest would be brought forward by +Sir Robert Peel in the ensuing session. Mr. Curtler avowed +that he believed Sir Robert Peel to be an honest statesman, who +had no motive for injuring the agricultural interest, and never +would think of doing such a thing. The resolutions pledged +the Society to carry out “a well-digested mode of +action” against repeal of the Corn Laws.</p> +<p>1846—<span class="smcap">April</span> 29—A +town’s meeting held at Worcester, to consider the New Gas +Company’s Bill; William Lewis, Esq., Mayor, +presiding. There had been many complaints of the bad +quality of the gas supplied by the Old Company, and murmurs were +heard about the price charged; in consequence of which, some +parties thought it would answer their purpose to project a new +set of works. The Old Company thereupon reduced the price +from 8s. 4d. to 7s. 6d. per 1,000 feet; but this was only taken +as an admission that the price ought to have been less before, +and the New Company’s project went on and a great deal of +ill feeling was excited—the popular cry, of course, being +raised against that which had been a good while established, and +was supposed to have been a source of considerable emolument to +the parties engaged. That it had not been so to the +shareholders was proved, but it was thereupon retorted that the +management had been bad, and that the lessee of the works had +made a fortune by them, &c. Negociations were at one +time opened for the sale of the Old Company’s works to the +New, but these fell through; and the New Company being now about +to bring their bill before Parliament, it was necessary <a +name="page83"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 83</span>that they +should have the approval of the town to back them. Mr. +Pierpoint, at this meeting, elaborately stated the case on the +New Company’s behalf; and Mr. H. B. Tymbs (chairman of the +Old Company), Mr. Jones (their new manager), Mr. Francis Hooper, +Mr. John Hill, and Mr. Bedford spoke for the Old Company. A +petition in favour of the New Company’s bill, proposed by +Mr. W. D. Lingham and Mr. Barnett, was carried by a majority of +three to one.</p> +<p>1847—<span class="smcap">May</span> 24—The Mayor +of Worcester, Mr. Elgie, convened a public meeting in the +Guildhall, for the purpose of considering the steps that should +be taken to relieve the poor of the city, who were suffering much +from the then high price of provisions. The meeting was +most respectably attended by men of all parties, and more than +£300 was at once collected for the purpose of furnishing +the poor with provisions at a cheap rate.</p> +<p>1848—<span class="smcap">February</span> 26—Public +meeting of the inhabitants of Worcester, to petition against the +Government proposal to increase the Income Tax per centage. +The Mayor, E. Webb, Esq., presided, and Mr. Gutch, Mr. Alderman +Elgie, Mr. F. H. Needham, Mr. Manning, Mr. Arrowsmith, Mr. John +Hood, Mr. Pierpoint, and Mr. Bedford moved or seconded the +resolutions. F. Rufford, Esq., M.P., also spoke. In +consequence of demonstrations like these throughout the country, +the Government proposition to levy a three per cent. permanent +income tax was abandoned.</p> +<p>1848—<span class="smcap">June</span> 16—A +town’s meeting, held at Worcester, to petition in favour of +“further reform.” The Mayor, Mr. Webb, +presided; and Mr. R. Hardy and Mr. J. Wall moved the first +resolution—declaring that the present representation of the +people in the House of Commons was partial, &c.; and this was +carried almost unanimously. Mr. Arrowsmith and Mr. Everett +moved a petition in favour of Mr. Hume’s motion for +extension of the suffrage to all householders, triennial +Parliaments, ballot, and equal apportionment of members to the +population. John Dinmore Stephenson moved a petition for +the whole “six points” in amendment, but after twice +calling for a show of hands the Mayor declared the amendment to +be lost, though it was a very near thing. The other +resolutions were moved by the Rev. William Crowe, Mr. Alderman E. +Evans, &c., and carried without opposition.</p> +<p>1849—<span class="smcap">May</span> 5—County +meeting, held at the Shire Hall, Worcester, to consider the +distress under which the agricultural body were then said to be +labouring. The High Sheriff, John Dent, Esq., occupied the +chair; and the meeting was most numerously and <a +name="page84"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 84</span>respectably +attended. James Taylor, Esq., of Moseley Hall, moved the +first resolution—expressing alarm at the depression under +which both the agricultural and manufacturing interests of the +county were suffering. Mr. Joseph Stallard seconded this +resolution. Mr. James Baldwin, paper manufacturer, of +Birmingham, proposed an amendment, which, while it admitted the +depression in trade and agriculture, suggested a remedy in the +reduction of taxation, and chiefly from a repeal of the malt and +hop duties. Mr. George Baker seconded the resolution. +Mr. Laslett, addressed the meeting from the gallery, declaring +that there was no possibility of any return to Protection, and +that a reduction of rent was what was wanted. Mr. Laslett +concluded his observations by saying, “You should have sent +men to Parliament who would have taken care of your interest and +not have sold you,” at which, as through his speech, there +was great uproar. The resolution was carried with +comparative few dissentients. Mr. Curtler then +moved—“That the free trade measures of 1846 are +partial and unjust in their operation—are inconsistent with +the burdened interests of this country—must render abortive +the utmost efforts of British industry to struggle against the +unequal competition to which it is exposed, and which (if the +present free trade measures are continued) will involve all +classes in one common ruin.” This resolution he +supported in a long and clever speech, endeavouring to show the +preponderance of the agricultural over the manufacturing +interest, and inveighing against Sir Robert Peel for his +treachery to the agricultural party. The loss to the +farmer, by the removal of Protection, he declared could not be +made up to him, even if he was set free from paying any rent at +all. The Rev. John Pearson seconded the resolution, +declaring that, though he had been accustomed to take what was +called a liberal line of politics, he was compelled to advocate +Protection from a conviction that the farmers had not been fairly +dealt with. The other resolutions were moved or seconded by +Mr. J. R. Cookes, Mr. Gardiner, Mr. Francis Woodward, and Mr. +Henry Hudson, and were all carried unanimously. Sir John +Pakington afterwards addressed the meeting at great length, +saying that, though he had voted against the repeal of the corn +laws, and still continued to think that a very dangerous measure, +yet free trade must have a trial. He did not think things +quite so gloomy as his friends had represented them to +be—prices had been lower even in days of Protection, and he +was not inclined to increase the panic which prevailed. He +<a name="page85"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +85</span>recommended that they should demand from Parliament a +redistribution of local taxation. Mr. Whittaker, amidst +great cheering, begged the meeting not to be led away by the +speech they had just heard; they must stick to Protection and not +seek after a score of other things. General Lygon, M.P., +and Captain Rushout, M.P., declared their firm adhesion to the +principles of Protection.</p> +<p>1850—<span class="smcap">January</span> 19—A +county meeting, in compliance with a requisition most numerously +signed by agriculturists, was held in the Crown Court of the +Shire Hall, in favour of Protection. John Dent, Esq., the +High Sheriff, being indisposed, the chair was taken by the Hon. +W. Coventry. The first resolution, declaring that the +abandonment of Protection had involved large classes of Her +Majesty’s subjects, as well manufacturing as agricultural, +in distress and ruin, was moved by James Taylor, Esq., and +seconded by T. G. Curtler, Esq.; but before Mr. Curtler could +conclude, such vehement cries, for adjournment into the outer +hall, arose, that the proceedings were entirely +interrupted. The chairman declined to adjourn, and the free +traders, in the principal gallery, maintained such a continual +uproar that all the rest of the proceedings passed in dumb +show. The other resolutions and petitions were moved or +seconded by Mr. Cookes, Mr. Henry Hudson, the Rev. John Pearson, +Mr. Best, M.P., the Hon. and Rev. W. W. C. Talbot, Mr. F. +Holland, &c., and were carried by large majorities in the +midst of great noise.</p> +<p>1850—<span class="smcap">November</span> 16—A +meeting of the clergy of the Archdeaconry of Worcester, attended +by about 200 of the clerical body, held in the Chapter House, to +protest against the Papal Aggression. The Venerable +Archdeacon Hone presided, and opened the meeting in a temperate +speech. Canon Wood moved an address to Her Majesty, +declaring that the Bishop of Rome had invaded the Queen’s +prerogative by appointing archbishops and bishops here with +titles taken from English cities and towns—assuring Her +Majesty of their attachment to the principles of the +Reformation—and, also, that they would support her in the +discharge of the solemn obligations of her coronation oath to +maintain the Protestant religion and the rights of the bishops +and clergy. The Rev. R. Seymour, rector of Kinwarton, +seconded the address, declaring that the Bishop of Rome had been +guilty of a schismatical act, and had invaded the unity of the +Church by appointing bishops in this country. The Rev. J. +F. Mackarness, vicar of Tardebigg, protested at length against +the meeting adopting this course. They would appear to be +asking the help of the civil <a name="page86"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 86</span>power against the intrusion of Rome, +and that would be most unwise. The Church of England was +already too much open to the taunt of being a law-made church; +and the only true way of conserving and extending their influence +as clergy was by earnestness of faith and devotion in +labour. The address was, however, carried without other +dissent. The remaining resolutions were moved by the Rev. +H. J. Hastings, the Hon. and Rev. W. H. Lyttelton, the Rev. H. +Woodgate, and the Hon. and Rev. W. W. C. Talbot.</p> +<p>1850—<span class="smcap">November</span> 18—A city +meeting held in the Guildhall, Worcester, on the subject of the +Papal Aggression; the Mayor, Mr. Hughes, in the chair. Sir +E. H. Lechmere and Mr. Gutch moved the first resolution, which +declared that the Pope’s appointment of bishops in England, +with territorial titles, was “an act of aggression justly +calling forth the indignation of every true Protestant, and ought +to be met with the most determined resistance which our laws will +sanction.” John Dent, Esq., then moved an address to +Her Majesty; but the meeting was fast falling into confusion, and +was indulging in speculations about the use and propriety of +bishops in general, when Dr. Redford came forward to second the +address, and by his speech procured the unanimous carrying of the +address. The other resolutions were proposed by F. Hooper, +Esq., Henry Aldrich, Esq., H. B. Tymbs, Esq., and W. Dent, +Esq. The parishioners of St. John’s parish also +protested against the aggression, in vestry meeting.</p> +<p>1850—<span class="smcap">December</span> 14—The +county meeting on the subject of the Papal Aggression was held +this day in the Shire Hall, having been convened by the High +Sheriff in compliance with a requisition signed by 700 +persons. Mr. Watkins, the High Sheriff, presided. +James Taylor, Esq., and the Hon. Gen. Lygon, M.P., moved an +address to Her Majesty, declaring the measures of the Pope to be +“an assumption of authority over this kingdom—an +invasion of Her Majesty’s supremacy—an attack on the +liberties and independence of the Church of England—and an +important advance in the attempt to reimpose the doctrines and +jurisdiction of the Roman Church upon the people of this +country.” Sir Edward Blount, Bart., and Robert +Berkeley, jun., Esq., moved a counter address, declaring that the +appointment of a Roman Catholic Hierarchy did not require any +legislative interference, and deprecating all restrictions upon +the free enjoyment, by every religious body, of its spiritual +order and discipline. The meeting was addressed by Mr. +Spooner, M.P., the Rev. J. Walsh, Wesleyan minister, and the Rev. +— Alexander, Baptist minister from Upton, who spoke in +favour of the original address, and C. Hanford, <a +name="page87"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 87</span>jun., Esq., +for the amendment. The original address was carried by a +very large majority. Lord Lyttelton and Colonel Bund moved +an address to the Bishop of the Diocese; and on the motion of T. +G. Curtler, Esq., seconded by the Rev. J. Pearson, an addition +was made to this address, thanking the Bishop for having rebuked +and discouraged Tractarian principles and practices in this +diocese. Mr. Knight, M.P., and the Rev. G. Hodgson, moved +another formal resolution, and the thanks to the High Sheriff +were proposed by Lord Southwell and seconded by Sir O. P. +Wakeman. Meetings on this subject were held about the same +time at Stourport—T. S. Lea, Esq., presiding; at Malvern, +where T. C. Hornyold, Esq., and the Hon. Mr. Clifford, moved an +amendment; at Bromsgrove, Upton, Droitwich, Evesham, Bewdley, +Kidderminster (the Mayor presiding), Stourbridge, Dudley, +&c.</p> +<h2><a name="page88"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 88</span>THE +COUNTY MAGISTRACY.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> conduct of the general affairs +of the counties of England, such as their police, the regulation +of the gaols and lunatic asylums, the preservation of the county +bridges, the levying of rates, &c., is intrusted to the +unpaid magistracy, nominated by the Lords Lieutenant, and +appointed by the Lord Chancellor; and at a time when an agitation +is afoot to change the character of the body by whom these +important matters are transacted, some consideration of the +manner in which they have discharged their high trust may be +opportune and useful. It is now proposed that a certain +number of persons, chosen by the Boards of Guardians of the +different Poor Law Unions, should be associated with a chosen +body of the magistracy to manage all the county business. +The principle sought to be carried out is one now generally +acknowledged as a just one—viz., that “representation +should be coordinate with taxation;” but it is worth +consideration whether anything will be gained by such a change of +system as is suggested, whether the interests of the ratepayers +are likely to be better cared for than they are at present, and +whether, indeed, they had not better let well alone. The +Bench of County Magistrates in Worcestershire may be supposed to +be a fair representation <a name="page89"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 89</span>of the magistracy of the kingdom +generally, and certainly on a review of their proceedings during +the last fifty years, especially with regard to financial +matters, the ratepayers must feel satisfied that their affairs +could not have been in better hands. The Worcestershire +Magistrates have had to consider, during the first half of the +nineteenth century, many matters involving a very large outlay of +the public money; and upon a review of the course they have +taken, no one will be able to point to an instance of grossly +unnecessary expenditure, or a lavishness in dealing with the +public purse. They have always given attention to the +representations of the ratepayers, but have not often suffered +themselves to be turned aside from what was a plainly desirable, +or necessary, object, by false considerations of economy, and +have generally taken an enlarged view of the question before +them. A most vigilant check has been kept upon the details +of the county expenditure, and a laudable desire to lessen the +general burden always been manifestly apparent. And they +have, of course, been free from those changes which +representative bodies from limited constituencies are ever and +anon pretty sure to undergo, when the fickleness of public +favour—some party cry, or prejudice, or the efforts of +individuals striving for place and power—suddenly +dispossess old and tried men from the offices for which they may +be eminently suited, in order to make way for unqualified +busybodies, whom the passing commotion may have brought into +notice—“Straws,” as Junius said of Wilks, +“on the surface of the torrent.” And while such +commotion lasts, brief as it may be, mischief is often done which +years are required to set straight again.</p> +<p>The Worcestershire Bench has, of late years, been singularly +fortunate in its chairmen. It is only another mark of their +anxiety to conduct their business on the <a +name="page90"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 90</span>soundest +principles, that they have not suffered party considerations to +sway them in the choice of the person upon whose discretion and +judgment so much will always depend. The services of the +Right Hon. Baronet who now fills the chair at Quarter Sessions +have often been acknowledged, and are fully appreciated both by +his fellow magistrates, and the body of the county at large.</p> +<p>With regard to the administration of the criminal code which +now devolves to so great an extent upon courts of Quarter +Sessions, each year’s experience adds its proof that the +substantial ends of justice are as well attained there—and +if the commonly received maxim, <i>Judex damnatur cum nocens +absolvitur</i>, be accepted as the test—even better +attained, than in any other criminal court in the kingdom.</p> +<p>In the very commencement of the present century, the county +magistracy were occupied with a matter as important—at +least, if the question of expense be taken as the criterion of +importance—as any that has been the subject of their +deliberations at more recent periods. It was the rebuilding +of the county prison. The county gaol formerly stood on +what is now known as Castle Hill, near to Edgar’s Tower, in +the city of Worcester. It was extremely insecure; several +prisoners had escaped from it, and the complaints of its absolute +insufficiency for the purposes it was intended to answer, were +many and frequent. <a name="citation90"></a><a href="#footnote90" +class="citation">[90]</a> The county magistrates had at +length come to a determination to build a new gaol on a different +site; but this was no sooner known than a violent opposition was +raised on the score of the cost, and few matters seem to have +created so much general alarm <a name="page91"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 91</span>and excitement throughout the +agricultural districts as this proposal. In April, 1802, a +meeting of landowners and others paying county rates was convened +at the Guildhall, Worcester, at which the High Sheriff, Mr. +Newnham, presided. There it was resolved, that the erection +of a new prison would be accompanied with great and unnecessary +expense, and that the existing gaol might be sufficiently +enlarged and repaired, at a moderate cost. The magistrates +still appearing determined to proceed, parish after parish +protested against any such step being taken, and these protests +signed by most of the influential tenant farmers, were published +time by time, occupying many columns of the then diminutive +Worcester newspapers. W. Welch, Esq., Chairman of Quarter +Sessions, in order to correct the misrepresentations which were +abroad on the subject, replied to these protests by a public +letter, in which he stated that the cost of a new gaol would only +be £19,000, and that properly to repair the old one would +cost £13,000; that the grand jury had so often presented +the gaol, that something was absolutely necessary to be done; and +that the burden on individual ratepayers would not be anything +like what was represented. Mr. R. Hudson of Wick, on the +other hand, challenged the magistrates to meet him at the Crown +Inn, Worcester, when he would prove to them that the proceedings +lately taken in the erection of a new prison had been irregular, +and could not be supported.</p> +<p>At the Midsummer Quarter Sessions in that year, Mr. Welch, in +his charge to the grand jury, recapitulated the causes which had +compelled the magistrates to determine on a new gaol, and in +proof of their desire to study the general interest of the +ratepayers, stated that, since he had occupied the chair, the +county accounts, which had formerly been in great confusion, had +been methodised and arranged, a saving had been effected <a +name="page92"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 92</span>in the +expenditure of the gaol of some hundreds a year, and a +considerable annual allowance from the exchequer, hitherto +considered as a perquisite of the Under Sheriff’s, proved +to be due to the county, and in future would be paid into the +general fund.</p> +<p>Yet so strong was the feeling against the new building that +the magistrates were compelled for awhile to abandon the project, +and it was not till the escape of more prisoners caused the Lord +Chief Baron Macdonald, at the Summer Assizes in 1807, to warn the +county grand jury that, if the gaol were not altered or rebuilt, +the county would be attached with a heavy fine for neglecting so +essential a part of its duty, that any further steps were taken +in the matter. At the Midsummer Sessions, 1808, the +magistrates determined, without delay, to build a new gaol, as +they believed that the old one admitted of no sufficient +alteration. The expense was estimated at £18,000, and +the site in Salt Lane was fixed upon. The bench published a +minute statement of the number and amount of rates this +expenditure would render necessary.</p> +<p>A great deal of excitement and uneasiness, however, was found +still to prevail upon the subject, and it was especially said to +be unnecessary to change the site; so at the Epiphany Sessions, +1809, the matter was again taken into consideration, and the +bench adhered to their former determination, referring, however, +the question of site to a committee. Mr. Welch, the +chairman, about this time received an anonymous letter, +threatening his life, “if he interfered any further +respecting a new prison.”</p> +<p>At an adjourned sessions, held in February, 1809, the +magistrates finally determined on the land in Salt Lane as the +site for the new gaol, and adopted the plan of a Mr. +Sandys. They published the reasons for their decision at +length, the principal being, that the nature of the ground upon +which the old prison stood would <a name="page93"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 93</span>not admit of their obtaining a good +foundation for the extensive buildings contemplated.</p> +<p>The new prison was, after this, vigorously proceeded with, and +at the Epiphany Sessions, 1813, the chairman announced that the +new gaol was completed, and in spite of much difficulty about the +foundations, &c., the cost was within the estimate. The +grand jury having inspected it, declared their entire approbation +of the works, and thanked the magistrates for their attention to +the interests of the county.</p> +<p>1810—A Special County Sessions was held in July this +year, to take into consideration the report of a committee +appointed to investigate charges of peculation brought against +Mr. Welch, the chairman, by Mr. Johnson, a fellow +magistrate. The matter arose out of Mr. Welch receiving +what were called “justice wages,” and paying thereout +for the dinners of the magistrates at the Hoppole. Mr. +Johnson declared that he had a balance in hand, on account of +this fund, of £65, which, but for his discovery, Mr. Welch +would have appropriated. The committee, however, reported +that the charge was “wholly unjustifiable and +unfounded,” and a vote of thanks to Mr. Welch, “for +his uniform, upright, and independent conduct,” was +thereupon passed unanimously. Long replies and rejoinders, +from Mr. Johnson and Mr. Welch, afterwards appeared in the public +prints.</p> +<p>1810—<span class="smcap">August</span> 28—In +consequence of Mr. Johnson’s reiteration of the charge, +another Special Sessions was held this day, not very numerously +attended, at which a general resolution of confidence in Mr. +Welch was passed, but not unanimously; indeed a more strongly +worded motion had been negatived; and William Smith, Esq., gave +notice of a motion, at the next sessions, for the removal of Mr. +Welch from the chair. This, however, was abandoned.</p> +<p>1817—At the Easter Quarter Sessions, William Welch, +Esq., resigned the chair in consequence of ill health, after +having held it for nearly twenty years. Earl Beauchamp +moved a vote of thanks to Mr. Welch for the services which he had +rendered to the county, which was seconded by Lord Deerhurst, and +carried unanimously. The Right Hon. Earl Beauchamp was then +chosen chairman in his stead.</p> +<p>1819—The magistrates at the Michaelmas Sessions publish +a <a name="page94"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +94</span>declaration in the Worcester newspapers, of their +abhorrence of the blasphemous and seditious sentiments then +openly disseminated in society—of their attachment to the +throne—and of their full unanimous and unequivocal +determination to support the tried and invaluable +constitution. The grand jury do the same. [This was +just after the trial of Carlile for republishing Paine’s +<i>Age of Reason</i>, and in the midst of the excitement +attendant on the Peterloo Massacre.]</p> +<p>At the same Sessions, Edmund Meysey Wigley, Esq., was chosen +chairman, in the room of Earl Beauchamp, who had expressed a wish +to relinquish the office. The noble Earl, however, +afterwards resumed its duties.</p> +<p>1823—At the Midsummer Sessions, Benjamin Johnson, Esq., +was temporarily elected to the chair, now vacant by the decease +of Earl Beauchamp.</p> +<p>At the Michaelmas Sessions following, Henry Wakeman, Esq., of +Perdiswell, was unanimously chosen to the chair, on the motion of +Lord Deerhurst, seconded by Richard Spooner, Esq.</p> +<p>1824—At the Epiphany Sessions, Mr. Wakeman declined the +proffered honour of the chair, as his health would not permit him +to discharge its duties, and proposed Lord Plymouth. This +was seconded by Sir Thomas Winnington, and his lordship was +thereupon elected.</p> +<p>1824—At the Easter Sessions, it was determined, after a +warm discussion and division, to erect a treadmill in the county +gaol. Thirteen magistrates said “aye,” and ten +“no.”</p> +<p>1826—At the Epiphany Sessions, the Rev. Reginald Pyndar +introduced the subject of a “Worcestershire Friendly +Society,” and the formation of such a society being highly +approved of by the magistrates, a meeting was held the next day +in the Guildhall, with John Dent, Esq., Mayor, in the chair, and +the rules and tables proposed by Mr. Pyndar adopted as the basis +of an association for the benefit of the industrious and +provident poor of the county.</p> +<p>The society thus formed has continued to thrive and flourish +to the present day, and has been productive of many direct and +indirect benefits to a large number of the poorer class; helping +them to a knowledge of the advantages of +frugality—affording them a safe and profitable investment +for their surplus earnings—enabling them to escape from the +temptations of the public house, where the village club would +have required their attendance—and saving them from the +distress and misery that overtake the members of so many benefit +societies constructed upon false principles, or upon no +principles at all. <a name="page95"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 95</span>The society at present numbers 1,899 +members, of whom one-third are females, and it has a very large +reserve fund. Great part of its successful working and +prosperity are attributable to the fostering care and interest of +the Rev. Thomas Pearson. The following is a statement of +the pecuniary affairs of the institution, from its formation to +the present time, which has been compiled by its efficient +secretary, Mr. Thomas Holloway.</p> +<table> +<tr> +<td colspan="4"><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="GutSmall">RECEIPTS.</span></p> +</td> +<td colspan="4"><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="GutSmall">PAYMENTS.</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center"><i>£</i>.</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center"><i>s.</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center"><i>d.</i></p> +</td> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center"><i>£</i>.</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center"><i>s.</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center"><i>d.</i></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Honorary Subscriptions and Benefactions</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1,631</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">6</p> +</td> +<td><p>Sick Pay</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">4,994</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">8</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">9</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Payments by the Members</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">16,798</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">16</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">6</p> +</td> +<td><p>Death</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">872</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">0</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">0</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Interest</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">3,082</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">7</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">8</p> +</td> +<td><p>Endowments</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">2,007</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">0</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">6</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="4"><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Annuities in Old Age</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">155</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">18</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">0</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="4"><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Management Expenses, including purchase of Policies, +Salaries, Allowances to Surgeons, Rent, &c. &c.</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">5,287</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">4</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">2</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="4"><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">Total Payments</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">13,316</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">10</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">11</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="4"><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">Balance, being total Stock</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">8,195</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">13</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">9</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">Total Receipts</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">£21,512</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">4</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">8</p> +</td> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">£21,512</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">4</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">8</p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<p>1827—At the Easter Sessions, the Worcestershire and +Staffordshire Canal Company appealed against the sum at which +they were rated for their docks and basins at Stourport, by the +parish of Lower Mitton. It was stated in the course of the +proceedings, that the tonnage of the canal for the year ending +Michaelmas, 1826, was £32,838. The officers of Lower +Mitton had taken the whole value of the basins as rateable there, +but the court decided that they must only charge for acreage, +computing the basins as they would other portions of the +canal.</p> +<p>1829—<span class="smcap">January</span> 14—At the +Epiphany Quarter Sessions, the Earl of Plymouth resigned the +chairmanship; and on the motion of Major Bund, seconded by the +Earl of Beauchamp, Sir C. S. Smith, Bart., was elected in his +stead.</p> +<p>At these Sessions, the magistrates of Droitwich denied the +authority of the county magistrates to appoint visitors to the +Asylum for Pauper Lunatics kept by the Messrs. Ricketts in the +borough, and on the matter being referred to the law officers of +the crown, it was decided by them that the act passed in the +previous session of Parliament vested the appointment of visitors +in the magistracy of the borough <a name="page96"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 96</span>in which the asylum was +situate. Major Bund gave notice of a motion thereupon, to +consider the propriety of building a County Lunatic Asylum.</p> +<p>1829—At the Michaelmas Sessions, the magistrates altered +the divisions of the county for Petty Sessional purposes, forming +them into eight districts, to be called “The Upton, +Pershore, Hundred House, Worcester, Kidderminster, Droitwich, +Northfield, and Blockley Divisions.”</p> +<p>1829—An adjourned Sessions was held in November, to +consider the propriety of erecting County Courts, the +inconvenience of the City Hall having been commented on at every +Sessions and Assizes which had taken place for some years +past. A case had been laid before Mr. Sergeant Russell, to +have his opinion as to whether the magistrates could legally +spend money on the enlargement and improvement of courts +belonging to the city, and he had replied that they could not; +and that if they wanted a Shire Hall of their own, they must +obtain a special Act of Parliament for it. The Rev. Mr. +Pearson, after reporting the failure of all attempts at +negociation with the Worcester Corporation, moved “that it +was necessary to erect new courts and suitable lodgings for the +judges, and that the magistrates should take the necessary steps +for obtaining an Act of Parliament for that purpose.” +This resolution was seconded by Colonel Bromley. Earl +Somers moved an adjournment of the question, on the ground that +in the then depressed state of the country the expense ought not +to be incurred. This was seconded by Osman Ricardo, +Esq. An adjournment “to the next Epiphany +Sessions” was carried; but Lord Foley then moved, +“That it is the opinion of this court that the present +courts and judges’ lodgings are totally +insufficient.” This was seconded by R. Spooner, Esq.; +and Colonel Davies opposed it, because he thought that the +agitation of the subject was ill-timed. Lord Foley’s +motion was ultimately carried by 20 to 17. A committee was +then appointed to have another conference with the City +Corporation.</p> +<p>Nine Catholic noblemen and gentlemen were now for the first +time inserted in the Commission of the Peace for this +county—viz., the Earl of Shrewsbury, Viscount Southwell, +Sir E. Blount, Sir C. Throckmorton, R. Berkeley, Esq., W. +Wakeman, Esq., T. C. Hornyold, Esq., C. E. Hanford, Esq., and W. +Acton, Esq.</p> +<p>1830—At the Epiphany Sessions, the question of new +courts was again discussed. The committee reported that +they found the Guildhall, Worcester, erected in 1721, belonged +exclusively to the <a name="page97"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +97</span>city. The Rev. T. Pearson again moved that an Act +of Parliament should be applied for, with a view to the erection +of a Shire Hall; and this was seconded by the Rev. George +Turberville. Major General Marriott moved as an amendment, +that the Deputy Clerk of the Peace should be instructed to lay a +presentment of the present courts before the grand jury at the +next assizes. James Taylor, Esq., seconded this. Lord +Deerhurst then moved a resolution, declaring that the county, in +the present depressed condition of all classes, would rather +submit to the inconvenience of the present courts than incur the +expense of new ones, which was seconded by Dr. B. Cooper. +Lord Deerhurst’s amendment was negatived by 31 to 25, and +General Marriott’s without a division. Earl Somers +then moved the appointment of a committee to ascertain the +practicability of so altering the present courts as to make them +sufficiently convenient. This was seconded by John +Williams, Esq., but rejected by 31 to 24, and Mr. Pearson’s +original motion was then carried.</p> +<p>1830—<span class="smcap">November</span> 29—The +general state of the county caused Viscount Deerhurst to summon +the magistrates to a meeting, at which the following resolution +was passed:</p> +<p>“That the general peaceable state of the county of +Worcester affords a subject of great congratulation. The +magistrates, however, viewing with the utmost abhorrence the +atrocious acts of violence which have taken place in other +counties, feel it their duty to declare that they have made such +arrangements as, by giving full effect to the existing laws, are +best calculated to prevent the occurrence of similar calamities +in this county.”</p> +<p>1831—At the Epiphany Sessions, the subject of new courts +was resumed. Several plans for the enlargement of the +Guildhall were laid before the magistrates, but the court adopted +a resolution proposed by the Earl of Plymouth, without a +division. It ran thus: “That the consideration of the +question, relative to the alteration of the courts of justice, be +adjourned <i>sine die</i>, it being found inexpedient to enlarge +the Guildhall; but that a bill authorising the magistrates to +build new courts, at a future period, be drawn up.”</p> +<p>1831—At the Easter Sessions, J. H. H. Foley, Esq., M.P., +and Lord Lyttelton, urged the necessity of building a gaol at +Stourbridge, but the proposition was negatived by 27 to 14. +Petitions against the bill for legalising the sale of beer to be +drunk on the premises in beer houses, were agreed to at the +instance of Dr. Beale Cooper.</p> +<p>1831—At the Midsummer Sessions, it was resolved that the +new courts should be erected at the back of the gaol, and that +the <a name="page98"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +98</span>expense should not exceed £25,000. The bill +had been brought in by the county members, and read a first time +the Friday before.</p> +<p>1832—At the Epiphany Sessions, Dr. Beale Cooper proposed +the enlargement of the gaol, which was referred to a +committee. The Rev. Thomas Pearson proposed that plans +should be immediately selected for new county courts adjoining +the gaol. The Rev. George Turberville proposed that the +matter should be further delayed till the next September, and Mr. +Pearson’s motion was carried by 24 to 8.</p> +<p>A vote of thanks was passed to Earl Plymouth and the Yeomanry, +for their promptitude and firmness in quelling riots in the +county.</p> +<p>1832—At the Midsummer Sessions, the order which had been +made at a previous sessions to build the new county courts on +land adjoining the gaol, was rescinded, on the motion of the Rev. +George Turberville, seconded by Mr. Pakington, by a large +majority, and the committee were directed to look out for another +site.</p> +<p>At these Sessions was discussed a matter which excited great +interest amongst the legal profession, viz., the allowance of +fees to attorneys, who for some two or three sessions had only +been paid £1. 1s. for brief and attendance, instead of +£2. 14s. 4d., as formerly. The solicitors were heard +by counsel, and the former payment was restored.</p> +<p>1832—At the Michaelmas Sessions, a new valuation of the +county parishes was read by General Marriott. The land +assessable was valued at £741,854—the old valuation +had been £750,250; so that the land had decreased in value +about 3d. in the pound, or 1¼ per cent.</p> +<p>The question of erecting county courts again came under +consideration—the present site in Foregate Street, and one +in Pierpoint Street, both being proposed, and the former was +adopted by a majority of 30 to 14. Premiums were offered +for the three best plans.</p> +<p>1833—At the Epiphany Sessions, the court proceeded to +the appointment of a chaplain to the county gaol, the office +being now vacant by the resignation of the Rev. J. Hadley. +A resolution was first proposed by Major Bund, and carried by a +large majority, “That a beneficed clergyman ought not to be +appointed chaplain to the gaol.” Votes were given for +eight candidates, but the contest lay between the Rev. J. +Adlington, who received 22 votes, and the Rev. W. Dunn, who had +14.</p> +<p>1833—At the Easter Sessions, it was resolved, upon the +motion <a name="page99"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 99</span>of +the Rev. Thomas Pearson, that “henceforth this court should +be an open one.”</p> +<p>The county was called upon to pay £759. 17s. for special +constables employed by the Sheriff to keep the peace at the last +election.</p> +<p>Three plans were laid before the court, by the committee, for +the new county courts, viz., one by Mr. Charles Day, Worcester; +Mr. Mead, London; and Mr. Habershon, London. Previous to +deciding upon them, General Mariott moved that the erection of +the courts should be postponed till the enlargement of the gaol +should be completed, in order that two such serious expenses +might not be pressing on the county at the same time. A +number of letters from different parishes had been received by +the chairman, remonstrating against new courts, but General +Mariott’s motion was lost by 30 to 10. The three +plans were then submitted to the court for choice, and the Rev. +Mr. Pearson regretted that one from a Mr. Haycock, which he +thought undoubtedly the best, was not amongst them. Mr. +Mead’s was recommended by the committee as the best, but +fifteen magistrates voted for Mr. Day’s, and only three for +each of the others. Many magistrates refused to vote; and +the general feeling of the public at the time was, that the +advantage of the county, and the embellishment of the city, had +been sacrificed to personal interest created by a canvass. +A committee was appointed, with the Rev. Thomas Pearson as its +chairman, to carry the plan thus chosen into execution.</p> +<p>1834—At the Epiphany County Sessions, the salary of the +county treasurer (Sir A. Lechmere) was reduced from £100 to +£60—because it was higher than that paid by adjoining +counties, and farmers were in distress—by a majority of 39 +to 20. Various reductions were also made in the fees of the +clerk of the peace.</p> +<p>1834—At the Easter Quarter Sessions, Sir C. S. Smith, +Bart., resigned the chairmanship—the calamity which he had +recently sustained, in the loss of his lady, inducing him to +retire altogether from public life. The Rev. George +Turberville immediately moved the following resolution:</p> +<p>“That the court is fully sensible of, and grateful for, +the valuable services of their late chairman, Sir C. S. Smith, +Bart., and deeply regrets that he feels himself unable to +continue those services for the benefit of the county.”</p> +<p>This was seconded by John Williams, Esq., and carried +unanimously.</p> +<p>1834—At the Midsummer Sessions there was a very full +attendance of magistrates, and the Rev. George Turberville was +requested to <a name="page100"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +100</span>preside as senior. The first business was to +elect a chairman, in the room of Sir C. S. Smith, Bart., +resigned; and on the motion of the Rev. president, seconded by +James Taylor, Esq., John Somerset Pakington, Esq., was +unanimously elected to the office which he has ever since filled +with so much ability and advantage to the county.</p> +<p>1835—At the Midsummer Sessions the magistrates agreed to +a petition to Parliament against the Bill for permitting counsel +for a prisoner in all cases to address the jury—a privilege +hitherto confined to cases of misdemeanour. Mr. Temple, +General Marriott, and Mr. Hanford were the only +dissentients. The measure, it was said, would tend to +defeat the ends of justice by the frequent acquittal of guilty +persons, and to bring juries into discredit by inclining them to +found their verdicts rather on the arguments of counsel than upon +the facts.</p> +<p>1836—<span class="smcap">May</span> 9—A Special +Sessions held, Dr. Beale Cooper in the chair, to consider what +was to be done about the New County Courts and Judges’ +Lodgings, as the magistrates had expended the £25,000 they +were empowered to raise by the first act. After a long +discussion, it was unanimously determined to apply for a fresh +act immediately, enabling them to raise £7,000 more. +[Parliament refused to depart from its standing orders, and so +the bill could not be introduced that session.]</p> +<p>1836—At the Michaelmas Sessions the Prisoners’ +Counsel Act was first brought into operation; and it is strange +how unanimously an arrangement—now admitted on all hands to +be a good one—was condemned and found fault with.</p> +<p>1837—The Midsummer Sessions were held in the New Courts, +though these were as yet scarcely completed.</p> +<p>1838—<span class="smcap">May</span> 10—A Special +County Sessions, to consider the Bill then before Parliament for +Amending the Constitution of County Courts and Courts of Quarter +Sessions—which proposed to compel the holding of eight +sessions in the year, and the holding of courts in various parts +of the county; it gave the magistrates the option of having a +barrister as a salaried chairman; and proposed alterations in +“county courts,” to enable them to be used for the +easy recovery of small debts. Mr. Pakington moved a +petition against the measure, which Mr. Holland objected +to—it was, however, carried by a majority of 23 to 8.</p> +<p>1838—At the Midsummer Sessions the New Shire Hall and +Judges’ Lodgings were reported as complete; and a vote of +thanks was passed to the Rev. Thomas Pearson for his able and +useful exertions as chairman of the building committee for the +past five <a name="page101"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +101</span>years. The salary of the chaplain was increased +to £250 per annum. The court refused to insert the +county advertisements either in the <i>Kidderminster +Messenger</i> or the <i>Worcestershire Chronicle</i>.</p> +<p>1839—The Epiphany Sessions adjourned to the 14th of +January, and afterwards given up entirely, because no clerk of +the peace had been appointed since the death of Mr. +Blayney—Lord Foley, the Lord Lieutenant, being out of the +country.</p> +<p>1839—<span class="smcap">February</span> 5—A +General Sessions of the Peace held in lieu of the Epiphany +Sessions, which had been given up. The court petition for a +change of law as regards beer houses. The enlargement of +the County Gaol, at an expense of £2,100, agreed upon, to +obtain sixty additional cells.</p> +<p>1839—At the Easter Sessions the court unanimously agreed +to a resolution which the chairman proposed, condemning the +existing system of parish constables as insufficient for the +detection and punishment of criminals, and promising +consideration to any measure the Government might introduce for +establishing a rural constabulary. The court again +petitioned against the District Courts’ Bill; Mr. Hanford +alone dissenting.</p> +<p>1839—At the Michaelmas Sessions the important subject of +establishing a rural police was brought forward by Mr. Pakington, +according to previous notice. He entered into the whole +subject with great ability; pointing out the great increase of +crime in the rural districts, as rendering such a measure +absolutely necessary, and ended by moving that “it was +expedient forthwith to take measures for the adoption in this +county of the act for the establishment of county district +constables.” After a short discussion the motion was +carried with only two dissentients—Dr. Cooper and Rev. Mr. +Cartwright. Mr. Pakington proposed that a chief constable +and twelve sergeants should be the only appointments under the +act at present, because it would be desirable to bring it into +operation by degrees. To this Mr. Hanford moved as an +amendment, that there should be a chief constable, ten sergeants, +and thirty men under them; and this was carried over the original +motion by 20 to 18. The salary of the chief constable was +fixed at £250 a year; and the Metropolitan Commissioners of +Police were requested to nominate a suitable person. The +court then adjourned till the 4th November, to receive and +consider the rules drawn up by the Secretary of State.</p> +<p>1839—<span class="smcap">November</span> 4—At the +Adjourned Sessions, Mr. Pakington stated that the Government +refused to allow the Commissioners of Police to nominate a chief +constable, and expressed his great regret <a +name="page102"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 102</span>that this +should be the case, as he thought the magistrates quite +incompetent to select a suitable person. He proposed, +therefore, that the court should adjourn to the 2nd December, +then to consider all applications which might be made for the +office, and proceed to the election. Dr. Beale Cooper moved +that the further consideration of the plan for forming a +constabulary force for the county of Worcester be postponed till +the next Easter Quarter Sessions. He maintained that the +thing was altogether in a crude state—had not had +sufficient examination—that it was a departure from the +spirit of the British constitution—and that their present +constables were sufficiently on the alert, for since the year +1806 the commitments had increased from 51 to 427—the +number in the previous year. William Acton, Esq., seconded +the amendment, because he thought the act would probably be +altered next session, and because he objected to the expense +coming wholly out of the county rates. General Marriott, +James Taylor, Esq., and Richard Spooner, Esq., spoke in favour of +the motion; and the Rev. Mr. Cartwright for the amendment. +Lord Lyttelton thought they were forced to adopt a rural police, +because Birmingham and Gloucestershire had got a new force, and +the chairman said that they should lose public confidence if a +comparatively small bench of magistrates reversed that which had +been done a month before by a much larger one. On a +division, Mr. Pakington’s motion was carried by 24 to +9. A letter was agreed to, to be sent to the Secretary of +State, complaining of the determination Government had come to in +the matter of the chief constable. The rules sent down by +the Secretary of State for the guidance of the force were agreed +to.</p> +<p>1839—<span class="smcap">December</span> 2—Mr. R. +R. Harris, an inspector of London Police, elected chief +constable. He had been recommended by the police committee +out of 32 applicants, and was chosen by a majority of 21 to 13 +votes given for Captain Scargill, who was proposed by the Earl of +Coventry. It was determined that the pay of the sergeants +should be £80 a year.</p> +<p>1840—<span class="smcap">October</span> 29—At the +Michaelmas Sessions the magistrates became embroiled in a dispute +with Mr. W. S. P. Hughes, one of the county coroners, arising out +of a complaint made by the constable of Rock, who accused Mr. +Hughes of “extorting” a fee of a shilling from him +illegally. The fee was “for the crier of the +court,” which the coroners in this county had always been +in the habit of requiring, but after the passing of the act, 1 +and 2 Victoria, certainly could not be sustained; and this Mr. +Hughes admitted in a letter to the <a name="page103"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 103</span>committee of magistrates which had +been appointed to take the matter into consideration. This, +however, the committee said came too late; as Mr. Hughes had been +repeatedly warned that the fee was illegal, and they considered +that he had rendered himself liable to a prosecution “for +extortion and misconduct in his office,” or might be +removed from the coronership altogether by a petition to the Lord +Chancellor. Mr. Hughes applied to be heard against the +report, by counsel, but this the court refused by a majority of +33 to 7. Mr. Hughes then protested against the proceedings +of the committee as <i>ex parte</i>, and their report as showing +an animus against him wholly unwarranted and improper. Mr. +Charles Best, coroner, deposed that he and his predecessors in +office had always been in the habit of requiring this +shilling. After a discussion, the Rev. Thomas Pearson moved +the adoption of the report, and that the chairman should inform +Mr. Hughes that his charge was illegal, and admonish him +accordingly. This was carried, and the chairman +“admonished” Mr. Hughes, who immediately +said—“I do not consider you have any power to +admonish me. I, as coroner of this county, am an officer +far superior to the magistrates of this court; and I take leave +to tell them that they by no means adopt a proper course when +they take upon themselves to admonish a superior officer of the +crown.”</p> +<p>1841—<span class="smcap">January</span> 4—Mr. Helm +unanimously appointed county solicitor. The Quarter +Sessions advertisements ordered to be inserted in the +<i>Worcestershire Chronicle</i>, but not in the <i>Kidderminster +Messenger</i>.</p> +<p>1841—<span class="smcap">April</span> 5—At the +Easter Sessions, a new assessment of the county by surveyors was +ordered, on which to base the county rate, and £500 placed +at the disposal of a committee to obtain it.</p> +<p>1842—<span class="smcap">January</span> 3—At the +Epiphany Sessions, the court agreed to memorialise the Government +to pay the cost of the rural police. Memorials from five +parishes were presented, complaining of the expense of the +police, and declaring that the county rates were nearly doubled +by them.</p> +<p>1842—<span class="smcap">June</span> 27—At the +Midsummer Sessions, Dr. Beale Cooper brought forward a motion for +the abolition of the rural police, which he said was +unconstitutional, and had proved to be utterly inefficient. +Colonel Bund seconded the motion. The chairman disposed of +Dr. Cooper’s charge of inefficiency in a few words, and +regretted that the establishment of a police was not made +compulsory on all counties. Dr. Cooper then withdrew his +motion.</p> +<p>1842—At the Michaelmas Sessions, Dr. Cooper moved that +the <a name="page104"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +104</span>county police force be reduced to one sergeant for each +Electoral Division, and two constables for each Petty Sessional +Division; to which the chairman moved as an amendment, that the +question of the propriety of a reduction be referred to the +police committee, and this was carried without a division.</p> +<p>1843—<span class="smcap">January</span> 2—At the +Epiphany Sessions, the subject of the rural police was again +discussed at great length on the presentation of a special report +by the police committee, declaring that the force ought not to be +reduced. Mr. Onslow wanted to prevent the reception of the +report, but the chairman would not consent to that course, and +Mr. Onslow at last was induced to withdraw the resolutions he had +intended to propose upon the subject; but a committee was formed +to inquire into the provisions of the Parochial Constables’ +Act.</p> +<p>Mr. Ellins’s case was brought before the court at these +Sessions by Richard Spooner, Esq., who moved for a committee of +inquiry into the facts under which Mr. Ricketts had been libelled +in the <i>Worcestershire Chronicle</i>, as it was alleged that +Mr. Ellins had supplied the information on which the libel was +founded. Colonel Bund seconded the motion. Mr. +Hanford opposed it, because they would be stepping out of their +jurisdiction; and the chairman could not tell what was to be the +course or purpose of such a committee. The committee was +determined on by 34 to 10, and the chairman, Mr. Hanford, Mr. +Spooner, Rev. T. Pearson, Mr. Skey, Hon. W. C. Talbot, and Mr. +Temple, were placed upon it. Mr. Ellins’s application +to be heard before it by attorney, was agreed to.</p> +<p>The chairman at these Sessions addressed a most valuable +statement to the grand jury on the county expenditure, and the +causes of the increase in the number and cost of criminal +prosecutions.</p> +<p>1843—At the Easter Sessions the committee appointed in +Mr. Ellins’s case were about to bring forward their report, +when Mr. R. Scott and Mr. R. M. Mence moved that it should not be +read, as the matter was one altogether out of the jurisdiction of +the court, and with which they had no right to deal. On a +division, 20 hands were held up for its being read, to 9 against +it. The report was then read, and stated the committee to +be of opinion that “Mr. Ellins was the moving party to the +publication in the <i>Worcestershire Chronicle</i>, of a most +gross and unfounded libel, imputing corruption and jobbing to W. +H. Ricketts, Esq., in the execution of his duty as a magistrate +and member of the police committee, in carrying into effect the +orders <a name="page105"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +105</span>of the court.” Mr. Hanford and the Rev. +Thomas Pearson, as members of the committee, declared that though +they believed Mr. Ellins to be a party to the libel, they did not +believe him to be the sole party, as the report seemed to +convey. Mr. Scott moved that the report be rejected. +The court had no right to take any judicial notice of the acts or +character of any of its individual members; and nothing could be +more dangerous than for a judicial body to exceed its +jurisdiction. Mr. Scott condemned Mr. Spooner for bringing +this matter forward at the previous Sessions without +notice. Mr. Benson also spoke against the reception of the +report. The chairman had always had doubts as to the +propriety of their moving in the matter, but thought it +discourteous to the committee to reject the report, and it was +received by a majority of 28 to 11. On the question of +transmitting it to the Lord Lieutenant, there was another +division, 20 voting for that course and 11 against it.</p> +<p>1843—At the Midsummer Sessions, Lord Lyttelton addressed +a letter to the court, enclosing one from the Lord Chancellor, +with his opinion that the proceedings of the magistrates in Mr. +Ellins’s case had been very irregular. Lord Lyttelton +trusted the magistrates would feel it their “duty carefully +to avoid any similar proceedings for the future;” and he +requested that his letter might be entered upon the records of +the court. Mr. Spooner thought they had a perfect right to +do as they had done, and moved that the letter be not entered on +the records. The chairman said he had always considered +their proceedings irregular, but thought Lord Lyttelton’s +“lecture” might just as well have been left +alone. The consideration of the letter was at last +postponed till the next Sessions.</p> +<p>Mr. Simcox Lea at great length entered into the subject of the +rural police, and moved, as a resolution, that their benefit had +not been equivalent to their cost. He wanted the Bench to +adopt the plan of paid parish constables in their stead, and +insisted particularly on the inefficiency of the chief +constable. Mr. Noel seconded the motion. The chairman +made an able defence of the police, and adduced several instances +of their efficiency. Mr. Scott would vote for the motion, +because the police were too few to be of much use. Mr. +Onslow complained of the number of offences that were committed +without detection ensuing. Colonel Bund, the Rev. Thomas +Pearson, Mr. Benson, and Colonel Clive, spoke in favour of the +police, and the motion was rejected by 34 to 13.</p> +<p>1843—At the Michaelmas Sessions the magistrates +determined that the Lord Lieutenant’s letter, in Mr. +Ellins’s case, should not be placed <a +name="page106"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 106</span>upon the +records of the court. Mr. Scott was the only magistrate who +added anything to the few words which were spoken from the +chairman; and he said the whole proceedings ought to be erased +from the records, or the Lord Lieutenant’s letter to be +added as the conclusion.</p> +<p>1844—At the Easter Sessions, Lord Lyttelton read a paper +<i>in re</i> Mr. Ellins’s case, declaring the +magistrates’ proceedings in the matter to have been +altogether irregular, and suggesting that they ought to be +entirely struck out of the records of the court, or his own +letter of animadversion on them inserted. As his lordship +concluded with no motion, the chairman would not permit any +discussion, and the court passed to the next business on the +paper.</p> +<p>1844—At the Midsummer Sessions, Mr. Scott again brought +this matter forward, by moving that the letter of the Lord +Chancellor to the Lord Lieutenant should be entered on the +minutes of the court. This was seconded by the Rev. John +Pearson, but opposed by the chairman and others, and at last +rejected by 28 to 17.</p> +<p>1845—At the Easter Quarter Sessions, the police +committee recommended that Dudley, Shipston, and other districts, +surrounded by other counties, should be taken into this county +for police purposes, and that, to this end, the force should be +increased by twenty men, including a superintendent and two +sergeants. Mr. Merry moved that only twelve men be added to +the force, but this was negatived by 26 to 6, and the original +motion carried. Mr. Hanford’s motion to do away with +the carts and horses kept by the rural police was negatived by 20 +to 17.</p> +<p>1845—At the Midsummer Sessions, Mr. B. L. Stable was +elected Governor of the County Gaol, in the room of Mr. Lavender, +who retired, and was voted a pension of £149. 10s. per +annum.</p> +<p>1847—At the Epiphany Sessions the court agreed to erect +a Lunatic Asylum, in connection with the city of Worcester, for +the accommodation of 200 pauper lunatics. The total number +of such unfortunate beings in Worcestershire was 284, but the +court conceived that accommodation for two-thirds would be quite +sufficient; and on Dr. B. Cooper suggesting that three-fourths +should be provided for, the chairman begged the court not to +agree to providing for more than 200 in the first instance, as +the expense of these erections was so great. A committee +was formed for the purpose of carrying the measure into +effect. The Hon. and Rev. W. W. C. Talbot moved for a +committee to consider the propriety of dividing the county into +districts for police purposes; but Mr. Curtler, from a very +carefully <a name="page107"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +107</span>prepared table, showed that the police force and their +expense were very equitably distributed with regard to the value +of the property to be protected in the different districts of the +county, and that the agricultural portion were in no sense paying +for the support of the police of the manufacturing +districts. Mr. Talbot withdrew his motion.</p> +<p>1847—At the Easter Sessions the court, on the motion of +the Rev. Thomas Pearson and Mr. Curtler, unanimously agreed to +petition in favour of the Juvenile Offenders’ Bill, then +introduced into Parliament by Sir John Pakington.</p> +<p>1847—Easter Sessions—On the 19th of December, +1846, the county was divided into three Coroners’ districts +by an Order in Council; and at these Sessions the magistrates +assigned these districts to Mr. Docker, Mr. Hughes, and Mr. +Best. Mr. Robinson still continues to act as coroner for +Dudley, but, at his death, Dudley will form district No. 6 in +Staffordshire. Mr. Hughes, shortly after his district was +assigned, petitioned the Lords of the Treasury for compensation +for loss of emolument which he said he sustained by this +arrangement, and they awarded him £55 per annum. He +was paid two quarters by the county authorities, but they then +took an opinion as to the legality of his claim, and this being +adverse to Mr. Hughes, they refused to continue the +payments. In Hilary Term, 1850, Mr. Hughes applied to the +Court of Queen’s Bench, and obtained a rule <i>nisi</i> +against the magistrates, to compel them to show cause why the +payment should not be continued—which, however, was +afterwards discharged, on the ground that as the county had never +been customarily divided into districts, Mr. Hughes could not +show a loss of any fees to which he was legally entitled.</p> +<p>1848—At the Midsummer Quarter Sessions the court agreed +to erect Stourport and neighbourhood into a separate Petty +Sessional Division. The Hundred House and Kidderminster +magistrates opposed the motion, but it was carried by 18 to +15.</p> +<p>1849—At the Michaelmas Sessions the committee of +visitors appointed to superintend the erection of the Lunatic +Asylum reported that they had not been able to obtain any tenders +for executing the works required at the sum estimated by the +architect, chiefly because the lunacy commissioners insisted on +the whole building being made fireproof. The total cost of +land and buildings would be about £32,000, other extras +£3,044; and fittings were not included even in this +sum. They had agreed with the London Life Insurance Society +for a loan of the money at four per cent. The report was +unanimously received.</p> +<p>1850—At the Michaelmas Sessions a report was read from a +<a name="page108"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +108</span>committee which had been appointed to inquire into the +county expenditure, and to ascertain the feasibility of +reduction. The cost of prosecutions and gaol expenses for +the year 1849 was £8,993. 18s. 3d.; salaries, +£2,661. 5s. 2d.; high constable’s cravings, +£240; coroner’s cravings, £1,527. 0s. 10d.; +clerk of the peace’s cravings, £745. 18s. 2d.; +registration of voters, £342. 11s. 8d.; bridges, +£580. 14s. 5d.; lunatics, £193. 4s. 2d.; new +weights and measures, £858. 3s. 10d.; sundries, +£1,099; total, £17,240. 13s. 2d.; police, +£7,836. 6s. 9d.; Shire Hall, £1,696. 12s. +9d. The committee reported that the only way in which a +reduction could possibly be effected was a reduction in the +salaries of the general officers and of the police, which they +did not deem advisable, and would rather recommend that +Government should be memorialised to defray the cost of the +county police, gaol, &c., out of the consolidated fund. +The report was adopted without any division.</p> +<p>At the dinner of the magistrates, at the Shire Hall, after the +transaction of the county business, the Rev. Thomas Pearson being +in the chair, a portrait of Sir John Pakington, Bart., the result +of a subscription amongst the magistrates, and which now hangs in +the drawing room at the County Courts, was inaugurated.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p><span class="smcap">Upton Bridge</span> has been the +<i>bête noir</i> of the county magistrates all through the +half century. Since 1810 scarcely a sessions has passed at +which it has not been mentioned, and it has given rise to +lawsuits, disputes, and embroilments without number. In +1814–16, in 1829, and again in 1847, the magistrates took +proceedings against the feoffees of Hall’s +Charity—some lands left in 1570 for the repairs of Upton +Church and Bridge—to compel them to account or to +contribute towards the repairs of this bridge. In 1817 the +bridge was reported to be in very doubtful plight, and the advice +of Mr. Smirke, the eminent architect, was taken as to the repairs +which ought to be done; a considerable sum of money was then laid +out upon it. At the Michaelmas Sessions, 1822, a bridge +warden was appointed, because much injury had been done to it by +mooring vessels to the parapets, and by taking away sand from the +foundations. In 1832–34 another considerable sum was +spent in repairs; this time the feoffees of Hall’s Charity +being concurring parties. In 1837 the parties promoting the +Severn Navigation Improvement offered the magistrates +£5,000 towards the expense of building a new bridge, but +this was not acceeded to; and in 1838 the bench resolved to +procure the insertion of a clause in the Severn Navigation Bill +then <a name="page109"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +109</span>before Parliament, to bear the county harmless from any +loss or damage which might arise to Upton bridge from the +improvements in the river; but no proceedings were necessary to +be taken under that resolution, because the bill was thrown +out. In 1842, £121 were expended in repairs, to keep +the bridge from falling. The magistrates would not do more +than was absolutely necessary, because they did not know how the +operations of the Severn Commissioners might affect it. At +the Midsummer Sessions, 1845, a committee was appointed to confer +with the commissioners about the state of the bridge. At +the Epiphany Sessions, 1846, the county surveyors recommended +that £1,260 should be immediately spent on the bridge; and +the magistrates at the same Sessions declared themselves +“neutral” as to the bill then introduced by the +Severn Commissioners. This bill took power to alter the +bridge by the introduction of a swivel. At the Epiphany +Sessions, 1847, Mr. Curtler read an elaborate report, in +explanation of the liability of the feoffees of Hall’s +Charity to aid in the repairs of the bridge; in consequence of +which proceedings were taken, and in 1849 the matter was referred +to a Master in Chancery. It was not finally settled till +1851, when Lord Langdale, Master of the Rolls, ordered the +feoffees thenceforth to divide the receipts into three +parts—the first for the church, the second for the repairs +of the bridge, and the third for the general good of the +town. At the Michaelmas Sessions, 1847, another committee +was appointed to inquire into the state of the bridge, and to +confer with the Severn Navigation Commissioners; but at the next +Epiphany Sessions, Mr. Curtler, by a majority of 19 to 8, carried +a proposition to seek to obtain a clause in the +Commissioners’ Bill then before Parliament, to limit their +power over the bridge to three years: the bill, however, was +thrown out on second reading. The rest of the year was +consumed in an attempt to get from Mr. Walker, C.E., a report on +the state of the bridge, and in conferences with the +Commissioners. At the Easter Sessions, 1849, Mr. +Walker’s report was read, which recommended that the bridge +should entirely be rebuilt; and a motion to that effect, made by +the chairman, was carried almost unanimously. It is +needless now to say, that nothing further was done in the matter +but to talk about it at each succeeding Sessions, till the bridge +concluded its own history by falling down during a high flood +which occurred in February, 1851. It was built in 1605; and +there can be no doubt that four of the original arches remained +just as they had been first erected, until the day when they +tumbled down of sheer old age.</p> +<h2><a name="page110"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +110</span>REMARKABLE TRIALS.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> following are brief notes of +some of the more interesting trials, as well civil as criminal, +which have occupied the attention of the Courts of Assize, or +Quarter Sessions, in this county, during the present century.</p> +<p>The <span class="smcap">King</span> <i>v.</i> <span +class="smcap">Waddington</span>—In the summer of 1800 a +criminal information was filed against S. F. Waddington, Esq., an +eminent hop merchant residing in London, “for monopolising +practices in the purchase of hops” in this county. +The rule having been made absolute, the case came on for trial at +the Worcestershire Summer Assizes, in that year, before Sir Simon +Le Blanc and a special jury, at Nisi Prius. Mr. Plumer, +principal counsel for prosecution, stated the offence to +be—enhancing the price of hops by spreading rumours of +scarcity among the planters, advising them not to sell, and by +engrossing a large quantity of that commodity. Mr. +Waddington was described as having invited the planters to a +dinner, and given them as a toast, “Hops, £20 a +cwt;” telling them that they had never had a large enough +price, begging them to hold back, and promising to buy himself at +an increased rate, rather than they should be distressed for +money. Such was the enthusiasm created by his speech, that +one gentleman got up afterwards and proposed, “Mr. +Waddington, the saviour of the country.” He +afterwards did buy great quantities of hops in Worcester market, +at prices varying from 10s. to 40s. above those current prior to +his appearance. The counsel characterised this forestalling +as a “crime of deepest dye;” and “long, very +long, had the people of this country borne with the most +exemplary fortitude this greatest of all public +evils.” Mr. <a name="page111"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 111</span>Dauncey, Mr. Waddington’s +counsel, insisted that his client had only acted as other factors +were in the habit of doing, and if he were punished, the private +enterprise of the country would receive a most grievous check and +injury. He said the offence of “engrossing” was +a most undefinable one, and not cognizable by the common +law. The learned judge admitted this was a moot point, but +remarked on the enormity of the offence, and told the jury they +had only to say whether or no the evidence made out to them the +fact of Mr. Waddington’s having done that which the +indictment set forth. The jury, after this charge, +immediately returned a verdict of “guilty.” On +the 24th of November, Mr. Waddington was brought up for judgment +in King’s Bench. Mr. Law moved in arrest of judgment, +arguing that engrossing was no longer an offence at common +law. Hops, too, were not “victuals.” Mr. +Waddington, speaking in his own defence, arraigned the whole +proceedings as altogether incompatible with the right of the +individual to use his capital in trade as he pleased. Mr. +Erskine, in support of judgment, said that hops being a commodity +so easily engrossed, required to be strictly regulated: the +practice of engrossing was innocent neither in the eyes of man +nor God. Lord Kenyon, though not giving judgment, spoke at +length on the matter. Hops were as much a +“victual” as salt, both being used for the +preservation of victuals; and he was old enough to recollect an +application being made to that court for an information for a +conspiracy to raise the price of salt at Droitwich. Mr. +Waddington was remanded to prison till the last day of +term. The judges then declared themselves of opinion that +there ought to be no new trial, and that there was no +defence. He was again remanded to prison till the ensuing +term, in spite of a spirited remonstrance, and a reference to the +case of Horne Tooke, whom Lord Kenyon characterised as a +“bankrupt in character and fortune, and destitute of every +virtue and quality which could command respect.” On +the 8th of December, Mr. Waddington was found guilty, by a London +jury, of “engrossing” hops in the county of +Kent. While in prison he sold a ton of potatoes daily for +½d. per lb., and appropriated the proceeds to the benefit +of his poorer fellow prisoners. On the 25th of January, +1801, Mr. Waddington was finally brought up for judgment, and Mr. +Justice Grose declared that the court being unanimously of +opinion that the information on which Mr. Waddington had been +convicted was well supported at common law, he was sentenced to +pay a fine of £500, and to be imprisoned one month. +On the 4th of June, Mr. Waddington having been confined <a +name="page112"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 112</span>in +King’s Bench prison upwards of twenty-seven weeks, at last +purged his crime, and went down to Maidstone. At Tunbridge +he was feasted at a superb dinner, and about two miles thence was +met by a number of hop planters, who took the horses from his +carriage, covered it with wreaths of hop bine, and had it drawn +by relays of men (twelve miles) to Maidstone. There he rode +in triumph through the streets; made a speech which was received +with immense acclamation; “Waddington and the freedom of +commerce” resounded through the streets; and a subscription +on his behalf was entered into.</p> +<p>1802—At the Summer Assizes, held before Mr. Justice +Lawrence and Mr. Justice Le Blanc, three men and one woman (for +privately stealing) were sentenced to death, but all +respited. Three privates in the 5th Dragoons were tried for +the murder of Samuel Porter, ostler at the New Inn, Pershore, and +one named Rankins was found guilty; but as the fatal blow was +struck in what might be considered an affray, some points were +reserved for the twelve judges, and his sentence was ultimately +commuted to transportation.</p> +<p>1803—At the Summer Assizes this year there were only +seven prisoners in both county and city for trial, and, of these, +three were acquitted. Of the remaining four, Thomas Beach +for uttering a forged £5 note, and Elizabeth Guise for +robbing her master, Mr. Blizard of Stoulton, were sentenced to +death. Beach was executed; the woman reprieved. At +the same Assizes the Rev. J. F. Tonyn, rector of Alvechurch, +recovered £300 damages from the Rev. Henry Lynam, his +curate, for criminal conversation with his wife.</p> +<p>1805—<span class="smcap">February</span> 21—In the +Court of King’s Bench an indictment was preferred by Mr. +Forrester, of Elmley, in this county, against Colonel Passingham +and a Mr. Edwards. Colonel Passingham had once been an +intimate friend of Mr. Forrester, had debauched his wife, and +carried her off, in January, 1803. Edwards was, also, once +Forrester’s friend, but becoming a bankrupt, and prosecutor +being his opposing creditor, he became his implacable +enemy. Both then conspired to oblige the prosecutor to make +a very large settlement upon his wife, and he was actually +terrified into doing so by charges of horrible crimes. +These facts being proved on the part of the prosecution, the +defendants brought forward eleven witnesses to swear that Mr. +Forrester had actually been guilty of the offences +alleged—but they utterly broke down. The jury found +both prisoners guilty of the conspiracy. Being brought up +for judgment in the ensuing term, they were both sentenced to +three years’ imprisonment in Newgate; the additional +punishment of the pillory being specially <a +name="page113"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 113</span>remitted, +lest their lives should be forfeited by any indignant violence on +the part of the populace. Mr. Forrester afterwards obtained +a divorce from his wife, she having contrived to visit Passingham +in prison, and assumed his name.</p> +<p>1807—At the Summer Assizes a special jury cause at Nisi +Prius, in which Sir John Geers Cottrell, Bart., as heir at law of +Mrs. Freeman of Henley Park, brought an action of ejectment +against Joseph Harris, Esq., of Stanford, the sole executor and +residuary legatee of that lady, appears to have excited much +interest. The jury returned a verdict for defendant, +establishing Mr. Harris’s right to a considerable estate in +the parish of Rock, and other property. Attorney for +defendant—Mr. Hyde, Worcester. At the Summer Assizes +the cause again came on, the plaintiff having obtained a new +trial. Some of the most celebrated counsel of the day were +engaged—Mr. Garrow being retained by the plaintiff, and Sir +Thomas Plumer for defendant. After a twenty-four +hours’ battle, the jury confirmed the verdict of the former +jury by a verdict for defendant. The finding gave general +satisfaction.</p> +<p>1808—<span class="smcap">August</span>—At the +Worcester Summer Assizes this year was tried the cause of <span +class="smcap">Hill</span> <i>v.</i> <span +class="smcap">Smith</span>, an action brought to try the right of +the Corporation of Worcester to toll on wheat sold by sample, and +of course a matter of great interest to the agriculturists of the +county generally. The Corporation pleaded—“1st, +that from time immemorial they had taken a pint of wheat out of +each bag, as a toll on wheat sold by sample in the market, and +afterwards brought into the city: 2nd, the same justification, +except that the taking was in the name of toll, and not as a +distress: 3rd, that the Corporation were seized in fee of the +Manor of Worcester, and that the toll was taken in respect of +such manor: 4th, that the Corporation had immemorially repaired +the horse and carriage road in the Corn Market, amongst others, +and by reason thereof had immemorially taken the toll on all +grain brought over the Corn Market to be delivered to a +buyer.” The evidence fixed the custom of sale by +sample to have commenced in the year 1760. The learned +judge directed the jury to withdraw from their consideration the +question of toll traverse in respect of the manor, and toll +thorough (the last issue), the Corporation being unable to +support these issues, and desired them to consider whether the +grant (by charter, enabling them to toll wheat) was not +originally for all corn sold, both where the bulk or only a part +was brought into the market. The jury, after an hour and a +half’s consideration, returned a verdict for the +Corporation on the <a name="page114"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +114</span>second and third issues, and for the agriculturists on +the others. Counsel for the agriculturists—Mr. +Sergeant Williams, Messrs. Jervis, Abbott, and Lord; attorney, +Mr. Hill: for the Corporation, Messrs. Dauncey, Wigley, Puller, +and Mence; attorney, Mr. Weller.</p> +<p>1808—At the Summer Assizes, William Reynolds, convicted +of an assault upon a female, was sentenced to be imprisoned +fourteen days, and to stand in the pillory at Tenbury. Ann +Green, for stealing brushes, was ordered to be privately whipped; +and four men, for divers crimes, were sentenced to fourteen +days’ imprisonment and a public whipping.</p> +<p>1809—<span class="smcap">July</span> 14—Worcester +Summer Assizes. R. Baylis, churchwarden of Elmley Lovett, +was tried for painting up libels against the rector, the Rev. G. +Waldron, upon the walls of the parish church. They were +principally texts of scripture, the intended application of +which, however, could not be doubted. He was sentenced to +pay a fine, and to twelve months’ imprisonment.</p> +<p>1810—Lent Assizes—A. <span +class="smcap">Lechmere</span>, <span class="smcap">Esq</span>., +<i>v.</i> <span class="smcap">Disson</span>, was a trial to +recover compensation for negligence in the defendant in the +manufacture of oil-cake. Mr. Lechmere had paid great +attention to the feeding of cattle, and had brought oil-cake into +much greater notice than it had been before. He purchased a +quantity from defendant, but finding his cattle did not thrive +upon it as he expected, he had it analysed; and several witnesses +declared, that due attention had not been paid to the clearing of +the seed by skreening and sifting it; so that a great deal of +extraneous matter was left in the cake.—Verdict for the +plaintiff: damages, £50.</p> +<p>1812—<span class="smcap">April</span> 20—A case of +assault and battery, <span class="smcap">Overbury</span> +<i>v.</i> <span class="smcap">Moseley</span>, tried in the +Worcester City Court. It arose out of a street row, which +occurred in the previous November. Overbury and another +insulted some lady in the Foregate Street, and Moseley came up to +her help, and gave Overbury a thorough thrashing, for which he +brought this plaint. The mayor having impartially summed +up, the jury returned a verdict for the defendant. +Defendant conducted his own cause. Complainant was +represented by Mr. Sockett, an attorney of Worcester, who exerted +himself for his client beyond his strength, became ill, and soon +afterwards died.</p> +<p>1812—<span class="smcap">June</span>—<span +class="smcap">Hill</span> <i>v.</i> <span +class="smcap">Smith</span> in error, having been argued before +the Court of Exchequer. Sir J. Mansfield, after many +delays, now gave judgment. The court held that a sale by +sample was not a legal contract for the sale of anything +whatever, and that the lord or superior of an open market was not +entitled to any toll on <a name="page115"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 115</span>commodities not brought in +bulk. A sale by sample had been held by Lord Coke, and +other great law authorities, to be illegal, as contrary to the +principle and object for which a market was established. +The verdict for the Corporation (obtained at Worcester Summer +Assizes, 1808) was therefore reversed, and the cause remitted to +the court below to ascertain the amount of damages the plaintiff +was entitled to for the trespass committed in taking his corn; +which were, of course, merely nominal.</p> +<p>1814—<span class="smcap">August</span>—At the +Hereford Summer Assizes was tried <span class="smcap">Ford</span> +<i>v.</i> <span class="smcap">Racster</span>, being an action +brought by the executors of Dr. Ford, as Rector of Cradley, +Herefordshire, against Miss Racster, of Worcester, to try the +question of the liability of blackpoles to tithe. It was +argued for defendant, that these blackpoles, being more than +twenty years’ growth, were timber trees; but the jury +decided that they were not, according to the custom of the +country, and thereupon verdict was entered for plaintiff, and +damages assessed at £100, being for eleven years’ +fallage.</p> +<p>1816—At the Lent Assizes was tried an action for libel, +brought by the Rev. Joseph Shapland against Richard Mug Mence, +Esq. Verdict for plaintiff. The Rev. Mr. Shapland +pleaded guilty to an indictment for an assault. At the +ensuing assizes he was sentenced to six months’ +imprisonment, and to enter into recognizances to keep the peace +for seven years, himself in £500, and two sureties in +£250 each. Mr. Shapland was Vicar of St. +Peter’s, and had some unhappy disputes with his wife, to +settle which Mr. Mence had been called in as a mutual +friend. After a while, conceiving Mrs. Shapland to have +been ill-treated, Mr. Mence took her part very decidedly, and +refused to sit in company with Mr. Shapland. Mr. S. at this +was greatly exasperated; and meeting Mr. Mence one day walking +near the Guildhall, he struck him several times with a heavy +walking stick. Mr. Mence received the blows on his arm, +which was severely injured. Mr. M. afterwards published a +pamphlet, containing a long detail of Mr. Shapland’s family +jars, and the part he had himself taken therein; and this was the +libel complained of. In November, 1812, Mr. Mence was +called up for judgment in the King’s Bench, and sentenced +by Lord Ellenborough to six months’ imprisonment, and +afterwards to find sureties to keep the peace, himself in +£1,000, and two sureties of £500 each. The two +gentlemen were thus both imprisoned at the same time—the +one in the city, and the other in the county gaol.</p> +<p>1817—At the Lent Assizes, held before Mr. Justice Park +and <a name="page116"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 116</span>Mr. +Justice Burrough, no less than twenty prisoners were sentenced to +death, most of them for sheep stealing; but they were all +afterwards reprieved.</p> +<p>1818—At the Lent Assizes this year, the trial of Joseph +Steers, a respectable tradesman of Worcester, and six others, +charged with being concerned in the “freemen’s +riots,” and the demolition of the buildings upon +Pitchcroft, created the most intense interest, and at one part of +the proceedings there was an absolute tumult in court, so great +was the crush of people. The history of these riots is as +follows: In 1817 the “popular mind” of Worcester was +much agitated and incensed by buildings being erected on the +corner of Pitchcroft Ham, nearest to the city, and known as +Little Pitchcroft. The citizens viewed any encroachment on +this lung of the city with commendable jealousy, as it was their +principal resort for amusement and promenade; besides which, each +freeman had some property in the Ham, having a right of pasturage +thereon. A meeting was accordingly called in August, at the +Hoppole Inn, to protect the rights of the freemen in this +matter. Richard Spooner, Esq., then exceedingly active in +all popular movements in Worcester, was called to the chair, and +a committee was appointed, who issued notices to the parties who +had built upon the Ham to remove their erections before the 29th +of September. On the 15th of September, however, the +committee met, and agreed that as the removal of the whole +buildings would be attended with great loss to a charity which +derived considerable revenue from the wharfs, &c., it would +be more desirable only to remove those buildings and fences which +were most obnoxious. On this decision being made known, the +populace determined to take the matter into their own hands; and +on the morning of the 29th assembled in large numbers, and +commenced the demolition of such of the fences and buildings as +were not strong enough to resist their efforts. The mayor +came down to the spot and read the Riot Act, but nobody took any +heed of his worship, who, with the magistrates, then began to +swear in everybody as special constables—the said +“specials” standing by and looking on at the +demolition, very anxious to keep the peace, but not venturing to +interrupt the mob. At last some of the yeomanry assembled, +but being pelted with stones, they retreated to the Star and +Garter yard, and made no further appearance. The demolition +was concluded next morning; everybody saying that it was most +disgraceful, but nevertheless glad that it was done. Steers +and other persons, who had taken part in the work of destruction, +were indicted (under <a name="page117"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 117</span>statutes which had recently been +passed) for a capital offence; but Mr. Jervis, counsel for the +prosecutor, Mr. John Edmunds, declared that that was only done in +order to have a foundation to recover the damages he had +sustained during the riot. After two witnesses had been +examined, Mr. Justice Burrough, who presided, said there was +enough evidence to convict the whole prisoners of a capital +offence, and advised them to throw themselves on the mercy of the +court. This course they adopted; and his lordship then +discharged them, on entering into recognizances of £100 +each, to keep the peace for twelve months. The greatest +possible interest had been made on behalf of these parties; and +Lord Deerhurst, whose efforts were supposed to have contributed +greatly to the lenity with which they were treated, was almost +overwhelmed, on leaving the court, by the tumultuous approbation +of the populace. The mob endeavoured to drag Mr. Justice +Burrough in triumph through the city, on leaving for Stafford; +but his lordship instantly called in the aid of the javelin men, +and threatened to commit the foremost of the crowd. To +finish the story here; immediately after these assizes, the +agitation about the encroachments was recommenced, and Mr. Thomas +Carden, one of the six masters, put forth a statement that the +four acres in dispute were the gift of Thomas Wylde, Esq., +formerly of the Commandry in the city of Worcester, to the +Corporation; and the rents and profits of this land had been +uniformly applied to the benefit of the Free School, and Trinity +Alms Houses. Having in 1796 let out this land in lots, the +six masters had been enabled to increase the pay, to twenty-nine +old women, from 3s. to 6s. per month, which was a thing much more +worth doing than to allow one thousand freemen the pasturage +thereon, from Old Midsummer Day to Old Candlemas Day. A +common hall was shortly afterwards held, at which the committee +appointed for protecting the freemen’s rights made their +report. It was read by R. Spooner, Esq., and stated that +they had ordered entries to be made on two of the plots in Little +Pitchcroft; the result of which had been, that actions had been +brought against the enterers, and the <i>venue</i> changed by the +plaintiffs to Gloucester. The committee now wanted to know +whether the claims of the freemen were to be contested or +abandoned, as in the former case it would be necessary that the +city generally should enter into a subscription to provide the +sinews of war. The report was adopted, and a subscription +forthwith commenced. A motion to make terms with the six +masters was rejected. Just before the trial came on, +however, the matter was settled by arrangement, <a +name="page118"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 118</span>concessions +being made on either side; and buildings cover the greater part +of “Little Pitchcroft” to this day.</p> +<p>1819—At the Summer Assizes, John Grindley, of +Bromsgrove, was tried on a charge of wilfully murdering Thomas +Mannering. They had quarrelled in a public house, gone out +into the street to fight, but there made up their differences, +and sat upon the public stocks, drinking some beer. While +thus occupied, Grindley stabbed Mannering twice so severely that +he died next day. He was found guilty of manslaughter, and +sentenced to six months’ imprisonment.</p> +<p>1820—At the Lent Assizes, John Burton was convicted of +the murder of one Jaunty, in Worcester, on the 30th of July, +1819. Parties who had been employed by the Excise to seize +some malt, were met at the back of the Hoppole Inn by a number of +persons from the neighbouring public houses, and a general battle +commenced; the interest of which at length concentrated itself in +a fight between Burton and Jaunty. They had several rounds, +and Jaunty at last getting the better of his antagonist, Burton +ran off to his house, but presently returned with a pike, and +stabbed Jaunty right through the heart and lungs. Burton +was, however, reprieved on a point of law. At these +assizes, twenty-seven persons were sentenced to death (one a +woman, for stealing thirty-nine yards of bombazine from a shop at +Stourbridge), but all were reprieved, except one for highway +robbery.</p> +<p>1820—<span class="smcap">March</span> 24—A curious +application was made to the Lord Chancellor by the guardians of +Sir Roger Gresley, a young man of twenty, and a ward of Chancery, +to restrain the Earl and Countess of Coventry, and the Hon. John +Coventry, from encouraging a marriage between Sir Roger and Lady +Sophia Coventry, daughter of the earl, aged seventeen. +There had been negociations for a marriage, rent rolls having +been handed to the guardians, &c.; but as no settlement could +be made on the bride till Sir Roger was of age, the matter was +postponed. The court took it in dudgeon that anything +should have been done towards disposing of its ward in matrimony +without its license, &c.</p> +<p>1821—<span class="smcap">February</span> 13—A rule +moved for in the Court of King’s Bench on behalf of the +magistrates of Worcestershire, to compel the inhabitants of +Ombersley to pay £150 into the hands of the clerk of the +peace for the repairs of Hawford Bridge. The Ombersley +people replied that they were going to repair, and that £50 +would be quite sufficient to do all that was needed. The +rule was granted, but enlarged to the next term to admit of time +<a name="page119"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 119</span>for the +repairs being effectively carried out by the inhabitants of +Ombersley themselves, if they so pleased.</p> +<p>1821—At the Lent Assizes, before Mr. Baron Jarrow, an +action was brought by a schoolmaster at Dudley, a little deformed +man, named Hilliard, to recover damages from Mr. Badger for +knocking his hat off at the theatre, because he would not take it +off when the national anthem was being played. Mr. Badger, +in the zeal of his loyalty, not only knocked the unfortunate +pedagogue’s hat off, but the pedagogue himself off the +bench; and Mr. Baron Jarrow, in summing up, intimated that he +thought he was rather to be commended than otherwise, and +pictured to the jury “the glorious sight of a whole +audience in a theatre paying a just tribute of veneration to +their sovereign.” The jury returned a verdict for +plaintiff: damages, one farthing.</p> +<p>1821—<span class="smcap">August</span>—At the +Midsummer Assizes was tried, <span class="smcap">Jarratt</span> +<i>v.</i> <span class="smcap">the Mayor and Corporation of +Evesham</span>, being an attempt to establish the right of any +person who had served a freeman of that borough for an +apprenticeship of seven years to be himself admitted a +freeman. The Corporation admitted that if the whole service +had been within the borough the custom was to admit; but if the +master and apprentice had lived elsewhere any period of the time +then the right of admission failed. A verdict was entered +for the Corporation.</p> +<p>1823—Two men, named Oliver and Skinner, convicted at the +Easter City Sessions of a most unprovoked assault on three +journeymen carpenters going home one dark night in January, and +sentenced—Oliver to six months, and Skinner to nine +months’ imprisonment. These two fellows were part of +a fraternity calling themselves “lambs,” who used to +infest the streets of Worcester at night for the sole purpose of +annoying more peaceably disposed persons. At the trial they +brought a number of witnesses to prove an <i>alibi</i>, but +utterly failed, and disclosed the most unblushing perjury in lieu +thereof.</p> +<p>1823—William Taylor, a working stone mason, recovered +£120 damages in the Sheriff’s Court, for a fright +into which he had been put by Henry Geast Dugdale, Esq., a +magistrate of Worcestershire, living at Bordesley Park. He +was one of some workmen who were erecting a stone lodge for +defendant, who one day, when they had nearly finished, came up +and peremptorily ordered them off his premises. He said he +had been told by his master not to leave till he had finished the +job; but Mr. Dugdale, foaming <a name="page120"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 120</span>with rage, presented his gun at him, +cocked it, and declared he would shoot Taylor presently, if he +were not gone; whereupon he dropped his chisel and mallet in a +terror, took to his heels, and had been declining in health ever +since—such had been the effect of the alarm upon his +nervous system. Mr. Dugdale, in addressing the jury, said +“he once took a noble earl by the collar, and forced him +off his lands;” and hereupon Lord Plymouth, writing to the +Worcester papers, said Mr. Dugdale no doubt meant himself, but +that the whole statement was entirely untrue.</p> +<p>1824—At the Midsummer Assizes, before Mr. Justice +Littledale, was tried the cause of <span +class="smcap">Pierpoint</span> <i>v.</i> <span +class="smcap">Shapland</span>, in which Matthew Pierpoint, Esq., +of Worcester, surgeon (and as it proved upon the trial, physician +also), brought an action for slander against Miss Susanna +Shapland, a lady then residing in College Green. The +damages were laid at £5,000. Mr. Pierpoint had been +called in to attend Mrs. Isaacs, Miss Shapland’s sister, +shortly before her death, and administered an emetic: after that +he ceased to attend her, and Miss Shapland afterwards told Mrs. +Henry Clifton that Mr. P. had treated her sister +improperly. Mr. Jervis was counsel for plaintiff, and Mr. +Russell for defendant. A verdict was returned for +plaintiff, with 39s. damages. This trial excited +extraordinary interest—ladies, to make sure of places, +going to the courts at five o’clock in the morning.</p> +<p>1825—At the Lent Assizes an action for libel, against +<span class="smcap">Chalk and Holl</span>, was tried before Mr. +Justice Littledale. It was brought by a painter named +Davis, who had, by mistake, been described in a paragraph in the +<i>Worcester Herald</i> as concerned in a street row and an +assault upon a watchman. The party’s name <i>was</i> +Davis, but not the one pointed at in the paragraph, and +defendants, finding their error, corrected it in the next paper +and apologised; nevertheless Davis persisted in the action, urged +thereto, as it came out in the trial, by his attorney, who had +undertaken that it should cost him nothing. The counsel +engaged were—for the plaintiff, Mr. Campbell (now Lord +Chief Justice Campbell); and for defendant, Mr. Russell. +The jury returned a verdict for plaintiff, as the judge told them +they must to do so, with damages one farthing.</p> +<p>1827—Summer Assizes, before Mr. Justice +Littledale. <span class="smcap">The King</span> <i>v.</i> +<span class="smcap">Cooke</span> was an action against a draper, +at Dudley, of the most Radical cast, for publishing libels on His +Majesty’s Government. The libels were placards +exhibited in the defendant’s window during a <a +name="page121"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 121</span>time of +great disturbance amongst the colliers, in May, 1826. The +case had been entered for trial at previous assizes, but put off +from time to time. The alleged libel in the placards was +the assertion that ministers were bringing starvation upon the +people by their measures. Mr. Whateley was for the +prosecution, and Mr. Campbell for the defence. The +appearance of the placards in the defendant’s window having +been proved, Mr. Andrew Gracewood, doorkeeper at the Foreign +Office, was put in the box to prove that Earl Liverpool and +others mentioned in the handbills were at the time of their +publication ministers of state. Mr. Campbell, of course, +ridiculed the whole prosecution, and said Cooke was being made +the victim of private malice. The judge told the jury the +handbills were libellous, so they returned a verdict of +guilty. Cooke was only required to enter into sureties to +appear when called up.</p> +<p>1827—At the Lent Assizes this year there were nearly a +hundred prisoners for trial, and against twenty-four of them +sentence of death was recorded.</p> +<p>At these assizes was tried <span class="smcap">Agg</span> +<i>v.</i> <span class="smcap">Timbrell</span>, in which the +plaintiff recovered £7 damages for the injury done to his +gig by the negligent driving of the defendant’s +coachman. Mr. Charles Phillips was counsel for plaintiff, +and Mr. Taunton for defendant. The affair was chiefly +curious from the remark of defendant, who, when the accident +happened and Agg complained, said, “Do you know who I +am? I’m Doctor Timbrell, Doctor of Divinity, +Archdeacon, and magistrate in two counties. Don’t +talk to me, or I’ll commit you!”</p> +<p>1828—In November, this year, in the King’s Bench, +a rule for a criminal information against the Rev. Humphry Price, +for issuing inflammatory handbills at the time of the late strike +between the Kidderminster weavers and their masters, was made +absolute. The Rev. gentleman appeared in court himself, and +avowed himself to be the author of the placards charged against +him. The cause against him was tried at the next Hereford +Lent Assizes. A number of verses, entitled “<i>The +Complaint of a Kidderminster Weaver’s Wife to her +Infant</i>,” appeared to be most complained of; they ended +thus:</p> +<blockquote><p>“O cruel, cruel, cruel masters,<br /> +Dare ye thus mock at our disasters?<br /> +See parent, child, to phrenzy given,<br /> +And dream yourselves of reaching heaven?</p> +<p>Rouse from your slumbers! count the price<br /> +Of your own cursed avarice;<br /> +And count it well, ere taught too late<br /> +To dread than ours a far worse fate.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><a name="page122"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 122</span>Mr. +Campbell defended the Rev. gentleman, but he was found guilty, +and being brought up for judgment next term, was sentenced to +twelve months’ imprisonment, and adjudged to pay the +costs.</p> +<p>1829—At the Midsummer Assizes, before Mr. Baron Vaughan, +John Hunter, Esq., of Pershore, was tried for feloniously +altering a deed. A true bill had been returned against Mr. +Hunter at the Lent Assizes, but he was enlarged till the +Midsummer Assizes on very heavy bail. The respectability of +Mr. Hunter, who but for this charge would this very year have +been High Sheriff of the County, caused the intensest interest to +be felt in the trial, and the courts were thronged to +suffocation. Mr. Campbell, K.C., Mr. Sergeant Ludlow, Mr. +Carwood, and Mr. Godson, were the counsel for the prosecution; +and Mr. Taunton, Mr. Sergeant Russell, and Mr. C. Phillips, +assisted the defendant, who, as the law then stood, was obliged +to address the jury himself, and could only avail himself of +counsel in cross-examination, this being a misdemeanour. +The charge against Mr. Hunter was that he had erased the words +“part of” from a deed which he held, and the effect +of the erasure would be to put him in possession of the +<i>whole</i> of the premises to which it referred. In fact, +in 1825 he brought an action on the strength of this deed to +recover the whole of the premises, but permitted himself to be +non-suited. Mr. Hunter, in the written defence he handed in +to be read to the jury, contented himself with denying any +knowledge of how the erasure came about, and that it existed in +the deed when it first came into his possession, he having bought +the property as an entire property. The evidence given, and +some of the witnesses adduced by the prosecution, were of a very +doubtful character; and after the long array of witnesses which +Mr. Hunter called to speak to a long life of unblemished +uprightness, the jury said they would not trouble his lordship to +sum up, and Mr. Hunter must be <i>honourably acquitted</i>.</p> +<p>1830—At the Summer Assizes, before Mr. Sergeant +Bosanquet, came on the case of <span class="smcap">Chalk and +Holl</span> <i>v.</i> <span class="smcap">Robinson</span>, M.P., +being an action to recover £13. 8s. 6d. for printing +electioneering squibs on Mr. Robinson’s behalf, at the +election of 1826. They were written and ordered by some of +Mr. Robinson’s agents and solicitors, and his object in +resisting the claim was to disown any personal connection with +them. The matter was referred, at the judge’s +request, to Mr. Holroyd; and he awarded the sum claimed to the +plaintiffs, holding Mr. Robinson liable; Mr. Brampton proving +that the orders came from his committee room.</p> +<h3><a name="page123"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 123</span>THE +ODDINGLEY MURDER.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> annals of crime record few +tragedies so fearful in their enactment, so mysterious in their +present concealment, so singular in their ultimate discovery as +the Oddingley murder. A clergyman is shot at noon-day, +while walking in his own fields—the assassin and the motive +are perfectly known, yet he eludes justice, and suddenly and for +ever disappears. Some of the men to whom common rumour +points as the probable instigators of the crime, pass to their +account, and make no sign. At last, when twenty-four years +have elapsed, the body of the murderer is strangely discovered, +in a state of preservation and under circumstances which leave no +room to doubt that he was himself murdered by those who had hired +him to commit the crime they were afraid to perpetrate with their +own hands.</p> +<p>Thus circumstance combined with circumstance to increase the +romance of this tale of blood, and invest it with a fearful +interest, creating an unparalleled excitement, not only in this +neighbourhood but throughout the whole country. People +delighted to point to it, as showing how, with silent footfall, +justice ever tracks the murderer’s steps, and at last +exposes his guilt to the gaze of day, with whatever care and +midnight secrecy he has sought to hide and cover it. But it +showed, also, that the punishment of murder, as of other crimes, +is sometimes postponed to a more perfect time of retribution, and +that men doubly dyed with the blood of others—shed under +the influence of passions the most detestable—avarice, +hate, and fear—can walk their lives long among their +fellows with a smooth brow, and at last placidly turn their faces +to the <a name="page124"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +124</span>wall without, to outward seeming, one pang of remorse +or outcry of conscience.</p> +<p>The first notice of this terrible crime appeared in the +Worcester papers of June 26, 1806, and is as follows:</p> +<blockquote><p>“The Rev. G. Parker, rector of Oddingley, in +this county, was, on Tuesday evening last, most inhumanly +murdered in a field near his own dwelling house. The +perpetrator of this cruel deed discharged a gun at the +unfortunate gentleman, the contents of which entered his right +side; and afterwards, in a manner peculiarly atrocious, with the +butt end of his gun fractured his skull. An inquest was +held the following day, before R. Barneby, Esq., coroner, when +the jury returned this verdict—‘Wilful murder, by +some person or persons unknown.’”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Mr. Parker was an amiable man and benevolent to the poor, but +there had been an unhappy dispute between him and his +parishioners about the tithes, which was perfectly well +understood to have been the cause prompting to his death. +His predecessor had been in the habit of compounding with the +farmers for his tithes, they giving him in lieu thereof +£135 per annum. Mr. Parker, considering this +inadequate, proposed raising it to £150. Captain +Evans, one of his parishioners, however, prevailed on the farmers +to join him in resisting this proposal, and Mr. Parker, in +consequence, collected the tithe. After he had done so for +two years, the farmers, finding themselves losers by the system, +offered to accede to the proposal previously made. Mr. +Parker told them he was still willing to abide by it, but +required, as he had been at an expense of £150 in erecting +a barn, and making other arrangements for collecting the tithe, +that they should, in addition, repay him that sum, but this was +refused.</p> +<p>The magistrates, immediately after the murder, issued a bill, +offering a reward of fifty guineas for the apprehension of the +murderer, and minutely described the person and dress of Richard +Hemming, a carpenter of Droitwich, who was at once suspected as +the perpetrator of this fearful crime. The report of the +gun was heard by several parties, and two persons from Worcester +saw Hemming escaping over some fields in the neighbourhood of the +spot—indeed he was distinctly traced to a wood at Lench, +but there all trace of him was entirely lost, and it was thought +that he had left the country in security. A free pardon was +offered at the time by Government to any accomplices in the +murder who would become king’s evidence.</p> +<p><a name="page125"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 125</span>In +June, 1807, a man, who had enlisted into the marines, was +detained by the magistrates at Plymouth on suspicion of being +Hemming. Mr. Carden immediately despatched parties to +ascertain the truth of the matter, but it proved to be a case of +mistaken identity. The affair, though public notice of it +was hushed, was never forgotten—the country people had +their beliefs and traditions concerning it, and though it was +confidently affirmed by some that Hemming had been seen alive in +America, the real truth was more than guessed at. It was by +some firmly believed that Hemming had been murdered by the +parties who employed him to assassinate Mr. Parker, and they +themselves seemed scarcely anxious to avoid the imputation. +Captain Evans, whom all pointed at as being the principal +instigator of the assassination, constantly kept standing upon +his estate a certain clover rick, which he had made three days +only after Mr. Parker’s murder, and when he parted with the +estate two years afterwards to a Mr. Barnett, this rick was still +kept standing. The general belief was that Hemming’s +body had been buried beneath this rick, and in 1816 +Hemming’s widow (then married again) made a deposition +before the Droitwich magistrates of her conviction that this was +the case. A search warrant was granted, but in that same +night the clover rick mysteriously disappeared, and though the +ground which it had covered was carefully dug up, nothing was +discovered. Captain Evans, at the time of Mr. +Parker’s murder, lived upon the Church Farm, Oddingley; but +in 1808 he went to reside on a small estate called New House, +upon the confines of the two parishes of Hadsor and +Oddingley. Here he remained till 1826, when he went to +Droitwich, and there lived till his death, which occurred in +1829; he was then ninety-four years of age. He was formerly +a captain in the 89th Foot, and received half pay up to the day +of his death. He was a magistrate of the borough of +Droitwich.</p> +<p>It may be well conceived that all idea of any further +discovery of the circumstances under which this terrible crime +was committed had long been given up, and that the discovery of +the skeleton of Hemming created the most startling +surprise. On the 21st January, 1830, a carpenter named +Burton was engaged in removing a barn upon the Netherwood Farm, +Oddingley, which, at the time of Mr. Parker’s murder, was +occupied by Mr. Thomas Clewes. He had begun to remove the +foundation when he met with a pair of shoes and carpenter’s +rule. The story of Hemming immediately recurred to his +mind, and, carefully covering up again what he had found, he went +to the magistrates of Droitwich and the coroner of the county <a +name="page126"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 126</span>(Mr. +William Smith). The further investigation of the spot was +very carefully conducted by the neighbouring magistrates and Mr. +Pierpoint of Worcester; and the whole skeleton of a man, of just +such height and make as Hemming was known to have been, was +disclosed to view. His former wife particularly identified +the remains by the mouth and teeth, and declared her firm belief +to be that the rule which Burton had found was that which Hemming +used customarily to carry in his pocket. The bones of the +skull had been beaten into many pieces. An inquest was +commenced upon these remains on the following Tuesday, and, by +adjournment, on the Friday; at the close of which sitting, Thomas +Clewes was taken into custody on suspicion of having been +concerned in the murder of Hemming, and in the course of the next +day he expressed his desire to make a confession. The +coroner and jury accordingly went to him in the County Gaol, +where, with great composure, he gave the following account of the +circumstances under which Hemming was himself murdered on the +evening of the day after that on which he had shot Mr. +Parker. Whether it is the absolute truth or not, coming as +it did from an accomplice, must always be a matter of doubt, but +it is at any rate all that will now be known of this deed of +terror.</p> +<h4>CLEWES’S CONFESSION.</h4> +<blockquote><p>“On the morrow morning after the parson was +shot (I mean the Rev. Mr. Parker, Rector of Oddingley), it was on +Bromsgrove fair day—I cannot recollect exactly the +year—about seven o’clock, George Bankes came down to +me, and says, ‘We have got Hemming, who shot the parson, at +our house (meaning Captain Evans’s) this morning, and I do +not know what to do with him—will you let him come down +here?’ I said, ‘I will not have him here, nor +have nothing to do with him.’ Bankes then went +off. Bankes said, ‘he is lurking down in the +meadows.’ I went up to Oddingley about eleven +o’clock in the day to Mr. Jones’s; Mr. Jones is dead, +and Mr. Nash lives in the farm now. As I went up the road +side, I suppose he (meaning Captain Evans) kept sight of me all +the way. The Captain called to me; he was in his garden, +close by the road side; he followed me out of the garden into the +field, and said he wanted to speak with me. He said, +‘I’ve had Hemming at our house this morning, and +something must be done by him; he is lurking down towards your +house now; I ordered him to get into your buildings by day-time, +if possible, or at the edge of night, that you (meaning witness) +might not see him, or any of your family, and somewhat must be +done by him. I shall come down to your house at night, and +bring somebody with me, and we must give the poor devil some +money, or do something with him, and send him off; will you get +up and come to the barn? it won’t detain you a +minute.’ I refused coming, and said, ‘I did not +like to come.’ The Captain said, ‘it can make +no odds to you—you need not be afraid to come at eleven +o’clock; just come out, it will make no difference to you +at <a name="page127"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 127</span>all; +if you don’t come I shall be afraid of your +dogs.’ I went out at the back door and down to the +barn door, as the clock struck eleven. There was the +Captain and James Taylor, and a third, whom I thought and +believed to be George Bankes. They went into the barn (I +mean the Captain, Taylor, and George Bankes), and I with them; I +believed it to be Bankes; he had on a smock-frock; as soon as the +Captain came into the barn, he calls, ‘Holloa, Hemming, +where be’est?’ not very loud; Hemming spoke, and said +‘Yes, Sir;’ Taylor and the Captain then stepped on +the mow, where Hemming was lying, which was not higher than my +knee; the Captain pulled a lantern from under his coat, or out of +his pocket; myself and George Bankes were then on the +thrashing-floor; the Captain said, ‘Get up, Hemming, I have +got something for thee;’ Hemming was at the time covered up +with straw; he was rising up on end, as if he had been lying on +his back; as he rose up, Taylor up with a blood-stick, and hit +him on the head two or three blows; I (witness) said, ‘This +is bad work—if I had known you should not have had me +here;’ the Captain said, ‘He has got enough;’ +Taylor and the Captain came down off the mow directly; Taylor +said, ‘What is to be done with him now?’ the Captain +said, ‘D—n his body, we must not take him out of +doors, somebody will see us, mayhap.’ It was not very +dark. Taylor went out of doors, and fetched a spade from +somewhere; it was no spade of mine; and Taylor and the Captain +said, ‘We will soon put him safe.’ Taylor then +searched round the bay of the barn on the contrary side where it +was done, and found holes which dogs and rats had scratched; he +threw out a spadeful or two, and cleared away from the foundation +side of the wall. ‘This will do for him,’ +Taylor said to the Captain, who stood by and lighted him the +while. Bankes and myself were still on the floor of the +barn. Then the Captain and Taylor got upon the mow, and +pulled Hemming down to the front of the mow. The Captain +said to Taylor, ‘Catch hold of him,’ and they dragged +him across the floor, and into the hole they had dug for him in +the opposite bay, and Taylor soon covered it up. I cannot +tell whether he was put in on his back or not; I never stepped +into the bay from the floor; I thought I should have died where I +was; the Captain said to Taylor, ‘Well done, boy, +I’ll give thee another glass or two of brandy.’ +The Captain said to me on the floor when we went out, +‘I’ll give you anything; d—n your body, +don’t ever split.’ All four were present at +this; we then parted; the Captain darkened his lantern; the +Captain, Bankes, and Taylor, went away towards Oddingley; I went +to bed; the whole did not occupy half an hour; Hemming had his +clothes on; Hemming never moaned nor groaned after he was first +struck; there was no blood—not a spot on the floor; nothing +else was done that night. On the 26th of June I was at +Pershore fair; George Bankes came to me in the afternoon, between +four and five; he called me up an entry at the Plough, and said, +‘Here is some money for you that Hemming was to have +had.’ Mr. John Barnett was with Bankes then, Bankes +and Barnett each of them gave me money, but I do not recollect +how much I had from each; I did not count it until I got +home. They said when they gave it me, ‘Be sure you +don’t split.’ There was no more said about it +that night. It was in two parcels, in all between £26 +and £27, and all in bills; there was no silver. I put +it all in one pocket. This was to have taken Hemming off, +as Bankes and Barnett informed me. A few days after, I was +at the <a name="page128"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +128</span>Captain’s; he sent for me by my own son, John +Clewes, then about seven years old. When I got to the +Captain’s, I found him alone; he said to me, if I kept my +peace, and did not split, I should never want for £5. +I never received any money from him afterwards. On the same +day, in the parlour of the Captain’s house, Catherine +Bankes came to me, and went down on her knees, in great distress, +and begged and prayed of me not to say anything, as she feared +the Captain had done a bad job, and that they would all come to +be hanged if I spoke. I promised her I never would say +anything.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>[Bankes was a farm bailiff; Taylor died about 1816, having +lived some time in infamous notoriety at Droitwich. +Barnett, at the time of the murder, was only bailiff for his +mother, but had since become an opulent farmer. Clewes +himself failed three or four years after the murder, and had +since been engaged as a labourer or woodman.]</p> +<p>A great many witnesses were examined at the inquest, who spoke +to expressions of hatred and malice used by Captain Evans, +Barnett, Bankes, and Clewes, with regard to Mr. Parker, and many +trifling circumstances which tended to implicate them in the +disappearance of Hemming, and corroborate Clewes’s +confession. The jury, after five days of most elaborate +investigation, returned a verdict of wilful murder against Thomas +Clewes and George Bankes; and further found that John Barnett, +late of the parish of Oddingley, farmer, was an accessary to such +murder before the fact.</p> +<p>These three persons were accordingly put upon their trial at +the ensuing March Assizes, before Mr. Justice Littledale. A +true bill was found against Clewes as principal in the second +degree, and against Barnett and Bankes as accessaries before the +fact to the murder of the Rev. George Parker, by Richard +Hemming. Mr. Curwood was the leading counsel for the +prosecution, Mr. Sergeant Ludlow for Clewes, Mr. Campbell, K.C., +for Bankes, and Mr. Taunton, K.C., for Barnett. An +objection was taken to the prisoners pleading as accessaries to a +murder, the principal in which had not been found guilty; and +this objection being allowed, Clewes and Bankes were arraigned as +principals, and Barnett as accessary before the fact to the +murder of Richard Hemming. Clewes was first put upon his +trial alone. The evidence of the finding of the body of +Hemming having been given, and its identification completed, many +witnesses were examined to speak to expressions of the prisoner, +tending to show that he had been anxious to procure the death of +Mr. Parker; and expressions used by Hemming, showing that he had +been employed to do some foul deed at Oddingley. It was +proved, too, that Clewes and Hemming had been frequently in one +another’s company prior to the murder. Last of all, +after a sharp struggle on the part of the <a +name="page129"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +129</span>prisoner’s counsel to prevent it, Clewes’s +confession was put in and read. Sergeant Ludlow briefly +addressed the learned judge, urging that Clewes was entitled to +his acquittal, as his confession stood uncontradicted, and that +did not prove him to have been a principal in the crime. +The court decided that the matter must be left to the jury, and +to them the prisoner declined saying anything; nor did the law +then admit of counsel addressing the jury in defence. The +jury, after a short summing up, returned a verdict of +“Guilty as an accessary after the fact;” but Mr. +Justice Littledale observing that they had only to inquire +whether he was guilty of aiding and abetting in the murder, they +returned a general verdict of “Not guilty.” The +crown refused to call any evidence on the coroner’s +inquisition, or against Barnett and Bankes, so they were all +discharged. The expenses attending the prosecution amounted +to between £700 and £800.</p> +<p>1830—At the Lent Assizes, before Mr. Baron Bolland, was +tried the cause of <span class="smcap">The King</span> <i>v.</i> +<span class="smcap">Dineley</span>, in which Mr. Francis Dineley, +solicitor, practising at Pershore, was found guilty of conspiring +with one William Loxley, deceased, to defraud Nicholas Marshall +of £2,000. The transaction took place so far back as +1804, when Loxley and Dineley induced Mr. Nicholas Marshall to +advance the sum of £2,000 on what it was alleged they +<i>knew</i> to be defective security, and he lost the whole of +it. Mr. Campbell made a long speech in defence, alleging +that the defect in the security might not have been known to his +client, and remarking strongly on the long time which had +elapsed. The case for the prosecution rested mainly on +letters written by Dineley to Loxley.</p> +<p>1830—<span class="smcap">May</span> 21—In the +Arches Court, judgment was delivered in the suit of <span +class="smcap">Barnett</span> <i>v.</i> <span +class="smcap">Rev</span>. <span class="smcap">William Baldwin +Bonaker</span>, being a complaint on the part of some of the +inhabitants of Church Honeybourne against their clergyman for +neglect of duty, such as continued absence from the parish. +Sir J. Nicholl, the judge, declared the evidence insufficient, +and condemned the promoters of the suit in full costs.</p> +<p>1830—<span class="smcap">October</span> 20—At the +Michaelmas Sessions were tried the Kidderminster rioters. +True bills were found for riot and assault against ten carpet +weavers, and the case for the prosecution was conducted by Mr. +Evans and Mr. Lea; Mr. Godson and Mr. Lumley appearing for the +prisoners. Three of them, named Lamsdale, Green, and +Stephens, were first tried for being concerned in an attack on +the prison, on the second day of the disturbances, and with +assaulting <a name="page130"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +130</span>William Hopkins, a constable; but they were acquitted, +to the great surprise of the court. Six men were next tried +for the attack on Mr. Cooper’s factory, and for very +ill-treatment of a man named Edwards, working there at low +prices. He was left by the mob, thrust into the ashpit of +one of the furnaces, more than half dead. Phaizy and +Hopkins, the men principally concerned in this assault, were +sentenced to six months’ imprisonment—Lamsdale to +three months, and Price to two months’ imprisonment; and +all to enter into sureties to keep the peace. Other two +were acquitted. In three other cases verdicts were taken by +consent, and almost nominal punishments inflicted. Mr. +Godson’s strenuous exertions in these cases laid the +foundation for his subsequent popularity in the borough of +Kidderminster.</p> +<p>1830—<span class="smcap">October</span> 18—At the +trial of one of the prisoners at the City Michaelmas Sessions, +Mr. Curwood, his barrister, handed in a protest against the +jurisdiction of the court, because it was not constituted +according to the charter of James I, which required that the +recorder—“one learned and discreet man, learned in +the laws”—should always preside at gaol +deliveries. Earl Coventry and his ancestors had long been +recorders of Worcester, and seldom (or never) present at Quarter +Sessions. The magistrates refused to receive the +protest.</p> +<p>1831—The cause list at the Midsummer Assizes this year +contained thirty-one cases for trial, and two of them excited +much interest. The first was an action brought by the Rev. +Edward Herbert against a Mr. Heath, for an assault, in which Mr. +Campbell and Mr. Whateley were for plaintiff, and Mr. Charles +Phillips for defendant. For the prosecution it was merely +proved that Heath struck Herbert some dozen blows with a +horsewhip in Broad Street, Worcester, on the 23rd of the previous +February. One witness heard Heath say the words, +“that — my father, and you consider yourself well +horsewhipped for it.” Mr. Charles Phillips made a +very long and powerful speech for the defence, stating to the +jury that if the prosecutor had dared himself to come into the +box, he would have forced him to confess that he had not only +broken his pledge to Mr. Heath’s sister, but had slandered +his buried father in the most outrageous and unbearable +manner. Mr. Justice Patteson told the jury that all they +had to do was to say whether Heath had committed the assault, and +so they returned a verdict of “Guilty;” but no +sentence was passed, though the affidavits of defendant were +ready, and Mr. Justice Patteson himself pointed out to Mr. <a +name="page131"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 131</span>Phillips an +error in the record, no doubt with a view of getting rid of the +case.</p> +<p>The other case was a charge against Mr. Francis Hill, of +Stourbridge, of having committed wilful perjury, by swearing that +he had not adopted certain royalty mines, while he had, in fact, +signed a document to do so. Mr. Campbell, for the defence, +urged that many a man signed deeds which he did not understand; +and a host of witnesses appeared to give Mr. Hill the best of +characters. He was honourably acquitted.</p> +<p>1831—At the County Epiphany Sessions six men were tried +for destroying a thrashing machine, the property of Joseph +Fretwell, of Blockley, and were indicted for a riot and +assault. Mr. Godson and Mr. Lea were for the prosecution, +and Mr. Strutt and Mr. Evans for the defence. There was no +attempt to deny that the men did come into Mr. Fretwell’s +barn, and take the machine to pieces; but on cross-examination of +the prosecutor it was shown that he was just about to quit the +farm, which he held under Lord Northwick, and that these men had +come to take the machine down by his lordship’s orders, in +order to prevent the destruction of the premises by the lawless +mob who were going about the neighbourhood. Fretwell was +evidently regarding his landlord with feelings of exasperation, +because he had let the farm over his head. One of the men +was found guilty of riot and assault, the other five of riot +only. Two of them were ordered to pay a fine of £30 +each, and the others of £20 each, and to be imprisoned till +those fines were paid. But the money was immediately handed +to them, and they were discharged from the dock.</p> +<p>Six men were charged with being concerned in the destruction +of Mr. Baylis’s needle presses and stamps, at Tardebigg, +and were sentenced to twelve months’ imprisonment each.</p> +<p>Six other men were arraigned for going about the villages of +Defford, Pinvin, &c., in a riotous manner, and obtaining +victuals and drink by threats and intimidation; but the evidence +only showed that they had importunately asked for relief at two +or three places, and inquired of a labourer in the road whether +his wheelbarrow was a “machine,” because, if it were, +they would smash it! They were all acquitted.</p> +<p>1832—Lent Assizes—The Rev. John Lynes, Rector of +Elmley Lovett, was sued for a penalty of £270 for +non-residence in his parish for three months, under an act passed +in the year 1817, which provided that a clergyman absenting +himself for a quarter of a year <a name="page132"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 132</span>should forfeit a third of the annual +value of his living, and the living of Elmley Lovett was set down +at about £800 a year. Mr. Jervis, with Mr. Richards +and Mr. Alexander, were for the prosecution, and Mr. Campbell for +defendant. A great number of witnesses were called to prove +the defendant’s absence; some of them his own servants; but +in the opinion of the learned judge (Mr. Justice Taunton) the +absence for the entire time was not made out, and the jury +returned a verdict for defendant.</p> +<p>At the same Assizes was tried the action of <span +class="smcap">Shelton</span> <i>v.</i> <span +class="smcap">Steward</span>, rival surgeons at Bromyard, and +brought by the former against the latter for a libel, said to be +contained in a letter published in the <i>Hereford Times</i> and +<i>Worcester Journal</i>, and which was supposed to insinuate +that Mr. Shelton was ignorant in his profession, and guilty of +improper conduct. Verdict for plaintiff: damages, +£10.</p> +<p>1832—At the County Epiphany Sessions, ten of the Dudley +colliers were indicted for a riot, to obtain a rise in wages, in +the previous December. Several parties, working in the +Broad Pit Collieries (Earl Dudley’s) were ill-used by the +mob for working at the ordinary wages; but Mr. Godson, who was +for the prisoners, contended that their identity had not been +sufficiently made out. After four hours’ consultation +the jury acquitted all the prisoners. Seven of the same men +were charged with an assault on one of their butties at this +time, and five pleaded guilty by arrangement, and were liberated +on their own recognizances. The other two were acquitted in +the teeth of the evidence. Several other parties were +indicted for assaults arising out of these riots, but only two, +named Hill and Smart, were found guilty. Hill was sentenced +to six months’ and Smart to one month’s +imprisonment.</p> +<p>1834—At the Lent Assizes, seven men were tried before +Mr. Justice Allan Park for being concerned in election riots at +Dudley, breaking windows, &c., and were all found +guilty. They were sentenced to trifling terms of +imprisonment, excepting one man named Griffin, who had committed +a serious assault on Jewkes the constable, and, therefore, was +ordered to be imprisoned for twelve months.</p> +<p>Robert Osbaldeston was tried at these Assizes of shooting at +Mr. Wood, gunsmith, Broad Street, Worcester, and was acquitted +only on the ground of insanity.</p> +<p>Edmund Campbell Brewer, a confidential clerk in the employ of +the Stourbridge Canal Company, was found guilty of forging a bill +of exchange for some £13 odd. He absconded to +America, and <a name="page133"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +133</span>then it was found that he had embezzled £1,000 +and more, belonging to the Company. Yet, upon the trial, +many witnesses gave him the best of characters; and the +prosecutors themselves said that his conduct had been most +exemplary till this time. Mr. Eberhardt followed him to +America, and apprehended him in Utica. He was sentenced to +be transported for life. Great exertions were made to +obtain a commutation of his punishment.</p> +<p>1835—At the Lent Assizes, before Mr. Justice Patteson, +was tried <span class="smcap">Hill</span> <i>v.</i> <span +class="smcap">Hickes</span>, an action brought by Mr. George +Price Hill, a solicitor in Worcester, against Mr. Hickes, for +having slandered him to his uncle at Dudley, by intimating that +he was a rogue, &c. Verdict for plaintiff 40s. +damages. Mr. Sergeant Talfourd was for plaintiff, and Mr. +Sergeant Ludlow for defendant.</p> +<p>At these Assizes also was tried <span +class="smcap">Anderton</span> <i>v.</i> <span class="smcap">Gibbs +and Ferney</span>, the latter being executors of Mr. John Moor, a +manufacturer of Dudley, and whose daughter Mrs. Anderton claimed +to be. The question was one of legitimacy, Mr. Moor’s +wife having left him and formed a criminal intimacy with a Mr. +Corfield at the time of Mrs. Anderton’s birth. The +jury found a verdict for plaintiff, and property, to the amount +of £6,000, thus passed into Mr. Anderton’s +possession.</p> +<p>1835—At Warwick Lent Assizes was tried <span +class="smcap">Davies</span> <i>v.</i> <span +class="smcap">Badger</span>, an action brought by a journeyman +whitesmith of Dudley, against Mr. Badger a magistrate of Dudley, +for striking him with a stick at the Dudley booth, at the +previous East Worcester election. Mr. Balguy, K.C., was for +plaintiff, and Mr. Sergeant Goulburn for defendant. It was +of course made a political affair, and excited great +interest. Mr. Badger, through his counsel and his +witnesses, denied ever striking the man at all. The jury +returned a verdict for plaintiff: damages £30, costs +40s.</p> +<p>1835—At the Midsummer Assizes was tried <span +class="smcap">Parker and Son</span> <i>v.</i> <span +class="smcap">Robinson</span>, M.P., a case which excited much +attention at the time, and was particularly interesting to those +of the legal profession who looked to reap rich harvests at +elections. The plaintiffs sued Mr. Robinson for assistance +said to have been given him in the way of canvass, &c., at +the election of 1832, when the sitting members were threatened +with an opposition by the Hon. Mr. Dundas. Mr. Robinson had +paid £75, and paid £13 into court, but the amount of +the bill was £186. Mr. Robinson pleaded that he had +not given authority for such expenses to be incurred by +plaintiffs, who, at this election, were only subsidiary agents, +Mr. Cameron <a name="page134"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +134</span>being his chief attorney. Various solicitors were +examined pro and con to show that the charges were reasonable or +otherwise; and the Jury, eventually, returned a verdict for +plaintiffs, damages £38; thus Mr. Robinson paid £126 +instead of £186. Mr. Sergeant Ludlow was for +plaintiffs, and Mr. Sergeant Talfourd, M.P., for defendant; and +both made amusing speeches about the affair.</p> +<p>1836—At the Lent Assizes, before Mr. Justice Williams, +was tried <span class="smcap">Badger</span> <i>v.</i> <span +class="smcap">Cooke</span>, an action brought by Mr. Badger, the +Dudley magistrate, against Mr. Samuel Cooke, the celebrated +Radical mercer, for a libel. After Mr. Badger had been +found guilty of the assault on Davis at the Stourbridge election, +Cooke issued a placard triumphing in the result of that trial, +and saying that “every honest man must ever afterwards look +with most indignant contempt on his (Mr. Badger’s) actions, +since he had already disgraced the dignified functions of his +station,” &c. &c. The defendant addressed the +jury in his own defence, quoting papers to show that Mr. Badger +often made use of as strong expressions towards his political +opponents, and declaring that it was nothing more than a question +of Tory and Radical. He was found guilty, Mr. Justice +Williams declaring that the paper had a palpable tendency to +defame and degrade Mr. Badger in his character as a +magistrate. He was only required to enter into a +recognizance of £50 to appear when called upon.</p> +<p>1838—At the Summer Assizes this year a very painful and +remarkable case of circumstantial evidence took place, being no +other than the trial of a wife and daughter for the murder of one +who had stood to them in the relation of husband and +father. On the evening of the 3rd of August, 1837, Mr. John +Orchard, the landlord of the Woolstaplers’ Arms Inn, in +Stourbridge, a man in the prime of life and in good health, was +seen to go up the yard attached to his house, and his wife and +eldest daughter, with a man named Smith, were seen to follow +him. He never returned alive. Smith came down the +yard again shortly, but the wife and daughter remained there some +time. Two or three hours afterwards the daughter told some +of the people in the house that her father was very ill, and she +was afraid he would die; but no one saw him until he was actually +dead. When a surgeon arrived the body was on a chair in the +kitchen, and Mrs. Orchard was supporting the head in her +hands. She pointed the surgeon’s attention to a small +hole between the third and fourth ribs, immediately over the +heart, and said she supposed <a name="page135"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 135</span>it was done by a nail in tumbling +over some tubs in the yard. He had a shirt on, but there +was no hole in that. The brewhouse, tubs, and yard appeared +to have been just washed, and the opinion of the medical man was, +that Orchard must have been dead an hour at least when he saw +him. On a post mortem examination, the wound in question +was found to be four inches and a half deep, and went right +through the pericardium and right ventricle, so that it must have +caused almost instant death. Of course grave suspicion +under these circumstances could not but attach to the mother and +daughter, especially as there had been repeated quarrels between +them and the deceased, and the wife was also suspected to have +been improperly familiar with the man Smith. The +coroner’s jury, however, returned a verdict of +“wilful murder against some parties unknown,” and +months passed without any further discovery. At last a +woman, who had assisted in laying out the corpse, told some party +that the man was murdered with a skewer, which was afterwards +thrown into the Stour. The woman, when interrogated by the +police, denied having said anything of the sort; but a +skewer—just such an instrument as would have produced the +wound—was found in the Stour, nevertheless. The wife +and daughter were then apprehended and put on their trial. +Mr. Whateley conducted the prosecution, and Mr. Godson the +defence. The judge, Lord Abinger, told the jury that they +must not convict the prisoners on suspicion, and they were both +acquitted.</p> +<p>1838—At the County Epiphany Sessions, William Baylis, +the crier of Evesham, appealed against the commitment of three +justices, who had ordered him to be sent to prison, under the +60th and 65th sections of the Municipal Act, for refusing to +deliver up the bell. It was denied that the court had a +right to entertain the appeal, but the court chose to do so, and +quashed the conviction, subject to a case to the Queen’s +Bench on the points argued. A similar appeal was heard from +Robert Knight, one of the sergeants-at-mace under the old +corporation, who refused to deliver up his mantle. The +magistrates were—Mr. Strickland, Mr. Cheek, and Mr. +Ashwin.</p> +<p>1839—At the Midsummer Assizes the Rev. T. B. G. Moore, +curate of Bromsgrove, prosecuted Mr. J. B. Crane, carrier, Mr. +Nicholas Hill, publican, Mr. W. Whitehouse, farmer, Samuel +Taylor, John Pinfield, jun., William Sansome, George Wakeman, +labourers, and Henry Hill, baker, for a riot alleged to have +taken place at a church <a name="page136"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 136</span>rate meeting at Bromsgrove; and +Nicholas Hill and Taylor were also charged with an assault on the +Rev. prosecutor. The meeting in question was held on the +14th of the previous February, and the parties who had got first +to the vestry had voted Mr. Greening to the chair and then +declared the meeting adjourned to the Town Hall; Mr. Moore, the +curate, however, declared that he was the only lawful chairman +and adjourned the meeting to the school-room. Here there +was a scene of great excitement, and after the meeting had +decided by a very large majority that there should be no rate, a +poll was demanded by the pro-rate party. Immediately upon +this there was a general rush to the platform—a violent +struggle for the vestry book—and all sorts of +people—Mr. Moore amongst the number—were tumbled +about, struck, and ill-treated. It was said that the riot +had been instigated by Mr. Nicholas Hill and Mr. Crane, and that +Mr. Hill, in getting the book out of the curate’s +possession, had forced his head against the desk so as to cause +great pain. Mr. Sergeant Ludlow, in his speech for the +defence, made much of this being a case got up by +subscription—to crush the Bromsgrove opponents of church +rates, and to put money into the purse of Mr. Annesley, an +attorney, living twenty-five miles away from Bromsgrove. +Whitehouse and Sansome were acquitted; Mr. Nicholas Hill found +guilty of assault and riot, and the rest of the defendants of a +riot only. Counsel for plaintiff, Mr. Sergeant Talfourd and +Mr. Lea; attorney, Mr. Annesley of Pershore; for defendants, Mr. +Sergeant Ludlow and Mr. Godson; attorney, Mr. F. T. Elgie, +Worcester. In the following November defendants were called +up for judgment (after an unsuccessful effort to get a new +trial), when Nicholas Hill was sentenced to six weeks’ +imprisonment, and the other three to four weeks’ +imprisonment each.</p> +<p>At the same Assizes, Mr. Meredith, woolstapler, of Pershore, +was convicted of striking Lieutenant Amherst three times, one day +in the open street. There had been considerable excitement +in the town about the election of Guardians of the Poor for the +parish of St. Andrew, in the preceding March, and the plaintiff +and defendant were active men on opposite sides. The first +time they met in the street, Meredith put a paper into +plaintiff’s face, saying, “Look at that;” and +when he put up his clenched fist to defend himself, Meredith +knocked his hat on one side. The second time Lieutenant +Amherst admitted that he had called Meredith a d— +blackguard, before any blow was struck, but Meredith afterwards +hit him several times. Meredith, having been found guilty, +was fined £20, and bound <a name="page137"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 137</span>over himself in £300, and two +sureties of £100 each, to keep the peace for three +years.</p> +<p>1839—At the Michaelmas Sessions Samuel Cooke, the +celebrated Chartist draper at Dudley, was prosecuted for +attending and assisting at a riotous and illegal meeting at +Dudley, on the 16th of July. It was proved that a placard, +calling the meeting, had been seen in Cooke’s window, and +that he himself addressed the assembly; but it did not appear +that he had said anything very outrageous. The meeting was +tumultuous, but no actual mischief had been done. Cooke +defended himself with a good deal of shrewdness, and complained +that he was a persecuted man. The jury returned a verdict +of guilty, and he was sentenced to six months’ +imprisonment, which was generally considered to be a very sharp +political visitation of his offence. William Smith Lindon +and James Hollis, for using seditious language at the same +meeting, were sentenced, the first to three months’, and +the second to six weeks’ imprisonment.</p> +<p>1841—In November this year, in the Queen’s Bench, +a rule <i>nisi</i> for a criminal information, was granted +against the <i>Worcestershire Chronicle</i>, on the application +of W. H. Ricketts, Esq., for a libel in that paper imputing to +him jobbing and interested motives in disposing of the public +money to be laid out in building the Droitwich Police +Station. Upon the proprietors of the <i>Chronicle</i> +admitting that they had been misled and offering an apology, Mr. +Ricketts consented to the discharge of the rule. The +information on which the article complained of by Mr. Ricketts +was written, was supplied by Mr. George Ellins, a brother +magistrate; and as he refused to pay any of the costs which the +proprietors of the <i>Chronicle</i> had incurred, they inserted +another article, charging Mr. Ellins with having misled them in +the matter. This brought another rule <i>nisi</i> upon them +from Mr. Ellins, who affirmed that he did not volunteer the +statement to Mr. Arrowsmith, and had especially told him that +what he did say was not for publication. The argument +against the rule did not come on till November, when Mr. Sergeant +Talfourd showed cause for the <i>Chronicle</i>, and the Solicitor +General supported the rule on behalf of Mr. Ellins. Lord +Denman said it was absurd to suppose that Mr. Ellins gave the +information to Mr. Arrowsmith for any other purpose than that of +publication; and the rule was discharged with costs.</p> +<p>1842—At the Lent Assizes was tried <span +class="smcap">The Marquis of Anglesea</span> <i>v.</i> <span +class="smcap">Lord Hatherton</span>, a cause more interesting +from the rank of the parties interested, and the right at stake, +than from any attractiveness <a name="page138"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 138</span>in the subject or the +evidence. It was an action to stop the noble defendant from +working coal mines on certain copyhold property belonging to the +latter at Cannock, in Staffordshire; and turned upon the question +whether Lord Anglesea, as lord of the manor of Cannock, had right +to the minerals. Sir Thomas Wilde, Sergeant Ludlow, Mr. +Alexander, and the Honourable Mr. Talbot, were retained for the +defendant; and the Solicitor-General (Sir William Follett), Mr. +Richards, Q.C., Mr. Whateley, Q.C., and Mr. Whitmore, for the +plaintiff. A great number of witnesses were called on +either side, to prove rights and customs, and to perplex the +jury; and ultimately, after a trial of two days, a verdict was +found for the plaintiff, with nominal damages. The verdict +created much surprise.</p> +<p>1842—<span class="smcap">July</span> 20—A Court of +Inquiry holden by Mr. Under Sheriff Gillam and a special jury, to +assess damages in the case <span class="smcap">Powell</span> +<i>v.</i> <span class="smcap">Perrins</span>. This was an +action to recover damages for the seduction of plaintiff’s +daughter, plaintiff being a land surveyor at Hagley, and +defendant a chain maker, living near Stourbridge. +£500 damages given for the plaintiff.</p> +<p>1842—At the Midsummer Assizes a horrible case of +depravity was disclosed in the trial of Richard Taylor, a +blacksmith of Stourbridge, charged with shooting at his wife, +Hannah Taylor, with intent to murder her. Though she had +been the subject of a course of the most sickening brutality, she +refused to give evidence against him, and the witnesses, +therefore, were the neighbours and the prisoner’s own +grown-up daughter, who stood in the witness box with a child in +her arms, which was the offspring of an incestuous intercourse +with her own father! The prisoner, on the particular +occasion for which he was tried, had shot at his wife, and beaten +her till she was well nigh killed. He then turned all his +children out of doors stark naked. He was only found guilty +of an assault, because nothing more could be proved without the +wife’s evidence, and he was sentenced to six months’ +imprisonment only.</p> +<p>1843—At the Lent Assizes, Edwin Archer, a young labourer +from Rouse Lench, was tried for the wilful murder of George +Green, in the previous December. He pleaded guilty to the +crime of manslaughter, and was sentenced to fifteen years’ +transportation. The prisoner and deceased had been +quarrelling, and set about to wrestle; in the course of the +struggle, Archer drew a knife and stabbed Green in four distinct +places—one of the wounds penetrating the heart—and +death immediately ensued. As soon as the fatal deed was +done, Archer was aghast <a name="page139"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 139</span>with horror, and wept like a child +over the body of his passion’s victim.</p> +<p>Samuel Bridgwater was tried at these Assizes, at the instance +of some very indefatigable Radicals, for bribery at the election +of 1841. The bill had repeatedly been thrown out by the +grand juries, as was supposed, on political grounds, until at +last a sufficient number of the right party were found to return +it as “a true bill.” The case, however, now +broke down at its very commencement, because a tailor had been +sent to the Crown Office for copies of the return to the writ for +the Worcester election, and he had not had them compared with the +originals.</p> +<p>1843—<span class="smcap">June</span> 1—The Rev. +William Smith, vicar of Overbury, obtained a rule <i>nisi</i> for +a criminal information against the <i>Worcestershire +Chronicle</i>. The parish had long been in a state of most +unseemly dissension, and the <i>Chronicle</i>, in giving a long +and very detailed statement of meetings and matters there, was +said to have libelled Mr. Smith in attributing conduct to him +which he disclaimed, and generally in reflecting on his character +and conduct. The rule was, however, afterwards discharged +by arrangement, and no further proceedings were taken.</p> +<p>1843—At the Midsummer Sessions, Sir Thomas Phillips, +Bart., and two of his labourers, were tried at these Sessions, +for assaulting George Cooper, a shoemaker of Broadway. +Cooper was collector of taxes, and went to Middle Hill to get a +balance of taxes from the honourable baronet. He had had +repeated disputes with Sir Thomas Phillips, and this was also a +disputed affair, so Sir Thomas ordered him off the premises; and +when he talked of levying a distress, Sir Thomas pushed him out +of the hall, and struck him with a garden paddle once or +twice. The two labourers were discharged, and Sir Thomas +Phillips fined £10.</p> +<p>1843—At the Midsummer Assizes, before Mr. Justice Maule, +was tried <span class="smcap">Lavender and Another</span> +<i>v.</i> <span class="smcap">Bucklee</span>, being an action to +recover £3,500, which had been secured on a bond given by +Messrs. Thomas and William Bucklee to William Shaw, Esq., of +Britannia House, Worcester. It was said that Mr. Shaw, +shortly before his death, had cancelled the bond by cutting it +off. It was said by the executors that Mr. Shaw was not in +a state of mind to cancel the bond; and that his housekeeper, who +was a relation of the Bucklees, appeared to have great influence +with Mr. Shaw. A great deal of evidence was given as to the +transaction itself, at which interested parties were present and +took much part, and as to Mr. Shaw’s state of health <a +name="page140"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 140</span>at the +time. The jury, after an hour’s deliberation, found a +verdict for the defendant.</p> +<p>A case which excited great interest in the city of Worcester, +was the trial of Charles Samuel Atkins, a young man respectably +connected, who was in the employ of Messrs. Griffiths and Clarke, +linen drapers, as a shopman. He was charged with embezzling +£4, the property of his employers, on the 27th of +September, 1842. Atkins had been sent to Mrs. Jeremy with a +shawl and some satinette, and on his return said Mrs. Jeremy had +kept the shawl and not paid for it, and had retained the +satinette for approval. Mrs. Jeremy declared that she paid +the person who brought the shawl four sovereigns on the +spot. It was shown that in the very next week Mrs. Jeremy +had had some satinette sent her from Hill and Turley’s, by +a young man remarkably like the prisoner, and that came to very +nearly the same sum as the shawl; and it was suggested that Mrs. +Jeremy might have confounded the two transactions. The jury +returned a verdict of “Not guilty,” and the court +immediately echoed with deafening cheers, while Atkins fainted +away. Mr. Sergeant Talfourd conducted the prosecution, +while Mr. Bodkin, of the Old Bailey, was specially retained for +the defence. The linen drapers’ assistants of the +city afterwards presented Mr. Atkins with a silver snuff box.</p> +<p>Mary Francis, 24, single woman, was charged with attempting to +poison Mary Jeffs, an elderly woman, living at +Alderminster. The prisoner brought the old woman a cake, +pretending that some one had given it her to make a present of it +to the prosecutrix, but the strangeness of her manner in +delivering it, and her continually saying that she was only to +eat of it herself, excited the old woman’s +suspicions. The cake was analysed, and was found to contain +a large quantity of arsenic. The prisoner was courted by +the old woman’s son; but not the slightest motive could be +assigned for her wish to deprive the mother of life. She +was found guilty, and sentenced to fifteen years’ +transportation.</p> +<p>1844—At the Lent Assizes was tried the <span +class="smcap">Queen</span> <i>v.</i> <span +class="smcap">Smith</span>, being an action brought by William +Harris, the parish clerk of Overbury, against the Rev. William +Smith, the vicar, for dismissing him from his situation. +Mr. Smith alleged that the clerk had been guilty of drunkenness, +had read the responses irreverently, and had interrupted the +celebration of the sacrament on a particular occasion. +Harris denied the whole of these charges, and the present trial +was on a return to a mandamus in the Court of Queen’s <a +name="page141"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 141</span>Bench to +ascertain their truth. Various witnesses were examined on +both sides: those for Harris asserting that it was Mr. +Smith’s eccentricities that alone caused the clerk to +err. The jury found that the charges of drunkenness were +proved, and that Harris had spoken the responses loudly to annoy +Mr. Smith, but that the charge of interrupting the sacrament was +not true. The court, thereupon, ordered the verdict to be +entered for defendant.</p> +<p>1844—<span class="smcap">March</span> 23—At +Hereford Assizes was tried <span class="smcap">Bellers</span> +<i>v.</i> <span class="smcap">Chalk and Holl</span>, being an +action for libel, said to be contained in a paragraph in the +<i>Worcester Herald</i> of the 2nd of December, 1843. +Colonel Bund, of Malvern, gave some information to the +proprietors of the <i>Herald</i>, on the strength of which they +inserted a paragraph charging Mr. Bellers, of Barnard’s +Green, with cruelty to his mare, by shutting her up for years in +solitary confinement in such a position that she could not lie +down. Several statements afterwards appeared in the +<i>Herald</i> to the effect that the cruelty to the mare had been +abated after the publication of the paragraph, and reporting the +proceedings of a meeting, held at Gloucester, for establishing a +society for the prevention of cruelty to animals. The Lord +Bishop of the Diocese presided at that meeting; and Mr. Thomas, +the secretary of the Society in London for Preventing Cruelty to +Animals, attended, and stated that he had personally inquired +into the alleged case of cruelty, and had found the statement in +the <i>Herald</i> to be correct. On the trial, Mr. +Whateley, Mr. Gray, and Mr. Godson were counsel for plaintiff; +Mr. Sergeant Talfourd and Mr. Valentine Lee for the +defendants. Acting on the advice of counsel, defendants had +not pleaded a justification. The publication of the libel +was admitted; of course, no evidence could be offered in +justification, and the jury found a verdict for plaintiff, as +they were bound to do under the circumstances: damages, +£150.</p> +<p>1844—At the Midsummer Assizes, John Bowen, a man of +about fifty years, formerly an officer in the navy, was tried on +the charge of defacing the parish registers of Croome +D’Abitot, and sentenced to seven years’ +transportation. It was shown that Bowen was engaged in +making out a pedigree for a John Wood, who wanted to establish +himself as a relation to the celebrated James Wood, of +Gloucester, and had visited the Croome D’Abitot rectory +several times for that purpose. While the curate was +looking in another direction he tore a leaf out of the +register. Mr. Sergeant Talfourd was for the prosecution, +and Mr. F. V. Lee for the defence.</p> +<p><a name="page142"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 142</span><span +class="smcap">The Queen</span> <i>v.</i> <span +class="smcap">Newton</span>, also tried at the Assizes, was a +charge against the eccentric barrister of that name, who used to +come the Oxford circuit, of having committed perjury, said to +have been committed in some affidavits. The presiding +judge, Mr. Sergeant Atcherley, stopped the case, as +insufficiently supported in the evidence.</p> +<p>1844—At the Michaelmas Quarter Sessions a singular trial +took place of two farmers, named Swan and Patrick, who were +charged with killing deer belonging to W. L. Childe, Esq., in +Kyre Parva park. The witness against them was a boy named +Passey, who said he saw the parties accused chase a fine buck +into one corner of the inclosure and then shoot it; but there +were some discrepancies in his testimony. Both these +farmers lived close to Mr. Child, and as the fences were not in +the best possible condition, the deer used frequently to get on +their land and eat their corn. Mr. Lee made an ingenious +speech for the defence, and called many witnesses to character; +after which the jury returned a verdict of not guilty, amid the +applause of the court.</p> +<p>1845—At the Lent Assizes, eleven poachers were put on +their trial for the murder of Thomas Staite, one of the Earl of +Coventry’s watchers, who was killed in a very desperate +affray which took place between the keepers and the prisoners on +the 19th of the previous December. One of them, however, +named George Lippett, was admitted as Queen’s evidence; and +another, Francis Dingley, while in prison made a full confession +of the whole transaction. The keepers and watchers were +nine in number, and they encountered the party of poachers at the +gate leading into Park Farm, Pirton. A fight with bludgeons +took place, in which the keepers were altogether worsted, and one +or two of them left for dead. The poachers also fired off +two guns, but the shots did not take effect. The +unfortunate man, Staite, was found by his comrades, after the +affray was over, in a ditch close by the Park Farm house, so +badly used that he could not speak; and, indeed, he never uttered +a word from that hour. He was taken first to a neighbouring +cottage, and then to the Worcester Infirmary, where he died in +six days. The identity of all the prisoners, and the part +they had each taken in the affray, was very clearly made out by +the evidence of four of the watchers and the statement of the +approver Lippett. Mr. Godson, in a very able speech for the +prisoners, contended that the case was not made out by the +evidence of the keepers, and that Lippett was not to be believed; +ending with a protest against the game laws generally, as <a +name="page143"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 143</span>the cause +of much injustice and innumerable crimes. The Lord Chief +Baron Pollock, before whom the case was tried, told the jury that +they might find the prisoners guilty of manslaughter; and, acting +upon this hint, the jury returned a general verdict against all +the prisoners of “Guilty of manslaughter.” +Witnesses to character were then called on behalf of some of the +prisoners, and his lordship sentenced them to different terms of +transportation as they seemed to have taken an active part or +otherwise in the attack upon the keepers. Francis Dingley, +Samuel Turvey, Joseph Turvey, and Joseph Tandy were transported +for life; Thomas Hooper, William Broomfield, and John Cook +transported for ten years; George Brant for seven years; and +Thomas Cosnett and William Collins were sentenced to two +years’ imprisonment. The prisoners were all Pershore +men, but the case excited the most intense interest in that part +of the county.</p> +<p>1846—At the Midsummer Assizes, Richard Farley, cabinet +maker, fifty-three years of age, and Ann Jones, a married woman, +were tried for forging the will of William Welch, of Llandilion, +near Abergavenny. The will was first produced and attempted +to be used in Worcester—hence the trial took place +here. Farley was Welch’s son-in-law, and the will +conveyed some property at Aston Ingham to him instead of to his +own son, William Welch. A number of witnesses declared that +the will was not in the handwriting of the deceased, and that one +at least of the signatures was written by the prisoner +himself. Ann Jones was an attesting witness, and repeatedly +asserted the genuineness of the will. Farley was sentenced +to fifteen years’ transportation, and Jones to twelve +months’ imprisonment.</p> +<p>1847—At the Lent Assizes this year, a trial took place +which excited considerable interest—that of <span +class="smcap">Harris</span> <i>v.</i> <span +class="smcap">Grissell</span>, being an action brought by Mr. +George Harris, carpet manufacturer, of Stourport, against +(really) the Severn Navigation Commissioners, though the +ostensible defendants were the contractors of the +works—Messrs. Grissell and Peto. Mr. Harris had a +mill on the Stour, and he said that owing to the erection of the +weir at Lincombe, the water in the Stour had been so pounded up +as frequently to stop his undershot wheels, and to render his +mill useless. A great number of witnesses were examined on +both sides, and the learned judge (Mr. Sergeant Gazelee) having +told the jury that there was no defence to the action, they +returned a verdict for the plaintiff, with £500 damages; +but this extraordinary summing <a name="page144"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 144</span>up of the judge’s enabled the +defendants to get a rule for a new trial, and the matter never +proceeded further.</p> +<p>1847—At the Midsummer Assizes, Harklas Lovell Blewitt, a +travelling tinker, was tried for the murder of his wife at +Dudley, on the 3rd of June. They were staying at a lodging +house, and the wife, to escape the ill-treatment of her brutal +spouse, hid herself in the coalhole; he followed her there with a +kettle of hot water, and, holding her down with one hand, poured +it over her head and shoulders. She was so dreadfully +scalded that she died in ten days; but though there was no +pretence for saying that it was unintentionally done, the jury, +to the amazement of the court, returned a verdict of +“Guilty of manslaughter” only, and the fellow was +sentenced to transportation for twenty years.</p> +<p>1848—At the Lent Assizes, four men, named Cartwright, +Sweatman, Payne, and Turberfield, were charged with breaking into +the toll house at Knighton-on-Teme, kept by an old man named John +Mound, and his wife, and stealing £115. The burglars +used very violent threats towards the poor old people, who most +distinctly swore to all four of the men as the parties who robbed +and assailed them. They were consequently found guilty, and +sentenced to fifteen years’ transportation each. Yet +it was afterwards distinctly proved that Turberfield was not +engaged in the robbery, and he received a free pardon. Two +other men, convicted of burglary at these assizes, on what +appeared to be the clearest evidence, were discharged by the +Secretary of State, because it was afterwards proved, beyond +contradiction, that the crime had been committed by other +men.</p> +<h2>EXECUTIONS.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> county has of late years been +almost wholly spared the painful spectacle of justice proceeding +to its direst extremity of taking away human life, though +formerly capital punishments were but too common, and inflicted +for what we should now esteem very inadequate causes of +offence. Their policy and propriety in any case are now +allowed to be fit matters for discussion; and it is probable that +public opinion may, in a few years hence, demand their entire +abolition.</p> +<p><a name="page145"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +145</span>1800—At the Lent Assizes this year, ten persons +were sentenced to death, but seven of them were reprieved before +the judges left the town. Richard and John Lane, +brothel’s, were convicted of the murder of Thomas Goode, of +Redmarley, in October, 1799. They were impatient to possess +some property which would be theirs at his death, and having +waylaid him, both shot him—one with a gun, the other with a +pistol. They were executed on the 10th of March, and each +died uttering execrations on the other.</p> +<p>1800—At the Summer Assizes, thirteen persons were +sentenced to death, and three of them executed—one for +burglary, and two for sheep stealing. They are said to have +died “with the utmost resignation, and acknowledging the +justice of their sentences.”</p> +<p>1801—At the Lent Assizes, five persons were sentenced to +death for burglary, a woman for stealing two £10 notes, +five men for highway robbery, three for horse stealing, one for +stealing a cow, another for stealing two calves, four for sheep +stealing, and two for escaping from prison after sentence of +transportation—twenty-two in all! Six of these were +left for execution; but great interest being made for some of +them, only one was actually hung.</p> +<p>1803—<span class="smcap">March</span>—Richard +Colledge executed for horse stealing.</p> +<p>1803—<span class="smcap">June</span>—Thomas Beach +executed for uttering a forged £5 note.</p> +<p>1805—<span class="smcap">March</span> 22—John +Sanky, <i>alias</i> Young, convicted at the Assizes just +concluded of uttering a forged bill of exchange, with intent to +defraud Messrs. Knapp and Lee, glovers, of Worcester, was +executed on a temporary gallows erected in Salt Lane. He +addressed the spectators for a full half hour, acknowledging the +justice of his sentence, and expressing his confident hope of +pardon through the righteousness and atonement of our +Saviour. He had attempted, in the interval between his +sentence and condemnation, to escape from the gaol, but he now +declared that he never entertained any idea of doing the gaoler +or turnkey any personal injury. <i>He then gave out three +verses of a hymn</i>, <i>and was joined in singing them by many +of the persons who surrounded the fatal tree</i>; after this he +prayed aloud in a very solemn manner for himself and the +spectators. Several distressing mistakes were made by the +executioner, but the unhappy sufferer retained his composure +amidst all these blunders, and appeared to die with absolute +cheerfulness. This young man was evidently possessed of +considerable talents, but they had been miserably misapplied.</p> +<p>1805—<span class="smcap">August</span> 16—W. +Dalton, convicted before Lord Ellenborough <a +name="page146"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 146</span>at the +Summer Assizes of two burglaries, one at Astley and the other at +Kidderminster—executed at Red Hill. His demeanour was +becoming.</p> +<p>1806—<span class="smcap">March</span> 19—John +Davenport and William Lashford hung at Red Hill for a burglary at +Bellbroughton. They confessed their crime, and behaved in a +becoming manner.</p> +<p>1812—<span class="smcap">March</span> 20—William +Scale was executed in the field of the New Gaol for committing a +rape at Norton, near Worcester. He is described as +“penitent, resigned, and met his fate with the fortitude +becoming his deplorable situation.”</p> +<p>1815—<span class="smcap">July</span> 21—William +White was executed on a gallows erected “in the outer +circle of the County Gaol,” for a rape on Ann Davis of +Beoley. He is declared to have died, “as since his +condemnation he had lived, full of contrition and +piety.”</p> +<p>1816—<span class="smcap">March</span> 22—William +Clements and John Batty executed at the County Prison for +breaking into the dwelling house of Mr. Martin of Paxford, and +stealing a large sum of money; and John Rowen for forging and +uttering a bill of exchange for £315 on Messrs. Cox, Merle, +and Co., bankers, London, with intent to defraud Messrs. Attwood +and Co., bankers, Worcester.</p> +<p>1818—<span class="smcap">July</span> 31—William +Corfield sentenced to death for a burglary at the house of George +Jukes of Tenbury, was executed at the new drop erected over the +entrance to the County Gaol. He had conducted himself after +his trial in a very refractory manner, and could not be brought +to acknowledge the justice of his sentence. Shortly before +his execution he wrote an exceedingly sensible and properly +worded letter to his wife.</p> +<p>1819—<span class="smcap">March</span> 19—John +Harris convicted of uttering forged Bank of England notes at +Bromsgrove, hung in front of the County Gaol. He died +“sincerely penitent.”</p> +<p>1820—<span class="smcap">March</span> 17—Robert +Hollick, convicted of robbing Thomas Gittins and Thomas Hawker on +the highway at Claines, and cruelly ill-treating the latter, was +this day executed. As he was being led out of his cell, his +mother, sister, wife, and child, came to see him, not having +visited him previously. The execution was delayed awhile to +grant them an interview—which, as may be supposed, was a +most distressing one. It did not, however, unnerve the +culprit, who died with great firmness, though fully admitting the +justice of his sentence.</p> +<p>1821—<span class="smcap">March</span> 23—Thomas +Dyer, capitally convicted of horse stealing, was executed at the +County Gaol, but died protesting his entire innocence of the +crime laid to his charge. He left a paper <a +name="page147"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 147</span>behind him, +stating the names of the parties from whom he bought the horses, +and the sums of money he had given for them; but it does not +appear that anybody thought it worth while to make further +inquiries about the matter.</p> +<p>1821—<span class="smcap">August</span> 24—William +Mantle and William Bird were executed at the County Gaol; the +former convicted of stealing sheep, the property of Mr. Henry +Hyde of Little Kyre; and the latter of breaking into the house of +Mr. John Bird of Bromsgrove, and stealing wearing apparel, +&c. The ropes were nearly extended to their full length +when tied round the unhappy culprits’ necks, so that +scarcely any fall took place, and they died in great agony, +especially Bird. Their remains were interred in St. +Andrew’s churchyard.</p> +<p>1823—<span class="smcap">March</span> 24—James +Davis and Joseph Rutter, two young men convicted at the Lent +Assizes—the former of horse stealing and the latter of +sheep stealing—were executed at the County Gaol. +Davis was a deserter from the army, and appeared to have stolen +from sheer want. Rutter’s had been a long course of +crime. Davis began to address the crowd when brought upon +the scaffolding, warning them to avoid Sabbath breaking and +vicious practices; when Rutter said, impatiently, “Come, +let’s have no more of that;” and they were +immediately hurried into eternity. He literally preferred +hanging to a homily.</p> +<p>1826—<span class="smcap">July</span> 21—John +Hobday, a young man only twenty-one years of age, having been +convicted at the Midsummer Assizes of a burglary at the Bell Inn, +Kidderminster, and a savage assault upon the officers who +apprehended him at Birmingham, was executed at the County Gaol +this day. He was reported to be very penitent, and prepared +for death.</p> +<p>1830—<span class="smcap">March</span> 11—Michael +Toll, convicted of the wilful murder of Ann Cook, a woman with +whom he lived, by knocking her into a pit at Oldswinford, was +executed this day in front of the County Gaol. His body was +given to the surgeons to anatomise, and afterwards exposed to +public gaze at the Infirmary. In his stomach were found a +number of pieces of blanket, which he had swallowed in order to +produce suffocation.</p> +<p>1830—<span class="smcap">July</span> 30—Charles +Wall, convicted at the Summer Assizes of the murder of Sally +Chance, at Oldswinford, was executed in front of the County +Prison at six o’clock p.m., the execution having been +deferred to that unusual hour in consequence of the election +taking place that day. His body was delivered to a surgeon +at Stourbridge, and afterwards exposed to view to great crowds +who came from all <a name="page148"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +148</span>the surrounding parts to see it. The party +murdered was a little girl, whose mother the prisoner was about +to marry, and he killed her by throwing her into a lime pit.</p> +<p>1830—<span class="smcap">August</span> 13—Thomas +Turner, a lad only seventeen years of age, convicted at the same +Assizes of a rape upon Louisa Blissett, a child under ten years +of age, at New Wood, about three miles from Kidderminster, was +executed this day.</p> +<p>1831—<span class="smcap">March</span> 25—Thomas +Slaughter, <i>a lad not eighteen years of age</i>, was executed +for setting fire to a large wheat rick, the property of Mrs. +Rebecca Tomlinson, of Elmley Lovett. The poor fellow was +wholly uneducated, and evidently of weak intellect.</p> +<p>1832—<span class="smcap">March</span> 22—James and +Joseph Carter, two brothers, aged twenty and twenty-two +respectively, and condemned at the Lent Assizes for two cases of +highway robbery at night, with violence, in the neighbourhood of +Bewdley, this morning underwent the extreme penalty of the law in +front of the County Gaol. Both men met death with firmness, +but without bravado; and Joseph Carter addressed the populace +from the scaffolding, warning them to avoid Sabbath breaking, +drunkenness, and bad women. The crowd on this occasion +behaved with unusual decorum, and seem really to have been +impressed with a feeling of sadness at seeing two persons hurried +out of life so early.</p> +<p>1834—<span class="smcap">March</span> 12—Robert +Lilly, convicted at the Lent Assizes of the murder of Jonathan +Wall, at Bromsgrove, was executed in front of the County +Gaol. Wall had interfered to prevent his ill-using his +wife, and Lilly stabbed him in the abdomen with a +clasp-knife. There was a large concourse of spectators at +the execution—principally females, but the culprit did not +address them, and he died without a struggle.</p> +<p>1837—<span class="smcap">March</span> 23—William +Lightband, executed in front of the County Gaol for the murder of +Joseph Hawkins, shopkeeper, of Areley Kings, on the 8th +September, 1836. He was a carpenter, entirely without +education, and had pursued a sottish and irregular mode of +life. However, the instruction he received when in prison +seemed to have had effect upon his mind, and he met death in +becoming manner. Though it snowed during the whole morning +there was a great concourse of spectators, and the Rev. Mr. Dodd, +assistant minister at the Lady Huntingdon’s Chapel, +afterwards addressed them. Their behaviour was more decent +than usual on such occasions.</p> +<p>1849—<span class="smcap">March</span> 26—The last +execution which took place in Worcester <a +name="page149"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 149</span>was that of +Robert Pulley, who was condemned to death for the barbarous +murder of a poor girl, named Mary Ann Staight, at Broughton, on +the 5th of December, 1843. The manners of the prisoner were +so brutish and careless as to induce a doubt in his sanity; and +at the expense of the High Sheriff, Mr. John Dent, counsel was +provided at his trial to defend him on this ground. It was +also made the plea for a memorial to the Home Secretary on his +behalf, which was signed by many benevolent persons, and by those +opposed to all capital punishments. His conduct after +trial, however, was such as to convince all who conversed with +him of his perfect rationality. He was lamentably ignorant; +but listened with much attention to the exhortations of the +ministers who visited him. He displayed great firmness in +his last moments. The execution took place at noon on the +roof of the County Gaol, in the presence of a large crowd of +spectators, who behaved with much propriety.</p> +<p>The excitement occasioned by this execution produced much +discussion as to the expediency of capital punishments. A +public meeting was held in the Guildhall, Worcester, by those who +wished their abolition, at which Mr. Charles Gilpin attended and +spoke. Mr. George Grove attempted to show that Scripture +contained a command which was conclusive on the subject, and +required us to shed the blood of the man who took away the life +of another; but a resolution, declaring capital punishments to be +opposed to the spirit of Christianity and inexpedient, was +carried almost unanimously. The Rev. W. H. Havergal and Dr. +Redford also preached upon the subject—the former in favour +of, and the latter against, death punishments.</p> +<h2><a name="page150"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +150</span>RAILWAYS.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> County of Worcester has +hitherto been very poorly supplied with Railway +communication—a strange fatuity having attended the various +undertakings which have been projected for meeting its +necessities in this respect. Worcester itself was, indeed, +almost shut out from this advantage, now so indispensable to +prosperity, till the half century had closed; but a brighter day +appears now to be dawning upon us.</p> +<h3>BIRMINGHAM AND GLOUCESTER.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">This</span> is the only railway which has +yet been completed in this county, and it was promoted chiefly by +parties living at the termini, who made it their only object to +carry it in as straight a line as possible from point to point, +with very little reference to the convenience of the towns by the +way. If the shareholders could have foreseen the disastrous +influence of such a policy upon their own funds, they would +certainly have taken a different course, even though they felt no +interest in the prosperity of the places which they so much +injured by passing at considerable distances. The scheme +was <a name="page151"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +151</span>first projected in 1834, and the directors obtained +their act on their first application to Parliament in 1836; the +line was opened from Cheltenham to Bromsgrove, in June, 1840, and +throughout the whole distance on the 17th of December in that +year. The share capital subscribed was £1,142,125, to +which £380,076 was afterwards added of money borrowed on +debentures, &c. Though the line, except at the Lickey, +presented no engineering difficulties, and was cheaply +constructed, yet the rate of profit was very small; and in +October, 1842, the £100 shares were quoted as low as +41. In January, 1845, it was amalgamated with the Bristol +and Gloucester Line; and in 1846, when the broad and narrow gauge +interests were each making such struggles for the ascendancy, the +Midland Company entered into an arrangement to lease the line for +999 years, paying 6 per cent. upon the capital. The Great +Western bid 5½ per cent., but would go no higher.</p> +<p>This undertaking was first introduced to the notice of the +citizens of Worcester at a public meeting held on the 15th of +January, 1834. The Company were at this time about to +determine upon their route, and had two plans before +them—the one eventually adopted <i>viâ</i> +Cheltenham, and another that was to have come by way of +Stourbridge, Kidderminster, and Worcester; the former was marked +out by Mr. Brunel, the latter by a Mr. Wooddeson. In +consequence of this state of things some gentlemen had formed +themselves into a provisional committee with a line of their own, +and Messrs. Gwinnall and Hughes, the solicitors employed, +procured the calling of this meeting, in the Guildhall, +Worcester, with the Mayor, W. Dent, Esq., in the chair. The +committee laid their plans, in the rough, before the meeting, and +asked a vote of sanction and support from the meeting. Sir +Anthony Lechmere wanted no railways at all. Major Bund and +Mr. Gutch proposed a month’s adjournment. But a +resolution to stand by the committee, and to approve of no +railway but one which came right through Worcester, was passed by +a large majority. The Grand Connection Railway project took +its rise from the suggestions of this committee.</p> +<p><a name="page152"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 152</span>The +Birmingham and Gloucester Company making no attempt to obtain an +act in the session of 1835, the matter was not again discussed +till the 22nd October in that year, when a meeting was convened, +over which Mr. J. W. Lea, Mayor, presided. Some of the +provisional directors were present, and admitted that they +intended to carry the line through Spetchley. Mr. John Hyde +proposed that the directors should be requested to include a +branch to Worcester in their scheme. Mr. Pierpoint said the +main line ought to be brought, and could be brought, much nearer +Worcester; and if it were not so brought, the city of Worcester +ought to oppose the line by every means. A committee of +conference was appointed, and the meeting adjourned for a +week. It was then announced that the provisional directors +of the line had agreed to have a survey taken of a deviation line +from Abbott’s Wood to Norton, as well as of a direct branch +to Spetchley, and lay them both before Parliament to choose +from. Several speeches were made to show that the whole +line had been contrived without any regard to the interests of +the city and county of Worcester; and on the motion of Mr. +Hooper, seconded by Mr. Deighton, it was resolved that no railway +should be sanctioned by the people of Worcester that did not +bring the main line within a mile of the city. On the 4th +November another meeting was called, to consider the propriety of +surveying a line for a railway on the western side of the Severn, +to go by Kidderminster. It was evident that the Birmingham +and Gloucester directors intended to adhere to their original +plan, and so the citizens of Worcester determined to oppose them +vigorously, and entered into a subscription, headed by fifty +guineas from the corporate body, to survey a fresh line.</p> +<p>On the 31st March, 1836, a public meeting was called to +consider the expediency of further opposing the Birmingham and +Gloucester Railway Company. The directors of that company +had bound themselves in a penalty of £70,000 to make a +branch to Worcester, to join there the Grand Connection Railway +to Wolverhampton, and on that score the opposition to their bill, +on the part of the citizens of Worcester, had been withdrawn, and +it had passed through committee in the Commons. Mr. Waters, +who had been chiefly instrumental in calling the present meeting, +said that he thought Worcester ought to join Tewkesbury in +opposing the measure in the House of Lords. Mr. Pierpoint +said the sum subscribed after the former meeting had been totally +inadequate for the purpose of opposing the bill, and so they had +to make the best terms they could—which were, that the +Railway Company <a name="page153"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +153</span>should make a deviation line from Abbott’s Wood +to Oddingley, or forfeit £70,000. Mr. Pierpoint +represented this as altogether distinct and separate from the +Grand Connection Railway, although, he said, he would put the +bond on the fire that night if the opposition were determined +on. The Mayor asked him how he could do that if the bond +were given him on behalf of the city, and he replied that he had +been well advised upon the point. A great deal of personal +altercation took place, and hot party feeling introduced, but the +meeting ended by Mr. Pierpoint proposing the following +resolution: “That in consequence of certain satisfactory +arrangements having been entered into between the Birmingham and +Gloucester Railway Company and the Grand Connection Railway +committee, the interests of this city have been so consulted that +this meeting think it unnecessary to interfere.” Mr. +Waters, in a few days afterwards, published a letter in answer to +“A Grand Connection Shareholder,” in which he +declared Mr. Pierpoint to have been proved, by this very letter +of his brother shareholder, to have deceived the whole body of +his fellow citizens; inasmuch as there was only an agreement +between the Birmingham and Gloucester Company and Grand +Connection Company to carry out the deviation line between them; +or if the Grand Connection Company did not obtain their act, then +the Birmingham and Gloucester line were to make a branch from +Worcester to Abbott’s Wood.</p> +<p>In April, 1839, the Company attempting to get a bill—to +extend their rails to the Berkeley Canal at Gloucester, and to +raise more capital—through Parliament, they were opposed by +the Worcester Chamber of Commerce on the ground that they had not +fulfilled their engagements with the city of Worcester. The +bond which they had given to Mr. Pierpoint, as Chairman of the +Grand Connection Railway Company, binding them in a penalty of +£70,000 to make a branch from Worcester to Abbott’s +Wood, was, they said, null and void, because the Grand Connection +Railway Company had ceased to exist. The Parliamentary +committee, principally in consequence of the able and zealous +exertions of Mr. John Hill, the Town Clerk of Worcester, +determined that the Company should be compelled to introduce into +the bill clauses obliging them to complete the Abbott’s +Wood branch before opening the main line for traffic. The +Birmingham and Gloucester Company, after this decision, gave up +their bill.</p> +<p>In 1842 the Company, having been threatened with proceedings +<a name="page154"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 154</span>under +the bond, offered to construct a branch with a single line of +rails from Spetchley to Sansome Fields, Worcester. A public +meeting was called on the 15th of August, to consider this +proposal. Mr. Pierpoint and Mr. John Dent moved the +acceptance of the proposal. Mr. E. L. Williams and Mr. +Waters moved, as an amendment, that the city should abide by the +bond, and be satisfied with nothing less; and after a long +discussion the Mayor put the matter to the vote, and declared the +amendment carried.</p> +<p>In 1843 the Company brought two bills before +Parliament—the one a money bill, and the other to get +powers to make a branch from Bredicot to Worcester. The +latter was opposed in committee by Mr. Berkeley, of Spetchley, on +the ground of an agreement between him and the Company that such +a division of his lands should not be made. The other was +opposed by the Worcester Town Council and Chamber of Commerce, +with a view of getting justice done to the city; and they +procured the insertion of clauses binding the Company to abide by +an award of the Board of Trade in the matter. General +Pasley was accordingly sent down by the Board of Trade to survey +the county in September; and upon his report, and a hearing of +the several interests, they issued their award in the following +April. By this the Railway Company were called upon to make +a branch from Bredicot to the Bath Road, Worcester. But no +further steps were ever taken in the matter. Such a branch +as the one proposed would only have been in the way when the +Oxford and Wolverhampton line was constructed; and with that the +public mind was now occupied. As to “the bond,” +that is still a subject of profound mystery, and much perplexes +the good people of Worcester.</p> +<h3>THE GRAND CONNECTION RAILWAY PROJECT.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> origin of this project has been +already mentioned.</p> +<p>In December, 1835, a public meeting was held in Worcester, +over which the Mayor, J. W. Lea, Esq., presided; at which it was +fully determined to proceed with this Railway, which was to go +from Gloucester to Worcester, on the western side the river; to +cross the Severn at Worcester, thence direct to Kidderminster, +and afterwards to Birmingham in one direction and Wolverhampton +in another. <a name="page155"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +155</span>The capital was to consist of 800,000 shares of +£50 each. The shares were taken up pretty freely, and +the bill was read a second time, and went into committee in +March, 1837. It was strenuously opposed there by the +Birmingham Canal Company, and by several landowners. The +preamble was, however, declared proved. The committee +divided on the point, and the numbers were—for, 15; +against, 14. General Lygon, the chairman of the committee, +was most indefatigable in promoting the undertaking. The +bill was thrown out on bringing up the report in the House of +Commons, by a majority of 165 to 88. The principal argument +used against it was that it would destroy the beauty of the +county of Worcester. Its defeat was principally owing to +the landowners. It was attempted to be revived in the +following year, but without success.</p> + +<div class="gapshortline"> </div> +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> 1840 the Railway Commissioners +were engaged in determining what would be the most desirable +route for a grand trunk line which should connect the metropolis +with the Welsh coast, so that the quickest possible communication +might be made with Ireland. One project was to carry a line +from Port Dynllaen, in Brecknockshire, to Didcot, on the Great +Western line; and in this the people of Worcester felt much +interested.</p> +<p>1840—<span class="smcap">March</span> 17—A public +meeting was held in Worcester in favour of this line; and in the +absence of the Mayor, Mr. Chalk, who was in London to present the +address of congratulation from the town council to Her Majesty, +John Dent, Esq., was called to the chair. A report from the +Chamber of Commerce on the subject of the meeting was read by Mr. +Alderman Edward Evans, and it was resolved to procure +subscriptions in order to obtain another survey of the line of +country from the Royal Commissioners. A similar meeting was +held in the next week at Evesham.</p> +<p>The Chester and Holyhead route, though the longest by several +miles, was eventually preferred by the Commissioners, because +Holyhead was the better harbour and starting point for +vessels.</p> + +<div class="gapshortline"> </div> +<p><a name="page156"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 156</span><span +class="smcap">In</span> 1842 a branch railway was projected to +connect Evesham with the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway at +Eckington, but it was strenuously opposed by the owners of lands +through which it must have passed, and was thereupon +abandoned.</p> + +<div class="gapshortline"> </div> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> railway mania of 1845 of course +did not leave Worcestershire uninfected. No fewer than +twenty-seven schemes, having more or less reference to this +county, were advertised in the Worcester papers, with long +statements of imaginary advantages and abundance of +“provisional directors.” The Welsh Midland; +Worcester, Tenbury, and Ludlow; Worcester, Warwick, and Rugby; +and Worcester, Hereford, Ross, and Gloucester, were those which +found most favour with the Worcester public. A great number +of meetings were held in reference to them all over the county, +and every scheme was enthusiastically received everywhere; it is +quite useless, however, to allude to them further, as, without a +single exception, they were utterly resultless, excepting in +abstracting money from the pockets of people who could ill afford +to lose it. The 30th November was at Worcester, as at all +other places, a day of great excitement—the promoters of +the various schemes which had just started into existence having, +before twelve o’clock on that night (Sunday), to deposit +their plans and sections with the clerks of the peace. +Plans for no less than thirty-six railways were deposited at the +office of the Clerk of the Peace for this county, <a +name="citation156"></a><a href="#footnote156" +class="citation">[156]</a> and thirteen with the Clerk of the +Peace for the city.</p> +<p><a name="page157"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 157</span>The +early part of the year 1846 was occupied with +“amalgamations” and “arrangements;” then +came the ordeal of standing orders, and very few survived +that. In some instances ingenious engineers had made rivers +run up-hill, and canals swim over bridges, instead of allowing +the bridges to bestride the canals; while in many cases the most +trivial error of misdescription or omission to serve a notice was +sufficient to extinguish a scheme of real utility. Then +ensued the panic and “winding up”—very few of +the scripholders ever obtaining any return out of their +deposits. Only six of all the projects connected with +Worcestershire received the sanction of the legislature, and only +three of the rest were resuscitated in the coming season; these +were the Shropshire Union (Shrewsbury to Worcester), the +Worcester and Hereford (Midland Company’s project), and the +Worcester, Tenbury, and Ludlow. The last mentioned, +however, seemed only to have been continued for speculating +purposes, and was speedily withdrawn. The Worcester and +Hereford line was warmly supported by the citizens of Worcester +in a public meeting held in February, 1847, but it was thrown out +on standing orders; and the Shropshire Union was also +abandoned.</p> +<h3><a name="page158"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +158</span>OXFORD, WORCESTER, AND WOLVERHAMPTON.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> first meeting at Worcester with +reference to railway communication between that city and the +metropolis, <i>viâ</i> Oxford, was as follows:</p> +<p>1844—<span class="smcap">March</span> 19—The Mayor +presided at a very respectable gathering of tradesmen of the city +in the Guildhall, and Mr. F. T. Elgie made a statement of the +proposal by the Great Western Company to construct what is now +known as the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway, and +requested the support of the citizens to the scheme. Mr. W. +S. P. Hughes said the Grand Connection Railway would answer all +the purposes of the city of Worcester, and that was to be brought +before Parliament again immediately, with every prospect of +success. A resolution in favour of the line proposed by Mr. +Elgie was, however, carried unanimously. The merits of the +two lines were discussed at a public meeting at Kidderminster, on +the 4th of April, at which Mr. Elgie and Mr. Hughes supported +their respective schemes, and the Oxford line had a majority in +the meeting of three to one.</p> +<p>1844—<span class="smcap">May</span> 9—Another +railway meeting was held in the Guildhall this day, with the +Mayor in the chair, to support one or other of the schemes for +connecting Worcester with London. Mr. Elgie and Mr. Brunel +appeared for the Oxford line, and Mr. Taunton and Mr. Addison for +a line from Worcester through Evesham and Leamington, to join the +London and North Western Railway. This was to be only a +single line of rails. Mr. Brunel assured the meeting that +the Oxford line was supported by the Great Western, and that +£1,000,000 would be sufficient for its construction. +Mr. Hughes, on behalf of the promoters of the Grand Connection +Railway, said the cost of the line from Worcester to +Wolverhampton alone would be above a million; and proposed, as an +amendment, that it would be premature to express an opinion in +favour of any particular line till they had more details before +them. The meeting, however, almost unanimously expressed +itself in favour of the Great Western project.</p> +<p>1844—The great town’s meeting at which the Great +Western and London and Birmingham projects for a Worcester +Railway were brought into competition for the approbation of the +citizens, was held in the Guildhall on the 4th November, William +Lewis, Esq., Mayor, <a name="page159"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 159</span>presiding. It was first +assembled in the Crown Court, but afterwards there was an +adjournment to the outer hall. The proceedings were +commenced by Mr. Waters’s moving “That until the +Parliamentary plans were deposited, the citizens were in no +position to decide upon the eligibility of the schemes proposed +to them.” Mr. J. W. Lea seconded this +proposition. Mr. Leader Williams denied that the Great +Western were <i>bonâ fide</i> in their scheme, and until +the plans were deposited they could have no security that they +would go on with it. Mr. Elgie retorted that Messrs. Waters +and Williams wanted no railway at all. The motion was +negatived by a very large majority. Mr. Alderman Matthews, +Mr. Francis Rufford, and Mr. Barlow spoke on behalf of the +Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton line, which again received +the almost unanimous adhesion of the citizens, Mr. E. Shelton, of +Thorngrove, alone putting in a word for the London and Birmingham +Company’s line.</p> +<p>1845—<span class="smcap">February</span> 4—The +Railway Commissioners of the Board of Trade reported in favour of +the Tring line, and against the Oxford, Worcester, and +Wolverhampton.</p> +<p>1845—<span class="smcap">February</span> 22—A +general meeting of the Oxford and Worcester Railway +Company’s shareholders was held in the Guildhall, +Worcester, at which they determined to proceed vigorously with +their own measure, in spite of the unfavourable report of the +Board of Trade. The report of the provisional committee, +read at this meeting, stated that the project had been set on +foot in the previous February, by the influential mining and +commercial interests of South Staffordshire, who afterwards +applied to the Great Western Railway Company to support and lease +a line from Wolverhampton to Banbury; but this was ultimately +changed for the line to Oxford.</p> +<p>On the 26th of March a common hall was convened at Worcester, +at which the citizens unanimously agreed to petition in favour of +the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton line. A series of +resolutions in favour of the Tring line was transmitted to the +Mayor, who presided, as having been agreed to at a private +meeting of its supporters at Messrs. Hyde and Tymbs’ +offices, with Mr. Francis Hooper in the chair, the day before; +and this was assigned as the reason for the non-attendance of the +friends of the London and Birmingham scheme.</p> +<p>1845—<span class="smcap">April</span> 10—The +inhabitants of Droitwich assembled in public meeting on the +railway question, and on the motion of W. H. Ricketts, Esq., +petitioned in favour of the Birmingham and <a +name="page160"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 160</span>Gloucester +Company’s deviation line, refusing to support the Oxford +and Wolverhampton scheme.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">The Great Battle of the +Gauges</span>.—The Parliamentary Committee to whom had been +intrusted the duty of reporting on the various railways proposed +for this district, commenced their labours on the 5th of +May. The members of the committee were the Right Honourable +F. Shaw (Dublin University), chairman; Messrs. Bramston, Horne, +Drummond, Villiers, Stuart, and Lockhart. The lines brought +before them were:</p> +<h4>BROAD GAUGE.</h4> +<p>1—Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway.</p> +<p>2—Oxford and Rugby Railway.</p> +<h4>NARROW GAUGE.</h4> +<p>3—London, Worcester, and Rugby and Oxford Railway.</p> +<p>4—Birmingham and Gloucester Railway—Worcester +Branch and Deviation.</p> +<p>5—Birmingham and Gloucester Railway—Wolverhampton +Extension.</p> +<p>6—London, Worcester, and South Staffordshire +Railway—the Tring line.</p> +<p>7—Grand Junction—Dudley Branch, Shrewsbury and +Stafford, and Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton.</p> +<p>8—Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway.</p> +<p>All the great railway interests of the country thought +themselves interested in the decision of the committee, and +brought their forces to bear upon the battle; inasmuch as it was +supposed that it would decide to which of the gauges the +preference should be given in coming railway economics, and so be +of vital importance to the opponent systems and the great +companies connected with them. For months prior to this +contest the press had swarmed with pamphlets, some contending +that a greater power, speed, and safety could be attained upon +the broad gauge; others requiring a uniformity of gauge +throughout the country, and pointing out the inconvenience of a +break of gauge at Gloucester and elsewhere: but the decision of +the committee had very little reference to any of these matters, +and was clearly influenced by different considerations. The +principal counsel employed were Mr. Talbot and Mr. Cockburn for +the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton line; Mr. Austin and +Sergeant Wrangham for the London, Worcester, and South +Staffordshire line; Mr. Daniell for the Birmingham and <a +name="page161"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 161</span>Gloucester; +and Mr. Kinglake for the Great Western Company: besides +innumerable others. Mr. Austin opened the case on behalf of +the London and Birmingham line to Tring, which he contended was +all that the district could require; that it would be absurd to +introduce the broad gauge north of Birmingham; and, lastly, the +Board of Trade had reported in its favour. The witnesses +connected with this county, who were examined in its favour, were +Mr. Richard Smith, mining agent to Lord Ward (whose interests had +been especially consulted in this scheme); Mr. William Hancock, +ironmaster, Cookley; Mr. W. Berrows, ironmaster, Dudley; Mr. E. +Williams, miller, Dudley; Mr. Best, Kidderminster; Mr. H. +Brinton, Kidderminster; Mr. Harris, carpet manufacturer, +Stourport; Mr. Heath and Mr. Griffiths, Bewdley; Mr. Lukin, +manager of the Weldon Tin Works; Mr. H. B. Tymbs, Mr. John Hood, +Mr. A. Wells, Mr. James Wall, and Mr. J. W. Lea, Worcester; Mr. +E. Smith, gardener, Evesham; &c. Mr. Daniell then +opened the case for the Birmingham and Gloucester Company’s +Deviation line, and examined Mr. M. Pierpoint, who said that he +believed this and the Tring line would be all that the citizens +of Worcester would want, and would answer their interests better +than the Oxford and Wolverhampton line. Mr. W. Chamberlain +and Mr. Robert Hardy, with Mr. Tombs, of Droitwich, were also +examined by Mr. Daniell. Mr. Cockburn then called witnesses +in favour of the Great Western Company’s broad gauge +projects: those from this county were Mr. James Boydell, Oak Farm +Iron Works, Kingswinford; Mr. Jonathan Fardon, Stoke Works; Rev. +W. H. Cartwright, Dudley; Mr. Paul Matthews, Stourbridge; Mr. +John Hill, Mr. Alderman Edward Evans, Mr. William Lewis (Mayor), +Mr. Henry Webb, Mr. Leader Williams, of Worcester; and Mr. T. A. +Foster, of Evesham. After the committee had sat twenty +days, they reported that they found the preamble of the Oxford, +Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway and of the Oxford and Rugby +lines, proved: and those of the railways promoted by the London +and Birmingham not proved, with the Birmingham and Gloucester +Deviation line. They evidently came to this decision from a +belief that the broad gauge lines were so planned as best to +answer the wants of the districts through which they passed, and +that the public favour had been generally accorded them on that +ground. The avowed intention of the Great Western Company +to carry out a line to Port Dynllaen, had also probably some +influence with the committee. The greatest excitement +prevailed during the whole of the inquiry—no change of +ministry ever <a name="page162"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +162</span>created greater in the lobbies of the House—and +the result seemed to be very unexpected, as shares in the Tring +line went up considerably a day or two before the decision was +given. The committee were occupied some days longer in +considering the clauses of the Oxford Company’s Bill, and +gave the Birmingham and Gloucester Company power to use the loop +line at Worcester, at a remuneration to be fixed by +umpires. It being known that the London and Birmingham +Company intended to oppose the Oxford Bill in the House, +petitions in favour of that line were sent up from Worcester, +Droitwich, Dudley, Blockley, and Chipping Camden. Lord +Ingestre moved that the report on the Oxford, Worcester, and +Wolverhampton Railway Bill be brought up. Mr. Pakington +seconded the motion. Mr. Cobden moved, as an amendment, +that an address be presented to Her Majesty to appoint a +commission to inquire into the comparative merits of the broad +and narrow gauges. Colonel Wood seconded the amendment; +which, after much debate, was lost by 247 to 113, and the Oxford +Railway Bill was read a second time. Its triumph was hailed +with great rejoicings in this county. The bill had a +comparatively easy passage through the House of Lords, though +strenuously opposed in committee by the London and Birmingham +Company, and on the 4th of August it received the royal +assent. Its various successes were occasions of excited +rejoicings in Worcester.</p> +<p>The first general meeting of the shareholders was held in +October, at the Guildhall, Worcester. The Yorkshire +shareholders sought to set aside the agreement between this +Company and the Great Western directors, by which the line was to +be leased to the Great Western Company for 3½ per cent., +and half the surplus profits. They wished to make this an +independent line; but at the representations of the chairman and +others, who, with a too fatal confidence in the Punic faith of +the Great Western, represented that they were under such +obligations to that Company in the starting of the project and +its success in Parliament, and that it would be dishonourable to +break this agreement of lease—the Yorkshire shareholders +withdrew their opposition to the reception of the +directors’ report.</p> +<p>1846—<span class="smcap">February</span> 27—At the +first half yearly meeting of the shareholders, the chairman, Mr. +Rufford, expressed his gratification at the resolution of the +Great Western Company, to “extend the guarantee to such sum +as shall appear to them necessary for the completion of the +second railway and works, and fixing the rate <a +name="page163"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 163</span>of interest +at 4 per cent. per annum in lieu of 3½ per cent. per +annum; subject to such conditions as may appear equitable between +the two Companies.” The shareholders present seemed +pleased with this arrangement. The amount of expense +incurred before a sod of earth was turned, was £76,124; of +which £36,765 went in law and Parliamentary expenses, and +£14,288 to the engineers.</p> +<p>1846—<span class="smcap">August</span> 29—The +second half yearly meeting of the Oxford and Wolverhampton +Railway shareholders, held at Worcester, when it was promised +that the deviation line from Stoke to Abbott’s Wood should +be opened in twelve months, and the whole line in three +years. Lord Redesdale called upon the directors to oppose +the making of the Oxford and Birmingham line upon the broad +gauge, foretelling that it would drain all the traffic from this +line. The meeting was harmonious, and thanks very cordially +voted to the directors.</p> +<p>1847—<span class="smcap">August</span> 27—Half +yearly meeting of the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton +Railway shareholders, at which Mr. Brunel reported that the loop +line from Stoke to Abbott’s Wood might be finished by the +end of the year. Mr. Figgins, a London shareholder, wanted +to see the agreement with the Great Western, and to set it +aside. Mr. Barlow said there never was a lease more binding +and less likely to be set aside. Mr. Elgie produced a copy +of the agreement, by which it appeared that the line was leased +to the Great Western for a permanency; and the chairman said it +guaranteed four per cent. to the shareholders on whatever amount +might be expended. The resolutions prepared by the +directors were carried unanimously.</p> +<p>1849—<span class="smcap">February</span> 24—At the +half yearly meeting it was announced that the interest, which had +hitherto been given to the shareholders on the amount of capital +paid up, must be discontinued for want of funds; and the +directors talked of making an arrangement with the Great Western +Railway Company “more suitable to existing +circumstances.”</p> +<p>1849—<span class="smcap">June</span> 9—At a +special meeting of the proprietors a long report was presented +from the directors, complaining that the Great Western Company +would now only give them £4 per cent. on £2,500,000 +of capital, instead of on the whole sum necessary to complete the +line, as the directors had understood them to guarantee, and had +led their proprietary to believe. A committee of +proprietors was appointed to confer with the directors upon the +course to be adopted.</p> +<p><a name="page164"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +164</span>1849—<span class="smcap">September</span> +1—Another special meeting of the directors, held in London, +at which the committee of proprietors, appointed at the previous +meeting, presented a report, severely impugning the conduct of +the directors in several particulars, and advised that the narrow +gauge alone should be laid down between Tipton and Abbott’s +Wood, and the line immediately opened so far.</p> +<p>The year 1850 witnessed a total rupture with the Great Western +Company, and some very unpleasant meetings between the +shareholders and the directors. The Company passed two +bills through Parliament—the one authorising them to sell +the Stratford Canal to the Oxford and Birmingham Company, and the +other to enable certain other companies to advance them money for +the completion of their line. The first morsel of the +railway—the half of the loop line from Worcester to +Abbott’s Wood—was opened on the 5th October, and +worked by the Midland Company under special agreement.</p> +<p>In January, 1851, Lord Ward became chairman of the Company, +and the whole management passed into different hands. +Messrs. Peto and Betts accepted contracts for constructing the +greater portion of the line; and arrangements were entered into, +by issuing preference shares at £6 per cent., for raising +the capital necessary to complete the undertaking, which, it was +now estimated, would cost £3,300,000 instead of the million +and a half, which was the sum originally intended to be +raised.</p> +<p>The preference shares were almost immediately subscribed for, +and the directors soon afterwards entered into an agreement to +lease the line to the London and North Western and Midland +Companies; whereupon Lord Ward resigned the chairmanship, and an +unpleasant correspondence took place between his lordship and Mr. +Peto. The arrangement, however, was never carried out, as +an injunction was obtained by the Great Western Railway Company +to prevent any other company doing that of which they themselves +evaded the performance.</p> +<p>Since that time the directors have been proceeding to lay down +the line upon the narrow gauge, and with the view of working it +independently of either of the great companies, nor have the +Great Western been able to hinder them further. The whole +of the loop line was opened on the 18th of February, 1852, and +thirty-six miles of the main line, from Evesham to Stourbridge, +on the 1st May, 1852.</p> +<h2><a name="page165"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +165</span>IMPROVEMENT OF THE RIVER SEVERN.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">Before</span> the age of railways, the +advantages to a nation as well as to a district of having its +ports brought as far inland as possible, were so many and +apparent, that it can be no wonder the improvement of the +navigation of the Severn was contemplated at an early date. +It was projected in 1784, by Mr. William Jessop, an engineer of +some note at that day; and though the science of hydraulics was +then very little understood—as, indeed, it is even now <a +name="citation165"></a><a href="#footnote165" +class="citation">[165]</a>—yet the nature of the bed of the +Severn and its very gentle fall, marked it out as a river easily +admitting of improvement, and not at all beyond the reach of the +means then known and practised. The plan proposed by Mr. +Jessop was, so far as can be gathered from the reports and +documents still in existence, a very fair and feasible one; he +proposed to convert it into a ship canal as far as Stourport, by +means of weirs. As to the details of the scheme, we have of +course no means of judging. It was, however, opposed most +strenuously by the landowners on either bank of the river, who +feared that the weirs would prove obstructions <a +name="page166"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 166</span>to the +current, and increase the frequency and mischief of the floods +which often cover the lands near the banks. The project +was, therefore, at that time abandoned, nor was it ever formally +broached again till 1835, when Mr. Edward Leader Williams, an +ironmonger in Worcester, pressed the matter so strongly upon his +fellow citizens, and so clearly demonstrated, by models and plans +of his own devising, that it was perfectly possible to make the +river, as far as Worcester, navigable for ships drawing twelve +feet of water, that they at length awoke to the advantages which +would accrue to them by the improvement of this outlet to +“the great highway of nations.” The fears and +objections of some of the leading landowners having been +overcome, a company was started for the purpose of carrying out +the scheme.</p> +<p>The first public notice of the matter appeared in the +<i>Worcester Journal</i> of November 12, 1835, when a provisional +committee was announced, and the inhabitants of Worcester called +together to give their opinion upon the plan. This meeting +was held on the 30th November, when Mr. Jonathan Worthington was +called to the chair, and Mr. Bedford read the committee’s +report, which proposed that a pound lock should be erected at +Gloucester, below the ship basin lock, from which a channel of +500 yards in length should be cut to pass Gloucester bridge, and +a weir erected near Over bridge. The Haw, Mythe, and Upton +bridges were to be passed by similar cuts, and the estimated cost +of the whole scheme was £180,000; at which sum, it was +thought, a depth of twelve feet might be obtained all the way +from Gloucester to Worcester, and six feet thence to +Stourport. Mr. Leader Williams explained the details of his +plan. The Earl of Coventry declared that he should give it +his hearty support; and the objections raised by other landowners +were satisfactorily answered. The money required was to be +raised in £20 shares, and the press and public of Worcester +were singularly unanimous and enthusiastic in favour of the +project. The formal prospectus of the company presently +appeared—Mr. Thomas Rhodes was announced as the chief, and +Mr. E. L. Williams the resident engineer.</p> +<p>At a very numerous meeting of the shareholders held in +October, 1836, over which Mr. J. W. Lea presided, Mr. +Rhodes’s report was <a name="page167"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 167</span>read; and it was decided, by a very +large majority, that application should be made to Parliament to +sanction a scheme for increasing the depth of the river to twelve +feet. Some of the landowners proposed that the depth sought +should only be six feet six inches, but this suggestion met with +no support from the general body of subscribers. As soon as +the people of Gloucester found that the project was taken up thus +seriously, they entered into a systematic opposition, in which +the selfish motives that actuated them were at first sought to be +flimsily concealed, but were afterwards unblushingly avowed and +unscrupulously worked out. At the first meeting which they +convened upon the subject, it was pretended that the health of +the city of Gloucester would be endangered by a stagnation of the +river at the proposed lock; that the salmon fisheries would be +destroyed, and the lands on the banks overflowed: therefore they, +the citizens of Gloucester, felt bound to oppose the +scheme! Afterwards they distinctly declared that they would +fight it tooth and nail, because it would take part of their +trade further up the river. Many of the landowners, too, +could not be convinced but that any alteration of the river, if +it did not increase the floods, would at least impede the +drainage, and render their lands permanently cold and damp. +The Shropshire traders, and a majority of the Worcester and +Birmingham Canal Company, both of whom feared that the tolls +raised would interfere with their receipts, were also its +opponents; though, as regards the Canal Company, nothing could be +more shortsighted.</p> +<p>The bill was introduced into Parliament in the session of +1837, and was opposed on standing orders, but passed these +successfully. The most urgent efforts were then made by the +Gloucester interest to defeat the measure on the second reading, +and with but too much success. Captain Winnington moved the +second reading on the 12th of April, and Captain Berkeley moved +that it be read on that day six months; the principal argument he +made use of was, that it would <i>be imposing a tax on a free +river</i>! The bill was supported alike by the Government +and by the leader of the opposition, Sir Robert Peel; but the +private influence brought to bear by interested parties was not +to be outweighed by the arguments of statesmen, or enlarged +considerations of national benefit. The bill was thrown out +by a majority of 149 to 124. The Gloucester people were +characteristically grateful to their two city members for their +“unwearied exertions” in opposition to the bill.</p> +<p>The shareholders met again in September, 1837, and a very able +<a name="page168"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 168</span>report +from the committee was laid before them, in which it was stated +that the whole plan had been laid before the most eminent +engineers of the day, and some trifling alterations in detail +agreed to; but they could not recommend the shareholders to seek +any less depth of water than twelve feet: and as steps had been +taken to conciliate the landowners, they thought another +application might be made to Parliament with every prospect of +success. £15,000 had been received on the shares, but +on the call which had been made £4,000 were still in +arrear. The expenses had amounted to £11,700. +The shareholders almost unanimously agreed to form themselves +into a new Company for the further promotion of the undertaking, +and a provisional committee was named for that purpose. +This committee, however, were not able to raise sufficient +capital to proceed with the ship project, and they therefore +called another meeting of the subscribers to the old Company, +where Mr. Cubitt gave an explanation of a plan to increase the +depth of the river to six feet six inches up to Worcester, and to +six feet from Worcester to Stourport. This, he said, would +cost £150,000. After discussion, this plan was +adopted; and the necessary number of shares having been taken, +preparation was again made for application to Parliament. +In order to get rid of every pretext for opposition from the +Gloucester interests, all thought of weirs and works near that +city was abandoned; and from Saxon’s Lode downwards it was +proposed to deepen the river by dredging only. By way of +diversion, however, another scheme was started conjointly by the +Worcester and Birmingham Canal and Gloucester interests, which +was to procure a depth of five feet in the river between +Gloucester and Worcester, by means of two extraordinary moveable +weirs, to be inserted at Saxon’s Lode and Wain Lode Hill; +and this, though seen to be totally impracticable and ridiculous, +was advocated in the Gloucester papers by way of rivalry to the +Severn Company’s plan, which they continued to describe as +fraught with injustice, because it would deliver a free river +into the hands of a Joint Stock Company. The funds of the +Severn Navigation Company proved insufficient to carry the scheme +out in its integrity; therefore the improvement of the river, +from Worcester to Stourport, for the present was abandoned. +This alienated the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal +Company, and altogether the opposition again got up to the +measure was so strong, that after the bill had been introduced +into Parliament in the session of 1838, and the standing orders +passed, a deputation of the Worcester Company met the Gloucester +and Berkeley Canal <a name="page169"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +169</span>Company proprietors, to see if some further concessions +could not be made which might get rid of the principal objections +to the scheme. The result of this interview was, that the +Gloucester and Berkeley Canal Company consented to support a +project for the improvement of the river under public +commissioners, instead of a Joint Stock Company; and the bill was +therefore withdrawn, with the view of introducing another, on the +principle thus suggested, in the next session. The +shareholders in the Company were called together in September, +and received the report of the committee, but there were no +assets to divide—the additional expenses (£5,333) had +just swallowed up the deposits. The exertions of Mr. J. W. +Lea, the chairman of the Company, were acknowledged by a special +vote; and many gentlemen present declared their willingness to +further any future efforts which might be made, by all the means +in their power. The year 1839 was consumed in efforts to +induce the Government to take the matter up, as they had recently +done the navigation of the Shannon; but these, though zealously +backed by Sir Denis Le Marchant, Bart., then member for +Worcester, all proved fruitless.</p> +<p>In August, 1840, the shareholders of the Company were again +convened at Worcester, and another attempt resolved on to raise +funds to apply to Parliament for powers to obtain a six feet +depth of water and place the undertaking under the management of +a Commission. A further call of ten shillings per share was +accordingly made, but so few of the subscribers responded to it +that another meeting was held in the ensuing month, and the +Company dissolved itself—thus ending the attempts to +improve the Severn by private enterprise and speculation.</p> +<p>The gentlemen, however, who had so long and laboriously +exerted themselves to effect this great national improvement, did +not lose sight of the subject, and in a short time after the +dissolution of the old Company one of the most influential +meetings ever assembled in Worcester was convened to prosecute +the matter afresh. At this meeting, held on the 11th +October, 1840, the Right Hon. Lord Ward, who was called to the +chair, made his <i>debût</i> in public life, and advocated +the cause of the Severn Navigation Improvement in a speech of +remarkable ability. Lord Hatherton, Mr. Blakemore, M.P., +the members for the city of Worcester, and others took part in +the proceedings, and the result was that a large subscription was +entered into, to which Lord Ward contributed £500, Mr. +Bailey £300, Messrs. Dent £300, for the purpose of +defraying the expenses of <a name="page170"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 170</span>another application to +Parliament. On this occasion the proposal was to place the +undertaking under a Commission, so that no private parties might +gain any benefit from it. No works were proposed at or near +Gloucester, yet the usual opposition was improvised in that city +and by the Worcester and Birmingham Canal Company. The bill +now introduced was allowed to pass the second reading unopposed, +but on its going into committee an attempt was made to add the +Monmouthshire and Birmingham members to the committee, but this +was opposed by Government as a most inconvenient infringement of +the standing orders, and was defeated by 117 to 33. The +committee consisted, therefore, of what was called “The +Worcestershire List,” which included eleven members from +adjoining counties, as well as those for this county and its +boroughs, and six selected members. E. W. W. Pendarves, +Esq., was chosen chairman.</p> +<p>On the 30th April, 1841, the committee sat for the first time, +and then began a struggle which, in the Parliamentary annals of +private bills, had up to that time been quite +unprecedented. Twenty petitions were presented against the +bill, but for several of them nobody appeared in support, and the +opposition almost resolved itself into the Gloucestershire, +Shropshire, and Birmingham Canal interests, and the +landowners. Mr. Sergeant Merewether, Mr. Talbot, and Mr. +Craig were engaged as counsel for the bill, and Mr. Sergeant +Wrangham and Mr. Austin were the principal opposing +counsel. The first day was taken up by Mr. Sergeant +Merewether’s opening speech. For eight days following +the promoters called evidence in support of the +preamble—their engineers especially being subjected to the +most searching cross-examinations by the opposition. On the +tenth day Mr. Talbot summed up the evidence for the promoters, +and Mr. Austin commenced his address for the Worcester and +Birmingham Canal Company, and the examination of his witnesses +occupied two days longer. On the thirteenth day Mr. +Sergeant Wrangham spoke for the Gloucester interest. Six +days more were taken up by other opponents and their witnesses; +and on the twentieth Mr. Sergeant Merewether replied, and the +committee, after a short consultation, unanimously +resolved—“That the preamble of the bill is +proved.” This great victory was not achieved, +however, without most material damage to the scheme; for in order +to meet the opposition of the landowners, which evidently had +great weight with the committee, the promoters had to abandon the +weir below Upton, and consent to dredge the river up to +Diglis. Weirs in large rivers of this kind had not been +much known, and it was thought that they <a +name="page171"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 171</span>might +increase the floods. Mr. Walker, the engineer, too, was +very positive that the required depth might be obtained by +dredging, and the committee, therefore, determined that that +should have a trial—and a most unfortunate determination it +has proved. Some other important alterations took place in +the discussion of the clauses, the principal of which was the +exemption of the Shropshire trade from toll; though it could not +be denied that they would derive a benefit, like all other +traders, from the Improvement. A long discussion took place +upon the position of the lock at Diglis, which the Worcester and +Birmingham Canal Company wanted put above the mouth of their +canal; but to this the committee would not consent. The +Commission, after much debate, was constituted as follows: three +justices of the peace for the county of Worcester, three for the +county of Gloucester, four for the Worcester and four for the +Gloucester town councils, one for the council of the city of +Bristol, one for Droitwich, one for Tewkesbury, one for Wenlock, +one for Newport, one for the Upper and Lower Avon Navigation and +the council of Evesham, two for Stourport, two for the +Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal Company, two for the +Worcester and Birmingham Canal Company, two for the Gloucester +and Berkeley Canal, one for the Herefordshire and Gloucester +Canal, and one for the Coombe Hill Navigation—thirty in +all. <a name="citation171"></a><a href="#footnote171" +class="citation">[171]</a> The toll was fixed at sixpence +per ton from Gloucester to Worcester, and fourpence per ton from +Worcester to Stourport: this being what the promoters +proposed. Having by this time got near the end of the +session, the opponents of the measure sought to render all the +efforts of the committee nugatory by speaking against time; but +this was seen through and defeated by the members of the +committee meeting in the evening as well as in the morning, and +at last the bill was reported to the House. Mr. Waters, the +solicitor to the bill, was publicly thanked in the committee room +for the singular exertions by which he had carried the measure +through, in the teeth of such a determined opposition. The +Parliament being prorogued immediately <a +name="page172"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 172</span>after the +bill was reported, it was obliged to stand over till the next +session.</p> +<p>In the interval there was some grumbling on the part of the +Gloucester corporation and the landowners at the large sums they +had to pay for the Parliamentary opposition, but the Worcester +and Birmingham Canal Company prepared to renew the fight. +It came before the committee again in March, 1842. Some +opposition was here offered on behalf of the Tewkesbury people, +but the committee would not suffer the question to be reopened; +and the only alterations made were those suggested and proposed +by the promoters themselves. On the bringing up of the +report, Mr. Muntz moved the recommittal of the bill on behalf of +the Worcester and Birmingham Canal Company, who complained of the +lock at Diglis being placed below the mouth of their canal, and +of the unjust exemption of the Shropshire trade from toll. +Mr. Mark Phillips and Mr. R. Scott spoke on the same side; while +Mr. Pakington, the Honourable R. H. Clive, Mr. Labouchere, Sir C. +Douglas, Lord G. Somerset, Sir Thomas Wilde, Sir William Rae, and +Mr. Ormsby Gore spoke in favour of the bill passing at once: and +Mr. Muntz, seeing the strong feeling of the House, withdrew his +motion. There was some further opposition made in committee +in the Lords, and four days were consumed there; but the bill +passed without any material alteration; and the royal assent +being given to it on the 13th of May, 1842, it at length became +the law of the land.</p> +<p>The first step was taken under the act on the 7th of June, +1842, when the commissioners met, and T. C. Hornyold, Esq., was +elected chairman. Mr. Thomas Waters was appointed +clerk. Mr. William Cubitt was appointed engineer-in-chief, +Mr. E. L. Williams retaining his office as resident engineer; and +advertisements were ordered to be inserted in the newspapers for +loans. The first stone of Lincombe weir was laid on the 5th +of August, 1843.</p> +<p>At several subsequent meetings of the Commission, the +Gloucester commissioners amused themselves by offering every +possible opposition to the speedy progress and completion of the +work; though they were, of course, appointed for the express +purpose of carrying it out. However, they were always +out-voted by those commissioners who felt their interest and +honour alike concerned in the duties assigned to them by +Parliament, and the trial weir at Lincombe was opened on December +23, 1843. Spite of the ratiocinations of adverse engineers, +and those ignoramuses who fancy they know everybody’s +business better than their own, the weir was found to <a +name="page173"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 173</span>stand the +current, floods, and frosts of the winter admirably, and the +barge was passed through the locks in three minutes.</p> +<p>The work now proceeded rapidly—the Staffordshire and +Worcestershire Canal Company having advanced the necessary funds, +and the contracts having been taken by Messrs. Grissell and Peto; +with the exception of one sad accident on the 5th of August, +1844, by which twelve of the workmen engaged at Diglis lost their +lives by the upsetting of the boat in which they were returning +from their work, they were completed without a single drawback or +mishap. The lock at Diglis was opened on the 9th October, +1844; and this part of the work was thus completed in fifteen +months, in the most able and satisfactory manner, within the +original estimate of its cost, £140,000—a fact almost +unexampled in the construction of great national undertakings of +this kind. The dredging, however, between Diglis and +Gloucester, occupied a longer time than had been expected, and +proved a very costly business; but this, it must always be borne +in mind, formed no part of the promoters’ scheme, but was +forced upon them by the landowners, who objected to the erection +of any weirs below Diglis.</p> +<p>The completion of the locks and weirs was celebrated on the +25th of January, 1844, by a public dinner at the Guildhall, +Worcester, when a testimonial was presented to J. W. Lea, Esq., +for the zeal he had always manifested in the improvement of the +river. J. S. Pakington, Esq., M.P., occupied the chair, and +Alderman Edward Evans was vice-president. Amongst the party +were Lord Hatherton, the Mayor of Worcester, T. C. Hornyold, +Esq., Captain Winnington, John Dent, Esq., William Cubitt, Esq., +&c. The testimonial, which consisted of a quantity of +silver plate, with Mr. Lea’s crest engraved on each +article, was of course presented by the chairman.</p> +<p>At the close of 1846, Mr. Cubitt certified that a depth of six +feet of water had been obtained from Lincombe to Gloucester, and +the Commission consequently met on the 1st of January, 1847, and +ordered tolls to be levied at all the locks in the terms of the +Act of Parliament. Some opposition was offered, both by +Gloucester Commissioners and by traders on the river; but on Mr. +Cubitt’s certificate the step of raising tolls was +obligatory on the Commission. There can be no doubt that at +the time of Mr. Cubitt making the certificate there was six feet +of water in the river, though every one saw that under the system +of dredging it would be impossible to maintain that depth in all +seasons of the year.</p> +<p><a name="page174"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 174</span>At +the annual meeting of the Commission in September, 1847, the +traders complained that the depth of water in the river between +Worcester and Gloucester was not six feet, and expressed their +belief that it could not be secured without additional locks and +weirs. The committee of works reported to the same effect, +and declared the dredging a failure. A committee was, +therefore, appointed to consider the best means of completing the +improvement between Diglis and Gloucester.</p> +<p>This committee reported to a meeting of the Commission, held +on the 13th December, 1847, recommending that application should +be made to Parliament for powers to put a weir in at Tewkesbury, +and to raise a dam at Over bridge, near Gloucester, to divert the +water into the other channel and to scour out the silt +accumulating there. The meeting assumed a very unpleasant +character—such personal and improper remarks being made +that Sir John Pakington, at one time, left the chair, but was +induced to return. The opposing commissioners negatived +that part of the proposal which related to the dam at the Over +bridge by a majority of seven to four. Preparation was +therefore made to apply to Parliament for the Tewkesbury weir +alone; but Parliament had, at this time, taken it into their +heads that a “preliminary inquiry” ought to be made +on the spot into measures of this sort; and, accordingly, in +February, 1848, sent Mr. Cockburn Curtis, a young engineer, to +take evidence, and make a report to the Admiralty. At +Gloucester he took a show of hands as to whether the +Commissioners had kept faith with the public in imposing toll or +not! Mr. Curtis’s report was in accordance with the +unfriendly influence then prevailing at the Admiralty, and he +recommended a scheme of his own instead of the Tewkesbury +weir—a scheme which few people, besides Mr. Curtis himself, +have ever been able to comprehend.</p> +<p>With this report in their hands, the interested opponents of +all improvement on the river waited on those members of +Parliament whom they could in any way influence, stole a march on +the promoters, and threw out the bill most unexpectedly on the +second reading by a majority of 104 to 91. This was on the +6th March, 1848.</p> +<p>At a meeting of the commissioners, held in October of the same +year, both parties mustered their forces, and divided, in the +first place, upon the question of who should be chairman, and 13 +votes were given for Sir John Pakington and 11 for Mr. +Hyett. It was then proposed by Mr. Lea that an application +should be <a name="page175"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +175</span>again made to Parliament, similar to the one of the +preceding session. It was represented that the Commission +was in debt to the contractors, principally because of the great +expense incurred in useless dredging, and that more money must be +raised. After a very stormy debate the renewed application +was agreed to by the chairman’s casting vote only, and so +also were other necessary resolutions. In minor matters the +opposition had a majority.</p> +<p>In February, 1849, the “preliminary inquiry” took +place into the merits of this measure. The surveyors +appointed by the Admiralty on this occasion being Captain Bethune +and Mr. Veitch, C.E. These gentlemen again reported +unfavourably of the scheme as proposed by the Commission, +professing themselves desirous of seeing the river so altered +below Gloucester as to bring the tide up to Worcester! It +was understood that the great fight would again take place on the +second reading, which came on on the 23rd April, 1849. The +Admiralty, Board of Trade, and Government generally, Sir Robert +Peel, &c., supported the second reading; but the private +interests in opposition prevailed, and the bill was once more +thrown out; this time by a majority of 34—191 voting +against it, and 134 in its favour.</p> +<p>In the session of 1850 a select committee was appointed into +the working of these “preliminary inquiries,” and in +consequence of the evidence given by Mr. Edward Leader Williams +and others, proving that they only added to the expenses of +passing a bill, without performing one act of utility which might +not be better done by the inquiry before the committee of the +House, they were abolished, and Parliament returned to its old +practice in these matters.</p> +<p>Since that time the Commissioners have been resting on their +oars, feeling it useless to go to Parliament again if they had +the same opposition to encounter, and trusting that the Admiralty +might be induced to take up the improvement of the river, both +above and below Gloucester, as a project of great national +importance. They have, indeed, directed a survey of the +whole river to be made, and Mr. Walker has made a +“hasty” report thereon, in which he says as little as +possible as to the river above Gloucester, and makes +impracticable suggestions as to its improvement below.</p> +<p>The present condition of the river is an evil example of what +may be done when men fancy their own selfish pecuniary interests +will be promoted by impeding that which would be so manifest <a +name="page176"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 176</span>an +advantage to the country at large, as the improvement of one of +its principal rivers, so as to make it navigable for sea-going +vessels to the furthest possible point inland. Some of +them, however, are gradually awaking to the truth that no public +interest can thus be sacrificed with impunity, and to discover +their own shortsightedness in the matter. The time is not +far distant when some of those who have hitherto been the +bitterest opponents of the improvement of the river Severn will +be found amongst its warmest supporters.</p> +<h2><a name="page177"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +177</span>WORCESTER TOWN COUNCIL.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> first charter of incorporation +was granted to the city of Worcester in 1261—45th Henry +III. The charter of James I, granted in 1622, was, with +slight interruptions, the rule by which the city was governed up +to the time of the Municipal Reform Act; and it must be said for +the old Corporation that they appear to have been in a great +measure free from the jobbery and malversation of funds which +characterised so many of these close self-elected bodies. +They had indeed a civic feast, for which £150 was yearly +allowed, and kept a cellar of good wines; but these things were +quite in accordance with the spirit of the time—some fifty +years ago. John Wheeley Lea, Esq., was Mayor at the time of +the extinction of the old body; the Earl of Coventry Recorder; +Charles Sidebottom, Esq., Deputy-Recorder (a rather doubtful +office then recently revived) and Town Clerk; and Mr. Deighton, +Sheriff. Great efforts had been made to induce the +burgesses, in the election of the new body, to make a calm and +impartial choice of those persons who were really most fitted to +conduct the business of the city, without respect to their +political bias; but in the excited state of feeling which +prevailed at that time, this was found impossible; and indeed it +<a name="page178"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 178</span>was +hardly to be expected that the Liberals, after such an entire +exclusion from office, should make terms with their +opponents—it was at last their turn to enjoy the honours +which the Tories had hitherto monopolised. The first +election took place on Saturday, December 27, 1835, when out of +thirty-six councillors, thirty-four chosen were +Reformers—the Conservatives only returning two in St. +Nicholas’s Ward.</p> +<p>1835—<span class="smcap">December</span> 30—The +new body met for the first time, and took the declarations +required by the act.</p> +<p>1836—<span class="smcap">July</span> 1—First +meeting for business, when the following Aldermen were elected: +St. John’s Ward, Mr. Joseph Hall; St. Nicholas’s, Dr. +Hastings and Mr. Edward Evans; St. Peter’s, Mr. George +Allies, Mr. William Corles, and Mr. Francis Gibb; Claines’, +Mr. C. H. Hebb, Mr. Richard Evans, and Mr. Thomas Stephenson; All +Saints’, Mr. John Bradley, Mr. John Howell, and Mr. F. +Williams. Mr. F. Williams declined the honour, and Mr. +Thomas Chalk was afterwards elected in his stead.</p> +<p>1836—<span class="smcap">January</span> 2—Choice +of officers—Mr. C. H. Hebb elected Mayor; Mr. George +Allies, Sheriff; and Mr. C. Sidebottom, Town Clerk.</p> +<p>1836—<span class="smcap">January</span> 14—The +Council assembled for the first time in the room which has ever +since been used for their meetings. A committee was +appointed to confer with Mr. Sidebottom about separating the +offices which he held, and giving up that of Town Clerk. A +finance committee was appointed to investigate the accounts of +the old body; and it was determined to dress up the Mayor in +robes of scarlet and purple.</p> +<p>1836—<span class="smcap">January</span> 21—It was +agreed by a majority of 31 to 10 that Mr. Sidebottom should +continue to hold the office of Stipendiary Magistrate, Judge of +the Court of Pleas, and Town Clerk, at a salary of £500 per +annum. Mr. Stinton, Mr. Curwood, and Mr. Whitmore, +barrister, were proposed for recommendation to the Secretary of +State to the office of Recorder. Mr. Stinton had the +majority of votes. Salary fixed at £150 per annum, +but afterwards reduced to £100.</p> +<p>1836—<span class="smcap">January</span> 26—The +Council recommended twelve persons as magistrates to the +Secretary of State—The Mayor, Mr. Alderman R. Evans, R. +Temple, Esq., Mr. Alderman Hall, William Shaw, Esq., R. Berkeley, +Esq., William Saunders, Esq., John Dent, Esq., L. <a +name="page179"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 179</span>Johnstone, +Esq., William Acton, Esq., G. Farley, Esq., and Captain +Thomas. Three of these gentlemen were Conservatives. +Mr. Farley and Mr. Johnstone having declined to serve, the names +of Mr. Lavender (Conservative) and Mr. Alderman Corles were +inserted in the list, but the Lord Chancellor only appointed the +first ten. The wine of the old corporation was ordered to +be sold, except fifty dozen to be applied in aid of sick +poor.</p> +<p>1836—<span class="smcap">February</span> 18—Report +made by the committee appointed to investigate the accounts of +the old corporation. The balance sheet presented to the +Council by their predecessors showed credit a balance of +£1,028, while the real fact was that the old corporation +was in debt £1,170. £200 of this sum had been +promised towards the improvements in front of All Saints’ +Church, payable only on condition of the inhabitants doing their +part within a certain number of years. The new Council +confirmed this grant on the same terms.</p> +<p>1836—<span class="smcap">March</span> 24—First +quarterly meeting. A statement of the value of the city +property was laid before the Council; which, some being +calculated at twenty-five years’ purchase, and others at +fourteen years’, was reckoned to be worth about +£43,000. In mortgages and debts to the charities +there was owing by the corporation £5,381. The gross +produce of the corporation wine was £823, being an average +of nearly 64s. per dozen. The Council determined to +discontinue the practice of “fetching the fair from St. +John’s to Worcester,” as a “farce.”</p> +<p>1836—<span class="smcap">April</span> 7—It was +announced by Mr. Sidebottom that he had been gazetted as police +magistrate of the city; and as the holding of that office was +deemed by Government inconsistent with the town clerkship (as had +been all along foreseen), he must give up the latter. In +answer to a question by Alderman Corles, he said he intended to +retain the assessorship to the Court of Pleas.</p> +<p>1836—<span class="smcap">April</span> 21—Mr. John +Hill chosen Town Clerk in the room of Mr. Sidebottom.</p> +<p>1836—<span class="smcap">May</span> 5—The Council +received a grant of a separate Quarter Sessions, as they had +prayed. The appointment of Mr. T. Waters as Clerk of the +Peace was confirmed, and Mr. J. B. Hyde was appointed City +Coroner.</p> +<p>1836—<span class="smcap">July</span> 7—The +Attorney-General’s opinion having been taken, it was +decided that Mr. Thomas Hughes had no claim for compensation for +loss of his situation as Vice-Chamberlain under the old +body. This was a subject which had been repeatedly before +the Council.</p> +<p><a name="page180"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +180</span>1836—<span class="smcap">October</span> +6—Dinner given by the Town Council to the Mayor. Dr. +Hastings was in the chair, and proposed the health of Mr. Hebb in +flattering terms; describing him as a benevolent medical man, an +author of some celebrity—having translated the works of +some French pathologists at a time when there was little +communication with the continent—and the constant advocate +of the diffusion of useful knowledge. As their chief +magistrate he had laid them all under a great debt of +obligation. “The Bishop and Clergy of the +Diocese” was responded to by the Rev. T. Pearson, and +“The Dissenting Ministers” by Dr. Redford; “The +Members for the County” was answered by Mr. Cookes, Captain +Winnington, and Mr. Holland; and Mr. Robinson answered for the +city members. Colonel Davis responded for the +“Magistrates of the County,” and was most +enthusiastically received. 306 sat down at table.</p> +<p>1836—<span class="smcap">November</span> 9—The +Council, in entering on their second year of office, +reëlected Mr. Hebb as Mayor, and chose Mr. Alderman Gibb as +Sheriff. There were scarcely any changes made in the body +at the election on the 1st of this month.</p> +<p>1837—<span class="smcap">April</span> 11—The +Council agreed to the by-laws which have since, with little +alteration, been acted upon.</p> +<p>1837—<span class="smcap">July</span> 10—Addresses +voted to the Queen Dowager (of condolence for her bereavement), +and to the Queen Regnant on her accession. The Mayor, Mr. +Sheriff Gibb, and Mr. Alderman Hall were ordered to present the +latter.</p> +<p>1837—<span class="smcap">November</span>—The +election this year did not alter the position of parties at +all. A very warm vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Hebb for +his services as Mayor for two consecutive years, and Mr. George +Allies was elected in his stead. Mr. Alderman Stephenson +was elected Sheriff.</p> +<p>1837—<span class="smcap">November</span> 23—Mr. +Deighton presented a petition from 126 farmers, holding 25,000 +acres of land, praying the council to provide them with a covered +corn market. Some gentlemen proposed that they should use +the Town Hall, but eventually a committee was appointed.</p> +<p>1837—<span class="smcap">November</span> 27—The +Council petitioned Parliament for an alteration in the fees and +regulations in passing private bills.</p> +<p>1837—<span class="smcap">December</span> 15—The +Council decided against Mr. Deighton’s proposition to allow +a salary of fifty guineas to the Mayor, by a majority of 23 to +12.</p> +<p>1837—<span class="smcap">December</span> 28—The +Council decided against Mr. Alderman Chalk’s motion to +throw open their meetings to the public, by 24 to 6.</p> +<p><a name="page181"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +181</span>1838—<span class="smcap">February</span> +21—The Council refused to remove the Corn Market to Angel +Street, or to grant the petition of the agriculturists to sell +the old Sheep Market as a site for a new Corn Market.</p> +<p>1838—<span class="smcap">May</span> 2—The Council +petitioned for the abolition of the apprenticeship system, on the +motion of Mr. Alderman Edward Evans.</p> +<p>1838—<span class="smcap">November</span>—The +municipal election made no difference in the political +constitution of the Council. At the first meeting of the +renovated body, Mr. Alderman Richard Evans was elected Mayor, on +the proposition of Dr. Hastings and Mr. Alderman Hall; and Mr. +John Hall was chosen Sheriff. Mr. Alderman Richard Evans +was the first Dissenter who ever held the office of chief +magistrate in Worcester. The Aldermen elected this year +were Mr. William Corles, Mr. Palmer, Mr. Chalk, Mr. Lilly, Mr. +Edward Evans, and Mr. Benjamin Stokes.</p> +<p>1838—<span class="smcap">December</span> 20—Mr. +Padmore chosen Alderman in the room of Mr. Stokes, deceased.</p> +<p>1839—<span class="smcap">February</span> 7—Mr. E. +L. Williams proposed that the Council, “being deeply +impressed with a conviction of a thorough examination of the +existing Corn Laws,” should petition Parliament for an +inquiry into their operation. He thought agriculture needed +some protection, though the present laws wanted alteration: if +gloves required protection, corn did. Alderman E. Evans +seconded his motion. Mr. W. Pugh proposed, as an amendment, +that the Council should petition for a total repeal. +Alderman Hastings said that a repeal of the Corn Laws would be +productive of immense evil; because if they reduced the revenues +of the rich, they took it out of their power to assist the poor; +and they would certainly rue the day if they agreed to a change +that would be so silly. No measure that the legislature +could adopt would prevent corn being occasionally dear, and its +dearness now arose from deficient production and regrating. +On a division there appeared</p> +<p>For total repeal: Aldermen Hall, Corles, Lilly, and Padmore; +Councillors F. Hall, Greening, Davis, Smith, Oates, J. Hall, +George, W. Pugh, Crane, W. Chamberlain, Southan, Dance, Lee, +Ledbrook, Groves, and Thompson—twenty.</p> +<p>For inquiry only: The Mayor; Aldermen E. Evans, Hastings, and +Palmer; Councillors Fawkes, Horne, Dent, Lea, Grainger, Lingham, +Summerfield, and Williams—twelve.</p> +<p>At this meeting the Council, in compliance with the order of +the Lords of the Treasury, awarded Mr. Thomas Hughes an annuity +of <a name="page182"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +182</span>£3. 6s. 8d., as compensation for the loss of his +office of clerk to the forty-eight, which he had held under the +old corporation. Mr. Hughes had claimed much larger +compensation as Deputy Chamberlain.</p> +<p>1839—<span class="smcap">May</span> 24—An address +voted to the Queen, on the motion of Alderman Hebb, seconded by +Alderman Corles, thanking her for resisting the attempt to change +the ladies of her household, and, further, for having called back +the Whigs to her councils. The only dissentient was Mr. +Summerfield.</p> +<p>1838—<span class="smcap">November</span>—The +elections still brought no diminution in the preponderance of the +Whig party. Mr. Alderman Hastings was first elected Mayor, +but declined to serve; and having paid the usual fine of +£50, required its disbursement on the score of his being an +alderman, and the Municipal Act did not say anything about their +being fineable. Mr. Alderman Chalk was elected unanimously +in his stead.</p> +<p>1840—<span class="smcap">March and +April</span>—The Council determined to oppose the +Birmingham and Gloucester Railway Company’s new bill in +Parliament; but afterwards Alderman Corles moved, and Alderman +Hebb seconded, a motion for the discontinuance of such +opposition, on the ground that the Council had no legal right to +pay the expenses out of the borough fund. Alderman Hastings +moved the confirmance of the Council’s previous +resolutions; and this amendment to Alderman Corles’s motion +was carried by 20 to 6.</p> +<p>1840—<span class="smcap">June</span> 16—The +Council voted addresses to the Queen, the Prince, and the Duchess +of Kent, expressing their loyal joy at Her Majesty’s escape +from the shot of the assassin, Oxford.</p> +<p>1840—<span class="smcap">March to July</span>—The +grant of £200 for the improvements in front of All +Saints’ Church, made by the old corporation conditionally +on their being completed by November, 1839, and renewed by the +new body for five years longer, was repeatedly discussed. +Mr. Alderman Hebb held that it was an illegal grant, and ought to +be resumed; but the Council, on obtaining an undertaking from +Messrs. Lea, Leonard, and Williams for its repayment at the end +of the second term of five years if the alterations were not then +completed, suffered the money to remain in their hands.</p> +<p>1840—<span class="smcap">November</span> 9—The +newly elected Council—consisting of almost the same parties +as in the previous year—elected C. A. Helm, Esq., as Mayor +for the succeeding twelve months. Mr. W. Lewis was also +proposed, and received 16 votes to 22 for Mr. Helm. Mr. +Alderman Edward Evans was chosen Sheriff.</p> +<p>1841—<span class="smcap">May</span> 6—The council +unanimously petitioned for a revision <a name="page183"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 183</span>of the import duties, on the motion +of Mr. Sheriff Evans, seconded by Mr. F. T. Elgie.</p> +<p>1841—<span class="smcap">September</span> 29—A +special meeting of the body was held to memorialise the Queen on +the subject of the Corn Laws. Mr. Elgie moved the memorial, +which asserted that the Corn Laws were the principal causes of +the present distress of the country. Mr. Pierpoint moved an +amendment, declaring that the discussion of political subjects +was contrary to the spirit of the Municipal Act, and highly +inexpedient; and wound up by an assertion of a wholly political +character, viz., that the distress of the country had been +produced by the hasty and crude legislation of the Whigs. +The amendment was negatived by 26 to 5, the minority consisting +of Messrs. J. Dent, Anderson, Pierpoint, Bedford, and +Summerfield.</p> +<p>1841—<span class="smcap">November</span>—The +Conservatives made great efforts in all the wards to get a +footing in the Council this year, but, except in St. Nicholas, +were wholly unsuccessful. Mr. Alderman Edward Evans was +elected Mayor, and Mr. Alderman Lilly, Sheriff, by 23 votes, +while 12 were given for Mr. Elgie. Mr. Hebb retired from +the Council; and Messrs. R. Evans, J. Hall, W. Lewis, G. Allies, +C. A. Helm, and C. Hastings were elected aldermen in room of +those who retired.</p> +<p>1841—<span class="smcap">December</span> 3—A +special meeting to protest against the recent appointment of +magistrates without consulting the Council. Mr. Alderman +Allies proposed a resolution, which declared that the six +individuals who had been appointed magistrates owed their +elevation to political partizanship and not to the esteem in +which they were held by their fellow citizens; protesting also +against the appointment because of its exclusiveness, and because +the Council had not been asked to recommend. Mr. Alderman +Padmore seconded the motion. Mr. Hughes moved, as an +amendment, “That this meeting is unnecessary and uncalled +for;” and this was seconded by Mr. Bedford, who said that +parish officers could not get justice from the present justices; +and denounced the appointment of Mr. Sidebottom to the +stipendiary magistrateship as a “flagrant job,” only +to make way for Mr. Hill. The motion was carried by 27 to +4, and a memorial prepared to be presented by Sir Thomas Wilde to +the Secretary of State.</p> +<p>1842—<span class="smcap">January</span>—A +committee appointed, on the motion of Mr. Elgie, to inquire into +the truth of Mr. Bedford’s declaration, that the +appointment of Mr. Sidebottom as stipendiary magistrate was a +“flagrant job,” and they reported that it was +altogether “untrue <a name="page184"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 184</span>and unfounded;” inasmuch as +Mr. Sidebottom declared that his resignation of the office of +town clerk was voluntary.</p> +<p>1842—<span class="smcap">May</span> 20—A special +meeting of the body was held to congratulate the promoters of the +Severn Navigation Improvement on the passing of the measure, and +to thank the noblemen and gentlemen by whose exertions its +success had been secured.</p> +<p>1842—<span class="smcap">July</span> 12—The +Council refused to nominate Commissioners of Income Tax for +inquiring into the emoluments arising from public offices held in +the city, and the appointment, therefore, reverted to the +treasury or the commissioners for general purposes.</p> +<p>1842—<span class="smcap">October</span> 26—A +special meeting held to consider the railway question. Mr. +Alderman Chalk proposed that it was desirable for the Council to +examine whether there was any agreement subsisting between the +city and Mr. Berkeley, such as should preclude the city from +consenting to the project, or going to Parliament for whatever +line they thought fit. Mr. Pierpoint seconded the +motion. Mr. Elgie proposed, as an amendment, that it be +referred to the railway committee to inquire whether any +engagement had been entered into by which the citizens were bound +in honour or equity from becoming parties to the Bredicot +branch. The Town Clerk gave it as his opinion that there +was no agreement in existence which bound the city in any +way. On a division, the amendment was carried by 15 to +13—the Mayor, Alderman Corles, and four other councillors +declining to vote. Mr. Chalk, Mr. Bedford, and others +protested against the amendment being declared carried, because +it had not obtained, as required by the sixty-ninth clause of the +Municipal Act, <i>a majority of those present</i>.</p> +<p>1842—<span class="smcap">November</span>—Mr. +Alderman John Lilly unanimously elected Mayor, and Mr. Alderman +Lewis, Sheriff.</p> +<p>1843—<span class="smcap">January</span> 2—The +Council determined to oppose the Birmingham and Gloucester +Railway Company in their application to Parliament for powers to +make the Bredicot branch, by a majority of 25 to 5.</p> +<p>1843—<span class="smcap">August</span> 1—The Town +Clerk brought a bill of £250 for the costs of the +unsuccessful opposition to the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway +Money Bill. Mr. Alderman Palmer moved that it be referred +to the Finance Committee; but it was resolved by 11 to 9 that the +bill, which was admitted on all hands to be very fair in its +charges, should be paid at once, together with £17 due to +the Town Clerk on a former occasion.</p> +<p>1843—<span class="smcap">October</span>—The +Guildhall having been illuminated on the <a +name="page185"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 185</span>occasion of +the Queen Dowager’s visit to the city, Mr. W. D. Lingham, +the City Chamberlain, brought in a bill of £18. 7s. 6d. for +the expense, the payment of which was disputed with most pitiable +parsimony. The Council divided, and 19 voted for payment to +14 against it.</p> +<p>1843—<span class="smcap">November</span>—There was +but little contest in the municipal election this year. Mr. +Alderman Lewis was elected Mayor; and Mr. L. Ledbrook, Sheriff, +by 21 votes to 19 given for Mr. Edward Wheeler.</p> +<p>1843—<span class="smcap">December</span> 5—Upon +the motion of Mr. Hughes, seconded by Alderman Padmore, it was +decided that the meetings of the Council should be thrown open to +the public; but this was afterwards set aside.</p> +<p>1844—<span class="smcap">January</span> 4—The +Council, on the motion of Mr. Bedford, determined only henceforth +to style themselves, “The Mayor, Aldermen, and Citizens of +the City of Worcester,” as their proper legal title. +A motion to give a salary to the Mayor was rejected by 19 to +10.</p> +<p>1844—<span class="smcap">September</span>—The +Council (and afterwards the Chamber of Commerce) pronounced in +favour of the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway +project, in preference to any other of the schemes before the +city, by large majorities.</p> +<p>1844—<span class="smcap">November</span>—There +were no contests in the wards this year, except at St. +John’s. Mr. William Lewis was reëlected Mayor +without opposition, and Mr. Lloyd was chosen Sheriff by 22 votes +to 12 given for Mr. Elgie.</p> +<p>1845—<span class="smcap">January</span> 11—At a +special meeting called to assent to, or dissent from, the Tring +line promoted by the London and Birmingham Company, and which +would pass through part of the corporation property in the +Blockhouse, &c., Mr. Alderman Chalk asked the Council to +abide by its former decision in favour of the Oxford line, and +dissent from the Tring scheme—and proposed a resolution to +that effect, which was seconded by Mr. Alderman R. Evans. +Mr. Wall and Mr. Hood moved that the Council do assent to the +Tring line; but this was negatived by 18 to 7, and Mr. +Chalk’s resolution carried.</p> +<p>1845—<span class="smcap">March</span> 27—The +Council again declared in favour of the Oxford and Wolverhampton +line. Mr. Knight moved, as an amendment to the resolution +proposed by Mr. Elgie, that the Council should petition in favour +of the Tring line; but this was lost by 19 to 8.</p> +<p>1845—<span class="smcap">November</span>—The +elections this year brought two more <a name="page186"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 186</span>Conservatives into the +council. E. J. Lloyd, Esq., was elected Mayor, and Mr. F. +T. Elgie, Sheriff.</p> +<p>1846—<span class="smcap">February</span> 3—The +Council petitioned for a total and immediate repeal of the Corn +Laws by a majority of 17 to 9.</p> +<p>1846—<span class="smcap">April</span> 14—William +Lewis, Esq., chosen Mayor for the remainder of the year, in the +room of Edward Lloyd, Esq., deceased.</p> +<p>1846—<span class="smcap">May</span> 5—At this, a +quarterly meeting of the Council, Mr. Sheriff Elgie moved a +petition against the New Gas Company’s Bill (which had been +approved, in public meeting, the week before), and Mr. Hood +seconded it. Mr. Alderman Chalk objected to such a subject +being brought on without previous notice, and to a quarterly +meeting being taken advantage of for such a purpose. He +moved an amendment for the postponement of the question, which +was, however, lost by 16 to 5, and Mr. Elgie’s petition +carried. A counter petition was afterwards presented from +fourteen other members of the body.</p> +<p>1846—<span class="smcap">November</span>—F. T. +Elgie, Esq. was unanimously chosen Mayor by the new body, and Mr. +Edward Webb, Sheriff.</p> +<p>1846—<span class="smcap">November</span> 16—Mr. +Arrowsmith moved that the Council should erect baths and +washhouses with as little delay as possible. Mr. Bedford +thanked Mr. Arrowsmith for bringing the matter forward, remarking +that hitherto his own efforts, for sanitary improvements, had all +failed for want of support. The motion was unanimously +carried, and a committee appointed to carry out the suggestion; +and this committee has been formally renewed from time to time, +yet five years have now elapsed and baths and washhouses in +Worcester seem further off than ever.</p> +<p>1847—<span class="smcap">April</span> 24—A +memorial having been presented to the Council, from the +agriculturists, praying to have the Sheep Market leased to them, +in order that they might erect a Corn Exchange thereon, Mr. +Arrowsmith moved that no sufficient reason had been shown to the +Council to authorise them in making a change that would be so +injurious to a great number of the inhabitants of the city. +This was carried by 18 to 13. The Council also, by a +majority of 18 to 8, agreed to a petition in favour of Lord +Morpeth’s Sanitary Bill.</p> +<p>1847—<span class="smcap">November</span>—The +elections this year resulted in very little change. Edward +Webb, Esq. was chosen Mayor, and Mr. Padmore, Sheriff.</p> +<p>1848—<span class="smcap">April</span> 5—The +Council granted a lease of the Wheat Sheaf <a +name="page187"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 187</span>Inn, Corn +Market, and other premises, to one of the Corn Exchange +Companies.</p> +<p>1848—<span class="smcap">May</span> 2—The Council, +at a quarterly meeting, passed a resolution, approving of the +Mayor’s efforts to bring about an arrangement between the +rival Corn Exchange Companies; and begging the agriculturists to +rest satisfied with the one in Angel Street.</p> +<p>They also petitioned in favour of Lord Morpeth’s Health +of Towns Bill.</p> +<p>1848—<span class="smcap">August</span> 11—At a +special meeting, called to consider the Corn Exchange question, +the Council, after a very warm debate on various propositions, +determined to take the opinion of Mr. Alexander as to their right +to regulate the Corn Market, to take toll on corn sold, and to +prevent the removal of the market from its ancient site. +The opinion only went to justify the corporation in taking toll +on corn pitched in bulk, and no further proceedings were taken in +the matter.</p> +<p>1848—<span class="smcap">October</span>—The +Council, with only one dissentient, agreed that it was desirable +that the Public Health Act should be applied to Worcester; and +appointed a committee to make a representation to that effect to +the Central Board of Health.</p> +<p>1848—<span class="smcap">November</span>—Mr. +Alderman Padmore was elected Mayor; and as he declined to give a +Sunday breakfast, go to the Cathedral, or wear a gown, he gave +£100 to the city instead. This donation, having +afterwards been considerably increased, has found a permanent +shape in the handsome town clock which now ornaments the front of +the Market House. Mr. Goodwin was elected Sheriff.</p> +<p>1849—<span class="smcap">January</span> 1—The +Council having previously determined to petition the Lord +Chancellor to appoint six new city magistrates, because some of +those named in the original commission were dead, and others did +not attend on the bench, this day proceeded to the selection of +names. Alderman Lewis had 29 votes; Alderman Chalk, 27; the +Mayor, 25; Alderman E. Evans, 25; J. W. Isaac, Esq., 22; Alderman +Webb, 20; Dr. James Nash, 14; William Stallard, Esq., 10; Mr. +Jabez Horne, 8; Alderman Helm, 3; Mr. Bedford, 1; and Alderman +Elgie, 1. The first six names were consequently transmitted +to the Lord Chancellor.</p> +<p>1849—<span class="smcap">November</span>—The +agitation respecting the carrying out the Health of Towns Act +this year, caused considerable change in the composition of the +municipal body; the only suitability sought in the new +councillors being their known determination to oppose the <a +name="page188"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +188</span>measure. Their subsequent proceedings have had +reference almost entirely to the</p> +<h2>APPLICATION OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH ACT TO WORCESTER.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> passing of the Public Health +Act in the session of 1848 was an epoch of our +civilisation. It was the recognition of a great social +want, and an attempt to remedy a great social evil, which had +silently grown up with the increase of our large towns, and +threatened to turn our prosperity and blessings into a +curse. The principle of the act received the cordial and +unanimous assent of all the great parties in the state; and +though numerous alterations were made in the measure during its +progress through the Lower House of Parliament, these were +entirely improvements amicably suggested and cordially adopted by +the ministry who introduced it. Those who determinedly +opposed some of its details were always left, upon a division, in +very small minorities.</p> +<p>The chief objection which has been raised against the measure, +by those who have conscientiously or interestedly resisted its +operation, has been to the constitution of a General Board of +Health in London, having some check over the doings of those +local bodies to whom the working out of the act has been +intrusted. This is denounced by the word +“centralisation,” but the Poor Law Board daily +exercises, without remark, a much more stringent authority over +Boards of Guardians, who are just as much representative bodies +as Town Councils, than any which is vested in the Board of +Health. In many places where the act has been applied, the +need of such a supervision as that of the Central Board has been +so strikingly evinced that Parliament will, probably, soon be +induced to place yet greater powers <a name="page189"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 189</span>of control in the hands of the +Board, and make the provisions of the act entirely compulsory +instead of optional. It might seem wise and well to leave +the unerring laws of health and disease to work out their own +results, in punishing those who neglect the necessary conditions +by which alone health can be maintained where men congregate +together; but as the epidemics engendered by such neglect cannot +be confined to those who are their responsible producers, the +legislature, on behalf of society at large, has the right to +interfere.</p> +<p>The application of the act to Worcester has been productive of +immediate results that are sufficiently curious; but its +importance, as regards the future welfare of the city, cannot be +overrated, and on that account, much more than for any present +turmoil, which, in “the whirligig of time,” will +subside and be forgotten, the subject claims a special notice +here.</p> +<p>Worcester, more than most English towns, needed the +application of such a measure to its internal economy. Its +fair exterior, and the outward cleanliness of its principal +streets, are but the deceitful masks of hidden +insalubrities. Surrounded by hills, which attract the +moisture and screen it from the healthful breezes that would +drive away miasma, its atmosphere is too constantly damp and +relaxing in summer, and in winter the fogs, rising from the +stream and the undrained soil, lie long upon its dwellings. +The river, which flows through it, fortunately keeps up a +constant current of air, but epidemics always follow the course +of rivers. Though apparently well situated for drainage, +the greater part of the city is ill-circumstanced in this +respect, for the southern and western half, at least, is built on +a cold marl, which retains the soakings of the surface as a +sponge. These are natural reasons which, it might be +supposed, would have suggested to <a name="page190"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 190</span>the inhabitants the most careful +attention to drainage and cleanliness; yet it is a fact, that +scarcely a street in the whole city is supplied with a sufficient +drain, and that it contains more open cesspits, prolific of +noisome smells and active disease, than any town of equal size in +the kingdom.</p> +<p>The merit of having drawn public attention, in this city, to +the paramount importance of Parliamentary interference to enforce +sanitary improvements belongs to Sir Charles Hastings, M.D.</p> +<p>At the city election in 1846, when Sir Denis Le Marchant +suddenly appeared as a candidate, Dr. Hastings, upon the +hustings, addressed the citizens, who were then gathered +together, and said he was anxious Sir Denis should have their +opinion on a matter of the greatest importance to every +individual amongst them. “Amidst the great party +struggles,” continued the Doctor, “in the +legislature, the social improvement of the people had been too +much overlooked, and it was certain that the sanitary condition +of the great mass of the inhabitants of this kingdom was such as +reflected no credit upon its Government. He wished, +therefore, the citizens of Worcester to impress upon Sir Denis Le +Marchant the propriety of giving his best attention to this great +question, and of using his best endeavours to get it promoted by +the Government. He hoped that the measures which had been +under the attention of the legislature for the last six or seven +years would, at last, receive the consideration they +merited. All alike would be benefitted by the passing of +laws necessary for the protection of the public health, and which +would have also a great effect on public morals. +(Applause.) He trusted that was their opinion, and if it +was so he prayed them to hold up their hands.”</p> +<p>The assembly unanimously responded to the Doctor’s +appeal; and Sir Denis declared himself the warm advocate of +sanitary measures.</p> +<p>Dr. Hastings afterwards addressed a letter to the Town Council +on the subject; and in seconding Mr. Ricardo’s nomination, +in 1847, he again mentioned the matter, amidst the cheers of the +assembly, and pressed it upon the attention of each of the +candidates.</p> +<p>Mr. Austin, the secretary to the Health of Towns Association, +came down in the autumn of 1846 to make an inspection of the +city, and report upon the works and alterations necessary to be +undertaken <a name="page191"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +191</span>for the purpose of securing the greatest possible +amount of health and comfort to the inhabitants. Mr. Austin +presented his report to the City Commissioners in December, 1846, +and so able and informative was it deemed that it was ordered, on +the motion of Mr. Pierpoint, to be printed for general +circulation; and a sum of £20 was afterwards voted him by +the same body. Mr. Austin estimated the gross cost of +drainage for the entire city, proper water supply to every house, +baths and washhouses, conversion of soil for agricultural +purposes, at £74,000; he believed a revenue of +£19,000 per annum might be derived from such works when +carried into full efficiency; the interest and expenses of +management he set down at £11,650. Some parties, +unconnected with either of the two governing bodies in the city, +this year gave notice of their intention to apply to Parliament +for a “City Improvement Act,” in which powers would +be taken to carry out all those alterations which were felt to be +so necessary for the good ordering of the town; but this project +was soon abandoned, and the City Commissioners declared that, if +Parliament did not that year introduce a general act, they would +themselves apply for an extension of powers to enable them to +carry out needful sanitary improvements.</p> +<p>At a dinner given to Captain Candler, in February, 1847, Lord +Lyttelton strongly pressed upon the Mayor, and citizens of +Worcester generally, the desirability of at once carrying out the +suggestions of Mr. Austin’s report in their integrity.</p> +<p>The Government having introduced the Public Health Act into +Parliament, in the spring of 1847, petitions in its favour were +forwarded from Worcester, one of which was signed by 700 of the +working classes. The principal difference between the +measure as introduced by the Whig and Conservative Governments +was, that the one proposed by the latter placed the +“centralising” power in the hands of the Home +Secretary, instead of the Central Board, and would have +constituted new local bodies for working out the act, instead of +placing it in the hands of the Town Councils, which the Whigs did +on principle.</p> +<p>The first public meeting held in Worcester was one convened by +the Mayor, Mr. Elgie, on the 19th of April, 1847, to consider the +measure proposed by Government. But the Commissioners met +in the morning, and determined on opposing the Government bill, +doubtless because it would altogether extinguish them; and as a +good deal of alarm had already been created in the town by the +large figures in Mr. Austin’s report, there was a +considerable opposition <a name="page192"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 192</span>raised at the meeting. Dr. +Hastings and Mr. Orwin moved a resolution, declaring the +necessity which existed for sanitary measures; and this was +carried. Mr. Arrowsmith and Mr. J. W. Isaac moved a second, +approving of the Government measure; but Mr. R. M. Mence and Mr. +Francis Hooper moved an amendment, to the effect that the Health +of Towns Bill contained many unnecessary and mischievous +provisions. The cost and the centralisation were the topics +chiefly dwelt upon by the opponents of the measure. Mr. +Orwin spoke in favour of the bill, and Mr. Thomas Lucy and Mr. +Pierpoint against it; the latter producing a toy whose joints +were moved by a string, to illustrate what the Town Council would +be in the hands of the Central Board. The proceedings were +spun out to such an inordinate length, that the meeting had +almost dissolved itself, before the resolution and amendment were +put. The division was very close, but the Mayor decided +that the resolution in favour of the Government bill was +carried. A petition to Parliament in its favour was +afterwards proposed, but that was lost, and the resultless +meeting then broke up.</p> +<p>The same week the Council adopted a petition in favour of the +measure, by a majority of 18 to 8.</p> +<p>In May, a petition was presented from Worcester in favour of +the Public Health Act, signed by the Very Rev. the Dean, and most +of the Canons and parochial clergy. The medical men of the +city also, without a single exception, petitioned that it might +pass.</p> +<p>The bill was committed in June, by a majority of 191 to 50; +the only Worcestershire members who voted in the minority being +General Lygon and Mr. P. Borthwick. The bill was, however, +after all, with a multitude of others, in the annual +“slaughter of the innocents;” and then came the +general election.</p> +<p>In seconding Mr. Ricardo’s nomination as a candidate for +Worcester, Dr. Hastings again mentioned sanitary matters, and +declared, amidst the cheers of the assembly, that he would not +give his vote for any man who would not pledge himself to support +a bill for the improvement of the public health.</p> +<p>In January, 1848, Mr. Thomas Beggs lectured in the Town Hall, +Worcester, on sanitary improvements; and on the following day a +public meeting was held, over which the Mayor, Mr. Edward Webb, +presided. The Rev. John Davis then moved a petition to the +legislature in favour of sanitary measures, which was carried +without dissent; and Mr. Ricardo, who was present, expressed the +pleasure he should feel in presenting it, and in supporting +Government <a name="page193"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +193</span>in any measure they might propose for the advancement +of the sanitary condition of the people.</p> +<p>In April, a town’s meeting was called to consider the +Government measure, on a hostile requisition; and the Mayor being +indisposed, the friends of sanitary improvements took no +part. Mr. Summerfield was called to the chair; and on the +motion of Mr. Mence and Mr. Hooper, a petition was adopted in +opposition to the Health of Towns Bill, and ordered to be +forwarded to Mr. Urquahart, for presentation.</p> +<p>In May, the Town Council, with only one dissentient, +petitioned in favour of the measure; and a petition of similar +import was also very generally signed by the inhabitants of the +city.</p> +<p>The bill passed the House of Commons on the 20th of +June—the opposition, in their strongest division, having +only mustered fifty-four votes. It met in the House of +Lords with entire approbation; and every one of the amendments +made in committee there, were with a view to make its provisions +more stringent and “centralising.”</p> +<p>On the 3rd of October, 1848, the Worcester Town Council, on +the motion of Mr. Alderman Elgie, came to a resolution, +“That it is desirable forthwith to bring into operation +within the city the provisions of the Public Health +Act.” In a numerous meeting there was only one +dissentient to this resolution. A committee of fifteen +members was then appointed to carry out the resolution. +They communicated the resolution of the Council to the Central +Board, and requested that an inspector might be sent down to +inquire into the propriety of applying the act to Worcester.</p> +<p>Mr. George T. Clark, Government Inspector, accordingly gave +notice in November, both by advertisement and handbills posted in +all parts of the city, that he should make the necessary +inquiries as to the sanitary condition of the city, and invited +all parties to give evidence before him. Mr. Clark sat for +the first time at the Guildhall, on the 4th of December, and was +very cordially received by the Mayor, Mr. Padmore, and a +considerable number of leading citizens and tradesmen, some of +whom have since taken a very active share of the opposition to +the working of the measure; but not one word of objection to the +application of the act to Worcester was ever uttered in Mr. +Clark’s presence.</p> +<p>Mr. Clark’s report appeared in April, 1849, and the +conclusions to which the inspector arrived were, that the public +nuisances in Worcester were many and great—constantly +creating sickness, and increasing the mortality of the place; +that what was principally <a name="page194"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 194</span>wanted was a proper water supply, +surface paving and drainage; and that remedies for the evils +complained of might be applied for a rate of not more than one +penny a week per house. The cost of the necessary drainage +he estimated at £20,315, and of the water supply at +£21,750, while he set down the annual income derivable from +the water works at £4,238.</p> +<p>Acting upon this report, the Central Board made a provisional +order for the application of the Public Health Act to Worcester; +being competent to do this, as to any place where the mortality +ranged above 23.0 in 1,000 per annum—and, according to the +Registrar General’s report, the average mortality in +Worcester, for the seven years previous to the passing of the +Public Health Act, was 25.05 in 1,000. A bill to confirm +this provisional order was introduced into Parliament in July, +1849; and, passing without opposition, received the royal assent +in August.</p> +<p>Immediately after the application of the act to this city, all +sorts of absurd rumours were put into circulation as to the +expense it would occasion to the ratepayers; and the ignorance +and misinformation that appeared to prevail upon the subject, +would scarcely be credited if related. Ward meetings were +very generally held, at which memorials to the Council were +adopted, praying them not to carry out the act, or to postpone +its operation. And thus commenced an agitation, which, +being fostered by persons who had their own or party ends to +serve, long continued to disturb the peace of the city.</p> +<p>At the meeting of the Council on the 7th of August, Alderman +Elgie moved that the Public Health Committee should report to the +next meeting as to what offices were necessary to be appointed, +and other steps requisite to be taken under the Health of Towns +Act. This was carried by a majority of 19 to 11.</p> +<p>At a subsequent meeting, the committee reported that the +officers required would be a clerk, treasurer, surveyor, and +medical officer of health. An amendment for delay was +rejected by 22 to 12, and the clerk and treasurer were at once +appointed.</p> +<p>In consequence of the determination thus evinced by the +Council to proceed vigorously with the practical application of +the measure, a public meeting was called by the parties hostile +to it. This was held on the 25th of September, 1849, and +presided over by the Mayor, Mr. Padmore. Mr. Summerfield +moved the adoption of a memorial to the Central Board, praying +that the act might not be applied to Worcester, because it was +denied that the mortality of <a name="page195"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 195</span>the city exceeded 23 in 1,000; and +because a majority of the inhabitants were said to be +unfavourable to the introduction of the Public Health Act. +Alderman Thompson seconded the memorial. Alderman Edward +Webb proposed, as an amendment, “That inasmuch as the act +is at present applied to the city, and considering the +unsatisfactory state of the dwellings of the poor, the +insufficient drainage, and bad supply of water, the memorial is +unnecessary.” Alderman Elgie and Mr. Waters addressed +the meeting at great length on the general question, and pointed +out the absurdity of supposing that any memorial to a board in +London could stop the operation of an Act of Parliament. +Excepting Mr. James Wall, who made a few observations, no one +attempted to speak on the other side; but the amendment was lost, +and the memorial carried by a large majority.</p> +<p>The presentation of the memorial was intrusted to the Rev. R. +Sargeant and Mr. Lucy, but the Board declined to receive them as +a deputation in the absence of Mr. Clark. The Rev. R. +Sargeant, therefore, forwarded it with a letter, and the Board of +course returned for answer, that they had no power to stop +proceedings under an Act of Parliament; and further, that the act +had been legally applied to Worcester—as the Registrar +General had certified to them, under his own hand, that the +mortality was 25.05 in 1,000.</p> +<p>The appointment of surveyor was postponed by the Council till +after the municipal elections for 1849; but at the meeting of +November 16, further delay was resisted, and an amendment to that +effect was defeated by 26 votes to 12. Mr. Edward Leader +Williams was then chosen surveyor under the Public Health Act, by +23 votes to 8 given for the opposing candidate, Mr. Samuel +Purchas. The question of salary was postponed.</p> +<p>For some months Mr. Williams went on, under the directions of +the health committee, preparing his plans for the improved +drainage and water supply of the city. His report on the +drainage question was issued and printed in June, 1850, and met +with very general approval. Having been called before the +Council, at their meeting in August, and given explanations upon +some points, the Council in full meeting adopted the report with +only two dissentient voices. The report estimated the cost +for the entire drainage of the city at £17,345.</p> +<p>The excitement amongst ratepayers was, however, kept up by a +question of the necessity of appointing a medical officer of +health; and so strong was the current of public opinion against +such an appointment, that the Council were compelled to abandon +all thoughts of making it. Dr. Malden and Dr. Hastings both +addressed letters <a name="page196"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +196</span>to the Council, declaring that, in their opinion, a +medical officer was needed for the proper carrying out of the +act.</p> +<p>The by-laws necessary under the Public Health Act for the +regulation of slaughter houses, lodging houses, &c., were +another fruitful source of squabbles during 1850. On the +5th of March a code was agreed to in the Council, by a majority +of 15 to 7, which rendered it necessary that an “officer of +health” should have the superintendence of such places, and +to these the Secretary of State gave his assent. In July, +however, the anti-sanitary party having increased in boldness, +carried a new set of by-laws, by a majority of 18 to 16, in which +the words “inspector of nuisances” was everywhere +inserted instead of “officer of health.” They +then begged the Home Secretary to endorse their inconsistent +proceeding, but he refused to do so. The original by-laws +are, therefore, now law in the city of Worcester; but as there is +no “officer of health,” no use has been made of +them—they remain a dead letter.</p> +<p>On the 5th September, 1850, the anti-sanitary party had a +public meeting in the Guildhall, at which Mr. Toulmin Smith +attended and delivered an harangue against centralisation. +The meeting actually came to a resolution “to resist the +application of the act in that city and elsewhere; and, if +possible, obtain its repeal.”</p> +<p>At the municipal elections for 1850, parties were returned to +the Council avowedly “to put a stop to the working of the +act altogether;” but the dignity of the Council and its +proceedings was not improved by this infusion of new blood. +Up to the present time not a single step has been taken towards +the practical application of the act in the city; but, instead of +that, the Council have been engaged in a dispute with the +surveyor, whom they refused properly to remunerate—and thus +they have involved the city in great expense to no sort of +purpose. The details of this affair it would be altogether +undesirable to resuscitate, and the more so, as the Central Board +have pronounced the Council to be entirely in the wrong; but +there is reason to hope that wiser and more enlightened views, on +a subject which involves the future prosperity of the city and +the health and life of its inhabitants, will soon prevail.</p> +<h2><a name="page197"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +197</span>WORCESTER INFIRMARY.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">This</span> noble charity had its origin +in the philanthropy of the medical men of Worcester in the year +1745. It was first opened in a room in Silver Street, and +it was not for twenty years afterwards that the present hospital +was built, at an expense of upwards of £6,000. It has +been enlarged at various periods since that time, and is now +capable of accommodating 100 in-patients. The funded +property of the institution exceeds £27,000, and the annual +subscriptions amount to upwards of £1,200. The +physicians and surgeons attached to the institution at the +beginning of the present century, were Dr. Johnstone, Dr. Seward, +and Dr. Mylne; Mr. Pennell Cole, Mr. Sandford, and Mr. +Carden. The following are minutes of the appointments which +have since taken place, and of the more important proceedings of +the governors:</p> +<p>1800—<span class="smcap">January</span> +31—Election of physician in the room of Dr. Johnstone, who +resigned. There were three candidates, and the choice of +the subscribers fell on Dr. Skey, who had 127 votes; Dr. Philip +W. Wilson 108, and Dr. Barnett 73.</p> +<p>1800—<span class="smcap">June</span> 27—At a +quarterly meeting of the governors, it was ordered that all +legacies and benefactions amounting to or exceeding £50 be +funded.</p> +<p>1801—<span class="smcap">August</span> 7—In +consequence of “the distressed state of the Infirmary and +the dearness of every article of provision,” the order +respecting the funding of £50 legacies was suspended.</p> +<p><a name="page198"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +198</span>1801—<span class="smcap">August</span> +28—Dr. Barnett unanimously elected one of the physicians in +the room of Dr. Chambers, resigned.</p> +<p>1803—<span class="smcap">February</span> 1—Dr. +Philip W. Wilson unanimously elected in the room of Dr. Skey, +resigned.</p> +<p>1810—<span class="smcap">March</span> 30—It was +ordered that the property of the institution, then invested in +the Three per Cents., should be transferred to the Four per Cent. +Government Annuities.</p> +<p>1812—<span class="smcap">June</span> 26—Ordered +that in future the secretaries of the Infirmary should give +security, by bond, to the amount of £200, for the delivery +of all books and papers belonging to the Infirmary. This +was in consequence of the late secretary, Mr. Staples, having +refused to give up the books, and a dispute as to the balance due +from him. The funds being very low and inadequate to meet +the expenses, the Bishop of the Diocese requested the parochial +clergy to make collections in their respective churches on behalf +of the institution, by which means £1,483 were added to the +funds.</p> +<p>1812—<span class="smcap">October</span> 2—Mr. +Charles Hastings elected house surgeon in the room of Mr. Blower, +resigned. Mr. Hastings had a competitor in the person of +Mr. James Lewis; and the votes were—for Mr. Hastings, 132; +Mr. Lewis, 131.</p> +<p>1813—<span class="smcap">August</span> 13—The +number of patients which each subscriber was allowed to recommend +was limited to one patient for every guinea subscribed. The +high price of provisions was alleged as the reason for this +step.</p> +<p>1814—<span class="smcap">August</span> 30—Dr. G. +Woodyatt elected physician on the resignation of Dr. Barnett.</p> +<p>1815—<span class="smcap">June</span> 30—The order, +limiting the number of patients, rescinded, and the subscribers +permitted to recommend two patients for each guinea subscribed, +as was the case previously. The medical officers were +requested to invite the rest of the faculty in Worcester to +witness all the more important operations.</p> +<p>1815—<span class="smcap">November</span> +6—Election of surgeon: the office being vacant by the +retirement of Mr. Pennel Cole, Lord Somers proposed Mr. Thomas +Stephenson, who was seconded by Lord Beauchamp; Mr. Josiah Palmer +proposed Mr. J. P. Sheppard, seconded by Mr. Watson, Stourport; +Hon. and Rev. W. Jenkinson proposed Mr. Dangerfield, seconded by +Dr. Cameron. The result of the ballot showed for Mr. +Stephenson, 335 votes; for Mr. Sheppard, 238; and for Mr. +Dangerfield, 135. The total polled was thus 708, or very +nearly the then average number of subscribers.</p> +<p>1815—<span class="smcap">December</span> 29—Mr. +Herbert Cole (son of Mr. Pennel Cole, <a name="page199"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 199</span>for thirty years one of the surgeons +to the Worcester Infirmary) unanimously elected as house surgeon +of the institution in the place of Mr. Charles Hastings, +resigned.</p> +<p>1816—<span class="smcap">January</span>—Sir +William Smith, Bart., furnished the matron’s rooms at his +own cost.</p> +<p>1816—<span class="smcap">July</span> 29—Dr. Lewis +Evans elected a physician in the room of Dr. Cameron, +resigned.</p> +<p>1818—<span class="smcap">April</span> 20—At a +large meeting of the governors, Dr. Philip W. Wilson brought +forward certain charges against his brother officers of the +medical staff, as to an operation which he alleged had been +improperly performed, but the charges were dismissed by the +governors.</p> +<p>1818—<span class="smcap">April</span> 24—Dr. +Philip W. Wilson retired from his post, as physician, avowedly on +the ground that his brother physicians and surgeons constantly +opposed the admission of others of the profession to witness the +operations they performed. Dr. Wilson’s letter to the +public was replied to by Mr. J. H. Savigny, who thought it +undesirable that infirmaries should be turned into theatres for +display.</p> +<p>1818—<span class="smcap">October</span> 2—Ordered +that, if the income arising from subscriptions and funded +property is insufficient to keep open two additional wards, then +first fitted up, a sum, not exceeding £200 annually, should +be appropriated for that purpose from such legacies as should be +left to the charity, and not specially directed to be vested in +the funds.</p> +<p>1818—<span class="smcap">November</span> 2—Jonas +Malden, M.D., and Charles Hastings, M.D., were appointed +physicians in the place of Drs. Philip W. Wilson, and Louis +Evans, resigned.</p> +<p>1819—<span class="smcap">February</span> 15—J. P. +Sheppard, Esq., elected surgeon in the room of Mr. Stephenson, +resigned.</p> +<p>1819—Dispute amongst the medical men as to the treatment +of surgical and medical cases.</p> +<p>1819—<span class="smcap">April</span>—J. H. +Savigny, Esq., took the office of secretary <i>pro. tem.</i>, in +the place of Mr. Jackson, resigned.</p> +<p>1819—<span class="smcap">October</span> 29—Mr. +Matthew Pierpoint appointed surgeon in the room of Mr. Sandford, +who resigned after twenty-seven years of most useful service to +this institution. Mr. Pierpoint was proposed by Lord +Deerhurst, and seconded by Mr. Sandford himself.</p> +<p>1820—<span class="smcap">January</span> 12—A +silver cup presented to Mr. Savigny for his various and important +services to the institution.</p> +<p>1823—<span class="smcap">April</span>—An +additional wing erected in addition to the north end of the +Infirmary.</p> +<p><a name="page200"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +200</span>1823—<span class="smcap">July</span> 26—Mr. +John Eleox chosen secretary to the Infirmary, <i>vice</i> J. H. +Savigny, Esq., resigned.</p> +<p>1824—<span class="smcap">April</span> 23—Dr. Lewis +chosen physician in the room of Dr. Woodyatt, deceased.</p> +<p>1826—<span class="smcap">November</span> +6—Election of a physician in the room of Dr. Lewis, +resigned. The candidates were Dr. Nash, proposed by John +Williams, Esq., and William Wall, Esq.; and Dr. Streeten, +proposed by the Rev. Digby Smith and Major Johnson. At the +close of the ballot Dr. Nash was found to have 298 votes, and Dr. +Streeten 243—majority for Dr. Nash 55.</p> +<p>1827—<span class="smcap">May</span> 8—The +governors agreed to the erection of an operating room, and other +necessary offices, at an expense of £700.</p> +<p>1829—<span class="smcap">June</span> 5—Mr. T. H. +Wheeler elected secretary, <i>vice</i> Mr. Elcox, resigned.</p> +<p>1829—<span class="smcap">July</span> 27—Mr. T. +Carden elected surgeon, <i>vice</i> John Carden, Esq., +resigned.</p> +<p>1830—<span class="smcap">July</span> 2—The funded +property of the institution, hitherto in different stocks, was +all transferred to the Three-and-a-half per Cents. Reduced.</p> +<p>1833—<span class="smcap">December</span> 27—At the +quarterly meeting of the governors, Earl Beauchamp in the chair, +it was announced that £1,126 had been collected for the +institution during the last few months at different churches and +Dissenting chapels, which would pay off the debt of £550, +due to the treasurers, and enable them to get through the next +twelve months without touching the funded property. Mr. +Gutch afterwards read a report of a committee which had been +appointed to inquire into the expenditure of the institution +which had, for a series of years, exceeded the income. They +admitted that there had been great abuses in various departments +of the institution, and especially as to the supply of drugs and +chemicals, and it was therefore recommended that a practical +chemist should be appointed on the drug committee, who, during +his appointment, should be ineligible to supply drugs. They +recommended also that all legacies, above £100, should be +funded, with sundry other regulations. The report was +received, but it was determined not to publish the evidence upon +which it was founded, by a majority of 16 to 11.</p> +<p>1834—<span class="smcap">April</span> 4—At the +quarterly meeting of the governors, a resolution, determining +that all legacies of £100 should be funded, was adopted; +and it was also resolved that the evidence taken respecting the +mal-administration of the drug department, should be referred to +a select committee.</p> +<p><a name="page201"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +201</span>1834—<span class="smcap">June</span> 27—It +was determined to take counsel’s opinion as to the power of +the Corporation to renew the lease of ground on which the +Infirmary stood, as it belonged to Nash’s Charity. +This matter had repeatedly been under the attention of the +governors, and at last it was found necessary to obtain an Act of +Parliament, in order to legalise the lease. The +sub-committee reported that no further investigation that could +be made into the irregularities which had taken place, and the +discrepancy between the amount of drugs ordered and consumed, +would be satisfactory; and so the matter finally dropped.</p> +<p>1838—<span class="smcap">August</span> 16—Election +of a surgeon, in the room of Mr. Thomas Carden, deceased. +There were no less than ten candidates, and a great deal of +interest was excited in the matter by peculiar circumstances +attending some of the candidates. John Williams, Esq., was +called to preside over the meeting, which was adjourned to the +County Courts for the sake of room. The chairman proposed +Mr. Edward Morris, who was seconded by William Acton, Esq.; +Colonel Davis and Mr. Sidebottom proposed Mr. J. H. Walsh; James +Morton, Esq., and R. Spooner, Esq., proposed Mr. H. D. Carden; +the Major and Mr. Duncan proposed Mr. Budd. An objection +had been raised to Mr. Carden because he had not been, as the +rules were considered to require, resident during the previous +twelve months in Worcester. Counsel’s opinion was +taken on the point, and a very tedious and hot discussion took +place on the matter at the meeting. Ultimately it came to a +vote, and 106 declared Mr. Carden eligible, and 90 that he was +not. His name, therefore, went to the ballot, and he was +elected—having received 310 votes to 131 for Mr. Walsh, and +40 for Mr. Budd.</p> +<p>1843—<span class="smcap">June</span> 30—At a +quarterly meeting of the governors, a strong resolution was +passed in reference to a disgraceful attack upon C. H. Hebb, +Esq., which had appeared in the <i>Guardian</i> newspaper. +Mr. Hebb having had an operation very successfully performed upon +him, presented the Infirmary with a sum of £10 in token of +his thankfulness, and partly because the instruments belonging to +that institution had been employed by the operating +surgeon. The writer in the <i>Guardian</i> affirmed that +the instruments had been purchased solely with a view to this +very operation, and so “the shine was taken out” of +Mr. Hebb’s donation. This proved to be utterly +false.</p> +<p>1845—<span class="smcap">December</span> 19—A very +sharp contest for the office of secretary to the Infirmary, in +the room of Mr. T. H. Wheeler, <a name="page202"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 202</span>deceased, between Mr. John Palmer, +proposed by Mr. Curtler and Dr. Hastings—and Mr. D. W. +Nash, proposed by the Rev. T. Pearson and Mr. John Parker. +Mr. Nash had 216 votes, and Mr. Palmer 169.</p> +<p>1846—<span class="smcap">March</span> 28—At the +quarterly meeting of the governors, the committee appointed, on +the motion of Mr. Curtler, to inquire into an alleged laxity of +attendance on the part of the medical officers of the +institution, and ill conduct of its general business, presented +their report. Mr. Curtler, however, had not attended the +meetings of the committee, because the medical officers all +insisted on their right to be present; and several complaints, +therefore, had not been brought before them. The charges, +in most of the cases investigated, seemed to be disproved; but of +the beneficial effect the inquiry had in the improved management +of the institution there can be no doubt. Mr. Curtler +obtained another committee, to revise the whole of the rules of +the institution.</p> +<p>1846—<span class="smcap">June</span> 26—A +quarterly meeting of the governors held in the Nisi Prius Court, +at the Shire Hall, with John Williams, Esq., in the chair. +The medical men connected with the institution offered great +opposition to a motion of Mr. Curtler’s to exclude the +subscribers from all meetings of committees, and give them leave +only to attend the general quarterly boards; the object being to +enable the governors to appoint select committees. Mr. +Curtler supported the proposition, as the usual practice of all +large bodies and institutions of this kind, and because inquiry +into the affairs of the institution by a select committee became +absolutely necessary, as the funds were being frittered away and +the rules neglected. The medical men said the alteration +was aimed at them, and sought their exclusion from the +committees. They called select committees secret +committees, and said the rules made with so much wisdom by their +ancestors ought not to be altered. The medical men defeated +Mr. Curtler’s resolution by 58 to 32.</p> +<p>1847—<span class="smcap">January</span> 2—A +quarterly meeting of the governors held at the Shire Hall, over +which the Lord Bishop of the Diocese presided. Mr. Curtler +moved for a select committee, on which only two of the medical +officers of the institution should attend, to consider what +alterations were necessary in the rules. The medical men +insisted upon their right to be all present at the meetings of +the committee, and only yielded when the majority of the meeting +was evidently seen to be against them. They then agreed to +a committee of nine gentlemen, reserving the right to delegate +any two of their own body to act with them.</p> +<p><a name="page203"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +203</span>1847—<span class="smcap">March</span> 27—At +the quarterly meeting of the governors, Mr. Curtler’s +committee for revising the rules of the institution presented +their report. The medical men having given way, a great +number of alterations were recommended, and power taken to +appoint select committees, on which two of the medical officers +should always serve. The other medical men of the city and +neighbourhood were invited to witness operations; and the salary +of Mr. Cole, the house surgeon, increased to £100 a +year. Mr. Curtler mentioned—as one among other things +showing how necessary inquiry had been—that the malt +supplied to the institution was enough for twice the beer that +was consumed within the walls, and that about thirty-three +hogsheads annually disappeared out of the back door. The +report was unanimously received.</p> +<p>1849—<span class="smcap">March</span> 31—At the +quarterly meeting of the governors it was determined that the +£840 obtained from the sale of tickets at the Jenny Lind +concert should be applied to the building of a chapel for the use +of the patients. The Very Rev. the Dean added another +£100; and it was principally to his exertions in obtaining +what more was necessary in the way of funds, that the public and +the patients owe the very pretty erection which is now attached +to the back of the main building.</p> +<h2><a name="page204"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +204</span>WORCESTER MUSICAL FESTIVALS.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> history of the origin of the +meetings of the three choirs of Worcester, Hereford, and +Gloucester, does not belong to the nineteenth century. It +will be sufficient here to say that the first took place in the +year 1725 (when £48. 18s. was collected), and that they +have gradually risen in importance, till, besides being the means +of obtaining annually a very large sum for the support of the +widows and orphans of the clergy, they have now taken a first +place amongst the musical <i>réunions</i> of the kingdom, +and have greatly aided in fostering the melodious science. +It will be seen from the following brief notes of the festivals +at Worcester, that the most celebrated singers have, from time to +time, all taken a part in the performance here of the chief works +of the great masters of music. In the seventeen meetings +held here this century, upwards of £14,500 have been +realised for the clergy’s widows and orphans.</p> +<p>1800—<span class="smcap">September</span> +14—Seventy-seventh meeting of the three choirs. The +festival this year occupied three days. The sermon was +preached by Dr. James. <i>The Messiah</i>, <i>Creation</i>, +<i>Acis and Galatea</i>, &c., performed. The principal +novelty was the chorus in Handel’s <i>Ode to St. +Cecilia</i>—“As from the Power.” Chief +performers—Madame Mara and Miss Tennant; Messrs. Knyvett, +Nield, and Bartleman. <a name="page205"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 205</span>Amount collected for the charity, +£468; and the receipts for tickets yielded a surplus of +£250 in addition.</p> +<p>1803—<span class="smcap">September</span> +27—Sermon by the Rev. H. Stillingfleet. Principal +vocal performers—Mrs. Billington and Miss Fanny Ross; +Messrs. Melville, Incledon, Bartleman, Nield, &c. The +collections for the charity amounted to £501. 8s. The +receipts were £2,630, and exceeded the expenses by +£600.</p> +<p>1806—<span class="smcap">September</span> +22—Sermon by the Rev. G. Turberville. <i>The +Messiah</i> and <i>Alexander’s Feast</i> were the only +entire works performed. The principal performers were Mrs. +Billington, Mrs. Vaughan, Miss Melville; Messrs. Harrison, +Knyvett, &c. The collections amounted to +£714.</p> +<p>1809—<span class="smcap">September</span> +26—Sermon by the Rev. Dr. Wingfield. <i>The +Messiah</i> the only oratorio performed entire. +Performers—Mrs. Billington and Mrs. Vaughan; Mr. Braham +(his first engagement at these festivals), Messrs. Bartleman, +Vaughan, and Goss. The sum collected for the charity was +£800, the largest amount up to that time ever +collected.</p> +<p>1812—<span class="smcap">September</span> 9—Sermon +by Rev. Dr. Onslow, Vicar of Kidderminster. Principal +performers—Madame Catalani, Mrs. Salmon, Miss Melville; +Messrs. Vaughan, Goss, Hawes, Denman, and Bellamy. <i>The +Messiah</i> and <i>Creation</i> performed entire. +Collections, £906.</p> +<p>1815—<span class="smcap">September</span> +12—Sermon by Rev. J. Fleming St. John. Principal +performers—Madame Marconi, Miss Stephens, Mrs. Vaughan; and +Messrs. Bartleman, Vaughan, Knyvett, &c. <i>The +Messiah</i>, Haydn’s <i>Seasons</i>, and various selections +performed. Collections, £749. The tickets were +printed in London, and some spurious ones got into +circulation.</p> +<p>1818—<span class="smcap">September</span> +15—Sermon by the Rev. William Digby. Principal +performers—Miss Stephens, Mrs. Salmon, Miss Symonds; +Messrs. Braham, Kynvett, Bellamy, and Hawes. <i>The +Messiah</i> was the only oratorio performed entire. The +contributions to the charity amounted to £936—the +largest amount collected up to that time.</p> +<p>1821—<span class="smcap">October</span> 3—Sermon +by the Dean, Dr. Jenkinson. Principal performers—Miss +Stephens, Madame Camporesi, and Miss Travis; Messrs. Bellamy, +Vaughan, Knyvett, Hawes, Master Smith, &c. <i>The +Messiah</i> was the only oratorio performed entire. A +selection from <i>The Seasons</i> one evening. Sum +collected for the charity, £877.</p> +<p>1824—<span class="smcap">September</span> 15—One +hundred and first meeting of the three <a +name="page206"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +206</span>choirs. Sermon preached by the Hon. and Rev. +Edward Rice, D.D. Principal performers—Mesdames +Salmon, Stephens, Travis, and Ronzi de Beguis; Messrs. Braham, +Bellamy, Kynvett, Signor de Begnis, &c. <i>The +Messiah</i> was the only oratorio performed entire. +Receipts for the charity, £828; and for tickets, +£2,957.</p> +<p>1827—<span class="smcap">September</span> +11—Sermon preached by the Rev. W. F. Hook, M.A., perpetual +curate of Moseley. Principal performers—Madame Pasta, +Madame Caradori Allan, Miss Stephens, Mrs. W. Knyvett; Messrs. +Braham, Phillips, Knyvett, Vaughan, and Signor Zuchelli. +<i>The Messiah</i> and <i>Palestine</i> performed. Receipts +for the charity, £1,083; for admission, £3,997. +This was one of the most successful meetings ever held. The +Duchess of St. Albans held one of the plates the first +morning.</p> +<p>1830—<span class="smcap">September</span> +14—Sermon by the Very Rev. the Dean, Lord Bishop of +Rochester. <i>The Messiah</i> was the only oratorio +performed. On the first morning the service was opened by a +funeral anthem, in commemoration of his late Majesty King George +IV. Principal performers—Madame Malibran, Mrs. +Knyvett, and Miss Cramer; Messrs. Braham, Phillips, Vaughan, +Knyvett, &c. Balls were held every evening at the Town +Hall; and a banquet was given by the Bishop of Rochester and Lady +Sarah Murray, in the Chapter House, after each morning’s +performance. The Duchess of Kent and the Princess Victoria +were among the company. The receipts for the charity were +£1,005, and for admissions, £3,314; being +considerably less than the amount realised in 1827.</p> +<p>1833—<span class="smcap">September</span> +24—Sermon by the Bishop of Worcester. Every pains had +been taken to make this festival successful; the performances +occupying four mornings instead of three, and the orchestra being +much enlarged. About 170 performers were engaged, the +principal vocalists being—Madame Malibran, Miss Clara +Novello, and Mrs. Knyvett; Messrs. Braham, Phillips, Vaughan, and +E. Taylor. De Beriot, the violinist, was also a feature of +this festival. <i>The Messiah</i> was performed entire; and +selections from <i>The Creation</i>, <i>Palestine</i>, <i>The +Last Judgment</i>, <i>The Deluge</i> (Schneider), and <i>Mount +Sinai</i> (Neukomm)—the last proving a decided +failure. Malibran was all in all at this meeting. The +receipts for the charity were £981, and for admissions, +£3,496. The ball at the College Hall was a most +brilliant finale, the company numbering upwards of 700. The +expenses were no less than £4,300; so that the stewards +were £800 out of pocket.</p> +<p>1836—<span class="smcap">September</span> +27—Sermon by the Rev. Prebendary Benson. <a +name="page207"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 207</span>Principal +performers—Madame Caradori Allan, Miss Hawes, Mrs. Knyvett, +and Miss Novello; Messrs. Braham, Phillips, Vaughan, Knyvett, +&c. The scheme contained many novelties. <i>The +Messiah</i> was performed on the first morning; Mozart’s +<i>Redemption</i>, Bishop’s cantata, <i>The Seventh +Day</i>, and a selection, the second morning; and <i>The Last +Judgment</i>, with a selection, on the third. <i>Acis and +Galatea</i> was sung at the first concert; the others were +entirely miscellaneous. The receipts exhibited a sad +falling off, being, for the charity, £828, and for +admissions, £2,685. The stewards were about +£1,000 out of pocket. An article of <i>bijouterie</i> +was presented to Miss Clara Novello, by Colonel Clive and the +committee, as an expression of their admiration at her singing, +and of thanks for the kind manner in which she had fallen in with +the wishes of the committee as to some alterations of the +scheme.</p> +<p>1839—<span class="smcap">September</span> +10—Sermon by the Rev. W. H. Woodgate, Rector of +Bellbroughton. <i>The Messiah</i>, <i>Creation</i>, and +<i>Palestine</i> performed in their entirety. The concerts +were all made up of miscellanea. Principal +performers—Miss Hawes, Miss Clara Novello, Madame Persiani, +Miss Woodyatt, Miss Beale; Messrs. Phillips, Vaughan, Bennett, +Machin, Edmunds, &c. The receipts for the charity this +year were £932, and for admissions £2,820, which was +an increase upon the sum realised at the previous meeting, though +the prices of tickets were this year reduced to the sums at which +they have ever since remained. The expenses, however, +reached £4,089, so that there was a deficiency of +£1,270.</p> +<p>1842—<span class="smcap">September</span> 20—The +sermon was preached by the Lord Bishop of the Diocese. This +festival was marked by an entire change of system and the great +success attending upon it. There were no foreign +“stars” engaged in the vocal department, and, +consequently, a great deal of expense was saved. The +oratorios were conducted, not by the organist of the cathedral, +Mr. Clarke, but by Mr. Surman of Exeter Hall, and the +performances were held in the nave and not in the choir. +The only previous occasion on which the festival had been held in +the nave was at the visit of George III, sixty years +before. The arrangement of orchestra and seats was that +which has been ever since observed. The principal singers +were—Miss Birch, Miss Marshall, Miss Dolby, Mrs. Loder, and +Miss Davis, our own young townswoman; Mr. Phillips, Mr. Leffler, +and Mr. Hobbs. The oratorios performed were—<i>The +Messiah</i>, <i>Judas Maccabeus</i>, and <i>Engedi</i>. At +the evening concerts <i>Alexander’s Feast</i>, +Haydn’s <i>Seasons</i>, and Schiller’s <i>Song of +</i><a name="page208"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +208</span><i>the Bell</i> were performed entire. The chorus +consisted of 218 singers, and there were 82 instruments in the +orchestra. The organ was in the course of being renewed by +Hill. The collections for the charity amounted to +£1,059. 16s.</p> +<p>1845—Sermon by Canon Wood. Only three morning +performances this year, which, for the first time, were under the +conduct of Mr. Done. <i>The Last Judgment</i> and a +collection of anthems were performed on the Wednesday morning, +and <i>The Messiah</i> on the Thursday. In the evenings +<i>Acis and Galatea</i> and Mendelssohn’s <i>Walpurgis +Nacht</i> were performed entire. The principal vocalists +were—the Misses Williams, Miss Rainforth, Miss Whitnall; +Herr Staudigl, Mr. Pearsall, Mr. Hobbs, Mr. Machin, and Mr. +Young. The amount collected for the charity was £850. +14s.</p> +<p>1848—Sermon by the Very Rev. the Dean of +Worcester. Mdlle. Jenny Lind had promised to take a part at +this festival, but Mr. Lumley compelled her to break her +engagement, and she was actually singing at Birmingham on the +first day of the Worcester meeting; notwithstanding this, the +festival was one of the most successful, in point of attendance, +which has ever been held at either of the three cities. On +the first morning at least 1,500 people were present in the nave +of the Cathedral, and at the last concert in the College Hall it +is computed that 1,100 persons were crammed into the room. +There were this year four morning performances; the oratorios +performed entire being the <i>Elijah</i> and <i>Messiah</i>, with +selections from <i>Palestine</i>, <i>Creation</i>, and +<i>Engedi</i>. In the evenings parts of Mendelssohn’s +<i>Midsummer Night’s Dream</i>, Haydn’s +<i>Seasons</i>, and Weber’s <i>Oberon</i> were performed, +with miscellaneous selections. The principal vocalists +were—Mdlle. Alboni, Madame Castellan, the Misses Williams, +and Miss Dolby; Mr. Sims Reeves, Signor Lablache, Mr. Lockey, Mr. +Robinson, and Mr. Machin. The amount collected for the +charity was £960, and the receipts by sale of tickets +reached £3,080; yet the expense attaching to the engagement +of the “stars” was so great that the loss was very +considerable.</p> +<h2><a name="page209"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +209</span>NATURAL PHENOMENA.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">It</span> is altogether beyond the +province of this work to enter into any detail of the scientific +peculiarities of the county of Worcester; but it would have been +very satisfactory to have been able to have recorded +here—besides those isolated disturbances of nature’s +more ordinary course, which arrest the attention of indifferent +spectators—the results of observations made by competent +persons which might have formed the basis of a county +meteorology. But, in truth, none such exist; excepting in +the daily memoranda of one or two gentlemen extending over only a +very few years, there are no data for arriving at any conclusions +on the subject. As the members of the medical profession +and the scientific agriculturist become increasingly alive to the +important part which atmosphere and electricity play in the +conditions of animal and vegetable life, the want of such tables +will be severely felt. The city of Worcester itself stands +but thirty-six feet above the level of the sea; and, from its +peculiar position, its temperature is generally higher than that +of the surrounding country or of the kingdom generally. +Though Worcestershire may be considered as the central county of +England, and consequently the most inland, yet we have our fair +share of rain, and <a name="page210"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +210</span>perhaps even more than an average quantity. Such +observations as could be procured on this point will be found in +the Appendix. The principal part of our rain, and the +greater number of storms that visit us, come from the S.W., and +the prevailing wind is also from that quarter. In some +parts of the year it may be matter for every day observation to +notice the vapours, gathered apparently in the Bristol Channel, +attracted by the Malvern range, and spreading out a fan-like +nimbus towards the N.E., which distributes its fertilising +showers over Worcester and the lands lying between Bredon Hill on +the one hand and the upper Severn on the other—often over a +much more limited tract of country—while the lands beyond +seem to lie under a dry and cloudless sky. The following +are memoranda of the more remarkable natural phenomena which have +excited notice within the county during this century.</p> +<p>1802—<span class="smcap">January</span> 20—A +hurricane occurred, doing great damage to the houses in and round +Worcester. The windmill at Kempsey was set on fire by the +sails being whirled round with so great rapidity.</p> +<p>1804—<span class="smcap">January</span> 20—Violent +gale from S.W., doing great damage. A stack of chimneys +falling through the roof of the house of Mr. E. Harris, attorney, +in Edgar Street, Worcester, killed the nursemaid, who was in bed +with two children, who were but little hurt.</p> +<p>1805—<span class="smcap">January</span> 25—The +London mail to Worcester stopped by a heavy fall of snow.</p> +<p>1807—<span class="smcap">November</span> 10—A +violent storm occurred, which raged pretty generally over the +whole country. A barge laden with coal, moored near +Worcester bridge, was sunk. At Hanley Castle, and Stanford +Park, a great many trees were blown down, and several houses +unroofed.</p> +<p>1808—<span class="smcap">July</span> 15—A most +awful tempest from the S.W. The thunder continued in one +unbroken roar for an hour and a half; and the hailstones which +fell were like fragments of a vast plate of ice broken into +pieces, being broad, flat, and ragged. Many of them were +perfect and unmelted the next morning.</p> +<p>1809—<span class="smcap">January</span> 29—Great +flood upon the Severn, the water <a name="page211"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 211</span>rising to within nineteen inches of +the level of the extraordinary flood of 1795.</p> +<p>1810—<span class="smcap">September</span> 22—A +storm, described as “a dreadful whirlwind,” +commencing at Fearnal Heath, and taking a direction due north, +through Salwarp, Ombersley, Doverdale, and to the extremity of +Hampton Lovett; and its effects were felt as far as Chaddesley +Corbett. The principal sufferers were Sir John Pakington, +Mr. Silvester of Doverdale, and Mr. Saunders of Mayeux. Mr. +Silvester had two hundred trees on his farm, either torn up by +the roots, or shattered at mid-trunk. Most of them were +pear trees in full bearing.</p> +<p>1810—<span class="smcap">November</span> 10—A +tempest from the N.E. visited Worcester and its environs. +Great numbers of trees torn up by the roots. The lightning +struck the house of Mr. Harris of Edgar Street, came down the +chimney of the room in which he was sitting, burnt his hand and +eyebrows, his stockings and papers, and tore down a wainscot on +the opposite side of the room.</p> +<p>1811—<span class="smcap">May</span> 27—The famous +Worcester hailstorm happened this day. It was indeed a +tempest, such as had been scarcely ever known in this country +before. Between four and five o’clock p.m., clouds of +a horrible blackness came up from the S.E., accompanied by a +hideous noise. Shortly hail began to fall, which almost +immediately became a storm of ice, and fell furiously in flakes +of about five or six inches in circumference. The windows +of almost every house which faced the S.E. were wholly demolished +in a few minutes—gardens were laid utterly waste—and +fields, both of grass and corn, sustained irreparable +damage. The ice-storm was succeeded by heavy torrents of +rain, with all the terrors of a tropical tempest. The river +Severn <i>in one hour rose six feet</i>, and continued gradually +to swell its torrent till it had reached the height of <i>twenty +feet</i>; and the flood, rapid and wide-spreading, swept away in +its impetuous career whole herds of cattle from the adjacent +fields. 1,200 panes of glass were broken in Messrs. +Barr’s china manufactory, 500 in the Workhouse, and 2,000 +in Messrs. Chamberlain’s factory. Messrs. +Freame’s cabinet warehouse, Goose Lane, lost 1,000 panes, +and all the public buildings suffered severely. 150 rooks +were killed in the rookery at the White Ladies, and a vast many +other birds were also afterwards found dead. At Henwick and +Hallow the crops were miserably injured. The cost of +replacing the glass broken in the city, alone, was estimated at +£5,000; and there being neither sufficient materials nor +workpeople at hand to repair it, the inhabitants for weeks had to +suffer the inconvenience of exposure to the weather. <a +name="page212"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 212</span>One +glazier, who started off to Stourbridge and purchased all the +glass he could lay his hands on, is said to have laid the +foundation of a fortune by this calamity. We have no record +of the state of the atmosphere previous to this storm.</p> +<p>1814—<span class="smcap">January</span> 12—The +Severn frozen over at Worcester, so as to admit of parties +walking across it, and the weather in every respect most +severe. <span class="smcap">January</span> 20—The +frost continued with such severity that the Severn was frozen +over at Tewkesbury, and several persons going to Tewkesbury +market rode over it at the Lode. The roads, also, were so +blocked up by snow as to render traffic of every description +almost impossible.</p> +<p>1817—<span class="smcap">June</span> 21—The +neighbourhood of Stanford visited with a tremendous +tempest. From seven to ten p.m., the roar of the thunder +was incessant; the lightning one continued sheet of fire; and the +rain descended in such torrents that the whole country was +inundated. The brook running from Hanley William through +Orleton rose to an enormous height, and carried away fences, +trees, and other obstacles, lodging them at great +distances. Many hop yards destroyed, and the soil almost +wholly washed away. The thermometer stood at 112° +Fahrenheit in the sun, on the day before this storm, and at +82° in the shade.</p> +<p>1818—<span class="smcap">March</span> 4—A very +furious storm from the S.W. experienced at Worcester, continuing +for about six hours. A great deal of damage done to the +roofs of houses. The Bristol mail was detained eleven hours +by the floods.</p> +<p>1818—<span class="smcap">April</span> 11—Great +flood on the river Severn, the water rising to within three feet +of the height which it reached in February, 1795.</p> +<p>1820—<span class="smcap">January</span> 14—The +Severn frozen over.</p> +<p>1820—<span class="smcap">May</span> 12—A +thunderstorm occurred, which was very terrific in several parts +of the county. A rick of hay at Mr. Coucher’s, +Woodmanton, Clifton-on-Teme, was set on fire and wholly burnt; +and four deer were killed by the lightning in Hagley Park.</p> +<p>1821—<span class="smcap">January</span> 20—The +Severn frozen over.</p> +<p>1821—<span class="smcap">May</span> 2—A very +fearful thunderstorm occurred, which was general throughout the +kingdom. It did not do much damage in Worcestershire. +At Northwick Park five deer were killed, and their bodies were +found floating in the large sheet of water there. Four out +of the five were six-year-old bucks; and it was surmised that, +blinded by the lightning, they ran into the water; and though +deer customarily swim well, yet they were now unable to exert +themselves and so were drowned.</p> +<p><a name="page213"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +213</span>1821—<span class="smcap">December</span> +24—Great floods upon the Severn, which entirely cut off the +communication between Worcester and the lower parts of the +county. The cellars of all the houses near the Severn were +flooded for some days.</p> +<p>1822—<span class="smcap">May</span> 20—A +destructive thunderstorm in the neighbourhood of Worcester. +The hailstones, which were unusually large, smashed great +quantities of glass—particularly about Spetchley, where six +hundred panes were broken in the hothouses of R. Berkeley, +Esq. Hailstones were picked up measuring four inches in +circumference.</p> +<p>1822—<span class="smcap">December</span> 5—A +terrific hurricane from the S.W., which raged with more or less +violence throughout the whole of England. In Worcester, the +roofs of several houses were almost uncovered, and the gable end +of a newly-erected building near the House of Industry was blown +in. Five boats were sunk at Diglis; and at Upton bridge one +was capsized with three men in it, one of whom was drowned. +The coachman of the Holyhead mail was twice blown off the box, +and one of the horses dropped down dead, on arriving at Chester, +from excessive fatigue.</p> +<p>1825—<span class="smcap">July</span> 19—A tempest +in the neighbourhood of Tenbury and Cleobury Mortimer. The +electric fluid struck an oak tree at Kinlet, and killed nine +sheep sheltering beneath it; set fire to the wooden steeple of +Neen Savage Church, melting the bells which it contained, and +threatening the destruction of the entire edifice.</p> +<p>1825—<span class="smcap">December</span> 14—A +fearful storm of wind, hail, rain, and lightning, passed over +Worcester from the S.W., and the electric fluid displaced a stone +about half way up St. Andrew’s spire. Mr. G. Parry, +farmer, of Hanbury, lost thirty-two ewes, heavy with lamb, and +valued at £100.</p> +<p>1826—<span class="smcap">January</span> 14—A storm +of wind, which blew a perfect hurricane about noon. A stack +of chimneys at Mr. Sidebottom’s house, at Worcester, fell +through the roof and two floors, severely injuring a +servant. Trees in the neighbourhood were torn up by the +roots, walls and fences laid flat, and corn and hay ricks +unthatched and scattered. A considerable part of the spire +of Cleobury Mortimer Church was broken off during divine service, +and the congregation rushed out of the edifice in terror. A +barge, heavily laden with coal, was sunk in the Severn.</p> +<p>1828—<span class="smcap">July</span> 8—A tempest +of considerable violence, during which the lightning struck a +house in Newdix Court, High Street, Worcester, and a cottage near +Merriman’s Hill—not, however, doing much damage in +either case. Vehement gusts of wind stripped old <a +name="page214"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 214</span>roofs of +their tiling, and blew down several trees in the +neighbourhood.</p> +<p>1830—<span class="smcap">January</span> 20—A very +heavy fall of snow, blocking up all the roads, so that no coaches +reached Worcester at all from the west, and the London coaches +came in a day after their time.</p> +<p>1831—<span class="smcap">July</span> 10—A tempest +which raged throughout the county, doing much damage. The +lightning struck Hales, a watchman of Worcester, while sitting at +the door of a house at Spetchley, and he was for a time +paralysed, while the blood flowed from his ears and mouth. +At Wick a cottage was burnt down, and the nephew of the widow who +occupied it was affected by the electric fluid, much in the same +manner as Hales. On Defford Common the hailstones lay in +hillocks nine inches high, and some of the stones were as large +as pigeon’s eggs. A great deal of glass was broken, +birds killed, crops destroyed (the heads of the wheat being +separated from the straw, and the pods of beans laid open), and +fencing laid low.</p> +<p>1836—<span class="smcap">December</span> +28–30—An extraordinary snowstorm, which extended over +the greater part of the country, and continued for several days, +till all the roads were blocked up and communication almost at an +end. The Worcester mail was blocked up in the snow at +Enstone, and could not be got out. The mails for three days +were thirty-six hours behind time. In some places the snow +was said to have drifted to a height of twenty feet.</p> +<p>1839—<span class="smcap">January</span> 9—A +fearful gale of wind, general throughout the country, and doing +great damage to houses and plantations in this county. At +Burlish Common, near Stourport, a stack of chimneys fell through +the roof of a cottage on to the bed where a young woman was +lying, and she sustained such injuries as to cause her death +shortly afterwards.</p> +<p>1839—<span class="smcap">June</span> 13—A very +violent hailstorm raged chiefly in the northern part of the +county. At Hagley, several hundred pounds’ worth of +glass were destroyed; and in Mr. G. B. Lea’s spinning mill, +at Drayton, near Kidderminster, 580 small panes were +broken. At Hartlebury, &c., great damage was done to +the growing crops—many fields of barley being totally +destroyed; and at Harvington the hailstones were reported to lie +six feet deep on the ground: fifty rooks were killed in that +neighbourhood.</p> +<p>1839—<span class="smcap">July</span> 31—In +consequence of unintermittent rains for several days together, a +flood occurred in all the running streams, which rose higher than +had been known for many years. Of course, great damage was +done to the pastures and crops. On several roads +communication <a name="page215"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +215</span>was cut off. The Ludlow and Aberystwith mails to +Worcester were both stopped. The guard of the Ludlow mail +attempted to get on in a two-horse fly; but, at Newnham, the fly +was fairly floated, and the guard himself narrowly escaped +drowning. The Aberystwith coach was stopped at Knightsford +bridge, and had to be lashed to a tree: the bags were brought +away in boats.</p> +<p>1843—<span class="smcap">July</span> 5—An alarming +tempest visited Worcester and the neighbourhood, killing several +sheep, shivering fine trees, and the subsequent hail destroying +much glass in greenhouses.</p> +<p>1843—<span class="smcap">July</span> 13—A very +severe thunderstorm again occurred, igniting some farm buildings +at Abberton, killing a mare at Redditch, and doing other +damage. The wife of a labourer at Eastnor was struck by the +lightning, and the whole of her apparel was reduced to tinder; +the steel busk of her stays was heated to a red heat! and her +body, in consequence, frightfully burnt—nevertheless she +recovered. The wife of a gardener at Inkberrow, named +Hopkins, was sitting at the fireplace, when the electric fluid +came down the chimney, and striking the woman, passed along her +spine, killing her on the spot. The damage done to the +crops along the eastern border of the county was very great.</p> +<p>1843—<span class="smcap">August</span> 9—A most +violent thunderstorm, whose chief fury seemed to be spent +immediately over the city of Worcester. Wind in S.W. +For two hours the thunder pealed incessantly, and the electric +fluid struck at least ten houses in the city, but without doing +any material damage at either place. At one house which the +lightning entered, in the Shambles, a boy was standing with an +awl in his hand, and the electric fluid severed the blade from +the haft, leaving the latter in the hand of the boy!</p> +<p>1845—<span class="smcap">July</span> 6—A terrific +thunderstorm, extending over all the S.W. and midland counties of +England, broke this evening over Worcester, just as the several +congregations were leaving their respective places of +worship. Just before the hurricane of rain commenced, the +whole clouded sky was covered with a lurid glare, as if from the +reflection of a distant conflagration. A great number of +fine trees were uprooted, especially near Bewdley. At +Witley Court, great damage was done to the windows and +conservatories; at Pershore the hailstones were, in fact, large +pieces of ice, and some 2,000 panes of glass were broken.</p> +<p>1846—<span class="smcap">August</span> 1—A violent +thunderstorm, which did considerable damage in some parts of +England, but not much in this neighbourhood. Two lambs, +belonging to J. Lea, Esq., of The Shrubbery, Kidderminster, were +killed by the lightning.</p> +<h2><a name="page216"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +216</span>MISCELLANEOUS OCCURRENCES.</h2> +<h3>1800.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> present century opened in a +tempest of war and confusion, which gave little prospect of soon +exhausting its fury. Mention will be found below of several +serious riots on account of the high price of provisions, which +may be thus accounted for: The exemption from cash payments in +1797 had given great relief to the merchants and tradespeople +generally, but had little effect upon the condition of the +working classes; and the war had not yet withdrawn so many men +from productive industry as materially to raise the rate of +wages. The total number of levies for the army, from the +commencement of the war to the end of 1800, was but +208,388. It had, however, continued sufficiently long to +raise the price of all provisions enormously, and the very +deficient harvests of 1799 and 1800 greatly increased this evil, +and added to the distress. So much disquiet was excited by +these causes that Parliament was called together for a second +sitting in November, and all sorts of expedients were resorted to +to increase the supply of food—bounties were granted on the +importation of foreign corn—the use of corn in +distilleries, or for making starch, was prohibited—<a +name="page217"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 217</span>the +manufacture of fine flour, or the use of it in making bread, was +forbidden, while the use of oats and barley was permitted and +encouraged—bakers were prohibited from selling bread that +had not been baked twenty-four hours—and, lastly, in the +month of December His Majesty issued a proclamation exhorting the +strictest economy in families on the use of every kind of grain, +recommending that people should abstain from pastry, and on no +account allow the consumption of bread in their households to +exceed one quartern loaf for each person in a week. +Statutes against “engrossing and regrating,” that had +almost become obsolete, were also raked up and eagerly put in +force against speculators, whether great or small, both by +country magistrates and chief justices, though the great Holt had +long ago laughed at them. The average price of wheat this +year was 119s. 6d. per quarter; and Three per Cent. Consols +averaged 63½.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span>—A subscription +entered into for the relief of the poor in Worcester, in +consequence of the “high price of bread, butter, and other +necessaries of life.” The parties at the public +meeting, called to promote the subscription, pledged themselves +“to reduce the consumption of flour and butter in their own +families as much as possible, and earnestly recommended the same +to all ranks of persons within the city and suburbs.” +The subscription, in the whole, amounted to more than +£700. The soup kitchen was opened before this +time.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span> 7—The post boy, +carrying the mail with the letter bags from Worcester, for +Bewdley, Kidderminster, and Stourbridge, was stopped about six in +the morning, two miles only from Worcester, by a man on foot, who +presented a pistol—cut the straps of the portmanteau and +carried the mail away. A reward of £200 was offered +by Government, but the offender was never apprehended.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span> 14—The County +Magistrates, at Quarter Sessions, ordered that “no makers +of bread for sale, shall make, or sell, any superior quality of +bread at a higher price than the standard wheaten <a +name="page218"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 218</span>bread; and +that every peck loaf should weigh 17 lbs. 6oz., and every +quartern loaf 4 lbs. 5 oz. 8 drams.” Price of wheat +in Worcester market, 13s. 4d. to 15s. 6d. the bushel. Hops, +£14 to £16 per cwt.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span> 17—The +“Worcester Fencible Light Dragoons,” retiring to +England from service in Ireland, were thanked by Lord Cornwallis, +Adjutant General of the forces in Ireland, for their services in +that kingdom.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span> 25—The magistrates of +Worcester offered ten guineas reward for the discovery of the +writer of “several inflammatory papers, reflecting upon +their conduct,” which were found in the Foregate +Street.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span> 25—A labouring man +robbed at Barbourne, Worcester, by footpads; and, two days after, +a farmer, on horseback, was stopped at the same spot.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">February</span> 21—A man apprehended +in Worcester market for “forestalling,” and committed +to the assizes for trial.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">March</span> 9—A “Worcester +Fire Office” established, with a capital of +£100,000.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 4—Disturbances in the +Worcester markets, on account of the high price of +provisions. The magistrates issued a notice that sellers +would be protected. The consumption of butter greatly +reduced in consequence of its enormous price.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 7—The Corporation of +Worcester offered premiums of 1s. 6d. for the first 100 bushels +of potatoes brought into the market before the 1st July; 1s. for +the second 100; and 9d. for the third. Claimants upon 240 +bushels were paid. Wheat at 14s. 6d. to 18s. per +bushel. Beef at least 9d., and mutton 10d. per lb.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 25—The colliers of +Stourbridge in a state of great disturbance from the +scarcity. A squadron of the 7th Dragoon Guards sent into +the neighbourhood.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 2—Meeting of the gentry +and inhabitants of Stourbridge; the Hon. Edward Foley in the +chair; at which resolutions were passed, begging the farmers to +bring wheat into that market to sell at 15s. per bushel, and +barley at a price not exceeding 8s.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 9—Disturbances at +Redditch, which threatened to be very serious, but quelled by the +Bromsgrove Volunteers, who stood a furious attack made on them by +the mob with great firmness and prudence. Several of the +rioters were apprehended, but discharged on finding sureties for +their good behaviour.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 15—Attempt on the +King’s life in Drury Lane Theatre by <a +name="page219"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +219</span>Hadfield. Addresses from the Worcester +Corporation were sent to the Right Hon. the Earl of Coventry for +presentation, as recorder of the city.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 30—Accounts of +“Internal Defence Subscription” published, from which +it appeared that £4,550 had been subscribed by the county, +and £532 by the city of Worcester: spent equally in the +augmentation of the Militia and the Yeomanry Cavalry.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 10—Visitation and +address by the Bishop, in which the scarcity was attributed to +the war and inclement seasons. Use of “Church +Catechism,” in the instruction of children, urgently +enforced.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 26—Honorary degree of +M.A. conferred on Lord Foley, at the Oxford Commemoration of +Founders and Benefactors of the University.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">July</span> 9—A further subscription +entered into in Worcester for the relief of the poor, who had +been constantly subsidised from the fund ever since the winter; +96,000 quarts of soup having been distributed amongst them, +besides great quantities of potatoes and much money.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">July</span> 21—Lord Dudley and Ward +purchased a large quantity of imported wheat at Liverpool, to +retail to the poor at a reduced price. Price of wheat in +Worcester market, 21s. to 22s. 6d. per bushel.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 10—The price of wheat +in Worcester market having fallen to 10s. and 13s. per bushel, +the relief committee discontinued their labours. The +promise of a plenteous harvest produced this change for the +better.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 15—The Mayor and +magistrates of Worcester attempted to enforce sanitary +regulations—such as cleansing “the kennels,” +for they considered “all stagnate water injurious to +health, and the exhalations from it the forerunners of contagious +disorders.”</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span>—A great number of +houses between Stourport and Worcester searched for unlawful +nets, used for the taking of small fish in the Severn. Many +such being found they were all publicly burned at Bewdley.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 25—This evening, +because the bakers in Worcester were unprovided with bread to +sell, the populace assembled as soon as it was dark and began to +demolish their windows, but the disturbance was soon put a stop +to by the magistrates. A sudden rise in the price of flour +on the previous Saturday had prevented the bakers from supplying +themselves with the necessary quantity for the week.</p> +<p><a name="page220"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 220</span><span +class="smcap">September</span> 12—The Mayor, magistrates, +&c., of Worcester met “to ensure a more regular supply +of the necessaries of life, at reasonable prices,” to their +fellow citizens, and determine to erect a corn mill to be worked +by steam.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 19—A mare, +belonging to Mr. Tully of St. John’s, ridden seventy miles +on the London Road, from Worcester to Benson, in eleven hours and +forty-nine minutes.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 21—Meeting of +farmers, &c., at Bromsgrove, when they agreed to supply that +market, for three months, with wheat at 11s. 6d. a bushel.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">November</span> 21—“John Bunn, +jun., flax dresser,” advertised his address. Sales of +flax crops occasionally advertised.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">November</span> 27—£2,350 +subscribed to the Flour and Bread Institution, for the benefit of +the industrious poor. The institution bought foreign wheat +largely, and sold to the poor at reduced prices. It was +said in its results “greatly to exceed the expectations of +its most sanguine promoters.”</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span> 1—Lord Valentia and +Mr. Child supplied the Bewdley market with grain, at 12s. a +bushel, to be sold to the poor, under the direction of the +bailiff.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span> 5—Mr. Burrow, +saddler, of Worcester, purchased a large quantity of potatoes to +sell again to the poor under the market price.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span> 10—John Beet, of +Rowley Regis, butcher, was convicted by the Droitwich +magistrates, in the full penalty of 50s. for “cutting and +gashing two cow hides and a calf skin, and for slaying them below +the gambrel or knee.”</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Acts passed this +year</span>—For continuing and enlarging powers of Bewdley +Turnpike Trust; ditto Kidderminster Turnpikes; Act for repairing +roads leading to and from the Hundred House.</p> +<h3>1801.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> February, this year, Mr. Pitt +unexpectedly retired, and Mr. Addington was called to the +King’s Councils, a fact principally to be attributed to the +ill success of the war which had been entered into with France, +and continued at a cost of blood and treasure totally +disproportionate to its advantages. The new ministry, from +the moment of entering office, declared <a +name="page221"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 221</span>peace to be +their aim, and the preliminary articles were signed in London in +October. This war, which had lasted for eight years, cost +us £427,000,000, and at the end of it the only additional +possessions we retained were Trinidad and the Dutch holdings in +Ceylon. In consequence of the harvest in 1800 being almost +an entire failure, the high price of provisions continued to +create much distress amongst the poor, and the bounties on flour +imported from America were increased. The Three per Cents. +fluctuated between 54¾, in January, and 69½, in +October: average price about 61. Wheat averaged 69s. +10d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span>—Price of grain in +Worcester market 20s. to 24s. a bushel.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">March</span> 28—Riot amongst the +Worcester women, on account of the high price of +provisions—20d. being asked for a pound of butter; 2s. a +peck for potatoes; and 9d. a pound for meat. The mob of +women prevented the Birmingham “badgers” from +carrying off their purchases, and then, assembling before a +baker’s shop in Broad Street, compelled his wife to throw +out to them all the bread she had in the house. Special +constables were at last sworn in and tranquillity restored.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 27—Price of the quartern +loaf fixed by the Mayor of Worcester at 1s. 7d., though selling +the same day in London at 1s. 4½d. Constant +complaints that the markets at Worcester were higher than +elsewhere, and as this continued to be the case, a Mr. B. Lloyd +purchased, in June, 1,000 barrels of American flour at Liverpool, +and sold them here in single barrels.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 20—Two vagrants, +confined in the County Bridewell, forced out a window, and, +dropping themselves over a wall twenty feet high, made good their +escape.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">July</span> 17—The committee of the +Worcester Flour and Bread Institution reported, that since the +previous October, 100,000 loaves had been sold to the poor by its +means at one third less than the average market price. +During the same period 140,000 quarts of soup had been +distributed.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">July</span> 30—The Directors of the +Worcester House of Industry, which was established in 1795, +published a statement apologising for the increase of +rates. The average number of poor relieved in <a +name="page222"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 222</span>and out of +the house, during the previous twelve months, had been 583 +weekly! while in 1795 it was only 235. The Directors +attributed this increase to the high price of food and the +sickliness of the season, and said it was not greater than in +other manufacturing towns.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 5—Miss Mellon +performed at Worcester Theatre to crowded houses.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">October</span> 14—Dinner at the +Crown Hotel, Worcester, “to celebrate the +Peace.” Illumination, &c.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">October</span> 15—Ball at the +Guildhall, for the benefit of the Infirmary, attended by 300 +persons. Net profits £102.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">November</span> 10—Lord Foley met +with a severe accident while hunting, one of his horse’s +legs dropping into a deep hole and falling back upon his +lordship.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">November</span> 10—An advertisement +having been inserted in the Worcester papers, by the Hon. Mr. +Ward, stating that he intended to offer himself as a candidate +for Worcester at the next general election, the Corporation met +and voted unanimously that “as there is no vacancy in the +representation of the city, the Corporation considered that an +insuperable bar to their countenancing a contest from any quarter +whatever, having had woful experience how destructive it is of +peace and good neighbourhood, which happily has prevailed among +all ranks of citizens for a long time.”</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span> 14—Both the +Worcester members, Mr. Wigley and Mr. Robarts, voted in a +minority of 22 to 80, to continue the restrictions on the use of +barley in distilleries.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span> 18—General +collection made throughout the city by the parish officers on +behalf of the Infirmary, instead of further illuminations on +account of the Peace.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span> 21—Considerable +festivities at Witley Court, on Lord Foley attaining his +majority. A very large sum distributed amongst the poor of +the neighbourhood.</p> +<h3>1802.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> confirmation of the Peace of +Amiens diffused universal joy, and the harvest of 1801 having +been tolerably abundant, much less pressure was experienced on +account of the price of bread. Three per Cents. stood at +about 70½. Wheat averaged 69s. 10d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span> 9—C. Thellusson, +Esq., M.P. for Evesham, distributed one hundred guineas amongst +the poor freemen of that borough.</p> +<p><a name="page223"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 223</span><span +class="smcap">January</span> 11—William Smith publicly +whipped in the corn market, Worcester, according to sentence of +sessions, for stealing a bag.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">February</span> 1—Lord Foley +appeared at the bar of the Court of Common Pleas, and suffered +recoveries of estates of considerable value. He took his +seat in the House of Lords on the 22nd April.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 16—The Worcester +Militia, under Colonel Newport, called together and +disembodied.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 5—A private in the 5th +Dragoons, immured in Worcester gaol for desertion, and daily +expecting exemplary punishment, received an account of the death +of a distant relation in Ireland, bequeathing him a property of +£4,000 per annum.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 1—General Thanksgiving +for the Peace. An address of congratulation was voted on +the occasion by the Corporation of Worcester, and forwarded to +the Earl of Coventry, as recorder of the city, for +presentation.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 9—The Hon. Mr. Ward +attained his majority, and the event was celebrated at Himley +with great rejoicings. A barrel of beer, called “Big +Ben,” containing 1,000 gallons, which had been brewed at +the birth of Mr. Ward, was tapped on the occasion.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 8—The Yeomanry assembled +on the <i>Sunday</i>, as requested, and received the thanks of +His Majesty and the Parliament. Each troop, henceforth, +reduced to forty rank and file.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 29—Lord Nelson, +accompanied by Sir William and Lady Hamilton, visited Worcester, +on their return from a tour through South Wales. He was met +on the road by a great number of people, who drew his carriage +into the city: visited the china manufactory; was received by the +Mayor and Corporation at the Town Hall; entertained at a +collation; and the Earl of Coventry, the recorder, presented him +with the freedom of the city in a china vase from Messrs. +Chamberlain’s manufactory. [The visit is recorded by +the mosaic of stones in front of the Guildhall.]</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 10—The price of +coals being raised, Lord Dudley and Ward directed that the poor +inhabitants of Worcester should be supplied from his pits at +nearly half the ordinary cost.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 27—H.R.H. the Duke +of Cambridge visited Worcester, his regiment being then quartered +in this county, and was presented with the freedom of the +city.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span> 10—The magistrates +of Worcester published a correct list of fairs, &c., because +the difference between the Old and New Styles being then thirteen +days instead of twelve, great uncertainty prevailed respecting +the days on which they actually took place, and people frequently +arrived “a day after the fair.”</p> +<p><a name="page224"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 224</span><span +class="smcap">Private Act passed this year</span>—For +enclosure of waste lands at Ripple.</p> +<h3>1803.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> hollow peace proved very +short-lived. Buonaparte being evidently bent on the +subjugation of the entire continent, and the British refusing to +evacuate Malta till they had satisfaction as to his designs, war +was again declared in May this year. The return to +hostilities seemed as much to please the nation at large as the +peace had done only the year before. On the threat of +invasion arose that unparalleled volunteer enthusiasm to which +many of the following memoranda have reference. Consols +fluctuated from 73 in January to 52 in October; average price, +about 60. Price of wheat, 58s. 10d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span> 10—A. Robarts, Esq., +M.P. for Worcester, “with his accustomed liberality,” +presented half a guinea to each of the poor freemen of the city +who chose to accept it, and the gift was “gratefully +received” by upwards of 500 persons—the total sum +distributed being 270 guineas.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span> 24—The new member, +Joseph Scott, Esq., entertained 500 of the freemen at a dinner, +and next day invited 123 of his more respectable friends to dine +at the Hoppole, in celebration of his election. One of the +toasts given was, “The pious and revered memory of the late +Mr. Alderman Mather.”</p> +<p><span class="smcap">February</span> 1—The Venerable +Bishop Hurd completed the select and valuable library at the +Episcopal Palace, Hartlebury, which he has since bequeathed as an +heir-loom to his successors in the see.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 18—The Worcestershire +Militia, under Colonel Newport, set out, by forced marches, for +Gosport, in consequence of the renewal of war with France.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 26—The Messrs. +Chamberlain sent, in pursuance to order, a superb set of +porcelain to court, for the use of His Majesty on the ensuing +birthday.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 6—The Droitwich Road +Bill received the royal assent, after a very severe opposition in +Parliament.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 22—Meeting of the hop +planters of Worcester and Hereford at the Talbot, Tything, +Worcester, the Hon. James S. Cocks in the chair, to petition that +the use of quassia may be prohibited.</p> +<p><a name="page225"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 225</span><span +class="smcap">August</span> 12—The enthusiastic citizens of +Worcester form themselves into a corps of “Loyal Worcester +Volunteers;” and similar corps were formed in every town +and many of the rural districts in the county. The +subscriptions for clothing and arms for the city corps amounted +to £2,500.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 19—The Worcester Loyal +Volunteers, amounting then to 722 men, met on Pitchcroft, and +elected the Hon. George Coventry their Lieutenant Colonel, and +Samuel Wall, jun., Esq., their Major.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 21—Lord Foley +formed a rifle corps of 100 men, to be added to the extraordinary +defences of the country “at the present crisis.”</p> +<p><span class="smcap">October</span> +9—(Sunday)—General muster and exercise of the Loyal +Volunteer Infantry on Pitchcroft. Almost all the drills +took place on the Sunday—the members of the corps being, +from business, unable to attend on any other day. Hon. +George Coventry commandant of this district.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span> 3—The ladies bought +up every particle of flannel that they could lay their hands on, +to make flannel dresses for the volunteers!</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span> 16—William Sturges, +Esq., of Acton Hall, Worcestershire, M.P. for Christchurch, +Hants, received permission to take the additional name of +Bourne. This gentleman gave name, in turn, to a very well +known act of Parliament.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Acts</span>—For continuing and +enlarging powers of acts for repair of road from Worcester to +Bromsgrove; for making horse towing path from Bewdley to Diglis; +for inclosure of lands at Little Comberton.</p> +<h3>1804.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Pitt</span>, having strengthened his +hands by the addition of Addington, now Viscount Sidmonth, and +his friends, returned to office; the war with Buonaparte was +carried on with fresh vigour, and the volunteers at home were +fired with an increase of patriotic ardour. The number of +men withdrawn from productive industry amounted already to at +least 400,000; and that remarkable rise in prices, which +continued throughout the war, now commenced. Consols +averaged 57. Bad harvest; wheat averaged 62s. 3d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">February</span> +12—(Sunday)—General inspection, on Pitchcroft, of the +Loyal Worcester Volunteers under Colonel Coventry, by Colonel <a +name="page226"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +226</span>Houston. The St. John’s, Bewdley, +Stourport, Kidderminster, Evesham and Pershore, and Elmley corps +also reviewed this week.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">March</span> 10—The towns of Bewdley +and Kidderminster alarmed very early by the beating of the +Volunteer drums, in consequence of a report that the French had +landed, 50,000 strong. The Volunteers immediately +assembled, shouldered their muskets, and set off towards +Worcester with immense alacrity and amid the enthusiastic cheers +of their wives and sweethearts. After marching some three +or four miles they were informed, that it was a false alarm, +intended merely by way of proof and exercise. So they +marched back again, in ire and chagrin.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 10—Colours, worked by +the young ladies of Evesham, were presented to the Evesham and +Pershore Volunteers by Mrs. Perrott.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 17—A similar +presentation was made to the Worcester Volunteers by Lady +Deerhurst. Colours afterwards consecrated in the +Cathedral.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 29—The ancient custom, of +the different companies walking in procession with the Mayor and +Corporation of Worcester to the Cathedral, revived.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 1—The Tenbury +Volunteers (Captain Edward Wheeler) received colours from Mrs. +Pytts of Kyre House.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 6—A meeting of the +trustees of the Upton roads to rebut the statement of +“certain interested innholders who, to serve their own +private ends, make a practice of falsely representing to their +customers that the road from Upton to Gloucester is so greatly +out of repair as to endanger the safety of travellers, and that +there are no proper accommodations for persons travelling in +carriages, either at Upton or Corse Lawn.”</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 17—The South +Worcester Volunteers presented with colours on Hanley Common by +Mrs. Lygon, who also presented the privates with a purse of 100 +guineas to drink the King’s health.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">November</span>—The Directors of the +Worcester House of Industry gave notice, that they intended to +obtain for all incorrigibly vicious females twelve months’ +hard labour in Bridewell; therefore they had better keep clear of +the united parishes and the workhouse beadles.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Act</span>—For continuing and +enlarging the powers of the Upton Turnpike Trustees.</p> +<h3>1805.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> discussion of the Catholic +claims was the principal domestic matter occupying the attention +of Parliament <a name="page227"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +227</span>and the public; while the death of Nelson, and +Trafalgar, filled all men’s hearts and mouths towards the +close of the year. The war was fast becoming popular; for +though the taxes were enormous, our taxable income, which in 1792 +appears not to have exceeded £130,000,000, had increased to +£220,000,000. A great proportion of the vast war +outlay was, in fact, but a circulation amongst ourselves. +Consols averaged 59; wheat averaged 89s. 9d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span> 4—The Vice Chancellor +and Mayor of Oxford issuing a notice, forbidding all stage +carriages to pass through that city between nine a.m. and four +p.m. on Sundays, the times of the carriers leaving Worcester on +the Friday were obliged to be altered. They afterwards set +out for London at five p.m. on Friday, reaching London on Tuesday +morning.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">February</span>—A dispute between +the physicians and surgeons of Worcester, the former (Dr. +Cameron, Dr. Wilson, and Dr. Barnett) declaring that they would +not meet the surgeons in consultation in any medical cases unless +the surgeons would refrain from acting as consulting +physicians. They defined the department of the surgeon to +be—any external or local disease unaccompanied by any +general affection of the system but what the local disease itself +produced and requiring manual assistance in its treatment. +Messrs. Yeomans, Rayment, Nash, Hill, Hebb, and Romney consented +to the physicians’ terms; Messrs. Cole, Sandford, and +Carden refused them.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">February</span> 25—The Hon. Mr. Ward +presented a petition to the House of Commons from the freeholders +and rackrenters of Worcestershire and Herefordshire, praying to +be allowed to employ five horses in narrow wheeled waggons.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">March</span> 29—The following +advertisement appeared in the <i>Worcester Herald</i> of this +date:</p> +<blockquote><p>“<span class="smcap">Cocking</span>: A main +of cocks will be fought at the house of Mr. John Lloyd, the sign +of the Pheasant, New Street, Worcester, between the gentlemen of +Worcestershire and the gentlemen of Gloucestershire, to show and +weigh thirty-one cocks on each side in the main, for four guineas +a battle and fifty guineas the odd battle; and twenty cocks on +each side in the byes, for two guineas a battle. To weigh +on Saturday the 18th of April, 1805, and fight on Monday, +Tuesday, and Wednesday, the following week, being Easter +week.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Feeders</span>: +GOSLING, Worcestershire. HAYNES, +Gloucestershire.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><a name="page228"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 228</span><span +class="smcap">May</span> 1—The Loyal Worcester Volunteers +inspected by General Bingham, and afterwards marched to +Gloucester, there to remain twenty-one days on permanent +duty.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 6—The Worcester Yeomanry +Cavalry, under the command of the Hon. Colonel Cocks, marched to +Hereford, there to remain on fifteen days’ permanent +duty.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 20—The Volunteers return +from Gloucester laden with honours and encomiums. The +officers of the regiment invited to a dinner at the Crown Inn by +the Mayor and Corporation.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">July</span> 22—The Young Roscius +performed in Worcester Theatre with the same success as +elsewhere. The exorbitant prices which the manager, in the +first instance, wished to charge for admission caused +considerable excitement and a sort of O. P. riot, and the manager +was obliged to yield.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 25—A boy, gathering +nuts in a wood at Crowle, accidentally removed a piece of turf, +and found beneath it a trap door and chimney. He called +several men to the spot, who immediately descended through the +door, and discovered a subterranean cave divided into several +apartments with much care and ingenuity. In one of the +rooms there was a quantity of cold meat, and in another a number +of skins with entrails, &c. It had evidently been the +retreat of sheepstealers and general thieves, though none +happened to be there at the moment of discovery.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span> 11—An address +presented to the King from the Corporation of Worcester, +congratulating him upon the glorious victory of Trafalgar, and +lamenting the death of Nelson. As much as £400 +collected in Worcester for the wounded marines, and the widows +and orphans of those who fell in the action.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Acts</span>—For building a +chapel of ease at Redditch; for enclosure of waste lands at +Rushock.</p> +<h3>1806.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">This</span> year Pitt and Fox both passed +from the scene. Pitt was only in the forty-seventh year of +his age; and though he had conducted the affairs of the kingdom +during a longer period, and with greater popularity, than perhaps +any other statesman in modern times, yet he may be said to have +died of chagrin at the defeat of all his favourite schemes. +Grenville and Fox succeeded him at the helm of affairs, and the +general <a name="page229"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +229</span>election which then took place furnished them with a +strong body of supporters in the House of Commons. The new +ministry were pacifically inclined, but found it impossible to +negociate with Buonaparte. A loan of twenty millions was +negociated to carry on the war, and the property tax increased +from 6¼ to 10 per cent. Consols stood at about 60; +wheat averaged 79s. 1d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">February</span> 19—A Malvern +carrier, returning to Worcester, drove his horse and cart over +the side of Powick bridge, at a place where the wall had fallen +down and the road broken in. He was carried a considerable +distance down the stream, but help came in time to save his +life. The dangerous state of the bridge was accounted for +by there being a dispute between the Earl of Coventry and the +parish of Powick, as to who was liable to the repairs. The +matter had been tried at Gloucester Assizes in 1802, and a +verdict given for the parish; nevertheless, his lordship had not +repaired it.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 7—A man stopped by +footpads on the road between Droitwich and Worcester (about two +miles from the former place), and robbed of all the money he had, +about 8s.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span>—The Worcester Lying-in +Charity established.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">July</span> 29—At the Summer +Assizes, Michael Crockett found guilty of a fraud at Bromsgrove, +was ordered to be pilloried in that town on the succeeding market +day, and afterwards to be imprisoned for two years.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 5—The Prince of +Wales and the Duke of Clarence visited Evesham and +Kidderminster.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local</span> (<span +class="smcap">Private</span>) <span +class="smcap">Acts</span>—For enclosure of lands in Wick +and St. Andrew, Pershore; ditto in Crowle.</p> +<h3>1807.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> abolition of the slave trade, +under the short Grenville ministry, must ever be remembered as +the feature of this year. Lord Howick having brought in a +bill for securing to all His Majesty’s subjects the +privilege of serving in the army or navy without regard to +religious opinions, the King’s “scruples” were +aroused, and he called a new administration, with the Duke of +Portland at its head, to his councils. They dissolved <a +name="page230"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 230</span>Parliament, +and the elections were attended with great excitement. By +means of the cry of “the Church in danger,” a +remarkable reaction was effected, and the ministry found +themselves commanding large majorities in the new House. +One of the first acts of the new ministry was one which marked by +how long an interval they were separated from the minister in +whose steps they professed to follow. At the request of our +merchants, whose ships were under various disadvantages from +which those of neutral states were free, they issued Orders in +Council that neutral vessels, <i>whithersoever bound</i>, should +put into some port connected with England, and there obtain a +license to continue their trade! A general suspension of +American navigation and trade consequently took place, and these +orders eventually led to the war with America in 1812. They +contributed also in various ways to the depreciation of our bank +paper, and their folly was thus terribly and speedily avenged +upon ourselves. Consols averaged 63; wheat averaged 75s. +4d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">February</span> 25—A woman, named +Mary Davies, publicly whipped at Kidderminster by order of the +magistrates, for embezzling a quantity of yarn.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 2—Captain Bund +appointed to the Colonelcy of the Worcestershire Militia, +<i>vice</i> Colonel Charlton, deceased.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 27—Mr. Robarts, member +for Worcester, offered to erect a steam engine for supplying the +city with water. The waterworks which have ever since been +made to serve for that purpose, were erected in consequence of +this generous offer.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 1—Sir Thomas Winnington +fell from his horse, near Bromyard, while accompanying Colonel +Foley to his canvass in Herefordshire, and broke his leg.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 23—A riot in Worcester +between the mob and the military in barracks there, and several +parties taken into custody. A recruit, for aiding and +abetting the populace, was sentenced to receive 500 lashes!</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 28—A meeting of the +Worcester glovers, with Mr. J. Knapp in the chair, to resist a +combination of the “grounders, stoners, and <a +name="page231"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 231</span>white +leather parers” to obtain an advance of wages. The +names of fifty-six firms were appended to the +resolutions—“John Dent and Son” standing +sixth.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 10—The North Worcester +Volunteers, commanded by Colonel Villiers, assembled in a field +near Bromsgrove, and were presented with a pair of colours by the +Right Hon. Lady Beauchamp.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 19—H.R.H. The Duke of +Gloucester visited Worcester, and proceeded to Witley +Court. Next day, accompanied by Lord and Lady Foley, the +Dean of Worcester, &c., he inspected the porcelain +manufactory of Messrs. Barr, Flight, and Barr, and ordered a +superb service.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 23—The Prince of +Wales, Duke of Sussex, and a large party of other nobility +visited the Marchioness of Downshire at Ombersley Court. +The Mayor and Justices of Worcester, with the Town Clerk and +several of the Council, waited on H.R.H. there, and presented an +address to him.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 25—The Prince of +Wales and a large party this day visited Worcester, were met by +the Recorder, Earl of Coventry, and partook of a collation at the +Town Hall. The streets were lined by the Worcester and +Birmingham Volunteers. A visit was paid, and orders given, +at both china manufactories. Messrs. Chamberlain and Co. +appointed porcelain manufacturers to H.R.H.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Acts</span>—For enclosure of +lands at Aldington and Broughton Hackett.</p> +<h3>1808.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Matters</span> at home remained quiet, and +much as in the preceding year, the public mind being taken up +with the expedition to Spain, discussing the battle of Vimiera, +and Convention of Cintra. Three per Cents. stood as high in +June as 70⅜, and averaged throughout the year +65½. This was the only year during this century in +which our exports of wheat exceeded our imports: average price, +81s. 4d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">March</span> 2—The mail from +Birmingham to Bristol took on two passengers only from Worcester, +a young lady named Capper and a little child. On getting to +Severn Stoke the horses became restive, and at Ripple altogether +ran away. The reins broke, and both coachman and guard got +down to stop the horses, but were unable <a +name="page232"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 232</span>to do so, +and the coach was soon out of their sight. The young lady, +while the vehicle was at its utmost speed, became so alarmed that +she threw herself out of the coach door, and her neck was broken +by the fall.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 26—The Mayor of Worcester +committed two journeymen bootmakers to prison for combining with +others against their master, Mr. J. Garner, to demand an increase +of wages. It was shown that industrious men could obtain at +that trade from 30s. to 50s. a week.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 24—A society formed in +Worcester for the prevention of vice—such as Sabbath +breaking, &c.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">July</span> 6—The Rev. Rowland Hill +preached in the Countess of Huntingdon’s Chapel, Worcester, +this (Wednesday) evening.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">July</span> 28—The Prince of Wales +and Duke of Sussex again visited Ombersley Court.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">October</span> 21—A new +double-bodied post coach advertised to run from Worcester to +London three days a week, starting from Worcester at twelve at +noon and arriving in London at eight next morning.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span> 6—Lieutenant Carden, +of the Worcester militia, on his return from Ombersley was +stopped close to the Barbourne turnpike by three recruits, and +forced to deliver up his gold watch and money. They +afterwards beat a girl, and attempted to rob the Bewdley post +boy; but Mr. Carden having raised an alarm as soon as he got into +the town, a number of people started after them, and two out of +the three were apprehended the same night.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Acts</span>—To amend and +enlarge the acts relating to the Worcester and Birmingham Canal +Navigation; for enclosure of lands at Bredon.</p> +<h3>1809.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Parliament</span> was principally occupied +with the inquiry which led to the Duke of York’s +resignation of the commandership of the army. Money was so +plentiful that a loan of eleven millions was raised at a lower +rate of interest than the public creditor had ever before +consented to receive. Consols stood at 68; harvest +indifferent; wheat averaged 97s. 4d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span>—The first steps taken +to establish a Lancastrian school in Worcester. Up to this +time there had been no day school at which it was possible for +the children of the poor to obtain an education. Sunday +schools had only been established a few years—<a +name="page233"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 233</span>that at +Angel Street Chapel (Independent), opened in 1797, being the +first. In April, Mr. Lancaster lectured on education, at +the Hoppole Inn; and a meeting was held at the Unicorn, John +Williams, Esq., in the chair, at which resolutions were come to +to open a Lancastrian school immediately—all religious +parties uniting in its support on the common basis of the +scriptures; the Apostles’ Creed and Dr. Watts’s hymns +being taught to all the children, and the Church Catechism to +those only whose parents requested it.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 26—A fire broke out, +about eleven p.m., in the china manufactory of Messrs. Grainger, +Wood, and Co., Lowesmoor, Worcester, which in the course of two +hours reduced the whole premises to ruins. The property was +insured, but not by any means to its full amount.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 5—In the <i>Worcester +Herald</i> of this date the Rev. Thomas Foley, rector of +Oldswinford, published, as an advertisement, a long vindication +of Joanna Southcote. The charge of her having sold her +“seals” for half-a-crown a piece he declared to be +“an infamous falsehood;” as she gave them away +without money and without price “to all that had faith to +believe in her inspired writings.” He concluded by +giving a summary of her doctrines in most enthusiastic +language.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 31—The toll on foot +passengers passing over Worcester bridge discontinued, as the +flourishing state of the receipts had reduced the debt to +£5,000. The first stone of the present bridge was +laid in 1771, and it was opened to the public in 1781. The +bridge and quays cost £29,843.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 22—A young woman, named +Harris, most inhumanly murdered at Honeyborne, near +Evesham. She was called up from bed, and, on opening the +door, was attacked by some person with a pitchfork, and at last +dragged to a horsepond and drowned in it. Suspicion fell on +a young man by whom she was pregnant, but the coroner’s +jury returned a verdict of “Wilful murder against some +person or persons unknown.” The murderer was never +discovered.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">October</span> 25—The celebration of +the National Jubilee—fiftieth year of His Majesty’s +reign. At Worcester a subscription was raised for the +relief of the poor instead of illuminations. Dinner at the +Guildhall—Earl of Coventry in the chair—and 252 +guests were present; and a ball at the College Hall. A +great number of benefactions throughout the county from the rich +to their poorer brethren. Meetings in all the towns of the +county to present addresses to the King. The debtors in the +County Gaol were <a name="page234"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +234</span>released by subscriptions, and with the aid of the High +Sheriff and Lord Somers.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">November</span> 13—Thomas Freeman, +glove manufacturer, fined £50 by the magistrates of +Worcester, for having in his possession four oil leather skins +and eleven pairs of gloves, which had been purloined from other +masters’ warehouses, and of which he could not give a +satisfactory account. A moiety of the penalty given to the +Infirmary (a public charity), in compliance with the terms of the +act of Parliament.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Acts</span>—To amend the road +from Teddington to the turnpike road between Evesham and +Pershore; for enclosure of lands at Iccomb.</p> +<h3>1810.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Considerable</span> commercial +embarrassment was experienced this year; not, however, arising +from the unprecedented situation in which England found herself +placed—in having almost single handed to oppose the growing +power of Buonaparte—but from speculative trading in the +markets of South America. The depreciation of bank paper +procured the appointment of a bullion committee. The early +part of the year was occupied with the affair of Sir Francis +Burdett; and the latter with the appointment of the Prince of +Wales as Regent, in consequence of the increasing incompetence of +the King to attend to business. Consols stood at 68. +The imports of wheat this year amounted to 1,491,300 quarters; +average price, 106s. 5d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">March</span> 10—At the Lent Assizes, +Francis Morris—for stealing a quantity of unwinnowed +barley, the property of Mr. G. Thomas of Hanbury—was +sentenced to be publicly whipped for the space of 100 yards on +the next market day at Worcester.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">March</span> 21—R. Ellins, post boy, +carrying the bag from Bewdley to Stourbridge, was detected +opening the bag and stealing out of it two letters containing +upwards of £3,000 in bank notes.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 6—The Mansion House at +Glasshampton, Astley, the residence of the Rev. J. J. Denham +Cookes, burnt to the ground.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> +3—(Sunday)—Dreadful fire in Kidderminster, consuming +three dwelling houses, a large carpet manufactory, barns, +stables, <a name="page235"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +235</span>waggons, carts, implements, timber, &c. +Believed to have been the act of incendiaries.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 11—A Sir Francis Burdett +riot at Kidderminster. Two persons were brought prisoners +to the County Gaol for being concerned in it, and the mob in +Worcester attempted their rescue, and broke to pieces the +carriage in which they were being conveyed. They also broke +the windows of several obnoxious persons; but the magistrates, +with the help of the Yeomanry and Militia then on duty in the +city, very speedily repressed the tumult.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">July</span> 6—The Boys’ +Subscription Free School opened in Worcester.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">July</span> 28—Advertisements in +this day’s <i>Worcester Herald</i> of a project to open a +“Bristol and Severn Canal,” in which the merchants of +Worcester were conceived to be much interested, and therefore +invited to take shares. And another of twelve acres of +growing flax to be sold by private contract.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Acts</span>—For enclosure of +waste lands at Holt, Sedgeberrow, Pensham, Bonehill, Tibberton, +and Eckington.</p> +<h3>1811.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Our</span> military operations on the +continent, and the large amount of specie sent abroad in the +previous year for the purchase of corn, continued and increased +the depreciation in the value of bank paper; and upon Lord King +giving notice to his tenants that he should require his rents +paid in guineas—or, if in notes, at an increase of +£17. 10s. per cent. upon their nominal value—a bill +was hastily passed which made it illegal to give more money for +gold coin than was authorised by the mint, or to take Bank of +England notes for less than their ostensible value! The +other Parliamentary event of the year was the signal defeat of +Lord Sidmouth’s attempt to abrogate the Toleration Act, by +requiring that Dissenting ministers should find six householders +to answer for their respectability, before a license could be +granted to them to preach. Consols stood at 64; wheat +averaged 95s. 3d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 27—A prisoner, named +Elizabeth Townshend, made her escape from the County Gaol, having +worked a hole in the wall.</p> +<p><a name="page236"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 236</span><span +class="smcap">May</span> 9—Mr. Barr of Worcester, and three +gentlemen from Burslem, had an interview with the Chancellor of +the Exchequer to represent to him the impolicy of imposing a +pottery tax as he proposed. The minister appeared to be +convinced, and no more was heard of it.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 31—Lucien Buonaparte came +to reside at Thorngrove House.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 12—The Mayor and +Corporation of Worcester dined at Croome. A most sumptuous +entertainment was provided for them.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">November</span> 3—The Worcester +Association for the Severn Fisheries established a fish market in +Worcester—none having before existed. They took very +active steps in preserving the river from illegal and injurious +fishing, and a great number of condemned nets and wheels were +publicly burnt in the Corn Market.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">November</span> 8—The Directors of +the Worcester House of Industry issued a considerable number of +copper tokens, which were much in demand on account of the great +want of small change in the country. The exchange was +immediately vested in the funds, and the interest applied to the +assistance of the poor rates. A meeting of tradesmen was +afterwards held (Mr. W. Beeken in the chair) at which resolutions +were unanimously passed to resist the introduction of any other +copper tokens into the trade of the city excepting those issued +by Government and the Worcester House of Industry. They +asserted that there was a sufficiency of copper coinage in the +country. A counter meeting of manufacturers was held at the +Star and Garter immediately afterwards, asserting that the +business of the city could not be carried on without more change, +and they, therefore, determined to continue the issue of their +own penny and halfpenny tokens, which they declared to be equal +in weight to the legal coin of the realm, and that they always +paid twenty shillings in the pound for them.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Acts</span>—For enclosure of +lands at Astley, Overbury, North, Middle, and South Littleton, +and Churchill.</p> +<h3>1812.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Percival’s</span> ministry was +continuing to increase in power and in popularity, principally on +account of the warm support which they had given to the Spanish +cause, when Mr. Percival himself was suddenly assassinated in the +lobby of the House of Commons, by Bellingham. After the +Prince Regent, by the Earl of Moira and Lord Wellesley, had +unsuccessfully, and to all appearance insincerely, negociated for +the formation <a name="page237"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +237</span>of a new ministry, in which Lords Grey and Grenville +should have a part, the Earl of Liverpool was appointed First +Lord of the Treasury, and the rest of the old ministry remained +as before. The Regent henceforth forsook the Whig friends +of his youth, and became a good Tory. The orders in council +respecting navigation, which had been so obnoxious to the +Americans were repealed under Lord Liverpool. A motion, +pledging Parliament to an early consideration of the Catholic +claims, was carried in the Commons by 300 to 215, but defeated in +the Lords by 174 to 103. The Parliament, having nearly run +out its term, was dissolved in October; but the elections did not +produce much excitement, or change in the position of +parties. Considerable disturbances took place in the +manufacturing districts, on the introduction of new +machinery. The Three per Cents. did not average 60 +throughout the year; wheat averaged 126s. 6d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span> 19—The coming of age +of T. C. Hornyold, Esq., celebrated at Blackmore Park, by a +series of splendid dinners, balls, and other entertainments.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">March</span> 27—An anonymous letter +having been sent to Sir William Smith, Bart., one of the +commissioners of taxes for the hundred of Doddington, threatening +him with vengeance if he confirmed surcharges, a reward of +£100 was offered in the <i>Gazette</i> for the discovery of +the writer.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 26—The Worcester Church +of England School, conducted on Dr. Bell’s principles, +first opened in Frog Lane.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span>—Wheat again risen to +18s. and 20s. per bushel, and the price of potatoes also +exorbitant, so that the poor had the greatest difficulty in +procuring the necessaries of life—in some places there had +been riots. In Kidderminster £500 was raised by +subscription to purchase potatoes and sell them to the poor at a +reduced price.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 7—The coachman of M. +Lucien Buonaparate, now staying at Thorngrove, stabbed by a +fellow servant named Luigi Vespasiani, in the heat of a dispute +on some trifling subject. The coachman for a long while +remained in a very dangerous state.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 24—A <i>fête</i> +on the occasion of the opening of the Severn Horse Towing Path +from Worcester bridge to the Lower Parting.</p> +<p><a name="page238"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 238</span><span +class="smcap">October</span>—The Hon. Lieutenant Colonel +Cocks, eldest son of Lord Somers, fell at the siege of the Castle +of Burgos—Peninsular War. An address of condolence +was sent to Lord Somers from the Mayor, magistrates, and citizens +of Worcester. Lieutenant Cocks had been frequently noticed +in the Marquis of Wellington’s despatches in a most +gratifying manner.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Acts</span>—For enclosure of +lands at Holdfast (Ripple), Shipston-on-Stour, and Badsey.</p> +<h3>1813.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> estimates for the year amounted +to seventy millions, and to meet this great demand the sinking +fund was trenched upon, for it was found impossible to raise new +taxes, though the rise of prices and the extended circulation of +bank notes had, hitherto, enabled the country to meet the +extraordinary demands upon it without difficulty. Mr. +Vansittart, in his financial statement this year, said he thought +the sinking fund had reached a point beyond which its operations +ought not to go; it would be very prejudicial to pay off too much +of the National Debt at once! The war which had now broken +out with America was of course very injurious to our +commerce. A bill for the relief of the Catholics was +brought in this year by Mr. Grattan, and its general principle +affirmed by a considerable majority, but an amendment, excluding +Catholics from a seat in Parliament, being carried, by a majority +of four, the bill was abandoned. Three per Cents. stood at +59; wheat averaged 109s. 9d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span> 1—A novel species of +amusement took place in the Hundred House meadow, Witley. +Five wild rabbits were singly turned off at an assigned distance +before a dog fox, trained for the purpose by Mr. Charles Tearne +of Stockton; and after an excellent course of about 400 yards, +were severally killed by Reynard in capital style. A large +concourse of people were assembled to witness this singular +sport.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span> 2—The clergy of the +diocese met in the audit room, and agreed to a petition against +the Catholic claims. This was the occasion <a +name="page239"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 239</span>of a series +of letters between Mr. T. Hornyold, who accused the clergy of +illiberality, and the Rev. J. J. Denham Cookes. Mr. +Hornyold distinctly disclaimed the temporal authority of the +Pope.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span> 8—The Worcester +Corporation voted the sum of 100 guineas for the relief of the +Russians in their contest with the French, and a general +subscription list was opened at the banks. At the same +meeting it was unanimously resolved to instruct the +representatives of the city to oppose the Catholic claims.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 23—An auxiliary to the +Bible Society formed for the city and county of Worcester. +Several attempts had been made to effect this before, but it was +said that it would be in opposition to the Christian Knowledge +Society; and other obstacles were thrown in the way. Only +four or five clergymen of the Church of England were present at +the first meeting. It was, however, very warmly taken up in +the first instance by the resident gentry, the Earl of Coventry +accepting the presidency; and Lord Deerhurst took the chair at +the preliminary meeting, held in the Guildhall, at which the High +Sheriff of the county and the Mayor of the city were also +present, and took part. The Rev. Mr. Burns, Rev. Mr. +Steinkopff, and Rev. Mr. Hughes were the deputation from the +Parent Society.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 8—The fine Wesleyan +chapel in Pump Street, Worcester, opened, with sermons by Dr. +Adam Clarke. The collections amounted to £412.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">October</span> 12—A meeting of +freeholders at the White Lion, Upton-upon-Severn, with Lord +Somers in the chair, to deliberate on the propriety of inclosing +Malvern Chace. The meeting agreed to a petition in favour +of such a scheme.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Acts</span>—For paving, +cleansing, lighting, and watching the town of Kidderminster; for +effecting an exchange of lands belonging to the Bishopric and the +Dean and Chapter of Worcester; for enclosing lands at North +Piddle, Salwarp, and Flyford Flavell.</p> +<h3>1814.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Peace</span> was at last announced, and +its advent was hailed with the utmost enthusiasm by the whole +nation, who expected that it would bring with it unnumbered +blessings; but its immediate effects seemed to be only +disastrous. The reduction of our military forces threw +great numbers of men into the labour market, and <a +name="page240"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 240</span>wages were +reduced. While the renewed freedom of navigation brought +abundance of all kinds of raw produce to our ports, it did not +bring any corresponding increase of our foreign trade and exports +to reimburse us, for British merchants had pushed their +speculative supplies to the continent, beyond prudential limits, +in spite of the Berlin and Milan decrees. For instance, tea +and other goods had been sent to Germany, from the port of +Salonichi, in Greece, whence they were carried two thousand miles +on the backs of mules. The war too had impoverished our +customers. Three per Cents. fluctuated in April from 72 to +62, and averaged throughout the year 67. The harvest this +year was abundant, and corn fell to 74s. 4d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span> 19—A subscription set +on foot for the relief of the poor of Worcester. About +£700 raised and distributed in coals.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 10—The populace burned +an effigy of Buonaparte on occasion of the Allies entering +Paris. Great rejoicings in other towns of the county. +On the 7th and 8th of June there was a general illumination at +Worcester on account of the proclamation of Peace. +Rejoicings at the various county towns, and at many +gentlemen’s seats—particularly at Stanford.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 6—The Grand Duchess of +Oldenburgh, sister to the Emperor of Russia, visited Worcester +with her suite. Inspected Messrs. Flight, Barr, and +Barr’s royal porcelain manufactory, and Mr. John +Knapp’s glove manufactory.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 17—The first steam +boat made its appearance below Gloucester, intended for the +conveyance of passengers and light goods between Gloucester and +Worcester. It made the return voyage to Gloucester in four +hours and a half.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 5—Prince Frederick +of Orange visited Worcester.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 18—Mr. Kean +performed at Worcester Theatre this (Saturday) evening as +<i>Richard III</i>, and on the following Monday morning as +<i>Hamlet</i>.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span> 26—A splendid silver +vase, valued at two hundred guineas, and the freedom of the city +presented to Colonel Henry Walton Ellis, of the 23rd Fusiliers, a +native of Worcester, who had most honourably distinguished +himself in Holland, Egypt, <a name="page241"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 241</span>America, the West Indies, and the +Peninsular War. The Earl of Coventry was the +presentee. Colonel Ellis fell in the following June at +Waterloo.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Acts</span>—For enclosing +lands at Bayton, Ombersley, Inkberrow, Abberley, Norton, and +Strensham; for vesting in Lord Somers the right of presentation +to the perpetual curacy of Stoulton; for taking down Ombersley +Church, erecting a new one, enlarging the churchyard, and +building a workhouse at Ombersley.</p> +<h3>1815.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> enactment of a new and more +stringent Corn Law was the most important proceeding of our +Parliament this year. In the early years of our commercial +history, prohibitions were laid upon the exportation of corn, but +these were gradually relaxed, and in 1688 a bounty of 5s. per +quarter was offered, on exportation, till the home price had +reached 48s., while a duty of 6s. to 8s. per quarter was levied +on imported wheat, while the price ranged between 53s. 4d. and +80s. a quarter. In 1766, on the apprehension of scarcity, +this was entirely reversed, exportation was prohibited, and +importation was free. In 1774 a duty of 6d. a quarter was +levied on all imports of wheat, which were not permitted till the +price had reached 48s. in the home market. In 1791 this +duty was raised to 2s. 6d. a quarter, and in 1804 the importation +price was fixed at 63s. a quarter, instead of 48s. Such is +a brief history of English Corn Laws down to this period. +In the session 1812–13, when prices were beginning to +decline, a committee was appointed to inquire into the working of +the Corn Laws, and though their report was very meagre in +information, it yet created great alarm throughout the country, +and meetings were everywhere held to petition against any +alteration of the existing law, which might prevent the people +enjoying that which they had looked forward to as one of the <a +name="page242"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 242</span>greatest +blessings of peace—cheap bread. In May, 1814, Sir +Henry Parnell succeeded in carrying a resolution permitting the +free exportation of corn, be the price what it might; and it was +intended to have fixed an import duty of 24s. 3d. upon wheat +until it rose to 63s., and a sliding scale from that price to +86s.; but the opposition it evoked in the country was so strong +that the project was abandoned. The House of Commons +resumed the discussion of the Corn Laws on February 22, 1815, and +after two evenings’ debate it was resolved, by a majority +of 209 to 65, that wheat should not be imported till the price +was 80s. a quarter. Immediately the country was in arms; on +the very next day a petition was presented from the Corporation +and liverymen of London, which had received 40,000 signatures in +ten hours, praying that no alteration might take place. On +the 3rd of March Mr. Vansittart moved the second reading of the +Corn Bill; and an attempt to delay it till the following week, to +allow time for the country to petition, was rejected by a +majority of 171. On the 6th of March the House went into +committee, but that evening the populace of the metropolis had +surrounded the House, and insisted on stopping every member, and +sought to make them pledge themselves to vote against the +obnoxious measure; a Mr. Croker was in particular very +ill-treated, and the Speaker sent for a detachment of the Life +Guards, who continued to surround the House for the rest of the +evening. A very high debate upon this matter took place in +the House itself, but nothing availed to stay the progress of the +measure, and it was carried through committee that evening by +majorities varying from 120 to 180. The Bill was read a +third time, and passed on the 16th of March. It was carried +rapidly through the Lords by large majorities, and on the 23rd it +received the royal assent. The principal opponents <a +name="page243"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 243</span>of the +measure were Mr. Baring, Mr. Phillips, Sir R. Peel, Mr. +Protheroe, &c. It did not however answer the purpose of +keeping up prices, for they gradually sank lower and lower till +they were considerably below 60s. per quarter, and farmers, +holding their lands on lease, constantly appeared in the +<i>Gazette</i>. The average price of wheat this year was +65s. 7d.; and Consols stood at 60. For an account of the +meetings held, and the steps taken, in this county to protest +against the enactment of the Corn Laws, see ante, pp. 61, 63.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span> 19—Lord Somers +addressed the lords of manors and proprietors of freeholds on +Malvern Chace, announcing his intention of giving up all further +attempts to bring about an enclosure of the same. He found +it impossible to reconcile so many conflicting interests.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span> 26—Mr. Charles +Matthews gave his celebrated entertainment, called “Mail +Coach Adventures,” at Worcester Theatre.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 18—On the glorious field +of Waterloo, Lieutenant Colonel Lygon commanded the Life +Guards. Lord Sandys, then Lord Arthur Hill, was an A.D.C. +to the Duke of Wellington.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span> 4—The Worcester and +Birmingham Canal opened. The first act for the cutting of +this canal was passed on the 9th June, 1791. From the +Severn to Tardebigg (15 miles) there is a rise of 428 feet, with +71 locks. From Tardebigg to the Birmingham Canal (14 miles) +is level. At West Heath it passes through a tunnel 2,700 +yards long. In the first and subsequent acts power was +taken to raise no less a sum than £657,500; the original +number of proprietors being only 1,800. It has throughout +been an unfortunate concern; for the first act is filled with +guarantees to other canals and opposing interests, which have +hung like a millstone round the necks of the proprietors. +From Tardebigg to Birmingham the canal is of greater capacity +than in the part nearer the Severn. The company is now, +however, about to be absorbed into the Old Birmingham Canal +Company, and matters will, probably, henceforth wear a different +aspect.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span>—The celebrated +Elliston opened Worcester Theatre for one season. There +being amongst his company the Misses Brunton, Mr. and Mrs. +Keeley, &c.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Acts</span>—For taking down +and rebuilding the parish church of St. Thomas, Dudley; for +enabling the Worcester and Birmingham Canal Company to complete +and extend their works.</p> +<h3><a name="page244"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +244</span>1816.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">This</span> was a truly gloomy year. +Agriculturists, manufacturers, and tradespeople all alike +experienced the depression resulting from the sudden change from +war to peace; and it was felt the more, as it was so totally +unexpected. The harvest was exceedingly unproductive, and +the farmers got no relief by the high prices which corn +fetched—for the quality of home-grown corn was poor in the +extreme. The sudden reduction of paper money in circulation +had much to do with this untoward state of things; the +understanding that the Bank was to return to cash payments +immediately, had compelled them to reduce the quantity of notes +in circulation, and the metallic currency had either been bought +up privately and converted into bullion, or sent abroad. +The ministry proposed to continue the property and income tax, +but such was the feeling of the country against it, on the score +of its being only a war tax, that it was rejected by a majority +of 238 to 201, and the ministers were obliged to borrow to make +up the year’s deficit. Three per Cents. averaged 61; +wheat averaged 78s. 6d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span> 22—Henry Wakeman, +Esq., of Perdiswell, at his audit for Claines, made a reduction +in his tithes of £20 per cent., an example which was pretty +generally imitated by the large titheowners throughout the +county. The reason alleged was “the great declension +in value of all farming produce.” Wheat now selling +at 6s. a bushel in Worcester market.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span> 29—A Worcestershire +Agricultural Society established, at a meeting held at the +Hoppole; Lord Viscount Elmley in the chair. Lord Foley, Sir +Thomas Winnington, Sir William Smith, &c., were among its +first supporters. Its first exhibition of stock took place +in June, when £40 was distributed in prizes (which were all +carried off by five persons); but, after languishing for a year +or two, it was given up for want of support.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span>—The Messrs. Chamberlain +ordered to attend at Warwick <a name="page245"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 245</span>House, with specimens of porcelain +for the Princess Charlotte, who gave them a large order in +anticipation of her approaching marriage. Messrs. Flight, +Barr, and Barr were afterwards honoured with an order.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 12—Miss Foote +performed in <i>The Honeymoon</i> at Worcester Theatre.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">November</span> 18—A subscription +entered into for the relief of the poor of Worcester. The +gross amount collected was £1,900, the greater part of +which was distributed in coals. The apparatus for making +soup by steam first set up in the Bull Entry.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span> 20—A dinner given at +the Lion Inn, Kidderminster, to the Right Hon. Earl Beauchamp, in +acknowledgment of the undeviating attention which his lordship +had uniformly paid to the interests of that town while he had +been the representative of the county.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Acts</span>—For better +repairing the roads leading into and from the city of Worcester; +for enlarging the powers of the acts for repairing the roads from +Bromsgrove to Dudley; for enclosing lands at Rock, Feckenham, and +Minith Wood.</p> +<h3>1817.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> distress which still continued +in the early part of this year occasioned many tumultuous +meetings in different parts of the country, and loud outcries for +Parliamentary Reform. The ministry, taking advantage of +some of the excesses of the populace, obtained the suspension of +the Habeas Corpus Act, and the passing of an act for repressing +“seditious meetings.” Sir Francis +Burdett’s motion for a committee to inquire into the state +of the representation, was negatived by 205 to 77. Three +per Cents. averaged 74; wheat averaged 96s. 11d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">February</span> 26—Lord Deerhurst +presented the Worcester petition for Parliamentary Reform and +Retrenchment, which had been signed by 3,000 freemen and +inhabitants. He gave it a modified support in a maiden +speech of considerable length.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">March</span> 25—A second +subscription commenced for the relief of the Worcester +poor—the £1,900 subscribed in the previous November +having been all spent in coal, soup, and bread; 1,500 penny +loaves and 1,500 quarts of soup were given away daily, and 1,300 +tons of <a name="page246"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +246</span>coal distributed. The second subscription +realised about £300; and when the committee, at the end of +April, announced that they must discontinue giving bread with the +soup, Miss Stillingfleet of College Green requested that it might +be furnished at her expense, which was done for some time, at a +total cost to that lady of £150.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 18—A person exposing +elvers for sale fined in the mitigated penalty of 10s., at the +instance of the Worcester Fisheries Association.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 24—The Hon. W. H. +Lyttelton presented a petition to the House of Commons from the +parish of Oldswinford, complaining of the pressure of the poor +rates. The rate there assessed on houses amounted to 29s. +in the pound; on the rent of land employed in farming, to 32s.; +and on several other kinds of land, to 61s. in the pound! +The population was 4,381, of whom 1,868 received parish relief, +and only 158 persons were able to contribute to the rates.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 8—An elegant silver cup +presented to Robert Felton, Esq., at a dinner at the Star and +Garter, on his leaving the neighbourhood, “In testimony of +the admiration of the donors of his ardent devotion to the public +welfare, and of their esteem for the disinterested friendship and +generous zeal which distinguished his social +character.”</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 5—Viscount Sidmouth +visited Worcester, and was presented with the freedom of the +city.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">November</span> 19—The whole of the +shops closed in Worcester during the time appointed for the +funeral of the Princess Charlotte. The Mayor and +Corporation attended divine service at the Cathedral, where a +pathetic discourse was delivered by the Rev. Dr. Forester, one of +the Prebendaries, from <i>Luke</i> viii, 52—“She is +not dead, but sleepeth.”</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Acts</span>—For amending the +act of last session as to repairing the Worcester roads; for +enclosing lands at Cofton Hackett.</p> +<h3>1818.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Trade</span> began to revive and +agriculturists again to be hopeful—principally as the +result of the favourable exchanges bringing us large quantities +of the precious metals from the continent, which gave ease to the +banks and encouraged the liberal use of money in various +undertakings. Thus employment became abundant, and the +working classes were contented. The gradual disappearance +of the precious metals for several years past <a +name="page247"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 247</span>had been a +source of much disquietude to our statesmen, and was no doubt one +cause of the great fall in prices which took place on the advent +of peace; but it must principally be attributed to the absence of +that demand by Government for men and money which, during the +war, was so great. Consols averaged 79; wheat averaged 86s. +3d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span>—The Worcester Fire +Office dissolved in favour of the Phœnix Fire Office.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span>—The price of hops at +this time averaged from £26 to £31 per cwt.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">March</span> 29—At the County +Quarter Sessions, Earl Beauchamp, the chairman, severely lectured +the farmers, through the grand jury, on paying their labourers +such miserably low wages—as breaking down all independence +of spirit, and necessarily tending to the increase of crime.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 7—The <span +class="smcap">Worcester Gas Company</span> formed at a meeting +held at the Guildhall, William Wall, Esq., in the chair. +The share list, subscribing £12,000, was filled up in a few +hours, and the shares—on the deposit of 20s.—were, in +two days, at 50s. premium.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 14—The <span +class="smcap">Worcester Savings Bank</span> established at a +meeting held at the Guildhall, with Earl Beauchamp in the +chair. It was opened in June, at a temporary office in +Foregate Street, and £745 were paid in, in small sums, the +first day. It has ever since continued to be a flourishing +and most useful institution.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span>—Six men charged before +the magistrates of Worcester with garden robbing, were ordered to +be publicly whipped in the several parishes where the offences +were committed.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 31—The <span +class="smcap">Worcester Society of Arts</span> exhibited their +pictures—the first exhibition of the kind in +Worcester—at the Town Hall. The paintings principally +consisted of landscapes by Thornycroft, Smith, Doe, and Young; +animals by Pitman; some Scripture subjects by Bacon; portraits by +Millichap; and several contributions by amateurs.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 2—Twenty-seven +illegal fishing nets and three large wheels, found in use at a +mill near Worcester, were seized by order of the Worcester Severn +Association committee, and publicly burnt in the Corn Market.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 7—The Grand Duke +Michael, brother to the Emperor <a name="page248"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 248</span>of Russia, visited Worcester, for +the purpose of inspecting porcelain manufactories, and ordered a +large service of Messrs. Chamberlain.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 25—Eight men killed +by an explosion of fire-damp in the Buffery Colliery, Dudley.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">October</span> 19—A bull baited on +Pitchcroft. The poor animal was most barbarously mangled, +and, after the “sport,” was driven through the +principal streets to the slaughter house, writhing in +torture.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Acts</span>—For lighting +Worcester and Kidderminster with gas; for enclosing lands at +Great Comberton.</p> +<h3>1819.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> hopes of a speedy return to +prosperity which the previous year had excited were again +overcast, and all classes were feeling the pinchings of +distress. This renewed again the outcries for Parliamentary +Reform; and the people, exasperated by the stringent measures of +the ministry, began to exhibit some alarming symptoms of +discontent. The crowning scene was the meeting at +Manchester, and the “Peterloo Massacre,” which formed +an exciting topic for Parliament. Lord John Russell made +his first motion for Parliamentary Reform, which only amounted to +the disfranchisement of a few of the rotten boroughs, and a +transfer of their franchise to the large towns; and it was +withdrawn on the ministry promising to disfranchise Grampound, +where Sir M. M. Lopez, member for Evesham in May, 1807, had +bribed voters at £35 apiece. But by far the most +important measure of the year was the Cash Payments Bill, which +is generally known as “Peel’s Bill,” but is +rather to be ascribed to Mr. Huskisson and Mr. Ricardo. +This provided for a gradual return to cash payments, and the +withdrawal of all bank notes under £5. The result of +this measure, in contracting the circulation of the country, and +in depressing prices, was far greater than had been +anticipated. In anticipation only of such a measure, the +circulation of the Bank of England had <a +name="page249"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 249</span>been +reduced, since 1815, by two millions; and since 1814, two hundred +out of seven hundred country banks had entirely +disappeared. Three per Cents. averaged 71; wheat averaged +74s. 6d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span>—The <span +class="smcap">Worcester Humane Society</span>, which had been +first of all established in 1786, but suffered to die out, +revived, under the auspices of Lord Beauchamp.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">February</span> 26—Meeting at +Stourport, the Rev. Reginald Pyndar in the chair, to protest +against any duty or tax being imposed upon coals at the +pit’s mouth.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">March</span> 3—A silver cup, value +100 guineas, transmitted to Sir William Duff Gordon, by those of +his former constituents who had been his supporters.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 3—Two parcels, from the +bankers of Worcester to the bank of Sir William Curtis and Co., +being incautiously left for a few minutes, by the guard of the +old Fly coach, in the bar of the Bull and Mouth, Aldersgate, were +stolen. They contained about £4,000 in unnegociable +bills of exchange, and about a like amount in provincial and Bank +of England notes.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 10—The wife of Joseph +Richardson, a day labourer, living at Cooksey, near Bromsgrove, +and in receipt of 10s. a week wages, was delivered of four +children at a birth, all of whom lived and throve heartily. +Being deserving people they were subsidised by many of the +neighbouring gentry, and the four children proved a pretty stroke +of fortune to them. A ball was given on behalf of the four +younglings at the Talbot Inn, Stourbridge; and they were all +christened at Upton Warren Church, having sixteen godfathers and +godmothers.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 30—Petitions presented +from various towns in Worcestershire against a proposed New +Settlement Act, which would have given a settlement to a pauper +by three years’ residence only.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 4—The Hon W. H. Lyttelton +moved a resolution, in the House of Commons, for the abolition of +lotteries; but the Chancellor of the Exchequer thought them very +good things, and the Government could not spare the £30,000 +of revenue which they annually produced. The motion was +negatived by 133 to 84.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 9—An association formed, +at a meeting at the Crown Inn, called “The Worcestershire +Association for the Protection of Agriculture.” +Agriculture, the promoters said, ought to be the predominant +interest in the state, and they conceived that, from <a +name="page250"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 250</span>a want of +union, they had suffered many important privileges to be wrested +from them.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span>—T. C. Hornyold, Esq., and +F. L. Charlton, Esq., endeavoured to reëstablish a pack of +fox hounds in this county, but failed.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 5—The first +anniversary dinner of the Worcestershire Medical and Surgical +Society, held in Worcester. Dr. Hastings, president; Mr. J. +P. Sheppard, vice president; Mr. C. H. Hebb, secretary. The +Provincial Medical and Surgical Association may be said to have +had its origin with this society.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 9—The city of +Worcester first lighted with gas.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 23—The freemen of +Evesham entertained their representative, Sir Charles Cockerell, +Bart., to a dinner at the Guildhall, in commemoration of his +success in confining the franchise of the borough to the freemen +only. A handsome bronze medal was after dinner presented by +Sir Charles to each of the freemen present, as a mark of his +favour and esteem.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">November</span> 19—The Duke of +Gloucester, being on a visit at Croome, was invited by the +Corporation to visit Worcester. The Earl of Coventry, as +recorder of Worcester, presented H.R.H. with the freedom of the +city; and he afterwards partook of a collation provided by the +Mayor, and then visited the china manufactories.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">November</span> 30—Colonel Davies +seconded Lord Althorpe’s motion for referring the papers +laid before the House, on the subject of the Manchester massacre, +to a select committee of inquiry, in a speech of considerable +power. For the motion, 150; against, 323: majority for +ministers, 173.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Acts</span>—For enlarging the +powers of acts to repair the road from Evesham to Alcester; for +repairing the road from Bromsgrove to Birmingham.</p> +<h3>1820.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> country was this year in a +ferment with the proceedings on the Queen’s trial. +Trade still languid, but the harvest was uncommonly abundant; and +the price of corn and country produce was thus materially +reduced, to the relief of the mechanics and lower ranks of the +town populations. Consols at 68; wheat averaged 67s. +10d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span>—Subscription in +Worcester for the relief of the poor, realising £1,250, and +distributed in coal and soup.</p> +<p><a name="page251"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 251</span><span +class="smcap">January</span>—The Worcestershire Hunt +reorganised, under the management of T. C. Hornyold, Esq., of +Blackmore Park.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 25—Elizabeth Waterson +strangled in bed by her husband, Joseph Waterson, a miller, +living at Bromsgrove. It was quite clear that the man had +been some time insane; and the coroner’s jury returning a +verdict to that effect, he was at once removed to the Lunatic +Asylum at Droitwich.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 16—Colonel Davies moved +for a select committee to investigate the military expenditure, +in a very spirited speech. Motion negatived by 125 to +45.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 29—The walking of the +trades was this year revived in Worcester.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">July</span>—Hartlebury Common +enclosed.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 10—A splendid service +of china, from the manufactory of Messrs. Grainger, Lee, and Co., +presented to Colonel Davies, in “testimony of the high +sense entertained by his electors of his truly patriotic and +distinguished conduct during the whole of his Parliamentary +career.”</p> +<p><span class="smcap">October</span> 5—The Worcester and +London Fly coach upset at Stoughton bridge on its return from +town. There were fourteen passengers, exclusive of the +coachman and guard, and all were hurt. A lady had her arm +broken; a poor woman her arm broken, and various contusions; a +gentleman had his hip dislocated, &c., &c. No +explanation of the cause. The Aurora and the Royal +Sovereign, both day coaches to London, were upset the next week, +and some passengers hurt.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">November</span> 1—A quantity of +unseasonable salmon seized in Worcester market by the committee +of the Worcester Severn Association, and ordered by the +magistrates to be burnt.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">November</span> 13—Worcester +illuminated on the Queen’s acquittal. Illuminations +also at Kidderminster, Bromsgrove, Droitwich, Evesham, Upton, +&c. At Evesham also a public dinner took place at the +Cross Keys, with C. E. Hanford, Esq., in the chair, and a +subscription set on foot for the poor by Mr. Nathaniel Hartland, +by which 1,200 families were supplied with bread and meat.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">November</span> 27—At a meeting held +at the Rein Deer, Worcester, a petition to the King praying him +to dismiss his ministers, and a congratulatory address to the +Queen on her acquittal, were agreed on, and afterwards received +about 2,000 signatures. A counter address to the King, from +the Mayor, magistrates, clergy, and others, declaring their +attachment and loyalty, &c., &c., begging him to <a +name="page252"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 252</span>maintain +the rights of the crown, otherwise the country would be involved +in ruin, &c., &c., received about 500 signatures. +The first was presented by Lord Foley and Mr. Hobhouse; the +second by the Earl of Coventry. Loyal addresses, denouncing +a licentious press, sent from Evesham and Stourbridge. An +address for the county was also drawn up by the Lord Lieutenant, +and being approved of by the High Sheriff was sent to the +different towns in the county for signatures, as the promoters +could not have convened a public meeting with any hope of success +to their cause. A counter address, headed by Lord +Foley’s signature, was immediately got up. Counter +addresses sent from Droitwich, &c.</p> +<h3>1821.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> low price of agricultural +produce caused such an outcry from the farmers, that a committee +was appointed on agricultural distress, whose report, however, +did not tend much to enlighten Parliament as to the means of +relieving them. Tenants farming with borrowed capital, and +landowners whose estates were mortgaged, must of course, the +committee said, feel heavily the increased value of money +occasioned by the recent changes in the currency; and they could +only hope for relief from a reduction of the rate of +interest—such as did actually take place shortly +afterwards. The Bank resumed cash payments, and called in +all its £1 notes, on the 1st of May. The Catholic +Emancipation Bill first passed the Commons this year, by small +majorities, but was rejected by the Lords. Consols averaged +75; wheat averaged 56s. 1d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span> 31—Petitions +presented from Kidderminster and Evesham praying that the +Queen’s name might be inserted in the liturgy.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">March</span> 15—Dinner given at +Stourport to the Rev. R. Pyndar of Arley House, on his removal +from the neighbourhood, to testify the respect the inhabitants +felt for his character and their gratitude for the services he +had rendered to the town. Richard Jukes, Esq., +presided.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">March</span> 27—The Dean, +Archdeacon, and clergy of Worcestershire met in the Chapter House +and agreed to a petition against the <a name="page253"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 253</span>Catholic Emancipation Bill, in which +they said that “the projected alteration in the laws +affecting Roman Catholics is a measure so hazardous in the +experiment as to afford just ground for alarm,” and they +considered that “the qualifying of Roman Catholics to +possess political power will tend to injure the Protestant +Establishment, which they are bound to transmit, unimpaired, to +posterity.”</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 15—The operatives of +Kidderminster presented the Queen with a carpet of very beautiful +workmanship and ten yards square; to defray the expense of +manufacturing which, 3,000 weavers and others had contributed 1s. +each.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 29—The ancient pageant +and procession of the Corporation, trades, clubs, man in armour, +&c., revived in Worcester with great gaiety and show, under +the conduct of the Mayor, Mr. Hooper.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 4—Lord Deerhurst and +Colonel Davies both voted with the minority in favour of Sir J. +Macintosh’s motion for the abolition of the punishment of +death in cases of forgery.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 6—Colonel Davies brought +in a bill for the better preventing the adulteration of clover +seed.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">July</span> 29—The coronation of His +Majesty George IV celebrated in Worcester by subscription, +procession, and dinner. The procession to service in the +Cathedral comprised about 2,000 charity school children, +Worcester Militia, Corporation clothiers’ company, +bakers’, smiths’, tailors’, fishermen’s, +butchers’, carpenters’ and masons’ companies, +Druids’ Lodge, Lodge of Odd Fellows, and the Orange +Lodge. Festivities at Bromsgrove, Bewdley, Evesham, +Kidderminster, and Stourbridge, particularly noticeable.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 27—The new tower of +St. Helen’s Church, Worcester, completed, and the bells, +which had so long remained mute, in consequence of the +dilapidation of the old tower, were once more roused into +harmony. These bells were cast in 1706, and bear the names +of Queen Anne, her principal commanders and their victories.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 8—A meeting of +yeomanry, connected with the Agricultural Association, held at +the Crown Inn, Sir Thomas Winnington in the chair, at which a +series of resolutions were agreed to, tracing “agricultural +distress” to a depreciated paper currency, <i>doubling</i> +the prices of produce labour and rents; and while the proposed +return to the bullion standard was reducing these to their former +level, the charges to the farmholder, sinecurist, and placeman +were not reduced. They were also still of opinion that the +admission of foreign grain, duty free, [that is after wheat was +80s. a quarter] added grievously to the difficulties of the +landed interest. Mr. George Webb Hall was the chief +speaker.</p> +<p><a name="page254"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 254</span><span +class="smcap">Local Acts</span>—For making a tramroad from +Stratford-on-Avon to Moreton-in-Marsh, with a branch to +Shipston-on-Stour; for repair of Stourbridge roads; for repair of +Bewdley roads; for repair of Kidderminster roads; for repair of +Bromyard roads.</p> +<h3>1822.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> year commenced with the same +heavy complaints from the agriculturists, and in most counties +meetings were held to declare their distress, and to call for +retrenchment and reform. In some cases Mr. Cobbett procured +the addition of a rider to these agricultural petitions, praying +for a reduction of interest on the National Debt. Such a +reduction, indeed, was actually made, by the conversion of the +Five per Cents.; and this, with the retrenchments forced upon +ministers by the representatives of the counties constantly +voting with Mr. Hume and other economists, allowed of +considerable relief in the shape of remission of taxes. The +Bank of England also reduced its rate of discount from five to +four per cent. on the 20th of June. A most important +measure, too, was that which extended permission to the banks to +issue notes under the value of £5 until 1833, which was +likewise forced upon ministers by the Parliamentary landlords; +and it produced an immediate rise in prices, but led also to a +plethora of paper money most disastrous in its +consequences. Consols averaged 80; wheat averaged 44s. +7d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">February</span>—Discovery of mineral +waters at Evesham—a saline spring; containing 23.06 of +sulphate of soda in every 100 parts.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">February</span> 7—The <span +class="smcap">Worcester Dispensary</span> established.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">March</span> 4—Colonel Davies moved +reductions in the army estimates, and was supported by a minority +of 58.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 17—At a respectable +meeting held in Worcester, presided over by William Wall, Esq., a +petition was agreed to, praying for a revision of the criminal +code.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span>—Collections made in +Worcester, and at the parishes adjoining, <a +name="page255"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 255</span>on behalf +of the starving peasantry in the west of Ireland. More than +£1,100 was collected in this district.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span>—A <span +class="smcap">Penitentiary</span> established in Worcester. +It did much good for years, and was then suffered to die for want +of support.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 25—A road maker at +Eckington, named Pickerill, only thirty-three years of age, +having obtained from his wife a confession of her infidelity, +mixed half an ounce of arsenic with as much sugar and ate it +before her face. Assistance was immediately obtained, but +he died in a few hours.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">October</span> 10—An attempt was +made to carry away a newly buried corpse from Grimley +churchyard. A reward of £50 was offered for the +conviction of the resurrectionists, who had evidently only +desisted from carrying away the body by finding it too much +decomposed for their purpose.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">October</span>—The penny loaf, as +fixed by the magistrates at what was called the assize of bread, +varied from 4 oz. 14 dr. to 9 oz. 14 dr. between October, 1821, +and October, 1822.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Act</span>—For repair of +Evesham roads.</p> +<h3>1823.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> great abundance of monied +capital produced its customary effects in leading persons to +engage in various works and undertakings, which produced a demand +for labour and renewed the feeling of confidence. Consols +averaged 81; wheat 53s. 4d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">March</span> 13—Consecration of St. +Clement’s New Church by the Bishop of the Diocese. +Sermon preached by the rector, the Rev. John Davies; and a +collection, realising £95. 10s., afterwards made at the +doors—and this, with donations and collections the next +Sabbath, was increased to £174. 10s. The church is +built in the Saxon style, and contains 807 sittings, 407 of which +are free. The old church was situated on this side the +river, on the North Quay. It was in a most dilapidated +condition, and often unapproachable in flood time.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 25—Messrs. Flight, +Barr, and Barr completed a very handsome service of Worcester +porcelain, in Saxon green and gold, with heraldic devices, for +Lord Amherst, then going out as Governor General to India.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 13—At the Newmarket +meeting, Lord Foley challenged for <a name="page256"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 256</span>the whip, naming his horse Sultan, +by Selim. No acceptance of the challenge being made, he got +the whip by default.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 20—The weight of the +penny loaf altered in one week from 6 oz. 9 dr. to 10 oz. 11 dr.; +the price of wheat having fallen from 8s. 9½d. to 5s. +2½d. per bushel.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 23—The New Worcester +Bridge Act received the royal assent. Reduced tolls levied +henceforth on the horses instead of the carriages.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 31—The Worcester Paving +and Lighting Act received the royal assent—better known as +the City Commissioners’ Act. Its provisions it is now +unnecessary to allude to, as the Commissioners themselves are now +numbered with the things that have been. It is curious to +notice, however, that it took power to pull down the houses in +front of All Saints’ Church; but, after a lapse of thirty +years, this improvement was effected not by act of Parliament or +a public body, but by voluntary and private efforts. At +their first meeting, Mr. Welles was appointed clerk; Mr. Edward +Hooper, head surveyor; and Mr. Henry Rowe, surveyor of +buildings. Their first efforts were directed to the +cleansing of the streets, preventing waggons carrying +over-weights through the city, removing obstructions from the +highways, &c.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">October</span> 7—Great fight at +Welland, between Jordan of Worcester and Wheeler of Gloucester, +which was attended by at least 1,500 persons. Jordan came +off an easy winner, and without any great punishment being +inflicted on either pugilist. The stakes were thirty +guineas a side.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Acts</span>.—For building +bridges over the Severn at Haw Passage and Mythe Hill; for repair +of Tenbury roads; for altering and enlarging the powers of the +Worcester Bridge Trustees; the Worcester City +Commissioners’ Act.</p> +<h3>1824.</h3> +<p>A <span class="smcap">continuous</span> advance in +prices—the result, partly of the over issue of small bank +paper, and partly of the reduction in the rate of interest, and +ease in the money market—gave the appearance of the most +unbounded prosperity to every department of business and +commerce. Everything that men touched turned to gold under +their hands, and the greatest wonder was felt at the sudden +disappearance of that distress which the agricultural interest, +especially, had, but a few months before, been complaining <a +name="page257"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 257</span>of so +bitterly. This year the Four per Cents. were converted into +Three-and-half Stock, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer was +thereby enabled still further to reduce the taxes—the +principal one removed being that on silk. Three per Cents. +in November were done at 96½, and averaged throughout the +year 92. Wheat averaged 63s. 11d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span> 7—The great fight +between Spring and Langan for the championship, which is to be +found commemorated by a print hanging up in almost every inn and +public-house in England, took place in Pitchcroft, the ring being +formed just opposite to the Grand Stand. Considerably more +than 150 guineas were paid to the managers of the fight to ensure +its taking place at Worcester. The stakes were 300 guineas +a side; and the betting two to one on Spring, who was a native of +Warwickshire; while Langan was an Irishman. Not less than +40,000 people thronged Pitchcroft as spectators, many being +perched upon sheds and booths, erected temporarily, and let out +as standing places at considerable prices. During the +second round one of these erections gave way, and a number of +persons were precipitated to the ground, a distance of twenty +feet, amidst the broken timber, and trampling upon each +other. At least thirty people were carried to the Infirmary +with serious fractures of the limbs or ribs, and one unfortunate +fellow died of a compound fracture of the leg. Spring came +on the ground at half-past twelve, but Langan could not be found +for some time. He was, in fact, making off, and his backers +brought him back with some difficulty. Lord Deerhurst and +Sir James Musgrave kept time; and Colonel Berkeley acted as +umpire. Spring was exceedingly cautious, and Langan +impetuous, and the greater part of the rounds ended in wrestling, +in which Langan often succeeded in throwing his antagonist. +By the eighteenth round the ring was broken in by the crushing of +the mob, and not ten feet of space was left for the men to fight +in. After an hour and a half’s fighting the affair +seemed as little near conclusion as at its commencement. At +the eightieth round, Langan planted a tremendous blow on +Spring’s head; but, at the eighty-fourth, Spring knocked +Langan down with such terrific hits, that he fell as weak as a +child. The cry then became general to take him away, but, +although covered in his gore, he refused to give in, and was at +<a name="page258"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 258</span>last +only removed by force. The battle lasted two hours and +thirty-two minutes—a most unheard of length of time. +At the next assizes Mr. Justice Park, in his charge to the grand +jury, administered a severe rebuke to the county and city +magistracy for winking at, and permitting, this affair.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">March</span> 6—James Jones and John +Brown were publicly whipped in front of the County Gaol (in +addition to three months’ imprisonment with hard labour), +for stealing an old tea kettle.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">March</span>—The proposition to +admit the importation of French gloves, hitherto altogether +prohibited, created great consternation amongst the manufacturers +at Worcester. Mr. Huskisson, in replying to some questions +of Colonel Davies about the matter, in the House, +said—“He trusted to the eloquence of the gallant +Colonel for satisfying his constituents of the reasonableness of +those views of open trade in which he had the honour to agree +with the gallant Colonel. As to the particular article of +gloves, there must be time to determine what proportion of duty +they were to bear. The prohibitions, however, must be done +away, and a high protecting duty substituted.” The +duty was afterwards fixed at 4s. per doz. on habits, 5s. on +men’s, and 7s. on women’s gloves.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">March</span> 17—Mrs. Fry attended +the quarterly meeting of the Friends in Worcester, and addressed +the congregation who were assembled at their Meeting House. +She afterwards visited both City and County Prisons with Samuel +Gurney, and at the latter addressed the prisoners in plain and +forcible language.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 24—The Worcestershire +Yeomanry, under the command of Viscount Eastnor, assembled for +their annual six days’ training. They, this year, +mustered 180; and the helmet they had hitherto worn was exchanged +for the cap.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span>—The Cesarean operation +performed by Mr. Waldron, surgeon, of Malvern, on Mary Hunt, of +Leigh, with complete success. The child was a very fine +healthy child.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">October</span> 17—A man named Thomas +Smith, who had been convicted at the City Midsummer Sessions of a +robbery, and sentenced to seven years’ transportation, made +his escape from the City Prison (the new one was then building) +by working out the bricks in the wall of his cell, unlocking a +padlock, and filing through two large nails in the doorpost.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span>—Projects on foot for +the removal of the Corn Market, and erecting a suitable building +for the accommodation of the farmers in Sansome Street, +Worcester, but the magistrates decided that matters must remain +as they were.</p> +<p><a name="page259"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 259</span><span +class="smcap">Local Acts</span>—For repair of the road from +Broadway to Stratford; for repair of the road from Worcester to +Bromsgrove; for paving, lighting, &c., the town of Evesham, +and improving the bridge over the Avon; for repair of the road +from Evesham to Bishop’s Cleeve.</p> +<h3>1825.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Never</span> in so short a period of time +did a nation experience such a transition from the confidence of +commercial prosperity, to the despair and panic of general +bankruptcy, as did Britain in the twelve months of 1825. +The year opened with a flow of trade and ease in making money +which had never been equalled, and the Chancellor of the +Exchequer declared that the prosperity of the country was fixed +on a firm and immutable basis—for which speech, Mr. Cobbett +nicknamed him Mr. Prosperity Robinson. Yet before the year +closed all was in confusion: a run upon all the banks throughout +the kingdom took place—seventy three country banks were +totally insolvent—the Bank of England itself was only saved +from a complete drain of its gold, which was reduced to under +£1,300,000, by the fortunate discovery of a box of one +pound notes—bankruptcy and ruin spread amongst traders of +every class—and the country was within forty-eight hours of +barter. To account for this disastrous state of things is +not difficult. The enhancement of prices, and the +recklessness of the country bankers in pushing their paper money, +had begot a spirit of speculation and gambling, not equalled +since the South Sea Bubble. Between 1822 and 1825, +twenty-six foreign loans were negociated, of which only ten are +now paying dividends; and companies were started for all +imaginable purposes, the nominal capital of which amounted in the +whole to more than four hundred millions sterling. Soon +after midsummer, this year, the tables began to +turn—foreign <a name="page260"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +260</span>markets were glutted with British fabrics, and a drain +of gold took place to pay for the imports, as foreigners would no +longer take our goods. Besides this, gold and silver coin +chained down to a certain standard of value, while all other +things had enormously risen in price, was of course a profitable +speculation for the foreigners; and in 1822–3 and 4, +thirty-three millions and a half of ounces of silver were +exported, and the known export of gold exceeded 1,270,000 +ounces. It will be seen that, to the credit of this county, +not a single bank here was actually insolvent, and only one +closed its doors even for a short period. Three per Cents. +averaged 89; wheat averaged 68s. 6d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span> 25—The lady of Sir +Edward Mostyn, Bart., then residing at Spring Bank, Red Hill, +near Worcester, was returning home in her carriage, when the +horses took fright and set off at a gallop. She jumped out, +and received such severe contusions on the head that she died in +two days afterwards. Her remains were interred in the +parish church of Llannas, Flintshire, in which county Talacre, +Sir Edward’s paternal seat, was situated.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span>—The long brass +French six-pounder and nine suits of black armour which now adorn +the walls of the lower hall, in the Guildhall, Worcester, +presented to the Corporation by Colonel Wall of Hallow +Park. They all belonged to Charles II, and were left by him +after the fatal battle of 1651.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">October</span> 26—The Worcestershire +Militia inspected upon Pitchcroft. At the dinner of the +officers in the evening, a handsome silver salver was presented +to Colonel Newport Charlett as a tribute of the respect and +esteem in which he was held by the regiment.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">October</span> 11—The Worcestershire +Fox Hounds, lately reorganised under Mr. Parker, had their first +run. The pack consisted of about thirty couples of +hounds.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span> 19—At a public +meeting at the Guildhall, of tradesmen and others, with the Mayor +in the chair, a resolution of confidence in the different banks +of the city was passed, and afterwards published with upwards of +500 signatures.</p> +<p>At a public meeting at Kidderminster, a similar vote of +confidence was passed as to Messrs. Wakeman and Turner’s +bank. At Bewdley, <a name="page261"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 261</span>the inhabitants also met and +expressed their reliance in the banking establishment of Messrs. +Pardoe, Nichols, and Baker. Bromsgrove—in the house +of Messrs. Rufford and Biggs. Stourbridge—Messrs. +Hill, Bate, and Robins, and Messrs. Rufford and Biggs. +Dudley—in the houses of Messrs. Dixon, Dalton, and Co., and +Messrs. Hordern, Molineux, and Co. The bank of Messrs. +Hartland, having branches at Tewkesbury, Cheltenham, and Evesham, +was compelled to suspend payment; but this was the only concern, +connected with this county, unable to sustain the run which the +terrible panic of this year caused on every bank throughout the +kingdom.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Acts</span>—Stourbridge +Commissioners Act; for making and maintaining a road from +Birmingham to Pershore; for repair of Upton roads; to amend the +Stratford and Moreton Tramroad Act; for enclosure of land at +Stock and Bradley.</p> +<h3>1826.</h3> +<p>To prevent the occurrence of such dire disasters as the +previous year had witnessed, a bill was brought in the moment +Parliament met, to prohibit the English banks from circulating +notes under £5, after February, 1829—thus allowing +them three years to recall their present issue. The loss by +the panic of the previous December is estimated at +£40,000,000 sterling; but matters soon began to right +themselves, and the elasticity of British resources never was +more signally displayed. At Midsummer a dissolution took +place, the Parliament having sat for nearly seven years. +The questions which principally agitated the public mind were the +Corn Laws and Catholic Emancipation. The Corn Law of 1815 +had dissatisfied all parties, and the populace generally +entertained the greatest hostility to it. In Ireland the +priests now first openly interfered in the elections to procure +the return of members pledged to the Catholic cause; while in +England a strong counter feeling was evoked, and in many places +Whig candidates were rejected, in spite of family influence, +because of their leaning towards Catholic Emancipation. The +<a name="page262"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 262</span>harvest +being a failure, as regarded oats and rye, peas and beans, the +Government issued an Order in Council to admit these kinds of +food at a duty of 2s. a quarter; and Parliament was called +together in November to pass an Act of Indemnity. Three per +Cents. averaged 79; wheat averaged 58s. 8d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span> 23—A silver salver, +two waiters, and two decanter stands, weighing in the whole 320 +ounces, presented to J. Simpson, Esq., LL.D., who for many years +kept school in Worcester, by his former pupils.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">February</span>—The glovemakers of +Worcester made several ineffectual remonstrances against the +proposed alteration of the laws touching the admission of foreign +manufactured articles. They were told that gloves would +certainly be admitted in the ensuing July, though with the +protective duties already mentioned. These being considered +insufficient, the trade was brought to an entire +stand-still. By the exertions of Colonel Davies, however, +the importation was limited to the port of London only, and +confidence was gradually restored to the business.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">February</span> 21—Messrs. Hartland +and Co. resumed payment.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">July</span> 1—A party of pleasure, +consisting of the two sons and four daughters of Mr. Joseph Hill, +farmer, of Lintridge, near Dymock, and Miss Helen Woodyatt, +daughter of a Hereford confectioner, ascended Malvern Hills, and +being overtaken by a thunderstorm, took refuge in an alcove, on +the Worcestershire Beacon, which was roofed with iron. This +attracted the electric fluid, and in one discharge of lightning +the whole party were laid prostrate on the ground: three of the +Misses Hill and Miss Woodyatt were killed, and the others were +seriously injured.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">July</span>—Captain Brace, R.N., +presented to the Corporation of Worcester the second brass gun +which now stands in the Guildhall—one which was taken from +a French battery near Toulon, in 1813, by H.M. ship Berwick, of +which Captain Brace was then Commandant.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 21—Lord Foley laid the +foundation stone of Holt Fleet bridge.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span>—The growing importance +and populousness of the town of Dudley induced the Lord +Chancellor to order an additional coroner to be elected for that +part of the county. Mr. W. Robinson, solicitor, of Dudley, +who had been very instrumental in obtaining the order, was +elected to the office without opposition.</p> +<p><a name="page263"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 263</span><span +class="smcap">September</span> 26—Mr. Cobbett, the +“lion” of the day, visited Worcester, and spent a +short time with some agriculturists in the neighbourhood, +afterwards staying with Sir Thomas Winnington, Bart., at Stanford +Court, for one night. Mr. Cobbett’s opinion of +Worcester and Worcestershire people may be found in the account +which he gives of this trip in his <i>Register</i> for October 7 +of this year.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Act</span>—For building Holt +Fleet bridge.</p> +<h3>1827.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">That</span> the elections had caused +considerable change in the constitution of the House of Commons +was made apparent by their coming, early in the session, to a +vote adverse to the Catholic claims—the votes of the Lower +House on this question having for many years past been favourable +to their consideration. A motion of Sir Francis Burdett to +remove penalties from the Catholics, though warmly supported by +Mr. Canning, was lost by 276 votes to 272. Lord +Liverpool’s illness requiring the reorganisation of the +cabinet, so much difficulty was experienced in the choice of a +prime minister that the country was virtually without a ministry +for some weeks. The Catholic question was put forward as +the principal difficulty—the chief members of Lord +Liverpool’s administration refusing to take office under a +Premier who was favourable to the Catholic claims. +Immediately that Mr. Canning—whose talents unequivocally +marked him out for the position—kissed hands, the Duke of +Wellington, Lord Eldon, Mr. Peel, and others of the old cabinet +resigned, and Mr. Canning could only hold office by an +unprincipled coalition with the Whigs—unprincipled because +such a ministry could only be carried on by one party or the +other totally belieing their previous political creed. Mr. +Canning had always avowed himself the determined foe of +Parliamentary Reform and the repeal of the Test Acts, but was +popular because of his adhesion to the Catholic claims and the +policy he <a name="page264"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +264</span>had adopted as Foreign Secretary—separating this +country from the Holy Alliance, recognising the South American +States, and interfering in defence of the independence of +Portugal. Earl Grey was the only member of the Whig party +who openly and honestly stood aloof from the new ministry. +Immediately after the close of the session, Mr. +Canning—irritated, perplexed, exhausted, by the forsaking +of all his former friends—died. The new ministry was +then reorganised under the leadership of Viscount +Goderich—formerly Mr. Robinson. Three per Cents. +averaged 84; wheat, 58s. 6d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span>—The celebrated +“Horace Bentley” controversy originated in a +paragraph which appeared this month in <i>Berrow’s +Worcester Journal</i>, stating that the Roman Catholics in Cavan, +Ireland, were renouncing the errors of their Church in +considerable numbers. In the <i>Journal</i> of February 7, +a person signing the initials “W. L.” begged, as an +English Catholic, to be informed what were the errors that the +Catholics of Cavan were renouncing, and pledged himself that, if +any one would point out to him only one error, either in morals +or doctrine, which the Catholic Church taught, he would, as soon +as possible after, publicly read his recantation in the parish +church of B—. In a fortnight after W. L.’s +letter had appeared, one was inserted in reply, signed +“Horace Bentley,” offering, if the Bible was accepted +as the test, to prove that the Church of Rome taught +“several fundamental and fatal errors.” W. L. +replied that he would “leave Mr. B. to take his own +course. He might prove his allegations from the Holy +Scriptures, or from any source he might deem expedient—he +was ready to join the issue with him.” This, Horace +Bentley contended, was an evasion of the requirement—that +an absolute test of truth and error should be agreed upon; but, +nevertheless, proceeded to prove the existence of what are +considered by Protestants to be the principal errors of the Roman +Church, by an extraordinary array of quotations from Catholic +authors and authorities themselves. The letters were, on +all hands, admitted to display singular ability. W. L., at +first, questioned the correctness of the quotations, and was +evidently astonished at their production. An offer was made +by the Catholic party to change their champion, on the ground of +W. L.’s incompetence; and, <a name="page265"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 265</span>though this was not accepted, yet +the last two letters under that signature were plainly from +another hand. In these, endeavour was made to show that the +doctrines of the Church of England were, in many respects, +identical with those of the Church of Rome, and that “every +consistent Protestant must be an infidel.” The +Protestant party were so delighted with their disputant, that a +proposal was made to purchase a piece of plate by +subscription. The <i>incognito</i> was, for a long time, +most admirably preserved, and the letters of Horace Bentley were +pretty generally ascribed to the Rev. Dr. Hook, then Dean of +Worcester. It has now, however, long been known that they +were written by the Rev. G. Redford, D.D., LL.D., minister at +Angel Street Chapel, Worcester. The original W. L. was a +machine manufacturer at Bromsgrove.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">March</span> 3—A duel took place on +Kempsey Ham between John Somerset Russell, Esq., of Powick Court, +and Mr. John Parker, master of the Worcestershire Fox +Hounds. They fired at each other, but neither of the balls +took effect; and the seconds then interfered and effected a +reconciliation. An officer came on the ground, armed with a +warrant, to arrest the disputants, but of course he was +“too late.” The quarrel arose about some matter +connected with the hunt.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">March</span> 27—Colonel Davies voted +in a minority of nineteen on an amendment, moved by Mr. Hume, to +admit wheat at all times at a fixed duty of 10s. a quarter. +Colonel Davies also succeeded in obtaining the appointment of a +committee to inquire into the mode of taking the poll at +elections for cities and boroughs.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">March</span>—An eccentric fellow at +Droitwich cut his throat, having previously left some most +singular instructions respecting his funeral, which were obeyed +to the letter. He was buried with his shoes on, with a +penny in one hand and a halfpenny in the other. Some of the +earth surrounding his mother’s coffin was put into his, and +his body was wrapped in the sheet on which she had been laid +out. The carriers of the coffin and mourners ran, as soon +as the funeral was over, at their topmost speed, to a public +house, where they sang <i>one</i> song and <i>two</i> psalms, +afterwards drinking peace to the soul of the departed till they +were all drunk.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 29—At a meeting of the +Worcester Corporation, on the motion of Henry Clifton, Esq., the +freedom of the city was unanimously voted to the Right Hon. +Robert Peel, “late principal Secretary of State for the +Home Department, in testimony of the high sense <a +name="page266"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 266</span>they +entertained of his consummate abilities and inflexible integrity +as a statesman, and his unshaken fidelity and attachment to the +Constitution in Church and State.”</p> +<p><span class="smcap">November</span> 29—Mr. T. A. Knight, +only son of T. A. Knight, Esq., of Downton Castle, accidentally +shot by John Barneby, Esq., of Brockhampton, while they were both +sporting on Mr. Knight’s demesne.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span>—The Worcestershire +Yeomanry disbanded by order of Government, in common with all +those corps which had not been engaged in actual service of any +kind for the previous ten years. The regiment was first +raised in 1794, by the Hon. Somers Cocks. The Kidderminster +troop, which was a separate body, raised in 1798 and commanded by +Captain Boycot, was also disbanded.</p> +<h3>1828.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> discordant materials of which +the Canning ministry was composed after his death, soon brought +it to an end: before Parliament met this year Lord Goderich had +resigned, and the Wellington and Peel cabinet was formed. +The most important measure of the year was the repeal of the Test +and Corporation Acts; the principle of which having been affirmed +in the House of Commons, on the motion of Lord John Russell, by a +majority of 237 to 193, was adopted by the Government, and they +carried through the bill as their own measure. Consols +averaged 86; wheat 60s. 5d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span> 1—The tolls on +carriages and horsemen passing over Worcester bridge +discontinued—the bridge having been erected forty-six +years, and the trustees having now paid off the debt, and laid by +a fund yielding a revenue of £125 a year to be applied in +the repairs of the bridge and its approaches.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span> 3—Holt Fleet bridge +opened to the public. Its extreme length is 226 feet, and +consists of one arch of 150 feet span; the centre being 35 feet +above the river at ordinary periods. The design was +furnished by Telford. The entire cost was £8,300.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">February</span> 26—Four elegant +silver corner dishes and covers, weighing nearly 300 ounces, +presented to the Rev. George Turberville of Hanley Castle, for +his long and valuable services as an active magistrate of the +county. The presentation took place at a <a +name="page267"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 267</span>dinner at +the White Lion, Upton, at which Sir Anthony Lechmere, Bart., +presided.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 3—The Rev. Mr. +Ketley, appointed by the London Missionary Society to take the +place of the ill-treated Smith, of Demerara, whose case had +occupied so large a share of public attention, was publicly +ordained at the Independent Chapel, Worcester.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 26—A sumptuous +silver vase, presented to Viscount Eastnor by the Yeomanry, +“as a farewell token of the cordial and lasting esteem +which is felt for him by all ranks of the corps.”</p> +<p><span class="smcap">October</span> 29—The inhabitants of +Bewdley, following <i>suite</i> with the Kentish Brunswickers on +Penenden Heath, declared in public meeting that “the +Protestant constitution shall not be changed.” John +Williams, Esq., the High Bailiff, was in the chair; and the +petition against the Catholic claims was moved by the Rev. John +Cawood, and seconded by John Nichols, Esq. There was no +opposition. The Mayor and Corporation of Evesham forwarded +a similar petition.</p> +<h3>1829.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> ministry—supposed by all +England to be determined to resist, <i>a l’outrance</i>, +the claims of the Catholics to emancipation—astounded the +country by making the King recommend, in his speech at the +opening of Parliament, that these claims should be immediately +taken into consideration. The Catholic Association and Mr. +O’Connell’s election for Clare were supposed to have +been the causes immediately compelling ministers to give way; but +the Emancipation Act really owed its existence to the continuous +efforts of the great Liberal party and the weight of public +opinion in England. The measure was passed in the Commons +by a majority of 173, and in the Lords of 105. The +circulation of small notes came to an end in the early part of +this year, and although so much time had been afforded for +preparation for this step, and it had been so repeatedly +postponed, it nevertheless produced much straitness in commercial +transactions, and had its effect in reducing both the price of +the provisions and the wages of labour. Three per Cents. +averaged 88; wheat averaged 66s. 3d.</p> +<p><a name="page268"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 268</span><span +class="smcap">January</span>—A subscription entered into +for the relief of the Worcester poor.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">February</span>—The petitions +against Catholic Emancipation, got up by the Brunswick Club, +received about 6,000 signatures in this county. On the +presentation of the petition in the House of Lords, Lord +Lyttelton characterised the manner in which it was got up as +“anomalous and irregular.”</p> +<p><span class="smcap">February</span> 9—The <span +class="smcap">Worcester Literary and Scientific +Institution</span> established at a public meeting held at the +Guildhall, presided over by Mr. Daukes of Diglis House. It +was for some years warmly supported by Lord Lyttelton and most of +the literati of the county.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">February</span> 17—An alarming fire +in the outbuildings of Mr. Joseph Ross of Sneachill, White Lady +Aston, consuming altogether about four thousand pounds’ +worth of property, and wholly uninsured. Three hundred +guineas were offered as a reward for the discovery of the +incendiary, no doubt being entertained that it was wilful.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">March</span> 24—Meeting of the +clergy of the diocese, with Archdeacon Onslow in the chair, to +petition against the Catholic Relief Bill. The tone of the +proceedings and petition was very moderate. The Hon. H. B. +Lygon was the only member for this county who voted against the +Bill.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 29—Presentation of plate +(a massive silver vase) to Archdeacon Onslow, having been Vicar +of Kidderminster for twenty-eight years, by general subscription +of the inhabitants there.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 17—The Duc de Chartres +visited Worcester, with its manufactories and Cathedral.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 22—Ombersley Church +consecrated by the Lord Bishop of the Diocese. This very +elegant little church is built of white stone from the Ombersley +quarries, in the decorated English style. Its extreme +length is 117 feet, and the spire is 154 feet high; and the +church will accommodate about 1,000 persons. The +Marchioness of Downshire gave the stone, the additional land to +extend the churchyard, the organ, and the stained windows, +&c.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">July</span> 16—The new Catholic +Chapel, Sansome Street, Worcester, opened. The Rev. Dr. +Walsh, Bishop of the Midland District, officiated; and the Very +Rev. Dr. Weedall, President of St. Mary’s College, Oscot, +preached. The chapel is capable of containing about 800 +persons. The collection at the door on this occasion +amounted to about £48.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 26—Silver Street +Chapel (Baptist), Worcester, reopened, after enlargement, on +which occasion a sermon was preached by the celebrated Robert +Hall of Bristol.</p> +<p><a name="page269"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 269</span><span +class="smcap">December</span> 10—The Marquis of Anglesey +visited Worcester, and was entertained by the Corporation in +great style; the freedom of the city being presented to him in +common hall by Lord Deerhurst.</p> +<h3>1830.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Ministers</span>, having alienated their +old friends by their conduct on the Catholic question, held +office by support of the Whigs, but towards the close of the +session these also deserted them. The revolutions at Paris +and Brussels, the demise of George IV, and the distress amongst +the agricultural labourers giving rise to fearful incendiarism +through the whole of the south of England, imparted extraordinary +interest and importance to the question of Parliamentary +Reform. Public meetings were everywhere held upon the +subject, and at the elections which took place in August, +Reformers were returned for all those towns where the +constituency was at all on a popular basis. The result was +a loss of more than fifty members to ministers; and they managed +to involve themselves in still more unpopularity and dislike by +their unqualified declarations against all Reform, and by +dissuading the King from accepting an invitation to dine at +Guildhall on Lord Mayor’s Day, on the ground of apprehended +disturbance. The new Parliament met on the 2nd of November, +and on the 15th Sir Henry Parnell moved for a committee to revise +the civil list. A division took place, and ministers were +left in a minority of 29—233 votes being given for the +motion, and 204 against it. Ministers immediately resigned, +and Earl Grey was called to His Majesty’s Councils, with +the understanding that Parliamentary Reform was to be a cabinet +measure. Thus, after twenty-three years’ exclusion +from office, the Whigs found themselves in power, and their +principles triumphant. Consols averaged 98½; wheat +averaged 64s. 3d.</p> +<p><a name="page270"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 270</span><span +class="smcap">January</span>—Subscription for the relief of +the poor again entered into at Worcester, and £1,108 +raised. Distributed in soup and bread. £200 +raised with a like object at Bewdley, and a subscription at +Droitwich.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">July</span> 2—Petitions from various +towns of the county against the Beer House Bill, which was also +strongly opposed by Colonel Davies.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 6—The Duchess of Kent +and the Princess Victoria arrived at Malvern, for the purpose of +making a considerable stay there.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 25—Most serious riots +at Kidderminster. The carpet weavers, instigated by the +“Society of Workmen,” attacked, almost without +notice, the factory of Mr. Cooper, because he employed a number +of men upon a particular description of light work at three +halfpence per yard less than the customary price. In the +evening the mob again assembled, and broke the windows not only +of Mr. Cooper’s house, but those of Mr. Simcox Lea, Mr. +Best, Mr. Brinton, Mr. Dobson, and Mr. Gough, manufacturers; of +George Constance, Esq., High Bailiff; Messrs. Hallen and Talbot, +solicitors; Mr. Boycot; Mr. Russell, coal merchant; the Town +Hall; and the Black Horse Inn—nor was the town restored to +quiet till a troop of the 14th Dragoons arrived at six +o’clock on Wednesday morning. The property stolen and +destroyed was valued at £3,000. Eight men were +immediately afterwards apprehended, and committed by the +magistrates for the part they had taken in the +disturbances. Rewards amounting to £1,000 were +offered for the conviction of the ringleaders.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 7—The Duchess of +Kent and the Princess Victoria visited Worcester, accompanied by +Sir John and Lady Conroy and the Baroness de Lehzen, and received +the Mayor and Corporation at the Deanery. They inspected +the three china manufactories; and the young Princess, then +twelve years of age, displayed the greatest interest in the +ingenious processes to which the porcelain clay is submitted.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 18—Frightful +accident to the Aurora, day coach from London, which was crammed +with passengers inside and out, bringing persons to the ensuing +Worcester Musical Festival. The coachman neglected to put +the drag on the wheel in coming down Severn Stoke hill, and the +speed which the vehicle gained as it came down, upset it shortly +after rounding the turn at the bottom. Mr. Bennett, +organist of Christ Church, Oxford, was killed on the spot; and +Mr. Hughes, glover, of Sidbury, Worcester, died next +morning. Several other passengers were most seriously +hurt. The jury upon the inquest refused to return a verdict +of manslaughter against the <a name="page271"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 271</span>coachman, although directed to do so +by the coroner; but put a deodand of £30 upon the coach and +horses, in each case.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 9—Date of the death +of the celebrated Mr. Huskisson, who was born at Birtsmorton in +this county.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">October</span> 26—St. George’s +Chapel, Barbourne, a chapel of ease to Claines Church, +consecrated by the Lord Bishop of the Diocese. The sermon +was preached by Prebendary Benson, and the collection afterwards +realised £60. The presentation of the chapel is +vested in the incumbents of Claines. The total cost of the +building was £3,500; of this, Sir H. Wakeman, Bart., +contributed £500. £1,200 was raised by private +subscriptions, &c. The Church Building Commissioners +contributed the remainder. The painted window at the east +end was the gift of James Wakeman, Esq. It will accommodate +750 persons, 400 of the sittings being free.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">October</span> 29—The <span +class="smcap">Worcester Mendicity Society</span> formed at a +meeting at the Guildhall, with H. B. Tymbs, Esq., Mayor, in the +chair. This Society still continues to exist, and has acted +most beneficially both in discovering cases of imposture and in +aiding the truly unfortunate. It is only a pity that it is +not more generally supported and confided in.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span>—Riots at Tardebigg +amongst the needle makers, who thought themselves aggrieved by +the introduction of machinery to stamp the eyes of the +needles. They commenced an attack on the machinery and +house of Mr. Baylis of Tardebigg, but were interrupted by the +arrival of constabulary from Redditch, and six men were committed +by the magistrates for trial. Five agricultural labourers +were also committed to gaol for breaking a thrashing machine, +which had been left on the road side at Hanley William. A +thatched cattle shed, with two cows, a hay rick and stubble rick, +the property of Mr. Nind of Dumbleton, burnt down by an +incendiary fire.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Act</span>—For enclosing lands +at Hagley.</p> +<h3>1831.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> measure of Reform, introduced +by the Grey ministry a few days after the meeting of Parliament, +so much exceeded general expectation in extent and boldness, that +the people immediately adopted it with enthusiasm; and the cry +was, “The Bill, the whole Bill, and nothing but the +Bill.” After a debate of seven nights’ +duration, leave was given to bring it in <a +name="page272"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 272</span>without a +division, and the trial of strength was reserved for the second +reading, which was carried by a majority of one only; the numbers +being—for, 302; against, 301. The ministers, however, +persevered with it; but, in committee, General Gascoyne moved +that the number of members for England and Wales should not be +diminished, and this was carried against ministers by a majority +of eight. The consequence was, that the bill was for a +while abandoned, and another appeal made to the country. +The elections, which now took place in the midst of unparalleled +excitement, gave ministers such a decided majority in the +Commons, that the second reading of the bill was carried by a +majority of 136, and it went through committee without any +material alteration. The Lords, however, had not the +prudence quietly to pass a measure which the people had so +unequivocally demanded, and the second reading was negatived in +the Upper House by a majority of 41. Riots and disturbances +everywhere ensued; and none can understand, except those who +actually took part in the year’s events, how near the +nation was to convulsion and revolution. The cholera made +its appearance in the country on the 26th October, and was very +fatal in many places. Consols averaged 81; wheat averaged +66s. 6d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span> 10—The Vice +Chancellor gave his decision in the case of the St. +Oswald’s Hospital property, Worcester, declaring that the +leases which had been granted by the governors were illegal, and +must be set aside. This decision affected large properties +in the Tything, which, having been held for leases of forty years +at a nominal rent, and these renewed at a fine only amounting to +about one year’s rent, had been treated in the market as +little inferior to freehold. The proceedings were based on +an act passed at the instance of the celebrated Dr. Fell, Bishop +of Oxford in 1660, and who was then master of this +hospital. This act expressly provided that, in the leases +granted of the property <a name="page273"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 273</span>belonging to the hospital, +“the best improved value that the lands and houses should +be yearly worth should be reserved for the respective yearly +rents thereof.” The solicitor, on the part of the +information, was Mr. S. Godson of Worcester.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span> 21—Graves opened in +Hanley Castle churchyard, and two recently interred bodies taken +away. They had been sent in packing cases from the Anchor +Inn, Upton-on-Severn, to London, but, parties following them +immediately, the cases were recovered, and the bodies restored to +their resting places, but the disturbers of the grave’s +quiet were not caught.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">March</span> 9—The Kidderminster +carpet weavers presented Mr. Godson with a very handsome hearth +rug, for his exertions in their behalf at the sessions of the +previous August.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">March</span> 23—On the first +division on the Reform Bill, on Sir R. Vyvyan’s amendment, +“That the Bill be read a second time that day six +months,” all the members for Worcestershire were +present. The Hon. T. H. Foley, Colonel Davies, Mr. +Robinson, Mr. J. H. H. Foley, and Earl of Sefton voted against +the amendment; and Hon. H. B. Lygon and W. A. Robarts, Esq., for +it.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span>—The Worcester Militia +reorganised; and ten troops of Yeomanry raised by the Earl of +Plymouth.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 25—In the Marquis of +Chandos’s celebrated amendment to the Reform Bill, giving +farming tenants at will, to the amount of not less than +£50, votes for counties, Colonel Davies and Mr. Robinson +voted in the majority against ministers, and the Hon. T. H. +Foley, Captain Spencer, and Mr. Godson in the minority for +them. Colonel Davies, in the progress of the bill, moved +several amendments, which were discussed at length, and only +defeated by small majorities: one was to prevent persons, having +votes in boroughs, from voting at county elections.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 14—Presentation of +colours to the Worcestershire Yeomanry. This took place at +Hewell, the Countess of Plymouth presenting the cornets with the +colours. The ceremony was performed in the presence of an +immense concourse of spectators. A dinner was afterwards +given on the ground, by the Earl of Plymouth, to the nobility of +the county and officers of the regiment.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">October</span> 19—The Worcester +Society of Artists opened an exhibition in the rooms of the Old +Library in Angel Street, containing altogether some 164 pictures, +from the easels of professional artists and amateurs in the city +and county.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">November</span> 5—Worcester +Riots.—The ferment which the rejection <a +name="page274"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 274</span>of the +Reform Bill by the Lords had created having spread generally +through the country, and much terror caused by the Bristol +anti-Wetherell riots, the Mayor and magistrates of Worcester +swore in a number of special constables this week; and, at the +request of the Mayor, the Home Secretary directed a troop of the +7th Hussars to take up their quarters at Droitwich. It was +thought possible that the ill disposed might make the county +Reform meeting, held this day, a <i>point d’appui</i>, and +the 400 special constables had express orders to hold themselves +in readiness for action at any moment. However, the +proceedings passed off very quietly, and the day closed without +any disturbance; but unfortunately a small and purely accidental +fire broke out in the back premises of Mr. Woakes in High +Street. A great number of people were gathered to the spot, +and a squabble occurred in the crowd, during which the hose of +the fire engines was cut, and the mob seemed to regard this as +the signal for disorder. Some rascals harked them on to +mischief, and they first of all made an incursion into Foregate +Street, where they broke all the windows in the house of Mr. +France, solicitor, and on their return smashed those of Sir +Anthony Lechmere and other individuals known to belong to the +unpopular party. The Mayor and magistrates were already at +the Hall, with a large body of special constables, and the bells +of the city churches were set tolling to collect the +remainder. This roused the whole town, and all the bad +characters it contained were speedily enrolled amongst the +mob. The special constables at the command of the Mayor +sallied out of the Town Hall and engaged the rioters, and some +smartish encounters took place in various directions. +Several of the mob were captured and carried off to prison; but +none of the specials were much hurt. The tumult still +continuing, the Mayor sent off expresses to Pershore and +Droitwich for the military; but, in the interim, he addressed the +rioters, and attempted to induce them to disperse. Some of +the leaders said they would do so if he would release the +prisoners who had been taken. The Mayor, hereupon, went +down to the gaol, and, amidst the huzzas of the mob, liberated +the captives; but they then wanted the release of the other +prisoners confined in the gaol. This the Mayor positively +refused, and returned to the Guildhall. At a quarter after +one Captain Bathurst, with a troop of the 7th Hussars, rode up to +the Guildhall, and the mob threw some stones at them; and, as +they showed no disposition to disperse, the Mayor read the Riot +Act, but had no sooner done so than a stone was hurled at him, +which struck him on the <a name="page275"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 275</span>head. He immediately ordered +the military to clear the streets, which they did in a very short +time. A great number of stones were thrown at them; but the +resistance speedily ceased, and many parties were again taken +into custody and conveyed to the gaol. Several of the mob +were cut, though not seriously, by the sabres of the +military. A detachment of the 91st Infantry arrived from +Pershore about three a.m., but their services were not then +required. The city, for two or three nights afterwards, +wore an unquiet aspect, and desultory mobs were collected, but no +further harm was done. The magistrates examined the +prisoners afterwards—amounting, in all, to about thirty +persons. Most of them were liberated on entering into their +own recognizances to keep the peace, and a few of the worst were +fined or sent to the treadmill.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Acts</span>—For erecting a +County Hall and Courts of Assize at Worcester; for better +repairing the road from Bromsgrove to Birmingham.</p> +<h3>1832.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> ministers, calling Parliament +together again almost immediately, proposed another Reform Bill, +differing from the former one in the apportionment of boroughs in +the schedules, in preserving the rights of freemen by birth and +servitude, and in giving freeholders in boroughs the right to +vote in county elections. The second reading was carried, +on the morning of Sunday, the 18th of December, 1851, by a +majority of 324 to 162; the majority being thus much larger than +before. The bill passed a second reading in the Lords by a +majority of 9; seventeen peers who voted against the bill in 1831 +voted for it in 1832, and others absented themselves. +Immediately on going into committee, however, Lord Lyndhurst +proposed to postpone the disenfranchising to the enfranchising +clauses, and this was carried against ministers by a majority of +35. Earl Grey then applied to the King for powers to carry +the bill as it stood; and, on the King’s refusing a +<i>carte blanche</i> for the creation of peers, <a +name="page276"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 276</span>ministers +resigned <i>en masse</i>. Lord Lyndhurst was sent for by +the King; but the Commons pledged themselves, by an overwhelming +majority, to support only the former ministers, and, in the face +of such a resolution, no ministry could be formed. Then +came the thunders of the <i>Times</i>, declaring that “the +Queen had done it all,” the threatened run upon the Bank, +and symptoms of disaffection among the soldiery. At last +the King found himself obliged to put into Earl Grey’s +hands all the powers he required, and he returned to office on +the 15th of April. The opposition peers then, at the +King’s request, absented themselves from the House, and the +bill passed with little further discussion. It received the +royal assent on the 7th of June. Parliament was soon +afterwards dissolved; and the new constituencies, of course, +returned a very large preponderance of Whig or Reform +members. Three per Cents. averaged 83½; wheat +averaged 58s. 8d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span>—Several attempts made +to fire carpet manufactories in Kidderminster. The trade of +the town in a deplorable condition; 779 heads of families +receiving out-door relief weekly.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">February</span> 1—Colonel Davies +moved, in the House of Commons, for a committee of inquiry on the +glove trade. He stated that not one-third of the number of +gloves were made in Worcester that there were formerly, when 120 +masters each manufactured 100 dozen a week. He attributed +this distress and loss of trade entirely to the free trade in +French gloves. Mr. Poulett Thomson contended, on behalf of +Government, that the general manufacture of gloves in this +country had increased, for the kid skins imported in the last +five years had been 3,679,000, to 2,600,000 in the five years +prior to the duty being taken off gloves. The distress he +believed to be owing to the late increase in the importation of +skins, to the use of Berlin gloves instead of kid, and to +overtrading. The numbers were—against the committee, +223; for it, 168: majority against the motion, 55.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">February</span> 28—A petition from +the operative glovers of Worcester, having 2,206 signatures, and +praying that the “system, falsely called <a +name="page277"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 277</span>free +trade,” may be abandoned, forwarded to the Earl of Coventry +for presentation.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 2—The freedom of the +city presented to the Earl of Plymouth and Lieutenant Colonel +Elrington by the hand of the recorder, the Earl of +Coventry. To the former, principally in approval of his +raising the Yeomanry corps; and to the latter, for his public +services in the east. Colonel Elrington presented the +Corporation with arms and armour, taken by him from pirates in +the Persian Gulf.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 5—At a dinner given at +the Guildhall, Dr. Malden in the chair, a very handsome service +of plate was presented to the Mayor, Henry Clifton, Esq., in +remembrance of the vigilance and energy he had shown in +repressing the Worcester riots.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 17—On the memorable +second reading of the Reform Bill in the House of Lords, by a +majority of nine, the Earl of Coventry, Lord Northwick (both of +whom had voted against the former bill), Earl Somers, Lord Foley, +Lord Lyttelton, and the Bishop of Worcester voted in its favour; +and Earls Plymouth and Beauchamp and the Bishop of Rochester +against it.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 23—The Mayor of +Worcester, Henry Clifton, Esq., was presented at +<i>levée</i> by the Bishop of Worcester, and thanked by +His Majesty for the “important services he had rendered on +a late occasion.”</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 29—The trade on the +Severn stopped by the general resistance of the bow-halliers to +the use of horses in towing barges up the river. They +nailed the gates up along the towing path, and assembled in great +numbers to prevent any horses being attached to the +vessels. The magistrates made several attempts to convince +them of the unreasonableness and folly of their proceedings, but +to no purpose. At last the Riot Act was read, and a troop +of Scotch Greys marched into Worcester from Kidderminster. +Under this escort the gates were opened and several vessels taken +up the river, but not without determined opposition and much +disturbance. Eight men were committed for trial to the +sessions.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 11 <span +class="smcap">and</span> 12—Celebration of the passing of +the Reform Bill, in Worcester. On the Monday the Worcester +Political Union, with a great number of lodges and friendly +societies, paraded the streets with banners and music, and in the +evening dined at various public houses. On the Tuesday +evening the city was illuminated—the lighting up being +almost universal, and costly transparencies and devices in many +instances adopted.</p> +<p><a name="page278"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 278</span><span +class="smcap">June</span> 15—A Reform festival at Evesham, +700 persons dining at tables set out along the open +street—Vine Street. In the space between the tables +were raised twelve casks of ale, inscribed—“The +King,” “Reform,” “Grey,” +“Brougham,” &c. Mr. Workman presided. +Dinners also at Droitwich, Redditch, &c.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">July</span> 14—The cholera first +made its appearance in Worcester: most of the cases occurring in +the Pinch, at the back of Bridge Place, Hylton Street, a most +dirty and close locality. It continued to rage till the +middle of October: 293 cases having occurred in the whole; and +the deaths amounted to 79. The medical men, forming the +Board of Health, had been most indefatigable in their labours and +attentions to the sick in the Cholera Hospital at Henwick. +A very handsome subscription was entered into for the relief of +cholera sufferers and their families, and the proceeds of a +collection after a sermon by the Rev. Canon Benson, and of a +concert at the College Hall (£156), were devoted to the +same good object. The cholera visited every town in the +county with more or less severity. It raged most fearfully +at Droitwich, Redditch, and Dudley; the cases in the latter town +amounting to 1,132, with a proportion of 250 deaths. Warm +salt baths were found very beneficial at Droitwich. The +Yeomanry, this year, assembled at Warwick, because of the +prevalence of the disease in Worcester.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">July</span> 19—The <span +class="smcap">Provincial Medical and Surgical Association</span> +formed, at a meeting held in the board room of the Worcester +Infirmary. More than fifty medical men were present; and +the venerable Dr. Johnstone, of Birmingham, was called to the +chair. The opening address was read by Dr. Hastings, the +founder of the association; another on the objects and modes of +medical investigation by Dr. Barlow; with various medical papers +by Dr. Milligan, Dr. Malden, Dr. Jeffery, and others; with +“A proposal to establish County Natural History +Societies” by Dr. Conolly. The value and importance +of this association are now fully established.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">October</span> 9 <span +class="smcap">and</span> 10—Musical Festival at +Kidderminster, in St. George’s Church, for the benefit of +the National Charity Schools. <i>The Messiah</i> was +performed one morning, and a selection of sacred music the +other. There was also a grand miscellaneous concert on +Tuesday evening, and a ball on Wednesday evening. The +result was highly satisfactory. The receipts were—for +tickets, £853; collections, £209; donations, +£180: total, £1,242. The expenses amounted to +£792, and £450 was thus left as a balance in favour +of the charity.</p> +<p><a name="page279"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 279</span><span +class="smcap">October</span> 27—The revising barristers +having completed the inquiry into the first registration of the +voters of the city of Worcester under the Reform Act, there were +left upon the list 1,521 freemen and 721 £10 householders +in addition, making a total of 2,242. Under the old state +of things there were about 1,600 resident and 800 non-resident +freemen, so that the Reform Act somewhat lessened the number of +voters. It was stated, incidentally, that from the year +1760 to 1832 (seventy-two years) the Corporation of Worcester had +admitted 5,092 freemen—viz., 2,625 by right of servitude, +1,222 by birth, 1,103 by purchase, and 142 had been honorarily +admitted. The constituency of the county, after revision of +the lists, amounted to 8,283—viz. 3,122 for the western and +5,161 for the eastern division. Total population, +110,348. The voters for the city and various boroughs +numbered 4,235.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">November</span> 5—The Duchess of +Kent and Princess Victoria passed through the county, escorted by +the Worcestershire Yeomanry, who in reward for this service have +since received the appellation of the “Queen’s +Own.” The royal party passed through Tenbury, Witley, +Worcester, and Bromsgrove to Hewell, where they stayed for the +night, being welcomed at each of these places with the utmost +loyalty and enthusiasm. At Hewell, the townspeople of +Bromsgrove and Redditch presented addresses, and the nobility of +the county assembled in the evening to pay their respects to +their Royal Highnesses.</p> +<h3>1833.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Measures</span> called for by the state of +Ireland occupied the first session of the Reformed +Parliament. The Coercion Bill, for the repression of crime, +was easily passed, and then came the Irish Church Bill, to +abolish the Church cess or rate, in that country, to impose a +graduated tax on clergymen, instead of taking first-fruits, and +to abolish ten out of twenty-two bishoprics. The bill +passed with little opposition; but a most important alteration +was made in the Lords, as to the appropriation of the revenues of +the suppressed sees. A motion, made in the Commons, for a +repeal of half the Malt Tax, was carried by 162 to 152; but +ministers, a few days afterwards, got the vote rescinded. +Consols averaged 88; wheat averaged 52s. 11d.</p> +<p><a name="page280"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 280</span><span +class="smcap">January</span> 25—A police force, organised +by the Worcester City Commissioners, with Inspector Sharpe at +their head.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span>—The Worcester +Philharmonic Society, just formed, gave their first concert.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">March</span> 26—Mr. G. R. Robinson +moved for a committee to revise the taxation of the country, and +to inquire into the propriety of substituting a property tax in +lieu of a great portion of it. The motion was defeated by +the opposition of Government: 155 members, however, voted in its +favour; amongst the minority being the Hon. H. B. Lygon and Sir +Thomas Winnington.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 8—<span +class="smcap">The Worcestershire Natural History Society</span> +formed, at a meeting held at the Guildhall, Worcester, with Sir +C. S. Smith, Bart., in the chair.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 1—The Hirondelle coach, +passing through Worcester, was driven from Liverpool to +Cheltenham, a distance of 136 miles, in 9 hours and 33 +minutes—14 miles an hour, including stoppages.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 17—On Mr. W. +Whitmore’s motion to substitute a fixed duty on corn for +the alterative duties then in force, Mr. G. R. Robinson and Mr. +R. Godson voted in the minority. Colonel Davies also paired +off in favour of the motion.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 6—Colonel Davies moved a +vote of confidence in ministers, with reference to their conduct +towards Portugal, which was carried by a majority of 263.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">July</span> 22—Funeral of the Earl +of Plymouth, in Tardebigg Church. The whole of the Yeomanry +were assembled on the occasion, and great crowds gathered to +witness the procession. The burial service was performed by +the Lord Bishop of Worcester, assisted by the vicar of Tardebigg, +the Right Hon. and Rev. Lord Aston.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 9—The Government +Commissioners made their inquiries at Worcester into the Charter +and Corporation of the city. The forty-eight members of the +old Corporation were, of course, self-elected, and the nomination +virtually rested with a few of the body. They rigidly +excluded all professional men and all Dissenters. The +income of the body was stated to the Commissioners to be +£2,100 per annum, and the expenditure about £2,000; +this included subscriptions and donations for charitable +purposes, amounting to about £300 a year. It was +accidentally discovered, during the inquiry, that the sword +bearer charged one penny per pot on all fruit brought into the +market, though the toll was only one farthing. A complaint +was made that the £20 charged upon persons, not freemen, +who wished to trade within the limits of the city, had <a +name="page281"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 281</span>the effect +of discouraging young men from entering upon small +businesses.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">October</span>—The <i>Bridgwater +Treatises</i> presented to the Rev. George Redford, by some +members of the Worcester Literary and Scientific Institution, for +“his just castigation of their scandalous libeller, +‘O. S.,’ for his refutation of the assertion +‘That the diffusion of useful knowledge leads to +atheism,’ and for his defence of the anti-sectarian +principles upon which the London University is +founded.”</p> +<p><span class="smcap">October</span> 25—A prisoner, named +M‘Kenzie, confined in the City Gaol for robbery, made his +escape—slipping out of his cell just as the turnkey was +locking up. He had to make a jump of eleven feet from the +top of one building to another; and he afterwards said that, +before making it, his courage failed him, so he knelt down and +asked God to assist him, and, by God’s help, he +succeeded! A truly curious instance of superstitious +profanity. He was retaken at Bridgnorth.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">November</span> 14—Mr. Cockburn, the +Government Commissioner for inquiring into Municipal +Corporations, attended at Bewdley. The burgesses and +capital burgesses of the borough were all elected, or chosen by +the Corporation, and, before the passing of the Reform Act, the +privilege of voting was thus confined to some thirty or forty +persons. Previous to Mr. Robarts being elected the member, +it was customary for the candidate who found favour to give some +£300 or £400, and then there never was any opposition +to his taking his seat. It was said that these +“compliments” had always been applied to public +purposes. Fifty guineas were allowed annually, out of the +Corporation funds, for the bailiff’s feast. No +satisfactory account was rendered of the Corporation property and +receipts; and the corporate officers refused to answer any +questions about the Bridge Trust, or the tolls taken +thereat. The toll on foot passengers, it appeared, had been +discontinued for eighteen years; but £400 a year was raised +from the toll on carriages and horses.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Act</span>—To enable the +Stratford and Moreton Railway Company to make a branch to +Shipston-on-Stour.</p> +<h3>1834.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">On</span> the 1st of August in this year +slavery ceased to disgrace the British colonies. The Irish +Church continued <a name="page282"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +282</span>to be the principal subject of discussion in +Parliament; and on the 27th of May, Mr. Ward moved that the +temporalities of that church ought to be reduced; and as a +majority of the cabinet had resolved so far to accede to the +motion as to appoint a commission of inquiry, Mr. Stanley, Sir +James Graham, the Duke of Richmond, and the Earl of Ripon +resigned their offices. The other measures of the ministry +with regard to Ireland were equally embarrassing in their +results. The unadvised disclosures of Mr. Littleton to Mr. +O’Connell, respecting the supposed intentions of the +cabinet as to the Coercion Bill, led to the retirement of Earl +Grey, and Viscount Melbourne became Prime Minister in his +stead. The measures proposed for the relief of Dissenters +were withdrawn from the opposition of Dissenters themselves; and +the only act passed this session, of great public importance, was +that for the amendment of the Poor Laws, which received the +assent of almost all parties. Mr. Hume’s motion for a +gradual repeal of the Corn Laws was negatived by 312 to +155—Sir James Graham being the principal speaker against +it. In November, when the death of Earl Spencer removed +Lord Althorpe to the Upper House, and so further weakened the +Whigs, the King dismissed them, and called the Duke of Wellington +to his councils. Sir Robert Peel was then appointed Prime +Minister, and Parliament was dissolved. Three per Cents. +averaged 90½. wheat, 46s. 2d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span>—Mr. G. R. Robinson, +M.P. for Worcester, elected chairman at Lloyds.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">February</span>—Lord Foley made +strenuous endeavours to get Worcester created a bonded port.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 8—The +“Athenæum,” Foregate Street, a building erected +for the accommodation of the Worcester Literary and Scientific +Institution, opened by an inaugural address from C. H. Hebb, +Esq., the president. A dinner, of the members and +supporters of the <a name="page283"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +283</span>institution, afterwards took place at the Bell Inn, +Broad Street, with Colonel Davies, M.P., in the chair.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 9—Paganini performed in +Worcester.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 15—The first stone of the +Monument on the Lickey, erected to the memory of the Earl of +Plymouth, laid by Lord Lyttelton—the gentry of the +neighbourhood, the Cavalry, and a large concourse of spectators +being present. It was raised by public subscription. +It is a simple obelisk of Anglesea marble, raised on a pedestal +17 feet high and 20 feet square; the top of the pillar is +91½ feet from the ground, and it is so situated as to be +seen at a distance of many miles.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 16—The first anniversary +of the Worcestershire Natural History Society held in the +Guildhall, Edward Holland, Esq., the newly elected president, in +the chair. Dr. Streeten read the report of the +committee. In the evening the members dined together at the +Crown Hotel, Broad Street.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 2—The first general +exhibition of paintings opened in Worcester, in the lecture room +of the Athenæum, Foregate Street. It contained 195 +pictures, and was a most admirable selection. Amongst +others were—“Cupid interceding for Psyche,” by +Etty; Constable’s “Barge on the Stour;” David +Roberts’s “Antwerp Cathedral;” two from the +easel of Alexander Frazer; and others by Stanfield, Danby, +Pickersgill, Chalon, Jackson, Howard, Creswick, &c.; while +the local artists were also very fairly represented. The +pictures were very ably criticised in the <i>Worcester +Herald</i>, by a gentleman named Cary, who, for this purpose, +adopted the sobriquet of “Lorenzo.”</p> +<p><span class="smcap">July</span>—Petitions sent up to +Parliament, from various parishes in the city and county, +expressing confidence in the Established Church, and praying that +Dissenters might be kept out of the Universities.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 1—The first number of +<i>The Analyst</i>, a monthly journal of literature and natural +history, principally devoted to the midland counties, published +in Worcester. It was edited by William Holl, Esq., and +reached a tenth volume. It was a clever and readable +publication.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 17—The Bishop of +Exeter preached at Hallow Church on behalf of the Sunday +schools. Next day the Rev. Prelate visited Worcester, and +was presented by the Mayor with a handsomely bound copy of +<i>Green’s History of Worcester</i>, as a token of +admiration of his zealous defence of the establishment.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 1—Lord Deerhurst, +while shooting in Sir Charles <a name="page284"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 284</span>Cockerell’s covers, at +Sezincote, received the contents of a gun in his face, and lost +the sight of his right eye.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 25—Church rate +contest at Dudley, carried on with all the zeal witnessed at a +general election. The anti-rate party had a few weeks +before defeated the church party in vestry, but another meeting +was called for this day, when a rate of 10d. in the pound was +proposed by Mr. Isaac Badger, and carried on a poll by 474 to 390 +votes.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Act</span>—For better +supplying the town of Dudley with water.</p> +<h3>1835.</h3> +<p>As the Reform enthusiasm had passed away, the elections +resulted unfavourably for the Whigs—the great majority of +the counties returning Conservative members. The Whigs, +however, finding that they still possessed a majority in the new +house, set themselves to oppose Sir Robert Peel’s +Government on every point. They carried Mr. Abercromby, as +Speaker, by a majority of 10, and an amendment on the address by +a majority of 7. Sir Robert, however, continued to bring +forward his measures, some of which were generally approved of, +and he bade fair to gain the confidence of the country even under +such disadvantageous circumstances. But on the introduction +of the Tithe Bill for Ireland, Lord John Russell moved that no +settlement of Irish Church affairs would be satisfactory on any +other basis than that of appropriating its surplus revenues to +educational purposes; and this was carried by a majority of +27. Sir Robert Peel and his colleagues then retired from +office, and Lord Melbourne again became Prime Minister. The +rest of the session was almost wholly spent in passing the +Municipal Reform Bill, and an attempt to carry a Bill for +regulating the Irish Church, which was so mutilated in the Lords +that ministers abandoned it. Consols averaged 91; wheat, +39s. 4d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">February</span> 19—In the +well-remembered division on the choice of Speaker for the new +House of Commons under Sir R. Peel’s ministry, <a +name="page285"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 285</span>Sir T. +Winnington, Bart., Sir C. Cockerell, Captain Winnington, Mr. G. +R. Phillips, and Mr. Cookes voted in the majority of 316 for Mr. +Abercrombie—and Mr. Holland, Mr. Robinson, Colonel Lygon, +Mr. Borthwick, Mr. Hawkes, Mr. Bailey, and Mr. Barneby in the +minority of 306 for Sir C. M. Sutton. Thus the whole 12 +county members were present, and 5 voted for Mr. Abercrombie and +7 for Sir C. Manners Sutton.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">March</span> 10—On the Marquis of +Chandos’s motion for a repeal of the Malt Tax, which was +defeated by a majority of 158, T. H. Cookes, Esq., E. Holland, +Esq., Captain Winnington, J. Bailey, Esq., G. R. Robinson, Esq., +Sir T. Winnington, and Mr. Hawkes voted in the majority—and +Col. Lygon, Mr. G. R. Phillips, Mr. Borthwick, and Mr. Barneby in +the minority.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 20—The East +Worcestershire Conservative Association formed at a meeting at +Droitwich, over which John S. Pakington, Esq., presided; the +object being to rescue the Eastern Division from the hands of the +Whigs. The annual subscription was fixed at 5s., but large +donations were given by Lord Redesdale, Lord Eastnor, and +others.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span>—Addresses sent to Sir +Robert Peel—requesting him to continue to hold office, and +expressing confidence in his administration—from Worcester, +Droitwich, Evesham, Hagley, and Oldswinford. A public +meeting was held at Kidderminster, for the purpose of sending an +address to His Majesty—the chair taken by Thomas Bradley, +Esq., the High Bailiff—praying the King to continue the +Government in Sir Robert Peel’s hands. The address +received 1,473 signatures.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 25—The first stone of the +Worcestershire Natural History Society’s Museum and Lecture +Room, Foregate Street, Worcester, laid by Lord Lyttelton.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 12—Petition presented by +Mr. Robinson, from Worcester, in favour of the Municipal +Corporation Bill, to which 4,300 signatures were attached.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 15—The second exhibition +of modern paintings opened at the Athenæum, Foregate +Street, containing 228 pictures. Amongst them was +M‘Clise’s fine picture, “The Installation of +Captain Rock;” Danby’s “Enchanted Island” +and “Solitude;” five of Constable’s; two of +Creswick’s; with others by Copley Fielding, Lee, +&c. The Worcester artists were well represented.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">July</span> 30—The first stone of +St. Paul’s Church, Blockhouse, Worcester, laid by the Lord +Bishop of the Diocese; the Recorder, <a name="page286"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 286</span>Earl Coventry, the Corporation, and +a large concourse of spectators attending. The church was +built entirely by voluntary subscription, being intended to meet +the spiritual wants of the population living in the +extra-parochial district, and consequently not formally under the +charge of any particular clergyman.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 4—Mr. Sidebottom, as +Town Clerk of Worcester, examined before the House of Lords, as +one of the witnesses against the Municipal Corporations Reform +Bill. His testimony went to say that the Corporation, as it +was, was very good—that there was never any +jobbing—that the freemen had held their rights ever since +1540—that the freemen were become such by servitude or +birth, saying nothing about purchase—and that any +alteration must be for the worse.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">October</span> 4—The clergy and +Dissenting ministers generally, throughout the county, celebrated +the third centenary of the Reformation, and the printing of the +first entire English Protestant Bible by Coverdale, by preaching +appropriate sermons on this day.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">October</span> 6, 7, <span +class="smcap">and</span> 3—Mr. John Constable, R.A., the +celebrated painter, lectured at the Athenæum, Worcester, on +landscape painting.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">October</span>—Pershore and Upton +Poor Law Unions incorporated.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span>—Election of the +Municipal Corporations—At Kidderminster the Conservatives +had a decided majority; and W. B. Best, Esq., was chosen +Mayor. At Evesham, also, they preponderated; William +Barnes, Esq., the former Mayor, was here reëlected. At +Bewdley the new body were all Conservatives; Slade Baker, Esq., +chosen Mayor. At Droitwich they were all liberals; and E. +B. Penrice, Esq., was elected chief magistrate.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Act</span>—For improving the +turnpike roads leading into and from the city of Worcester.</p> +<h3>1836.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Tithe Commutation Act and the +Dissenters’ Marriage Act were the two principal measures +carried this year; the other bills proposed by Government, +respecting the Irish Church, Irish Corporations, and Charitable +Trusts, being so altered in the Lords, that the Commons refused +to agree to their amendments, and they were dropped. +Consols averaged 90; wheat averaged 48s. 6d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span> 19—Evesham first +lighted with gas.</p> +<p>J<span class="smcap">anuary</span> 26—<span +class="smcap">The Worcester Diocesan Church Building +Society</span> formed at a meeting at the Guildhall, +Worcester.</p> +<p><a name="page287"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 287</span><span +class="smcap">February</span>—The Kidderminster Town +Council having sent up a list of six gentlemen (all +Conservatives) as magistrates for the borough, Lord John Russell +refused to approve it, and substituted three other parties (two +being Whigs) for three of the names on the list.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span>—The Commissioners +appointed to inquire into the revenues of the Established Church +presented their report, from which it appeared that the total +number of benefices in the see of Worcester was 223; gross total +income per annum £73,255: 111 curates were employed at a +gross stipend of £9,002; average, £81 per +annum. The incomes of the incumbents varied from £20 +to £1,500 a year. The gross income of the see of +Worcester was set down at £6,916, and of the Dean and +Chapter at £12,088. The eight minor canons received +£34 a year, the precentor £14. 15s., the schoolmaster +£39. 19s. 6d., the under master £28. 1 s. 5d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 11—Dinner given at the +Star Hotel to T. C. Brock, Esq., by the Hunt Committee, on his +resignation of the mastership of the hounds into the hands of +Captain Candler. The Hon. W. J. Coventry took the chair; +and J. S. Pakington, Esq., was vice president.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 26—The first stone of +Hartlebury New Church laid by Mrs. Baker, wife of the rector, and +daughter of the Bishop of the Diocese.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 30—A splendid silver +vase presented, at the George Hotel, Droitwich, to Mr. T. G. +Curtler, “in gratitude for his long services as Town Clerk +of the borough, and as a tribute of respect and esteem for his +high professional integrity and private character.” +J. S. Pakington, Esq., was called to the chair by the meeting, +and presented the plate in a highly eulogistic speech.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">July</span> 8—<i>The Kidderminster +Messenger</i> started by Mr. Arthur Brough, a bookseller in that +town, and also carrying on a similar business at Stourport. +It at first professed to be a neutral newspaper, and, as such, +had an extensive circulation amongst men of all parties in +Kidderminster and the neighbourhood. Mr. Brough afterwards +thought he could, as a commercial speculation, improve the paper +by making it a thorough going Tory print, and he gave it the name +of the <i>Ten Towns’ Messenger</i>, alluding to ten towns +round Kidderminster in which it circulated. From this time +it was furious in its politics and in the language employed to +advocate its principles. It reached its greatest +circulation when it extended its labours to Birmingham; the news +of which town was given at much length, and it assumed, +consequently the additional title of <i>The </i><a +name="page288"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +288</span><i>Birmingham Times</i>. This was in +1839–40; and from 1,700 to 1,800 copies, weekly, were sold +at this time. In 1841, however, Mr. Brough started the +<i>National Advertiser</i>, by which he expected to make much +more money than by the <i>Ten Towns</i>, and in June, 1842, he +sold it to the Rev. Charles Eckersall. The Tractarian +principles which it now advocated were, however, by no means +palatable to the majority of its readers, and the circulation of +the paper gradually declined, till Mr. Eckersall—like most +other amateur newspaper proprietors, having lost much money by +it—got rid of it. The paper then became the property +of Mr. Friend, bookseller, of Kidderminster, but, from various +causes continued to fall off in circulation; and when it had sunk +to some 400 weekly, it was at last altogether discontinued on the +30th of June, 1849.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 25—Two superb pieces +of plate—a silver vase and salver, weighing together 286 +ounces—presented to the Rev. J. Topham, M.A., of Droitwich, +by J. H. H. Foley, Esq., on behalf of the parishioners and +friends of Mr. Topham, who had purchased them by subscription, +“as a token of respect to his general character, and a +testimony of the sense entertained by them of his services in the +cause of civil and religious liberty.” The ceremony +of presentation took place at the Court House.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 26—St. +Peter’s Church, Malvern Wells, consecrated.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 31—Mr. Macready +performed at Worcester Theatre in <i>Ion</i>.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span> 14—Worcester Union +incorporated under the New Poor Law, and the guardians elected by +the several city parishes. H. B. Tymbs, Esq., was elected +chairman of the new board, and Mr. Alderman R. Evans +vice-chairman.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span> 24—The Lord +Chancellor appointed, as trustees of the Worcester charities, the +gentlemen nominated by the Town Council, in preference to those +named by the old Corporation. The trustees thus appointed +were—the Mayor (C. H. Hebb, Esq.), Alderman R. Evans, John +Dent, Esq., Mr. Alderman Hall, Robert Berkeley, jun., Esq., +Alderman W. Corles, William Shaw, Esq., John Nash, Esq., George +Allies, Esq., Mr. Thomas Grainger, Humphrey Chamberlain, Esq., J. +P. Lavender, Esq., Mr. Alderman Howell, Francis Thomas Gibb, +Esq., John Williams, Esq. The charities under the +management of the six masters were exempted from the operation of +the seventy-first section of the Municipal Reform Act. The +Rev. E. Crane resigned the chaplaincy of Berkeley’s +Hospital, and the Rev. Edwin Faulkner elected in his stead. +Mr. E. Corles was chosen solicitor to the trust.</p> +<p><a name="page289"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 289</span><span +class="smcap">Local Act</span>—For making the Birmingham +and Gloucester Railway.</p> +<h3>1837.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> subjects which occupied the +attention of the legislature this year were many and important, +but no measures of great public polity actually passed. +Ecclesiastical matters formed the prominent topic, and a bill to +abolish church rates, and provide for the reparation of churches, +by putting the property of bishops, deans, and chapters into +commission, was read a second time, but the majority was so +small, five votes only, that ministers could not proceed with +it. King William IV died on the 20th of June; and, in the +elections which followed the accession of the young Queen, the +Whigs with difficulty maintained their majority. Consols +averaged 91½; wheat averaged 55s. 10d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span>—Great excitement in +Bromsgrove over politico-parochial matters. Two parties +were appointed by the Conservative party at the usual +time—Easter week; but this appointment, on an appeal to Dr. +Phillimore, the Chancellor of the Diocese, was declared informal +and illegal. There was, consequently, a fresh election in +this month, when the whole parish was routed up to vote. +The result was, the choice of the two liberals—Messrs. +Ellins (who had 945 votes) and Hill (who had 915). The +Conservatives were Messrs. Edwards and Penn, who obtained 381 and +372 votes respectively. A scrutiny was demanded, and it +dragged out a weary length with all sorts of expenses, but left +the result of the election unaltered.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 13—Bazaar at +Evesham, for the restoration of St. Lawrence’s Church, +producing £250.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">October</span> 30—Public meeting of +the burgesses of Worcester at the Bell Inn, to consider the best +means of declaring their grateful sense of Mr. Hebb’s +constant endeavours in the behalf of civil and religious liberty, +and their approval of his conduct during the two years he had +filled the office of chief magistrate. It was determined +that he should be requested to sit for his portrait, and <a +name="page290"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 290</span>that the +Council should be asked to place it in the Assembly Room, where +it now hangs.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Acts</span>—For amending and +enlarging the powers of the act for erecting a County Hall and +Courts of Assize; the New Cattle Market Act; Birmingham and +Gloucester Railway Amendment Act, with powers to make branches to +Worcester and Tewkesbury.</p> +<h3>1838.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Irish</span> Tithes and +Corporations—Church Rates—Jamaica and the Negro +Apprenticeship System, and the Canadas—formed the subjects +of discussion in Parliament. In the year previous had +commenced that series of deficits which contributed so much to +the weakness and ultimate downfall of the Melbourne +administration: for finance is, after all, the life-blood of a +ministry. The Whigs could not, however, fairly be blamed +for the state of the national exchequer, which, in truth, was the +unavoidable consequence of the measures of former years. +Immediately after the restriction of small notes, in the year +1829, the prices of merchandise and the amount of mercantile +transactions rapidly declined; though as the seasons were +unfavourable, speculators managed, by aid of the sliding scale, +to keep up the price of corn till 1833, when it fell to less than +40s. a quarter. Speculation in the American trade gained +for a time the appearance of prosperity; but on the failure of +the United States Bank in 1836, affairs were brought to a crisis, +and our manufacturers and merchants were plunged into extreme +distress—trade was utterly stagnated—and when the +scarcity of 1839 necessitated large importations of corn, and a +drain of gold to pay for it, the Bank of England was well nigh +brought into the peril of 1825. Consols averaged 93; wheat +averaged 64s. 7d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span>—The <i>Worcestershire +Chronicle</i> established by a joint stock company, at the head +of which were some of the leading <a name="page291"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 291</span>Reformers of the city and +county. It was designed to supply a want, then beginning to +be generally felt by this party, of an organ for the advocacy of +their opinions, and the advancement of their interests through +the medium of the press. The first number was published on +the 3rd of January, 1838. In the year 1842 the concern +passed into private hands, and was transferred to the present +proprietors.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span> 22—Mr. Pakington made +his Parliamentary <i>debût</i> in a speech on Canadian +affairs, which was very well received.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span>—Subscriptions at +Evesham, Redditch, and Pershore, for the relief of the local poor +during an inclement season.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">February</span>—George Williams, +Esq., surgeon, of Bewdley, nominated by Lord John Russell as a +magistrate of that borough, and the Town Council thereof very +indignant at not having been consulted. The Liberals +afterwards <i>fêted</i> Mr. Williams at a dinner at the +George Inn.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">March</span> 27—Celebration of Lord +Ward’s majority at Himley, Sedgley, Dudley, &c., by a +succession of dinners and donations to the poor. The barrel +of ale called “Big Ben,” which had been brewed on +Lord Ward’s natal day, and reserved especially for this +occasion, was tapped and distributed. His lordship layed +the first stone of a new church at Gornal, and afterwards +entertained a party of fifty gentlemen to a sumptuous feast at +Himley Hall. He declared himself a Conservative.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 28—Celebration of Her +Majesty’s coronation in Worcester and other county +towns. In Worcester the Yeomanry and Militia, the Town +Council, 5,000 Sunday school children, and the various trade +companies made up a procession to the Cathedral, where a sermon +was preached by Dr. Faussett. 2,100 poor people dined at +the public expense in the Guildhall, Market House, and Sansome +Walk. 200 gentlemen dined together at the Shire Hall; +George Allies, Esq., Mayor, in the chair. Fireworks in the +evening; and a public breakfast for the ladies next morning in +the Shire Hall.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">October</span> 4—At the annual +assembly of the Yeomanry this year, Colonel Clive presented +Captain Emmott with a splendid service in silver, which had been +subscribed for generally by the regiment. The officers this +year gave a grand ball in the New Shire Hall.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">October</span> 27—A man named George +Burrows committed from Droitwich for stealing hay, made his +escape from the County Gaol, having managed to secrete himself in +the yard until all the rest of the prisoners were marched into +the chapel to attend service. All <a +name="page292"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 292</span>his gaol +clothes were found returned one morning, being thrown into the +court yard of the prison.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span> 4—Consecration of +the church of St. Peter the Great, Worcester, by the Lord Bishop +of the Diocese. The sermon was preached by the Rev. C. +Benson. The old building would only accommodate 350 +persons; the present church contains 408 appropriated, and 624 +free sittings. The total cost was £3,600. +£169 were collected after the services this day.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span> 6—Consecration of +Christ Church Chapel, Catshill, near Bromsgrove, by the Lord +Bishop of Rochester. This chapel, built for the +accommodation of a populous district, contains 520 +sittings. £45 were collected after a sermon by the +Bishop.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span> 16—Great excitement +created at Bromsgrove and its neighbourhood, by the supposed +murder of a Redditch needle pointer, named Joshua Hollier. +He went to the Malt Shovel public house at Burcott, and was +drinking, quarrelling, and fighting there during the whole of +this (Sunday) afternoon, with “navvies” who worked on +the Birmingham and Gloucester line then making in the +neighbourhood. He went out of the house about eight +o’clock, and was soon after found lying on the ground +insensible. His shoes had been taken away. He was +brought into the house, and shortly afterwards died without +having spoken. The coroner’s jury, after six +days’ examination of witnesses, returned a verdict of +wilful murder against John Rose, a “navvie” who went +to the house with him, and was supposed to have kicked the +deceased as he lay on the ground, and so caused his death. +He was heard afterwards to say he “had given him +enough,” and such like expressions. The grand jury +before whom the case came threw out the bill.</p> +<h3>1839.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Whigs being reduced to an +extremity of weakness, resigned office in May, when the measures +they proposed to take with regard to Jamaica were only carried by +a majority of five. Sir Robert Peel, however, was unable to +form a Government, because Her Majesty would not consent to +change the ladies of her bedchamber, and Lord Melbourne once more +assumed the Premiership. The Chartist disturbances at +Newport and elsewhere were the most notable occurrences of the +year. The <a name="page293"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +293</span>Corn Law question began to secure increased +attention. Consols averaged 92½; wheat averaged 70s. +8d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span>—Discussions on +Socialism rife in Worcester. Robert Owen having been +propounding his plans, John Brindley, head master of the +Oldswinford hospital, delivered a series of lectures to refute +him. A public controversy between them at the Guildhall +attracted great crowds. Dr. Malden took the chair, and +Brindley spoke first. Owen afterwards at great length gave +a rambling account of his opinions, till he at last gave +utterance to a very gross sentiment, at which a general yell +arose, and the proceedings terminated in the utmost +confusion. A vote of censure was passed on Owen in dumb +show, and the people were so excited that he narrowly escaped +some very rough treatment.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span> 15—Bewdley first +lighted with gas.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span>—The gaol fever raged +in the county prison, in which, though only built for 90, no less +than 209 prisoners were confined.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">February</span> 18—The members for +this county who voted against Mr. Villiers’s motion that +parties should be heard at the bar of the House against the Corn +Laws, were Mr. Bailey, Mr. Hawkes, General Lygon, Mr. Pakington, +Mr. Horace St. Paul, Captain Rushout, Sir T. Winnington, and +Captain Winnington. Colonel Davies and Lord M. Hill voted +for it, and Mr. Godson was absent. The motion was negatived +by 361 to 172.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 7—Public meeting of the +citizens of Worcester to sanction the newly formed <span +class="smcap">Chamber of Commerce</span>, as an association +simply intended to promote the commercial interests of the city +without reference to politics. Mr. Alderman Allies filled +the chair, and gentlemen of all parties spoke warmly in support +of the Chamber.</p> +<h3>1840.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Parliament</span> was engaged for a great +part of the session with the question of privilege arising out of +the Stockdale and Hansard case. The Whigs continued to hold +office on most precarious tenure, being defeated in their +proposal to allow Prince Albert £50,000 a year. A +want of confidence motion, however, proposed by Sir J. Yarde +Buller, resulted in a majority of 21 in their favour. The +happy marriage of the Queen with Prince Albert of Saxe <a +name="page294"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 294</span>Coburg and +Gotha was celebrated on the 10th February. Consols averaged +91; wheat averaged 66s. 4d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">February</span> 4—The Board of +Guardians for the Pershore Union petitioned the House of Lords +for the dismissal of the assistant poor law commissioners, as a +useless and expensive body of men. The Rev. F. Best opposed +the motion, but it was carried by 25 to 5. The Droitwich +Guardians did the same.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">February</span> 10—Her +Majesty’s marriage kept in Worcester as a general +holiday—dinners given to operatives by their +employers—and a ball in the evening at the Guildhall. +Public dinners at Great Malvern, Droitwich, and Evesham; and at +the latter place a subscription was entered into for the poor, +which amounted to 100 guineas.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">March</span> 28—The Worcestershire +Agricultural Society held a general meeting of members to +petition against any alteration of the Corn Laws. Sir A. +Lechmere, Bart., was in the chair; and the petition, which was +proposed by Mr. John Williams and seconded by Mr. John Dent, was +unanimously adopted.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 18—A rule granted by +the Court of Queen’s Bench, calling upon E. B. Penrice, +Esq., Mayor of Droitwich, to show cause why a writ of <i>quo +warranto</i> should not be issued against him for having held the +office of Mayor of that borough for three successive years. +This discreditable proceeding was taken under an obsolete statute +of Queen Anne’s time. Though the proceedings were +abandoned, Mr. Penrice resigned the office, and Mr. Alderman +Tombs was elected in his stead.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span>—The <span +class="smcap">Prisoners’ Relief Society</span> first +established. This association, with very limited means, has +done much good, and that of a very necessary kind, in assisting +well behaved prisoners to go to their homes and escape from +temptation on their release from confinement. The credit of +suggesting it is wholly due to the Rev. Thomas Pearson.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span>—The <i>Paul Pry</i> made +its appearance in Worcester, filled with scurrilous lampoons upon +individual character, and the agent in that city received a sound +horsewhipping in his own back parlour from one of the parties +libelled.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 11—An excited church +rate contest in the parish of St. Martin, Worcester; the numbers +at the close of the poll being—for a rate of four-pence in +the pound, 185; against it, 183. A similar contest took +place in St. Peter’s parish a few days afterwards, which +ended in a majority of 66 for the rate—185 votes for and +119 against it.</p> +<p><a name="page295"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 295</span><span +class="smcap">July</span> 22—Great dinner of the operatives +of Bromsgrove, in an immense tent on the bowling green of the +Bell Inn. G. F. Iddins, Esq., filled the chair, and nearly +1,200 persons sat down at the tables. William Acton, Esq., +Mr. Twamley, Rev. T. Ashwell, Mr. J. B. Crane, Mr. F. T. Elgie, +and the Rev. Mr. Blakeman were the chief speakers, and the +obnoxiousness of church rates (a subject of great agitation at +Bromsgrove) the chief theme.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">July</span> 31—Silver bread basket +and waiter, pair of snuffers and tray presented to Captain Rayer +of Hillworth, by the tithepayers and titheowners of Castlemorton, +for the upright manner in which he had acted as agent for the +great tithes of that parish for twenty years.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 7—The Beer House Bill, +introduced by Mr. Pakington, received the royal assent.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 10—The Worcester +Bridge Trustees having determined to widen the bridge, and +offered a premium of ten guineas for the best plan, awarded the +same to Mr. E. L. Williams, in preference to the plans of Mr. +Daukes and Mr. Varden, by a majority of five. The bridge +has been widened in accordance with Mr. Williams’s plan, +and the alteration proves to be both elegant and durable.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 23—Several bodies +of dead infants found in an old house at Droitwich, where Mary +Hall, an aged crone of very eccentric habits, resided. Her +husband had been sexton of the parish of St. Peter’s, +Droitwich, and during his last illness the woman had pretended to +see his duties properly performed. These bodies, +however—instead of taking the trouble to have them +buried—she had stowed away amidst a variety of remnants of +food and other odds and ends. The whole house was in a +state of most disgusting filth. Mr. Hughes held an inquest +on the skeletons, and verdicts of “Died by the visitation +of God” were returned. Mr. W. H. Ricketts protested +against all such proceedings, as unnecessary, and said that at +the Michaelmas Sessions he should move for the disallowance of +the expenses.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">November</span> 10—The boiler of a +new locomotive, which had been brought on the Birmingham and +Gloucester Railway for trial, exploded while standing in a shed +at the Bromsgrove Station, and two men in the Company’s +employ, named Rutherford and Scaife, were killed. The +boiler plates were supposed not to have been of sufficient +thickness.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">November</span> 13—Lord Lyttelton +became a candidate for the office <a name="page296"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 296</span>of High Steward of Cambridge, in +opposition to Lord Lyndhurst. Lord Lyndhurst had 973 votes, +to 487 given for Lord Lyttelton.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Act</span>—For the +establishment of a Court of Requests for the parishes of +Kingsnorton and Northfield.</p> +<h3>1841.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Government having determined to +seek an escape from the exigencies of their financial position by +a reduction of the custom duties on articles of general +consumption, the party in the country, who had for some time been +seeking the abolition of all such duties, immediately assumed a +much greater importance. The article first chosen for +operation was sugar—Lord John Russell at the same time +giving notice that he intended to propose a fixed duty of 8s. +upon corn. The ministers, however, were defeated in their +proposal to reduce the sugar duties, by a majority of 36; and a +vote of want of confidence moved by Sir R. Peel, was carried by a +majority of one. Ministers then dissolved Parliament, +avowedly appealing to the country on their free trade +measures. The elections, however, were decidedly against +them. On the reassembling of Parliament an amendment was +carried on the address, by a majority of 91, and the Whigs +resigned. Sir Robert Peel then took office, but nothing +more was done this year in the way of legislation—the +finances being made to square by adding the £2,100,000 +deficiency in the revenue to the National Debt. Consols +averaged 89; wheat, 64s. 4d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span> 20—Accident on the +Birmingham and Gloucester Railway, at Bredon. A train, in +passing through a deep cutting, had shaken down a large quantity +of earth, in which the engine became embedded, and ran off the +line. The chain connecting the engine and tender snapped, +and so no harm occurred to the passengers; but the stoker fell +between the two, and his legs being cut off in a most dreadful +manner, he soon afterwards died.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span> 26—The body of a +respectable young female, named Mary Anne Patrick, found in +Salwarpe Brook, under what at first <a name="page297"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 297</span>appeared to be very suspicious +circumstances. She had been visiting relations at Wichbold, +and went out on the Wednesday morning for a walk by herself, but +no tidings were afterwards heard of her. When nearly a week +had elapsed, the Bromsgrove fire engine was passing through the +brook, and the body suddenly came to the surface. There +appeared to be some severe wounds on the head, which of course +originated the belief that she had been murdered; but when a +<i>post mortem</i> examination came to be made, it was clear that +she had fallen a victim to the pernicious practice of tight +lacing, and had fallen into the brook in an apoplectic fit. +The coroner’s jury returned an open verdict.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">July</span> 25—The fatal affray +between Mr. Emanuel Maiden, of the Shakspere Inn, and John +Fisher, ostler at the Star Hotel, which caused so much excitement +in Worcester, occurred this evening. Maiden and Fisher had +long been upon bad terms, and this night, about half-past twelve +o’clock, they unfortunately met in Angel Street, and a +furious quarrel took place. Maiden broke away from Sergeant +Chipp, who was trying to keep him back, and ran after +Fisher. Several witnesses said they saw Maiden strike +Fisher on the back of the head, and he fell across the +pavement. From the effects of the blow, or the fall, Fisher +died on the succeeding Wednesday; and after several days’ +inquiry, the coroner’s jury returned a verdict of +manslaughter against Maiden. He was admitted to bail on +Judge’s order, and tried at the ensuing Lent Assizes, when +he was found guilty, with a recommendation to mercy, and +sentenced to a month’s imprisonment without hard +labour.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 12—Bazaar and +concert at Evesham, for raising funds towards building new +national school-rooms, by which about £200 were +obtained.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">November</span>—John Hill Clifton, +Esq., T. G. Curtler, Esq., William Dent, Esq., Francis Hooper, +Esq., Matthew Pierpoint, Esq., and R. Yapp, Esq., all +Conservatives, put in the commission of the peace for the city of +Worcester.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span> 6—The <span +class="smcap">Worcester Ophthalmic Society</span> formed, and a +sharp contest for the assistant surgeonship between Mr. T. Walsh +and Mr. Everett, the former of whom had 162, and the latter 130 +votes.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span> 18—Several daring +robberies committed on the road between Severn Stoke and +Tewkesbury, and a locksmith named Richard Kington found +dead—robbed, and apparently murdered—<a +name="page298"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 298</span>at Clifton, +about midway between Severn Stoke and Kempsey. The +coroner’s jury returned a verdict of “wilful +murder” against a man of bad character living at Severn +Stoke. Kington’s knife and tobacco were found in +Tippin’s small clothes, and the waggoner’s whip, +which he had been carrying, in an outhouse adjoining to +Tippin’s abode. Tippin was tried at the ensuing +assizes, but was acquitted of the murder because there was some +doubt whether the hurts on the person of the deceased might not +have been caused by a cart wheel passing over his body; but he +was found guilty of robbing the deceased, and sentenced to +transportation for life.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Acts</span>—For better +assessing and collecting the poor rates in Kidderminster. +For repairing the road from Hagley to Birmingham. To extend +the jurisdiction of the Kingsnorton Court of Requests.</p> +<h3>1842.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Sir Robert Peel’s</span> measures, +which he would not disclose “till he was regularly called +in,” proved to be a three per cent. income tax, a sliding +scale of duties on corn, intended to keep the price at 56s., and +a new tariff—all of which, in spite of many dissentients on +both sides of the house, he carried by large majorities. +Consols averaged 92; wheat, 57s. 3d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span>—New magistrates added +to the commission of the peace at Kidderminster and +Evesham. At Kidderminster, John Sutton Barber, George +Hooman, James Morton, John Welch, and Thomas Bradley, +Esquires. At Evesham, E. T. Perrott, Robert Blayney, and +John Thomas, Esquires. Of course all were +Conservatives.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">February</span> 16—In the division +on Lord John Russell’s amendment to Sir Robert Peel’s +proposal to alter the sliding scale, Mr. Bailey, Mr. Borthwick, +Mr. Barneby, Mr. Godson, Mr. Hawkes, Mr. Pakington, Mr. Taylor, +General Lygon, and Mr. F. W. Knight, voted in the majority of 351 +against the amendment, and Lord M. Hill and Sir T. Winnington, +Bart., in the minority of 228 in its favour. Sir Thomas +Wilde paired off in its favour.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 1—The Worcester glove +manufacturers met and discussed Sir Robert Peel’s proposal +to reduce the duty on gloves in the new tariff, and said that +they should be obliged to cease to employ any men at all if it +was adopted. A deputation of the glovers <a +name="page299"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 299</span>afterwards +waited on Lord Ripon, and Sir Thomas Wilde very ably stated their +case—a plea <i>ad misericordiam</i>.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 26—Riots in Dudley, in +consequence of a reduction of wages amongst the nailors. +Several people hurt by the Enniskillen Dragoons, in clearing the +streets, and others committed to gaol.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 27—The Mayor of +Worcester (Edward Evans, Esq.), Mr. Alderman Hastings, Mr. +Alderman Lilly, and Mr. E. Webb, added to the Worcester Charity +Trustees, to fill up vacancies. The Conservatives presented +a petition, praying that the number of trustees might be +increased from fifteen to twenty-one, of course expecting that +the additional names would be appointed from their party, and so +they might obtain a preponderance in the body; but this was +opposed by the existing trustees, and the Lord Chancellor refused +to sanction it.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">July</span> 2—Sir Thomas Winnington +brought home his amiable bride (eldest daughter of Sir Compton +Domville) to Stanford Court, and was greeted by his tenantry and +neighbours in a very enthusiastic manner—triumphal arches, +music, strewing flowers, long processions, and other modes of +welcome being adopted to exhibit the feeling entertained towards +the honourable baronet.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">July</span> 25—First stone of +Wittington Church laid by the Rev. W. R. Holden.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 6—The colliers near +Dudley struck for an increase of wages, and the Dudley troop of +Yeomanry being called out, came upon them as they were proceeding +to violence at the Cotsall pits, and took ten men prisoners.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 23—St. Michael’s +Church, Worcester, consecrated by the Lord Bishop of the +Diocese.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">October</span> 15—Military +<i>fêtes</i> at Hewell. The usual permanent duty of +the Worcestershire Yeomanry was this year dispensed with, as many +of the troops had been engaged in harrassing service in the +collieries during the strikes; but the review was held in Hewell +Park—the inspecting officer being Colonel Thorne. The +whole regiment was afterwards invited by their colonel to dinner +in an immense tent near the hall—900 persons sitting down +to the feast. Amongst the company at the principal table +were Colonel Clive (chairman), Lord Lyttelton, Lord Foley, Earl +Somers, Viscount Eastnor, Lord Ward, Lord Sandys, Earl of +Dartmouth, Colonel Thorne, Sir William Clinton, Sir O. Wakeman, +Sir C. Throckmorton, J. H. H. Foley, Esq., J. S. Pakington, Esq., +Hon. and Rev. W. W. C. Talbot, &c. Colonel +Clive’s health was proposed by Lord Lyttelton, and drank +with the greatest enthusiasm.</p> +<p><a name="page300"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 300</span><span +class="smcap">Local Acts</span>—For the Improvement of the +River Severn; Stourbridge Roads Act; Bromyard Roads Act.</p> +<h3>1843.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Distress</span> in the manufacturing +districts gave increased force and vigour to the anti-corn law +agitation; but Lord Howick’s motion for a committee of +inquiry into the causes of that distress was negatived by a +majority of 306 to 191, and Mr. Villiers’s annual motion +for a committee of the whole House upon the corn laws was +supported by only 125 members, while 381 voted against it. +The defeat of Sir James Graham’s educational measure by the +opposition of the Dissenters was the most remarkable feature in +the Parliamentary year. In Scotland the year was most +signally marked by the secession of the non-intrusionist +ministers from the Established Church, carrying with them the +bulk of the laity—in Ireland, by the violence of the repeal +agitation, and the arrest of Mr. O’Connell—and in +Wales, by the singular outbreak against turnpike gates, known as +the Rebecca riots. Consols averaged 95; wheat averaged 50s. +1d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">February</span> 21—The <span +class="smcap">Worcester City Mission</span>, a Christian society +which has been, and continues to be, the means of doing a great +deal of good amongst the poor, with a very small income, +established at a meeting held at the Natural History +Society’s room, over which the Mayor presided.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 4—The Worcester +magistrates, at their quarter sessional meeting, appointed Mr. +Herbert Budd as surgeon to the City Gaol, in the room of Mr. F. +Walter, retired. The Council had claimed the right to see +to all the expenses of the gaol, and not leave the supply of +provisions in the hands of the visiting magistrates; and the +magistrates claimed the right of appointing all officers, under +the 38th clause of 1st Vict., cap. 78.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 17—Dinner to the Dudley +magistrates, to express approval of their conduct during recent +disturbances. Lord Ward presided, and Lord Lyttelton and +about one hundred other gentlemen were present. The +magistrates had refused to accept as bail for Chartists <a +name="page301"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 301</span>persons of +the same political opinions, and the matter had been made subject +of severe comment in the House of Commons.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span>—The Dissenters throughout +the county petitioned urgently against the educational measures +proposed by Government.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 20—A meeting held at +Bromsgrove, with the view of alleviating the distress of the +nailors, whom low wages, and a strike in consequence, had reduced +to a condition of grievous wretchedness. The Right Hon. and +Rev. Lord Aston took the chair, and a subscription was entered +into, and a goodly sum raised, to be laid out under the +management of a committee.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 1—A Commission of +Inquiry opened at the Angel Inn, Pershore, into the conduct of +the Rev. William Smith, Vicar of Overbury. The +commissioners appointed by the Bishop were Dr. Phillimore, +Chancellor of the Diocese; Archdeacon Timbrill; Rev. F. D. Gilby; +Rev. T. A. Strickland; and Rev. W. Parker. The charges +preferred by the parishioners were twenty-two in number, and were +supported by Mr. Elgie—Mr. Foley appearing for the +vicar. The inquiry lasted four days, and a great number of +witnesses were examined <i>pro.</i> and <i>con.</i> On the +18th, the chancellor pronounced the decision of the Commission in +the Lady Chapel at the Cathedral, Worcester. Many of the +charges were abandoned; and of those that remained, the +chancellor said that on six a <i>prima facie</i> case had been +made out for the Bishop to institute further proceedings. +These were, the removal of tombstones without a faculty; thrice +forcibly expelling the clerk during the service; placing persons +in the singing gallery to “read him down;” refusing +to ask the prayers of the congregation for a parishioner; and +interfering in the election of churchwardens. There was +also a special presentment as to his general conduct. As +the Rev. gentleman refused to submit the matter to the Bishop, +further proceedings were referred to the superior courts, but +none were taken. The Bishop afterwards addressed an +admonitory letter to the Rev. gentleman, which was published, and +drew from him a very singular reply.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 2—A porter on the +Birmingham and Gloucester Railway, named John Killcash, having +been drinking in the evening, laid himself down upon the rails +and fell asleep. The next train which came up severed his +head from his body.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 8—The Queen Dowager +took up her abode at Witley Court. Triumphal arches, and +other methods of welcome, were adopted at Droitwich. On the +following Monday week Her Majesty visited Worcester, and attended +divine service in the Cathedral. <a +name="page302"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 302</span>Her return +was to have been a public progress, but the torrents of rain +which descended spoilt the whole affair; so that all the civic +dignitaries could do was to rush down the Guildhall steps in +their scarlet robes, just as Her Majesty passed, and bow their +acknowledgments at the carriage door. On the evening after, +the tradesmen honoured by Her Majesty’s patronage +illuminated their houses. The Queen Dowager afterwards sent +a cheque for £100 to the funds of the Worcester +Infirmary.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 19—The first stone of +a new Chapel of Ease laid at Barnard’s Green, by the Lady +Emily Foley.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 30—The <span +class="smcap">Severn and Teme Fisheries Association</span> formed +at a public meeting held in the Guildhall, Worcester; Matthew +Pierpoint, Esq., in the chair.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">October</span> 7—Messrs. Cobden and +Bright visited Worcester, in furtherance of the anti-corn law +agitation, and addressed an audience of about 1,200 people in the +Guildhall. The High Sheriff refused to call a county +meeting; therefore Edward Holland, Esq., took the chair. +But a small proportion of the meeting were farmers. There +was a show of opposition on the part of the Chartists, but it was +very feeble and soon put down. The corn law repealers +afterwards had a dinner at the Bell Inn; W. B. Collis, Esq., in +the chair, and Robert Hardy, Esq., vice-president.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">October</span> 29—The new parish +church at Oldswinford opened for divine service, with two sermons +by the Lord Bishop and the Rev. T. L. Claughton. The +collections amounted to £207. This church cost about +£5,000, and it contains 1,457 sittings—781 of which +are free.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">October</span> 27—The Chapel of Ease +at Headless Cross consecrated. The Lord Bishop preached, +and £60. 11s. were collected. The building will seat +about 250 persons, and most of the sittings are free.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span> 10—Earl +Beauchamp’s cash box, containing about £120, stolen +during the night from his dressing-room, at Madresfield +Court. The thief was never discovered.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span> 18—A Winter Assizes +before Mr. Baron Rolfe, occupying three days. None of the +cases tried were of much importance.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Acts</span>—To enable the +Worcestershire and Staffordshire Canal Company to lend money to +the Severn Navigation Commissioners; to enable the Birmingham and +Gloucester Railway Company to raise a further sum of money, and +to amend the acts relating thereto.</p> +<h3><a name="page303"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +303</span>1844.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> legislature was this year +occupied with many exciting subjects; especially the state of +Ireland, then agitated by the proceedings on Mr. +O’Connell’s trial; restrictions on labour in +factories; and the Dissenters’ Chapel Bill. The +financial measures of the year were likewise very important; +including, as they did, the reduction of the Three-and-half per +Cents., and the passing of the Bank Restriction Act—an act, +the wisdom of which is yet to be determined. Mr. +Villiers’s annual motion for repeal of the Corn Laws was +negatived by 328 to 124. Consols in October reached +100⅞, and averaged throughout the year, 99; wheat averaged +51s. 3d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">February</span> 16—The <span +class="smcap">Ombersley Labourers’ Friendly Society</span>, +for granting allotments in that parish, set on foot by the Hon. +and Rev. W. W. C. Talbot.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 12—The <span +class="smcap">Worcestershire Labourers’ Friendly +Society</span> formed at an influential meeting of landowners and +farmers at the Shire Hall, over which Lord Lyttelton +presided. The object of the society was to ameliorate the +condition and standing of the agricultural labourers, by giving +them allotments.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">July</span> 29—A silver tankard, +weighing fifty ounces, presented to T. C. Hornyold, Esq., by his +tenantry, at their audit dinner.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">October</span> 5—Great festivities +at Eardiston, on Sir William Smith attaining his majority.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span> 1—The Lord Bishop of +the Diocese, in delivering an ordination charge, expressed very +decidedly his disapproval of Tractarianism and the revival of +obsolete customs in the Church, such as preaching in the +surplice.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span> 28—An illicit still, +which had been for some time quietly at work in Worcester, +discovered and seized by the police.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Act</span>—To alter and extend +the provisions of the Severn Improvement Act.</p> +<h3>1845.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Speculation</span> and wild schemes, such +as England had not seen since the hey-day of South Sea projects, +<a name="page304"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +304</span>signalised the earlier part of the year. The +railway mania, indeed, continued till November; and then came a +sudden collapse, of which it is only to be wondered that its +effects were not more serious and lasting. In Parliament, +the most important measures were the re-imposition of the Income +Tax, with an amended tariff, and the increase of the Maynooth +Grant from £9,000 to £26,360 per annum, henceforth to +be paid out of the Consolidated Fund, instead of being an annual +Parliamentary grant. A large number of petitions were +presented against the measure, but the second reading was carried +by 323 to 176. Consols, which stood at 100⅝ in +January, sunk in December to 94⅝; wheat averaged 50s. +10d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 19—In the division on +the second reading of the Maynooth Grant Bill, when ministers had +a majority in favour of the Bill of 147 in a House of 503, Mr. +Barneby, Mr. Godson, Mr. J. S. Pakington, Sir Thomas Wilde, and +Sir Thomas Winnington, voted with the majority; and Mr. F. W. +Knight and Mr. J. A. Taylor with the minority. General +Lygon, Lord Marcus Hill, Mr. Borthwick, and Mr. Benbow were +absent.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 24—Festivities at Hewell, +continuing during several days, to celebrate the attainment of +Mr. Robert Clive’s majority. Several dinners in the +tennis court, dancing parties among the labourers, treats to the +school children, &c.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">July</span> 3—Mr. Pierpoint brought +forward a motion, at the meeting of the Worcester Turnpike +Trustees, for an amalgamation of the different districts, so as +to enable the poorer roads to get out of debt. This was +opposed by the gentlemen who lived in the more lightly taxed +districts, and lost on a division by 18 to 10.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 11—The first Worcester +regatta.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 30—A fearful collision +occurred at the Defford station; first in a luggage train dashing +against another that was being moved to a siding, and then in the +down train dashing into the wreck of the luggage train, and +becoming itself a mass of confusion. Three passengers lost +their lives, and several others were injured; one engine was +smashed, and several carriages were set on fire. The +coroner’s jury laid a deodand of £1,500 upon the +engine, because <a name="page305"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +305</span>there appeared to have been much negligence on the part +of the officials.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">November</span> 7—A brick maker, +named Humphrey Willis, having become intoxicated, wandered on to +the railway at Stoke Prior, and was killed by the night mail +train.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span> 25—Abberley Hall, +the residence of Mrs. Moilliett, destroyed by fire.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Acts</span>—The Oxford, +Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway Act. To enable the +Birmingham and Gloucester Railway Company to make a branch at +Stoke Prior, and for other purposes. To make and maintain a +road from Stanford bridge to Ham bridge, Clifton-on-Teme.</p> +<h3>1846.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Sir Robert Peel</span> having, from the +failure of the potato crop and the imminence of famine, become +convinced that the Corn Laws could no longer be maintained, +resigned office in December, 1845, and resumed it again for the +purpose of carrying Free Trade measures when Lord John Russell +had failed to form a Government. His measure for a gradual +reduction of the duties on corn was ordered to go into committee, +after twelve nights’ debate, by a majority of 337 to +240. After the settlement of the new commercial policy, the +Government was defeated by a union of the Whigs and +Protectionists, in a proposal to carry a bill for the repression +of outrage in Ireland; and this was followed by Sir Robert +Peel’s retirement from office, which had for some time been +foreseen as unavoidable. Lord John Russell then became +Premier. Consols averaged 95½; wheat, 54s. 8d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span> 13—St. +Matthias’ Church, Malvern Link, in the parish of Leigh, +consecrated by the Lord Bishop of the Diocese. £130 +were collected after a sermon by his lordship. The total +cost was £1,700, and it will seat 350 persons.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">February</span> 27—In the first +division on Sir Robert Peel’s Free Trade measures, the +majority included Mr. Benbow, Hon. R. Clive, Viscount Eastnor, +Mr. R. Godson, Lord Marcus Hill, Mr. Robert <a +name="page306"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 306</span>Scott, Sir +Thomas Wilde, and Sir Thomas E. Winnnington. Mr. Borthwick, +Mr. F. W. Knight, General Lygon, Mr. Pakington, Mr. R. Spooner, +and Mr. J. A. Taylor voted with the minority.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">March</span> 21—The Queen Dowager +took her final leave of Witley Court.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">May</span> 11—The Worcester New Gas +Company’s Bill went into committee. The Marquis of +Granby, as chairman, suggested an amicable arrangement between +the New and Old Companies. The committee accordingly +adjourned for two days, and an agreement was then effected, +principally by the zealous endeavours of Sir Thomas Wilde. +The New Company consented to become purchasers of the Old +Company’s plant, works, and stock at a valuation by +arbitrators, and to pay £1,000 over and above the +valuation, but to give nothing for “goodwill;” this +being the point which had been the principal difficulty in the +way of an arrangement.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">July</span> 3—Blowing-up of the +Droitwich Patent Salt Company’s Works by the sudden +explosion of the steam pipes. Two men named Carter, father +and son, were so severely scalded that they died in a few hours +after the accident.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 4—First meeting of the +Worcestershire Archery Society at Strensham Court. The +Dowager Lady Winnington was Lady Paramount. The first +prizes were won by Miss Clive and Miss Marion Bearcroft, Captain +Clowes and J. H. Galton, Esq.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 21—The Catholic Church +at Hanley opened. A sermon preached on the occasion by Dr. +Wiseman.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span> 26—The last number +of the <i>Worcestershire Guardian</i> published, the interest of +the paper being afterwards identified with the <i>Worcester +Journal</i>. It was one of the many Tory papers started by +influential parties in London, during the years 1833 and 1834, +for the purpose of regaining the power which the Conservative +party lost in the Reform Bill agitation. It fought the +battles of the party with much fidelity; and during the years in +which Mr. George Hyde was editor, its attacks upon the Liberals +were distinguished by a good deal of smartness and ability, +though too highly seasoned with personality.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Acts</span>—For paving, +cleansing, and improving the town of Bromsgrove; Worcester New +Gas Company’s Act; Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton +Railway Amendment Act; Severn Navigation Commissioners’ +Amendment Act; for making a railway from the Birmingham and +Gloucester line at Kingsnorton to Halesowen; Birmingham, +Wolverhampton, and Dudley Railway Act.</p> +<h3><a name="page307"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +307</span>1847.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> terrible condition of Ireland, +and the decimation of its inhabitants by famine, occupied the +greater share of the attention of Parliament. The Corn and +Navigation Laws were entirely suspended until towards the close +of the year; in spite of which, the average price of wheat in May +was 100s. 5d. The issuing of the Minutes of the Council on +Education, which have since been acted upon, and the increase of +the grant to £100,000 per annum for the purpose of carrying +them into effect, may be regarded as the most important measure +of the year. Parliament was dissolved in July, and the +elections tended to confirm the predominance of Free Trade +principles. Parliament met again on the 18th +November. Consols averaged 87; wheat, 69s. 9d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">January</span> 26—An elegant silver +salver, with appropriate inscription, presented to the Rev. +Thomas Pearson by the honorary members of the Worcestershire +Friendly Institution, in testimony of the value of the services +by which, as chairman of the board of directors, he had so +greatly increased the efficiency and usefulness of the +society.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">February</span> 4—A massive silver +tureen and four corner dishes presented to Captain Candler on his +retirement from the mastership of the fox hounds—which he +had held for ten years—at a splendid banquet given at the +Star, Lord Lyttelton in the chair.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span>—Petitions presented +from various of the Dissenting bodies throughout the county +against the new Educational Minutes of the Privy Council.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 22—The first County +Court held in Worcestershire, under the presidency of Benjamin +Parham, Esq., then recently appointed the Judge of the Worcester +District.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 6—Shelsley Beauchamp +Church reopened, after some costly alterations. The Rev. T. +L. Claughton preached on the occasion, and £566 were +collected; Lord Ward being a donor of £500.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 6—An engine running +off the rails on the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway at +Kingsnorton, the driver, named John Warburton, was dashed to +pieces.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 16—The allottees took +possession of the O’Connorite Lowbands settlement at +Redmarley. The National Land Scheme, <a +name="page308"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 308</span>under which +this estate, with others in different parts of the country, was +purchased, set out into lots, and divided to the few drawers of +prizes in a lottery to which thousands of others had subscribed, +was one of the hugest delusions to which the working men of this +country ever lent themselves under demagogue leadership. +They allowed themselves to be persuaded, not only that to leave +their manual handicraft and become squatters on an acre or two of +ground would be the climax of independence and happiness, but +that by some legerdemain of compound interest, their money and +estates would be so reproductive that all the subscribers would +in a few years get allotments, which, being freehold, would give +them immense political power, and be the regeneration of the +land. The fortunate allottees soon found that they did not +hold the fee simple of their acres, but were called upon by +O’Connor to pay a large rent, and being unaccustomed to +husbandry were speedily reduced to the condition of ruined +paupers, subsistent on the charity of the farmers among whom they +were located. The affairs of the company are now being +wound up under an Act of Parliament.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 17—A Provincial Grand +Lodge of Freemasons established in the county. Dr. Roden of +Kidderminster was appointed Deputy Provincial Grand Master of +Worcestershire.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span> 17—Grand Bazaar in Mr. +J. H. H. Foley’s grounds at Prestwood, in aid of the funds +of the Stourbridge Mechanics’ Institute. It continued +open for three days, and realised £1,117.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 14—At the annual +assembly of the Queen’s Own Yeomanry Cavalry, the portrait +of the gallant Colonel of the regiment, which had been purchased +by a general subscription of the officers and privates, and +painted by Pickersgill, R.A., was presented to Lady Harriett +Clive in the Shire Hall, Worcester. The pleasing duty of +presentation was performed by Major Martin, as senior officer, +and Colonel Clive acknowledged the compliment at length.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">October</span> 7—A meeting held at +Dee’s Hotel, Birmingham, to take steps for the +establishment of a <span class="smcap">Worcester Diocesan +Training School</span>. The Right Rev. The Lord Bishop took +the chair. The resolutions were moved by Lord Lyttelton, +Archdeacon Spooner, Viscount Lifford, and Sir John Pakington, +Bart., M.P., and a large sum was subscribed upon the spot. +The first stone of the new school was laid by Sir John Pakington, +October 10, 1850.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Acts</span>—For rating, to the +relief of the poor, the owners instead of the occupiers of +certain property in the parishes of Kingsnorton, Northfield, and +Beoley.</p> +<h3><a name="page309"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +309</span>1848.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">This</span> year is to be gratefully +remembered on account of the happy escape which our country had +from the confusion and revolution which raged over the +ill-governed kingdoms of the continent. A proposal of +Government to increase the Income Tax was defeated by the general +expression of popular disapprobation. Consols averaged 85; +wheat, 50s. 6d.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">February</span> 12—On the second +reading of the Jewish Disabilities Bill, J. H. H. Foley, Esq., O. +Ricardo, Esq., and Lord M. Hill voted in the majority for their +removal—and R. Godson, Esq., T. J. Ireland, Esq., Hon. +General Lygon, Sir J. S. Pakington, Bart., F. Rufford, Esq., +Captain Rushout, and Sir H. Willoughby in the minority.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">February</span>—The Corn Exchange +dispute now raged in Worcester, being made in great measure a +question of politics; the Protectionists supporting the proposal +to build a new exchange in Angel Street, and the Free Traders +insisting on the old site, from which they contended it could not +be removed without much injustice to the shopkeepers and owners +of property in the Corn Market. The Mayor, Mr. Webb, made +many strenuous efforts to effect an amicable arrangement between +the parties, but without success; and the silly result was, that +instead of uniting the funds to build a handsome hall that would +have been a credit to the city, two were built. The +erection in Angel Street entailed great loss upon the +subscribers; and the handsome room in the Corn Market, though +left without many embellishments which had been intended to be +added, was a ruinous affair both to the shareholders and the +contractor. As the agriculturists all steadfastly attended +the Angel Street room, the one in the Corn Market was at last +obliged to be closed as a corn exchange, and was sold under the +Joint Stock Company’s Winding-up Act for +£1,710—the price to the shareholders being upwards of +£4,000. It is now transformed into a very handsome +Music Hall.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span> 22—The Worcestershire +Agricultural Protection Society dissolved itself, and voted its +funds in hand, amounting to £500, towards the erection of +the Angel Street Corn Exchange. The Messrs. Dent, with Mr. +Francis Hooper and Mr. Lucy, protested against the appropriation +of the money to the building of the Angel Street Corn +Exchange.</p> +<p><a name="page310"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 310</span><span +class="smcap">June</span> 19—Sir John Pakington moved an +amendment on Lord John Russell’s plan for gradually +reducing the duties on colonial sugar, and was only defeated by a +majority of 15—260 members voting with ministers, and 245 +with Sir John Pakington. Mr. Benbow, Mr. Godson, Viscount +Mandeville, Mr. Rufford, Captain Rushout, Sir H. Willoughby, and +Sir J. Pakington voted in the minority, and Mr. J. H. H. Foley, +Mr. O. Ricardo, and Lord M. Hill with the majority.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">July</span> 31—Several Worcester +theatrical amateurs performed Sheridan Knowles’s +<i>Hunchback</i> with great success and excellence of +acting. The proceeds of this and another night’s +performance were devoted to the establishment of a gloving +school.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span>—The British +Archæological Association, under the presidency of Lord +Albert Conyngham, held their annual congress in Worcester. +They were received by the Mayor and Corporation—held +morning and evening sederunts, at which papers were read and +antiquities exhibited—visited Sudeley Castle and other +places of interest in the neighbourhood—unrolled a mummy at +the County Courts, &c. The meeting was concluded by a +<i>soirée</i> at the Guildhall, given by Lord and Lady +Conyngham, at which Mr. Silk Buckingham delivered a lecture on +Thebes, &c.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span>—After a lapse of +ten years an <span class="smcap">Exhibition of Paintings</span> +was again opened in Worcester, and proved upon the whole very +successful. The catalogue numbered 200 pictures, amongst +which were Constable’s “Salisbury Cathedral,” +and works by Etty, Sidney Cooper, Müller, &c.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Acts</span>—Worcester New Gas +Company’s Amendment Act; to authorise the Oxford, +Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway to raise a further sum of +money; to authorise an alteration in the Oxford, Worcester, and +Wolverhampton Railway; to enable the Worcester Turnpike Trustees +to make alterations in roads, &c.</p> +<h3>1849.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> extreme distress in Ireland +caused by the continuance of the potato blight—the repeal +of the Navigation Laws, carried on second reading by 266 to +210—and the admission of Jews to Parliament, refused by the +Lords—were the chief topics of Parliamentary +discussion. Consols averaged 92½; wheat, 44s. +3d.</p> +<p><a name="page311"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 311</span><span +class="smcap">February</span> 3—Mdlle. Jenny Lind gave a +concert in the College Hall, Worcester, in aid of the funds of +the Infirmary, to compensate for the disappointment which had +been felt by her non-appearance at the Festival in the previous +year. The band of the 5th Dragoon Guards and the Worcester +Harmonic Society took part in the concert. Thirteen hundred +persons attended. The total receipts were £1,100, and +£840 were cleared for the Infirmary.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">April</span>—The <span +class="smcap">Worcester Madrigal Society</span>, recently formed, +gave their first concert. This society, which executes the +quaint music of the old madrigalists in excellent style, has +already extended its fame far beyond the limits of the +“faithful city.”</p> +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 29—The cholera broke out +in Worcester, and continued fitfully to seize upon its victims +till the middle of October, when it altogether disappeared. +There were altogether eighty-nine cases, out of which forty-three +were fatal. The expenses of the Cholera Hospital amounted +to £832. Dr. Stevens’s saline treatment, only +partially put in practice there, seemed to be successful, so far +as opportunity was allowed for its trial.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">August</span>—The seventeenth +anniversary of the Provincial Surgical and Medical Association +was this year held at Worcester—Dr. Hastings, the founder +of the association, being president. Many interesting +discussions, on topics connected with medical science and the +status of the profession, took place, and valuable papers were +read at the different sittings. The meeting closed with a +dinner at the Guildhall, at which the principal county gentlemen +attended.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">September</span> 21—St. +Peter’s Church, Cookley, consecrated. William +Hancocks, Esq., was the principal contributor to the expense of +this handsome building, which cost some £3,400, and will +accommodate upwards of 400 persons.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">November</span> 15—This day was very +generally and religiously observed throughout the county as one +of thanksgiving for the abatement of the cholera in the land.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">December</span> 10—Rejoicings at +Prestwood, Stourbridge, Stewponey, &c., in celebration of Mr. +Henry Wentworth Foley’s coming of age.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Local Act</span>—For better +assessing the poor rates on small tenements in Kidderminster.</p> +<h2><a name="page312"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 312</span>THE +COUNTY ARISTOCRACY.</h2> +<h3>PEERS.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Beauchamp</span>, Earl—Seat, +Madresfield Court. William Lygon, Esq., having for some +years represented the county in Parliament, was elevated to the +peerage by the title of Baron Beauchamp of Powyke Court, +Worcestershire, 26 February, 1806, and created Viscount Elmley +and Earl Beauchamp 1 December, 1815. He assumed the surname +and arms of Pyndar, instead of those of Lygon, in October, +1813. He married Catherine, only daughter of James Denn, +Esq., and had issue eight children. His lordship died 21 +October, 1816, and was succeeded by his eldest son, William +Beauchamp, who for some years acted as Chairman of Quarter +Sessions, and represented the county from 1806. At his +decease, unmarried, May, 1823, the honours devolved upon his +brother, <span class="smcap">John Reginald</span>, the present +Earl. He married, first, 14 March, 1814, Charlotte, only +daughter of the first Earl of Clonmel, who died 26 April, 1846; +and, secondly, 1851, the third daughter of the Baroness Braye, +and relict of Henry Murray, Esq. Is patron of four +livings.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Coventry</span>, Earl of—Seat, +Croome Court; created, 1697. George William, sixth Earl, +died 1809, and was succeeded by George William, the seventh Earl, +Recorder of Worcester and High Steward of Tewkesbury, who died +1831, and was succeeded by George William, eighth Earl, Lord +Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum of the county of Worcester. +He married, first, 16 January, 1808, Emma Susanna, second +daughter of William, first Earl of Beauchamp, and had issue +George William, Viscount Deerhurst, who married Harriett Anne, +daughter of Sir Charles Cockerell, Bart., and died in November, +1838, leaving one son, the present Earl, and one daughter. +The eighth Earl <a name="page313"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +313</span>died May, 1843, when the title devolved on his +grandson, who was born 9 May, 1838, and is, consequently, at +present a minor. Is patron of five livings.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Lyttelton</span>, Lord, Baron of Frankley, +county of Worcester—Seat, Hagley Park. William Henry, +Governor of Carolina county, Jamaica, &c., was created Baron, +in Great Britain, 1794, the title having expired with his nephew, +Thomas, the second Lord Lyttelton (the probable author of the +<i>Letters of Junius</i>), who died November, 1779. William +Henry, Lord Lyttelton, died 14 September, 1808, and was succeeded +by his eldest son, George Fulke; at whose decease, unmarried, 12 +November, 1828, the title devolved on his brother by a second +marriage, William Henry, third Baron. He married, 4 March, +1813, Lady Sarah Spencer, eldest daughter of the second Earl +Spencer. His lordship died 30 April, 1827. He +represented the county in Parliament from 1807 to 1820, during +which time he was the consistent supporter of Liberal measures, +and to him we are indebted for the extinction of state +lotteries. He was a fluent and argumentative speaker. +He was the warm friend of literary and educational institutions +in the county. His lordship was succeeded by his eldest +son, <span class="smcap">George William</span>, the present +peer. The present Lord Lyttelton was born 31 March, 1817; +he married, 25 July, 1839, Mary, daughter of the late Sir Stephen +Glynne, Bart. Is patron of three livings.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Foley</span>, Baron, of Kidderminster; +created, 1776. Thomas Foley, Esq., M.P. for the county of +Worcester, was elevated to the peerage 1711, but his son died +unmarried, and the barony then expired. Thomas Foley, Esq., +of Witley Court, his cousin, was made Baron Foley, 20 May, +1776. Thomas, the third Baron, married, 18 August, 1806, +Lady Cecilia Fitzgerald, fifth daughter of the second Duke of +Leinster, and had issue four sons and four daughters. He +was Lord Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum of the county of +Worcester, and extremely popular with all classes of the +inhabitants. He died 16 April, 1833, and was succeeded by +his son, <span class="smcap">Thomas Henry</span>, the present +peer, who was born 11 December, 1808, and married, 1849, the +eldest daughter of the thirteenth Duke of Norfolk—has been +Captain of the corps of the Gentlemen Pensioners-at-arms, is Lord +High Steward of Kidderminster, and is patron of one living. +His lordship sat in Parliament, for the county of Worcester, from +1830 to 1833.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Sandys</span>, Baron, of +Ombersley—Seat, Ombersley Court; created, 1802. +Samuel Sandys of Ombersley, Chancellor of the Exchequer <a +name="page314"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 314</span>in 1741, +was elevated to the peerage, as Baron Sandys, in 1743. The +title, however, became extinct in 1801, when the second Baron +died without issue. The Marchioness of Downshire, to whom +his estates fell, was created Baroness Sandys of Ombersley, 15 +June, 1802, with remainder to her four younger sons by the +Marquess of Downshire, and their male issue. Her ladyship +died in 1836, and was succeeded by her second son, <span +class="smcap">Arthur Moyses William Hill</span>. His +lordship is a major general in the army. Is patron of the +living of Ombersley.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Ward</span>, Baron of +Birmingham—Seats, Himley Hall, Dudley Castle, and Sedgley +Park; created, 1644. John Ward, Esq., of Sedgley Park, +became sixth Baron on the death, without issue, of his kinsman +William, fifth Baron. He was created Viscount Dudley and +Ward, April, 1763; but his son dying without issue, that title +devolved on his half brother William, third Viscount, born +January, 1750, who died 25 April, 1823. He was Recorder of +Kidderminster, and represented the city of Worcester in the +Parliaments of 1780 and 1784. His contributions in +furtherance of benevolent objects were truly munificent, and the +public charities of Worcester always largely participated in his +largess. He was succeeded by his son, John William, fourth +Viscount, who was created Earl Dudley of Dudley Castle in 1827; +but as he died unmarried in 1833, this title and the Viscounty +became extinct. The Earl was a man of powerful talents, but +withal most eccentric in his manners; and during the last few +years of his life was obliged to withdraw altogether from +society. He was Secretary for Foreign Affairs under Mr. +Canning, Lord Goderich, and during a part of the Wellington +administration; and his speeches at this time always commanded +great attention, and were admired for their classical eloquence +and style. He wrote a somewhat celebrated article in the +<i>Quarterly Review</i> on the <i>Life and Character of Horne +Tooke</i>, with others on Sydney Smith’s sermons, +&c. The barony of Ward fell to his second cousin +William Humble, in holy orders, who died December, 1835, and was +succeeded by his son <span class="smcap">William</span>, the +present peer. His lordship married, 24 April, 1851, Selina +Constance, eldest daughter of Robert de Burgh, Esq., of West +Drayton, who died without issue 14 November, 1851. His +lordship is patron of thirteen livings, and has very extensive +property in the county of Worcester; the whole of the Foley +estates passing into his hands by purchase in the year 1838: the +purchase money was said to be £890,000.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Southwell</span>, Viscount (Irish +peerage)—Seats, Hindlip, Worcestershire, and Court +Mattress, Limerick. Thomas Southwell, Esq., <a +name="page315"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 315</span>of Court +Mattress, was created a Baronet by Charles II, and, after the +Restoration, was succeeded by his grandson, who took an active +part in the cause of William III. He was created a Baron of +the kingdom of Ireland by George I, in 1717. Thomas George, +the third Baron, was, in 1776, created Viscount. He died +1780, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Thomas Arthur, fourth +Baron and second Viscount, who married, in 1774, the daughter of +Francis John Walsh, de Sérrant. He died February, +1796, and was succeeded by the present lord, <span +class="smcap">Thomas Anthony</span>, under the title of fifth +Baron and third Viscount Southwell. Lord Southwell married, +May, 1799, Jane, the younger daughter of John Berkeley, Esq., of +Hindlip, in whose right he came into possession of the +Worcestershire property. His lordship, in 1836, received +from his late Majesty the dignity of the Knighthood of the Order +of St. Patrick. Is patron of the living of Hindlip, Deputy +Lieutenant of the County of Worcester, &c.</p> +<h3>BARONETS.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Pakington</span>—Seat, Westwood +Park; created, 1620; revived, 1846. Sir John Pakington, who +died 6 January, 1830, in his 70th year, being unmarried, and the +title became extinct. His sister Elizabeth married William +Russell, Esq., of Powick Court, and her surviving son, <span +class="smcap">John Somerset Russell</span>, assumed the name of +his maternal ancestors, and inherited the Pakington +estates. The family honours were gracefully revived in his +person: he was elevated to the rank of a Baronet of the United +Kingdom in 1846. He married, first, Mary, only child of +Moreton Aglionby Slaney, Esq., and by her (died in 1843) has +issue one son, John Slaney Pakington, Esq., married, 4 July, +1849, to Lady Diana Boyle, youngest daughter of the late Earl of +Glasgow; Sir John married, secondly, 1844, Augusta, daughter of +the Right Rev. George Murray, D.D., Bishop of Rochester; and, +thirdly, June, 1851, Augusta, relict of the late Colonel Davies, +of Elmley Park. Sir John is patron of the living of Hampton +Lovett; has been Chairman of the Worcestershire Quarter Sessions +since 1834; is Captain of the Westwood Troop of Worcestershire +Yeomanry; twice unsuccessfully contested the representation of +the county; and has sat for the borough of Droitwich since +1837. On the accession of Earl Derby’s +administration, he was appointed Her Majesty’s Secretary of +State for the Colonies.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Smith</span>—Seat, Eardiston House; +created, 1809. William Smith, Esq., of Eardiston, married, +18 October, 1780, Mary, daughter of <a name="page316"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 316</span>Edward Wheeler, Esq., of Lambswick; +was created a Baronet 23 September, 1809; and died March, 1821; +when he was succeeded by Sir Christopher Sidney Smith, born 14 +May, 1798; married, December, 1822, Mary, daughter of the Rev. R. +Foley, and had issue one son and three daughters. Sir +Christopher married, secondly, Harriette, only daughter of the +late Thomas Lee, Esq., of Headingley, near Leeds, and relict of +— Murphy, Esq. He died 19 November, 1839, and his +widow in 1840. He ably filled the chair at Quarter Sessions +from 1829 to 1834. Sir <span class="smcap">William</span>, +the present Baronet, was born 5 October, 1823—married 5 +May, 1843, Susan, fourth daughter of Sir William George Parker, +Bart., R.N.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Wakeman</span>—Seat, Perdiswell +House; created, 1808. Henry Wakeman, Esq., of Perdiswell, +married, first, in August, 1787, Theodosia, daughter of John +Freeman, Esq., of Gaines—which marriage was dissolved by +Act of Parliament—secondly, in June, 1797, Sarah, only +daughter and heir apparent of Richard Ward Offley, Esq., of +Hinton, Salop; and had issue two sons and one daughter. He +was created a Baronet 20 February, 1808. He died 23 April, +1831; and Lady Wakeman in 1843. Sir <span +class="smcap">Offley Pembury</span>, the present Baronet, was +born 17 May, 1799; married, 1848, only daughter of the late +Thomas Adlington, Esq. Is patron of one living.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Winnington</span>—Seat, Stanford +Court; created, 1755. Sir Edward, the second Baronet, +married, in 1776, Anne, daughter of Thomas, the first Lord Foley; +and died in 1805, being then member for Droitwich. He was a +very learned scholar, and possessed of much critical +acumen. Sir Thomas Edward, his son, married, November, +1810, Joanna, daughter of John Taylor, Esq., of Moseley Hall, and +had issue three sons and four daughters. Sir Thomas died 24 +September, 1839. He was a steady supporter of Whig +measures, and represented Droitwich from 1807 to 1818, the county +from 1820 to 1830, and Bewdley till 1837. Sir <span +class="smcap">Thomas Edward Winnington</span>, M.P., the present +Baronet, was born 11 November, 1811; married, 21 June, 1842, Anna +Helena, eldest daughter of Sir Compton Domville, Bart.; +represented Bewdley in the Parliament of 1837, and is now its +member. Is patron of three livings.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Lechmere</span>—Seat, The Rhydd; +created, 1818; Anthony Lechmere, Esq., born November, 1776, was +created a Baronet 3 October, 1818. He filled the office of +Mayor of Worcester in 1816, and was the devoted friend of +agriculture. He died 25 March, 1849, and was succeeded by +Sir <span class="smcap">Edmund Hungerford Lechmere</span>, the +present Baronet, born 25 May, 1792; married, 1819, Maria Clara, +daughter <a name="page317"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +317</span>of the late Hon. David Murray, and has issue one son +and one daughter. Is patron of two livings.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Blount</span>—Seats, Sodington, +Worcestershire; Mawley Hall, Shropshire; and Haggeston, +Northumberland. Sir Walter, the seventh baronet, died 31st +October, 1803, and was succeeded by Sir <span +class="smcap">Edward</span>, the present baronet, born 3 March, +1795; married, 14 September, 1830, Mary Frances, eldest daughter +of Edward Blount, Esq.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Phillips</span>—Seat, Middle +Hill. Thomas Phillips, Esq., of Middle Hill, F.R.S. and +F.S.A., was created a Baronet in July, 1821, and married +Harriett, daughter of Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Molyneaux, +Bart., and by her had issue three daughters. Sir Thomas, in +1842, married, secondly, Elizabeth Harriett Anna, daughter of the +Rev. W. J. Mansel, of Iscord: is a Deputy Lieutenant of the +County.</p> +<h3>HONOURABLES.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Clive</span>, <span class="smcap">Robert +Henry</span>—Seats, Hewell Grange, Oakley Park, &c.; +second son of the first Earl of Powis; married, 19 June, 1819, +Harriet, daughter of the fifth Earl of Plymouth. Has been +lieutenant colonel in the army, and is Colonel of the +Queen’s own Regiment of Worcestershire Yeomanry +Cavalry. Was Under Secretary of State for the Home +Department from April, 1818, till January, 1822. Sat for +Ludlow from 1818 till 1832, and since that year for South +Shropshire. Is patron of three livings. His eldest +son, Robert Clive, Esq., is now M.P. for Ludlow.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Coventry</span>, <span +class="smcap">Thomas Henry</span>, Rector of Severn Stoke and +Croome Hill, and <span class="smcap">William James</span> +(Earl’s Croome), brothers of the late Earl of Coventry.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Cocks</span>, <span class="smcap">John +Somers</span>, Canon of Worcester and Prebendary of Hereford +Cathedral, brother of the late Earl Somers.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Lygon</span>, <span class="smcap">Henry +Beauchamp</span>—Seat, Spring Hill, Broadway. Third +son of the first Earl Beauchamp—a lieutenant colonel in the +army and Colonel of the 10th Hussars. Has sat for the +county since 1817, with the exception of the short Parliament of +1831. Married, 8 July, 1824, Susan Caroline, daughter of +the second Earl of St. German’s; she died, 1835.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Lyttelton</span>, <span +class="smcap">Spencer</span>, Hagley, and <span +class="smcap">William Henry</span>, Hon. Canon of Worcester and +Rector of Hagley, brothers of Lord Lyttelton.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Talbot</span>, <span class="smcap">William +Whitworth Chetwynd</span>, Vicar of Ombersley, and <span +class="smcap">Wellington Patrick Manvers Chetwynd</span>, of +Honeybourne, Captain of the 7th Foot, sixth and seventh sons of +Earl Talbot.</p> +<h2><a name="page318"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 318</span>THE +CHURCH.</h2> +<h3>BISHOPS OF THE DIOCESE.</h3> +<p>1800—Dr. Richard Hurd.</p> +<p>1808—<span class="smcap">June</span>—The Rev. Dr. +Folliot Herbert Walker Cornwall, translated from the See of +Hereford.</p> +<p>1831—<span class="smcap">September</span> 13—Dr. +Robert Carr, translated from the See of Chichester.</p> +<p>1841—<span class="smcap">May</span> 1—Dr. Henry +Pepys, translated from the See of Sodor and Mann.</p> +<h3>DEANS OF WORCESTER.</h3> +<p>1800—Rev. Arthur Onslow, D.D.</p> +<p>1817—<span class="smcap">October</span>—The Rev. +John Bankes Jenkinson.</p> +<p>1825—<span class="smcap">August</span>—The Rev. +James Hook, LL.D.</p> +<p>1828—<span class="smcap">March</span>—The Rev. Dr. +Murray, Bishop of Rochester.</p> +<p>1845—<span class="smcap">December</span>—The Rev. +John Peel, Rector of Waresley, and brother of the Premier, in the +stead of the Bishop of Rochester, who gave up this piece of +preferment in accordance with the arrangements of the +Ecclesiastical Commissioners. To the Deanery of Worcester +had hitherto been attached the Vicarage of Bromsgrove, with which +were the Vicarage of Kingsnorton and the Chapelries of Christ +Church, Moseley, and Wythal. All of these had been held by +the Bishop of Rochester, and Bromsgrove had been without a +resident Vicar for half a century. These preferments are +now separated from the Deanery.</p> +<h3>THE CHAPTER.</h3> +<p>1800—Rev. J. Torkington, LL.D. Rev. J. +Stillingfleet, D.D. Rev. John Plumptre, M.A. Rev. +Richard Kilvert, M.A. Rev. Charles Talbot, M.A. Rev. +Septimus Collinson, D.D. Rev. John Carver, M.A. Rev. +Thomas Fountain. Rev. Thomas Evans, D.D. Rev. Thomas +James, D.D. <a name="page319"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +319</span></p> +<p>1803—Rev. John Wingfield, D.D.</p> +<p>1804—Rev. James Meakin, A.M.</p> +<p>1804—Rev. J. F. Seymour Fleming St. John, M.A.</p> +<p>1808—Rev. John Bankes Jenkinson, M.A.</p> +<p>1813—Rev. William Digby, A.M.</p> +<p>1815—Rev. Townsend Forrester, D.D.</p> +<p>1815—Hon. and Rev. Edward Rice, M.A.</p> +<p>1817—Hon. and Rev. Richard Bagot, M.A.</p> +<p>1817—Rev. Herbert Oakley, M.A.</p> +<p>1818—Rev. Anthony Pye, M.A.</p> +<p>1822—Rev. C. R. Sumner, M.A.</p> +<p>1825—Rev. T. Gaisford, M.A.</p> +<p>1826—Rev. J. Davison, B.D.</p> +<p>1826—Rev. Christopher Benson, M.A.</p> +<p>1827—Rev. Godfrey Faussett, B.D.</p> +<p>1829—Thomas Singleton, M.A., to Deanery.</p> +<p>1830—Hon. and Rev. James Somers Cocks.</p> +<p>1833—Rev. E. Winnington Ingram, M.A.</p> +<p>1834—Hon. and Rev. John Fortescue, M.A.</p> +<p>1841—Rev. J. R. Wood, M.A., Chaplain to the Queen +Dowager.</p> +<p>1845—Rev. J. Peel, D.D., Dean.</p> +<p>1848—Rev. E. H. Cradock, M.A.</p> +<p>The number of Canonries is now reduced from ten to four.</p> + +<div class="gapshortline"> </div> +<p>1834—<span class="smcap">February</span>—The +office of Rural Dean was revived by the Bishop of Worcester, +having been allowed in this diocese to remain in abeyance for +nearly a century. The Right Hon. and Rev. Lord Aston was +the first appointed.</p> +<h3>PROCTORS</h3> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">ELECTED TO +REPRESENT THE DIOCESE IN CONVOCATION.</span></p> +<p>1802—The Rev. T. R. Nash, D.D., Rector of Leigh, and the +Rev. Francis Mills, M.A., Rector of Barford.</p> +<p>1806—Dr. Nash and the Rev. Francis Mills +reëlected. The Rev. James Stillingfleet, M.A., +Prebendary, chosen to represent the Dean and Chapter.</p> +<p>1807—Dr. Nash and the Rev. F. Mills +reëlected. The Rev. James Torkington, LL.D., elected +Proctor for the Dean and Chapter.</p> +<p><a name="page320"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +320</span>1812—The Rev. Richard Kilvert, M.A., Rector of +Hartlebury, and the Rev. Francis Mills, M.A., elected for the +body of the Clergy; and the Rev. Dr. Torkington to represent the +Dean and Chapter.</p> +<p>1818—The Rev. John Wingfield, D.D., Vicar of Bromsgrove, +and the Rev. Francis Mills, for the Clergy; and the Rev. James +Meakin, M.A., for the Dean and Chapter.</p> +<p>1820—The same clergymen reëlected.</p> +<p>1826—The Rev. John Walker Baugh, M.A., Rector of Ripple, +and the Rev. Francis Mills, for the Clergy.</p> +<p>1830—The Rev. J. W. Baugh, and the Rev. Francis Mills, +for the Clergy; and the Rev. William Digby, Sub-Dean, for the +Dean and Chapter.</p> +<p>1831—The same clergymen reappointed.</p> +<p>1832—The Rev. J. W. Baugh, and the Rev. Francis Mills, +for the Clergy; and the Rev. Townsend Forrester, D.D., Sub-Dean, +for the Dean and Chapter.</p> +<p>1835—The same clergymen reëlected.</p> +<p>1837—The Rev. Thomas Baker, M.A., Rector of Hartlebury, +and the Rev. George Leigh Cook, B.D., Rector of Cubbington, +Warwickshire, for the Clergy; and the Rev. William Digby, M.A., +Prebendary, for the Dean and Chapter.</p> +<p>1841—The Rev. Henry Arthur Woodgate, B.D., Rector of +Bellbroughton, and the Rev. John Howells, Vicar of St. Trinity, +Coventry, for the Clergy; and the Rev. William Digby for the +Chapter.</p> +<p>1847—The Rev. H. A. Woodgate, and the Rev. Robert +Chapman Savage, M.A., Vicar of Nuneaton, for the Clergy; and the +Hon. and Rev. Somers Cocks for the Chapter.</p> +<p>1852—The Rev. H. A. Woodgate and the Rev. R. Seymour +were elected by the clergy. Two other clergymen were +proposed, viz., the Rev. P. M. Smythe and the Rev. R. C. Savage; +the latter as a gentleman opposed to the revival of Convocation; +and a show of hands was taken. For Mr. Woodgate 20 hands +were held up; for Mr. Seymour, 23; for Mr. Smythe, 17; and for +Mr. Savage, 9.</p> +<h2><a name="page321"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 321</span>THE +EXECUTIVE.</h2> +<h3>LORDS LIEUTENANT OF THE COUNTY.</h3> +<p>1800—The Earl of Coventry.</p> +<p>1808—<span class="smcap">November</span>—The Right +Hon. Lord Viscount Deerhurst appointed Lord Lieutenant in the +place of his father, who resigned in consequence of his age and +increased infirmities.</p> +<p>1831—<span class="smcap">March</span>—The Right +Hon. Lord Foley, in the room of the Earl of Coventry, +deceased.</p> +<p>1833—<span class="smcap">May</span>—The Right Hon. +Lord Lyttelton, in the room of Lord Foley, deceased.</p> +<p>1837—<span class="smcap">July</span>—The Right +Hon. Lord Foley, in the room of Lord Lyttelton, deceased.</p> +<p>1839—<span class="smcap">October</span>—The Right +Hon. Lord Lyttelton, in the room of Lord Foley, resigned.</p> +<h3>CHAIRMEN OF COUNTY QUARTER SESSIONS.</h3> +<p>1800—William Welch, Esq.</p> +<p>1817—Earl Beauchamp.</p> +<p>1823—Benjamin Johnson, Esq.</p> +<p>1824—Lord Plymouth.</p> +<p>1829—Sir C. S. Smith, Bart.</p> +<p>1834—J. S. Pakington, Esq.</p> +<h3>HIGH SHERIFFS OF THE COUNTY.</h3> +<p>1800—William Smith, Esq., Eardiston.</p> +<p>1801—Thomas Phillips, Esq., Broadway.</p> +<p>1802—Thomas Newnham, Esq., Broadwas.</p> +<p>1803—John Phillips, Esq., Winterdyne.</p> +<p>1804—Edward Knight, Esq., Wolverley (<i>ob.</i>), and +Thomas Holme Esq., Beoley.</p> +<p>1805—John Amphlett, Esq., Clent.</p> +<p>1806—Sir Thomas Winnington, Bart., Stamford.</p> +<p>1807—Thomas Bland, Esq., Ham Court.</p> +<p>1808—Sir John Pakington, Bart., Westwood.</p> +<p>1809—Henry Bromley, Esq., Abberley Hall.</p> +<p><a name="page322"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +322</span>1810—Joseph Smith, Esq., Sion Hill.</p> +<p>1811—Thomas Hawkes, Esq., Dudley.</p> +<p>1812—John Baker, Esq., Wolverley.</p> +<p>1813—E. Lechmere Charlton, Esq., Hanley.</p> +<p>1814—John Knight, Esq., Lea Castle.</p> +<p>1815—Edward Dixon, Esq., Dudley.</p> +<p>1816—Joseph Lea, Esq., The Hill.</p> +<p>1817—John Taylor, Esq., Strensham.</p> +<p>1818—Samuel Wall, Esq., Hallow Park.</p> +<p>1819—John Jeffreys, Esq., Blakebrook.</p> +<p>1820—Richard Griffiths, Esq., Thorngrove.</p> +<p>1821—Elias Isaac, Esq., Boughton House.</p> +<p>1822—Samuel Ryland, Esq., Northfield.</p> +<p>1823—John Williams, Esq., Pitmaston.</p> +<p>1824—Sir C. S. Smith, Bart., Eardiston.</p> +<p>1825—T. S. Vernon, Esq., Shrawley.</p> +<p>1826—James Taylor, Esq., Moor Green.</p> +<p>1827—George Farley, Esq., Henwick House.</p> +<p>1828—George Meredith, Esq., Berrington, near +Tenbury.</p> +<p>1829—E. Rudge, Esq., Manor House, Evesham.</p> +<p>1830—John Scott, Esq., Stourbridge.</p> +<p>1831—O. Ricardo, Esq., Bromsberrow Place.</p> +<p>1832—John Joseph Martin, Esq., Ham Court.</p> +<p>1833—John Brown, Esq., Lea Castle.</p> +<p>1834—John Howard Galton, Esq., Hadzor House.</p> +<p>1835—Sir Edward Blount, Bart., Mawley Hall.</p> +<p>1836—Sir O. P. Wakeman, Bart., Perdiswell.</p> +<p>1837—W. A. Roberts, Esq., Bewdley.</p> +<p>1838—Robert Berkeley, jun., Esq., Spetchley.</p> +<p>1839—William Congreve Russell, Esq.</p> +<p>1840—James Foster, Esq., Stourton Castle.</p> +<p>1841—T. C. Hornyold, Esq., Blackmore Park.</p> +<p>1842—Edward Holland, Esq., Dumbleton.</p> +<p>1843—William Robins, Esq., Hagley.</p> +<p>1844—John Richards, Esq., Wassell Grove.</p> +<p>1845—Thomas Simcox Lea, Esq., Astley Hall.</p> +<p>1846—William Hemming, Esq., Bordesley Park.</p> +<p>1847—E. G. Stone, Esq., Chambers Court.</p> +<p>1848—John Frederick Ledsam, Esq., Northfield.</p> +<p>1849—John Dent, Esq., Worcester.</p> +<p>1850—J. G. Watkins, Esq., Woodfield.</p> +<h3><a name="page323"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +323</span>CHAIRMEN OF PETTY SESSIONAL DIVISIONS.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Worcester Division</span>—Early part +of present century—Thomas Bund, Esq.</p> +<p>1810 to 1820—Rev. Arthur Onslow, D.D., Dean of +Worcester.</p> +<p>1820 to 1842—Rev. John Foley, Holt.</p> +<p>Present Chairmen (alternately)—T. G. Curtler, Esq., and +Rev. John Pearson.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Hundred House Division</span>—To +1834, Sir C. S. Smith, Bart.</p> +<p>Present Chairman—The Rev. Thomas Pearson.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Pershore Division</span>—1800 to +1836—Thomas Beale Cooper, Esq., M.D., Richard Hudson, Esq., +and Lieutenant General Thomas Marriott.</p> +<p>Present Chairman—C. E. Hanford, Esq.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Bromsgrove Division</span>—1833 +(when the Petty Sessions were first held here)—The Hon. and +Rev. Walter Hutchinson Lord Aston.</p> +<p>Present Chairman—The Rev. William Vernon.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Evesham Division</span> (formed +1842)—Thomas B. Cooper, Esq., M.D.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Stourport Division</span> (formed +1848)—Thomas Simcox Lea, Esq.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Tenbury Division</span> (formed +1845)—Rev. Charles Turner Farley.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Blockley Division</span>—Early part +of the present century—Rev. J. R. Hall and William +Broughton, Esq.</p> +<p>1827 to present time—William Dickens, Esq.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Dudley +Division</span>—1800—The Rev. Joseph Cartwright.</p> +<p>1811—The Rev. William Smith.</p> +<p>Present Chairmen—Thomas Badger, Esq., or the senior +magistrate in attendance.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Droitwich Division</span>—Early part +of the century—The Rev. J. V. Vashon and the Hon. and Rev. +Lord Aston.</p> +<p>1844—Rev. William Vernon.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Upton Division</span>—18-- Rev. +George Turberville.</p> +<p>1838—Rev. Charles Dunne.</p> +<p>1850—Rev. A. B. Lechmere.</p> +<p>In the Kidderminster, Halesowen, Northfield, and Stourbridge +Divisions it has not been the practice to appoint any permanent +chairmen.</p> +<h3>COUNTY CLERKS OF THE PEACE.</h3> +<p>1803—John Soley, Esq.</p> +<p>1822—Thomas Blayney, Esq.</p> +<p>1839—H. B. Domville, Esq.</p> +<p>1843—W. Nichols Marcy, Esq.</p> +<h3>CHAPLAINS OF THE COUNTY PRISON.</h3> +<p>1800—Rev. — Faulkner.</p> +<p>18-- Rev. — Myddleton.</p> +<p>18-- Rev. J. Hadley.</p> +<p>1833—Rev. J. Adlington.</p> +<h3><a name="page324"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +324</span>CHIEF CONSTABLE OF THE COUNTY POLICE.</h3> +<p>1839—Mr. R. R. Harris.</p> +<h3>GAOLERS OF THE COUNTY PRISON.</h3> +<p>1800—Mr. William Davies.</p> +<p>1820—Mr. J. P. Lavender.</p> +<p>1846—Mr. Benjamin L. Stable.</p> +<h3>MAYORS OF WORCESTER.</h3> +<p>1800—E. Isaac, Esq.</p> +<p>1801—H. Hughes, Esq.</p> +<p>1802—Richards Rowlands, Esq.</p> +<p>1803—John Blew, Esq.</p> +<p>1804—John Forrest, Esq.</p> +<p>1805—John Dillon, Esq.</p> +<p>1806—James Wakeman, Esq.</p> +<p>1807—Thomas Allies, Esq.</p> +<p>1808—Samuel Crane, Esq.</p> +<p>1809—Herbert Rogers, Esq.</p> +<p>1810—William Blew, Esq.</p> +<p>1811—John Dowding, Esq.</p> +<p>1812—Benjamin Johnson, Esq.</p> +<p>1813—Thomas St. John, Esq.</p> +<p>1814—Robert Brown, Esq.</p> +<p>1815—Samuel Garmston, Esq.</p> +<p>1816—Anthony Lechmere, Esq.</p> +<p>1817—Robert Chamberlain, Esq.</p> +<p>1818—William Moore, Esq.</p> +<p>1819—W. H. Chamberlain, Esq.</p> +<p>1820—Elias Isaac, Esq.</p> +<p>1821—Francis Hooper, Esq.</p> +<p>1822—John S. Ballard, Esq.</p> +<p>1823—William Shaw, Esq.</p> +<p>1824—William Dunn, Esq.</p> +<p>1825—Edward Blew, Esq.</p> +<p>1826—John Dent, Esq.</p> +<p>1827—R. R. Garmston, Esq.</p> +<p>1828—Thomas Best, Esq.</p> +<p>1829—John Fletcher, Esq.</p> +<p>1830—John Morton, Esq.</p> +<p>1831—H. B. Tymbs, Esq.</p> +<p>1832—Henry Clifton, Esq.</p> +<p>1833—John P. Lavender, Esq.</p> +<p>1834—William Dent, Esq.</p> +<p>1835—Thomas Leonard, Esq., and J. W. Lea, Esq.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">PASSING OF +MUNICIPAL ACT.</span></p> +<p>1836—C. H. Hebb, Esq.</p> +<p>1837—C. H. Hebb, Esq.</p> +<p>1838—George Allies, Esq.</p> +<p>1839—Richard Evans, Esq.</p> +<p>1840—Thomas Chalk, Esq.</p> +<p>1841—C. A. Helm, Esq.</p> +<p>1842—Edward Evans, Esq.</p> +<p>1843—John Lilly, Esq.</p> +<p>1844—William Lewis, Esq.</p> +<p>1845—William Lewis, Esq.</p> +<p>1846—E. J. Lloyd, Esq., (<i>ob.</i>) and William Lewis, +Esq.</p> +<p>1847—F. T. Elgie, Esq.</p> +<p>1848—Edward Webb, Esq.</p> +<p>1849—R. Padmore, Esq.</p> +<p>1850—J. W. Lea, Esq.</p> +<h3>RECORDERS OF WORCESTER.</h3> +<p>1800—The sixth Earl of Coventry.</p> +<p>1808—The seventh Earl of Coventry, in the room of his +father.</p> +<p>1831—The eighth Earl of Coventry, in the room of his +father.</p> +<p>1836—Under the Municipal Reform Act the Recorder was +made virtually, as he had been before nominally, the chief +administrator <a name="page325"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +325</span>of justice in all corporate cities and boroughs having +a Quarter Sessions; and the appointment was vested in +Government. John Buckle, Esq., barrister-at-law, was +appointed Recorder of Worcester—the Government not acceding +to the wishes of the Town Council, who had recommended Mr. +Stinton.</p> +<h3>CITY CORONERS.</h3> +<p>1817—Mr. John Platt and Mr. Nathaniel Mence.</p> +<p>1825—James Wakeman, jun., Esq., in the room of John +Platt, Esq., deceased.</p> +<p>1828—Mr. Gwinnell and Mr. J. B. Hyde, in the room of Mr. +N. Mence (suddenly gone to America because of some defalcations), +and Mr. Wakeman, resigned. Mr. Gwinnell died 1835, and the +vacancy thus occasioned was not filled up.</p> +<p>1836—Mr. J. B. Hyde reappointed Coroner by the new +Municipal Corporation.</p> +<h3>TOWN CLERKS OF WORCESTER.</h3> +<p>1800—Richard Cocks, Esq.</p> +<p>1801—Benjamin Johnson, Esq.</p> +<p>1829—William Welles, Esq.</p> +<p>1830—Charles Sidebottom, Esq.</p> +<p>1836—John Hill, Esq.</p> +<h3>GAOLERS OF THE CITY PRISON.</h3> +<p>1800—Mr. Tyers.</p> +<p>1802—Mr. James Griffiths.</p> +<p>1819—Mr. William Griffiths.</p> +<h3>MAYORS OF BEWDLEY.</h3> +<p>1800—James Fryer, Esq.</p> +<p>1801—Thomas H. Crane, Esq.</p> +<p>1802—Thomas Baker, Esq.</p> +<p>1803—Jonathan Skey, Esq.</p> +<p>1804—Joseph Crane, Esq.</p> +<p>1805—Samuel Baker, Esq.</p> +<p>1806—Jonathan Skey, Esq.</p> +<p>1807—Rev. Edward Baugh.</p> +<p>1808—James Fryer, Esq.</p> +<p>1809—W. A. Roberts, jun., Esq.</p> +<p>1810—Thomas H. Crane, Esq.</p> +<p>1811—Joseph Crane, Esq.</p> +<p>1812—Wilson A. Roberts, Esq.</p> +<p>1813—George Baker, Esq.</p> +<p>1814—Joseph Seager, Esq.</p> +<p>1815—W. A. Roberts, jun., Esq.</p> +<p>1816—James Fryer, Esq.</p> +<p>1817—Thomas H. Crane, Esq.</p> +<p>1818—Joseph Crane, Esq.</p> +<p>1819—John Brookholding, Esq.</p> +<p>1820—Robert Pardoe, Esq.</p> +<p>1821—Thomas Cartwright, Esq.</p> +<p>1822—Thomas Pilkington, Esq.</p> +<p>1823—Joseph Crane, Esq.</p> +<p>1824—Thomas Shaw, Esq.</p> +<p>1825—George Baker, Esq.</p> +<p>1826—John Brookholding, Esq.</p> +<p>1827—Thomas Pilkington, Esq.</p> +<p>1828—John Williams, Esq.</p> +<p>1829—Thomas H. Crane, Esq.</p> +<p><a name="page326"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +326</span>1830—James Fryer, Esq.</p> +<p>1831—T. S. Cartwright, Esq.</p> +<p>1832—John Brookholding, Esq.</p> +<p>1833—Thomas Cartwright, Esq.</p> +<p>1834—Slade Baker, Esq.</p> +<p>1835—Slade Baker, Esq.</p> + +<div class="gapshortline"> </div> +<p>1836—John Bury, Esq.</p> +<p>1837—John Nichols, Esq.</p> +<p>1838—John Beddoe, Esq.</p> +<p>1839—James Cole, Esq.</p> +<p>1840—William Bucklee, Esq.</p> +<p>1841—T. S. Cartwright, Esq.</p> +<p>1842—George Baker, Esq.</p> +<p>1843—James Holder, Esq.</p> +<p>1844—Joseph Farmer, Esq.</p> +<p>1845—George Masefield, Esq.</p> +<p>1846—T. T. Lankester, Esq.</p> +<p>1847—James Banks, Esq.</p> +<p>1848—Adam Prattinton, Esq.</p> +<p>1849—John Baker, Esq.</p> +<p>1850—John Bury, Esq.</p> +<p>1851—Slade Baker, Esq.</p> +<h3>TOWN CLERKS OF BEWDLEY.</h3> +<p>1775—W. A. Robarts, Esq.</p> +<p>1808—Samuel Baker, Esq.</p> +<p>1816—Slade Baker, Esq.</p> +<p>1833—William N. Marcy, Esq.</p> +<h3>MAYORS OF DROITWICH.</h3> +<p>The close Corporation of Droitwich used formerly to elect two +Bailiffs and two magistrates, year by year, out of their own +number; the Lords Foley, from time to time, holding the office of +Recorder. The two last Bailiffs, for the year immediately +preceding the passing of the Municipal Reform Act, were E. B. +Penrice and W. H. Ricketts, Esqs. The following is a fist +of Mayors under the Municipal Act.</p> +<p>1836—E. B. Penrice, Esq.</p> +<p>1837—John Robeson, Esq.</p> +<p>1838–9—E. B. Penrice, Esq.</p> +<p>1840—E. B. Penrice, Esq., (resigned) and S. Tombs, +Esq.</p> +<p>1841—William Trehearn, Esq.</p> +<p>1842—Samuel Tombs, Esq.</p> +<p>1843—Edward Smith, Esq.</p> +<p>1844—John Pumfrey, Esq.</p> +<p>1845–6—T. G. Smith, Esq.</p> +<p>1847—Edward Smith, Esq.</p> +<p>1848–9–50—John Bradley, Esq.</p> +<h3>TOWN CLERKS OF DROITWICH.</h3> +<p>1800—Thomas Jacob White, Esq.</p> +<p>1820—Thomas Gale Curtler, Esq.</p> +<p>1836—Samuel Tombs, jun., Esq.</p> +<h3>MAYORS OF EVESHAM.</h3> +<p>1800—Hon. & Rev. G. Rushout.</p> +<p>1801—Anthony Roper, Gent.</p> +<p>1802—John Lord Northwick.</p> +<p>1803—George Day, Gent.</p> +<p>1804—Thomas Gore, Gent.</p> +<p>1805—William Barnes, Gent.</p> +<p>1806—William Soley, Gent.</p> +<p>1807—W. F. Preedy, Gent.</p> +<p>1808—Thomas B. Cooper, Esq.</p> +<p>1809—John Hunter, Gent.</p> +<p><a name="page327"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +327</span>1810—Sir C. Cockerell, Bart.</p> +<p>1811—Rev. E. Dolman Cooper.</p> +<p>1812—W. F. Preedy, Gent.</p> +<p>1813—Matthias Stratton, Gent.</p> +<p>1814—Rev. H. P. Cooper.</p> +<p>1815—George Day, Gent.</p> +<p>1816—Thomas B. Cooper, Esq.</p> +<p>1817—Hon. & Rev. G. Rushout.</p> +<p>1818—Daniel Edge, Gent.</p> +<p>1819—Edward Savage, Gent.</p> +<p>1820—Rev. Joseph Martin.</p> +<p>1821—Thomas B. Cooper, Esq.</p> +<p>1822—William Barnes, Gent.</p> +<p>1823—Benjamin Murrell, Gent.</p> +<p>1824—William Soley, Gent.</p> +<p>1825—W. F. Preedy, Gent.</p> +<p>1826—George Day, Gent.</p> +<p>1827—Thomas B. Cooper, Esq.</p> +<p>1828—William Byrch, Gent.</p> +<p>1829—John Procter, Gent.</p> +<p>1830—John Thomas, Gent.</p> +<p>1831—Daniel Edge, Gent.</p> +<p>1832—John Walford Izon, Gent.</p> +<p>1833—Sir C. Cockerell, Bart.</p> +<p>1834—Alfred C. Cooper, Gent.</p> +<p>1835—William Barnes, Gent.</p> + +<div class="gapshortline"> </div> +<p>1836—William Barnes, Gent.</p> +<p>1837—Thomas B. Cooper, Esq.</p> +<p>1838—T. N. Foster, Merchant.</p> +<p>1839—Ben. Workman, Solicitor.</p> +<p>1840—John New, Esq.</p> +<p>1841—J. M. G. Cheek, Esq.</p> +<p>1842—Thomas White, Tanner.</p> +<p>1843—Anthony New, Esq.</p> +<p>1844—Richard Gibbs, Gent.</p> +<p>1845—John Bromford, Gent.</p> +<p>1846—Zaccheus Hughes, Draper.</p> +<p>1847—J. B. Haynes, Surgeon.</p> +<p>1848—Anthony Martin, Surgeon.</p> +<p>1849—R. H. Hughes, Merchant.</p> +<p>1850—John Clarke, Esq.</p> +<h3>TOWN CLERKS OF EVESHAM.</h3> +<p>1800—James Taylor, Esq. (reappointed 1836)</p> +<p>1838—Oswald Check, Esq.</p> +<h3>MAYORS OF KIDDERMINSTER.</h3> +<p>Prior to 1836 the chief officers of Kidderminster were High +Bailiffs. The following are the Mayors elected since +1836:</p> +<p>1836—William Butler Best, Esq.</p> +<p>1837—George Hooman, Esq.</p> +<p>1838—George Talbot, jun., Esq.</p> +<p>1839—Charles Talbot, Esq.</p> +<p>1840—Henry Brinton, Esq.</p> +<p>1841—Joseph Newcombe, Esq.</p> +<p>1842—Wm. Henry Worth, Esq.</p> +<p>1843—James Morton, Esq.</p> +<p>1844—Wm. Butler Best, Esq.</p> +<p>1845—George Hooman, Esq.</p> +<p>1846—Wm. Butler Best, Esq.</p> +<p>1847—Wm. Boycot, sen., Esq.</p> +<p>1848—Wm. Boycot, sen., Esq.</p> +<p>1849—Wm. Roden, Esq., M.D.</p> +<p>1850—Wm. Boycot, jun., Esq.</p> +<h3>TOWN CLERKS OF KIDDERMINSTER.</h3> +<p>1800—James Pinches, Esq.</p> +<p>1801—George Hallen, Esq.</p> +<p>1826—Thomas Hallen, Esq.</p> +<h2><a name="page328"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +328</span>APPENDIX.</h2> +<h3>TABLE A—POPULATION.</h3> +<table> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">1801.</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">1811.</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">1821.</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">1831.</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">1841.</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">1851.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>County of Worcester</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">139,333</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">160,546</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">184,424</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">211,365</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">233,484</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">276,926<i>a</i></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>City of Worcester</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">11,131</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">13,551</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">16,207</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><i>b</i>18,442</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">27,023</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">27,528</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Dudley</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">10,307</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">13,925</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">18,611</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">23,443</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">31,232</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">37,954</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Stourbridge (including the Lye and Upper Swinford)</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">8,297</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">9,755</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">11,227</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">13,571</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">17,483</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">19,246</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Kidderminster Bor. & For.</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">8,036</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">10,025</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">12,752</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">17,913</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">17,500</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">20,852</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Bromsgrove</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">5,898</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">6,932</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">7,511</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">8,612</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">9,676</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">10,310</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Redditch</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1,000</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">3,314</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">4,774</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Stourport</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1,603</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">2,352</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">2,544</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">2,952</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">2,952</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">2,993</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Evesham</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">2,837</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">3,068</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">3,472</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">3,976</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">4,245</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">4,605</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Pershore</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1,910</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">2,179</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">2,328</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">2,536</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">2,717</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Droitwich</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1,840</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1,977</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">2,176</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">2,487</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">2,779</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">3,125</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Upton</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1,858</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">2,167</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">2,319</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">2,343</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">2,599</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">2,698</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Tenbury</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1,541</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1,562</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1,668</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1,768</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1,776</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1,784</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Great Malvern</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">2,768</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">3,763</p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<p><i>a</i> By the Act 7 and 8 Victoria, c. 61, part of Halesowen +parish, containing 18,827 persons in 1851, and parts of other +parishes, locally situated in Worcestershire, but belonging to +other counties previously, became parts of Worcestershire. +Taking the same limits, the population of Worcestershire in 1841 +was 248,460.</p> +<p><i>b</i> The population of Worcester, even at this time, was +estimated at 25,000; but the figures given above, up to this +census, only indicate the population included within the old city +boundary.</p> +<h4>WORCESTERSHIRE.—CENSUS OF 1851.</h4> +<table> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td colspan="3"><p style="text-align: center">HOUSES.</p> +</td> +<td colspan="3"><p style="text-align: center">POPULATION.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">Inhabited.</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">Uninhabited.</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">Building.</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">Males.</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">Females.</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">Total.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Eastern Division</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">32,136</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1,387</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">236</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">81,441</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">81,067</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">162,508</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Western Division</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">23,503</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1,336</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">101</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">55,515</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">58,903</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">114,418</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Entire County</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">55,639</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">2,723</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">337</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">136,956</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">139,970</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">276,926</p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<h3><a name="page329"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +329</span>TABLE No. 2.—CRIMINAL STATISTICS.</h3> +<p>The following statistics only relate to the county of +Worcester. Prior to 1821 there are no records of +convictions, &c., in existence; the Table, therefore, +commences with that year.</p> +<table> +<tr> +<td><p>Year.</p> +</td> +<td><p>In what Court Tried.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Number of Prisoner Tried.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Number Capitally Convicted.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Number Sentenced to Transportation.</p> +</td> +<td><p>No. Sentenced various terms of Imprisonment.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Number Acquitted or Discharged.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Summary Convictions.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Total Number of Persons Convicted.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Proportion of Convicted to Population.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1821</p> +</td> +<td><p>Assizes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">80</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">25*</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">15</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">18</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">22</p> +</td> +<td colspan="3"><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Sessions</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">167</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">26</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">92</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">49</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">292</p> +</td> +<td><p>468</p> +</td> +<td><p>1 in 359</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1822</p> +</td> +<td><p>Assizes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">58</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">16</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">6</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">10</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">26</p> +</td> +<td colspan="3"><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Sessions</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">132</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">22</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">57</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">53</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">324</p> +</td> +<td><p>437</p> +</td> +<td><p>1 in 390</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1823</p> +</td> +<td><p>Assizes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">69</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">15*</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">8</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">20</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">26</p> +</td> +<td colspan="3"><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Sessions</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">68</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">12</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">35</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">21</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">348</p> +</td> +<td><p>438</p> +</td> +<td><p>1 in 397</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1824</p> +</td> +<td><p>Assizes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">49</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">16</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">5</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">12</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">16</p> +</td> +<td colspan="3"><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Sessions</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">86</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">8</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">37</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">41</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">352</p> +</td> +<td><p>430</p> +</td> +<td><p>1 in 408</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1825</p> +</td> +<td><p>Assizes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">54</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">15</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">6</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">21</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">12</p> +</td> +<td colspan="3"><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Sessions</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">103</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">14</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">51</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">38</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">363</p> +</td> +<td><p>469</p> +</td> +<td><p>1 in 379</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1826</p> +</td> +<td><p>Assizes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">90</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">27*</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">10</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">30</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">23</p> +</td> +<td colspan="3"><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Sessions</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">70</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">8</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">36</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">26</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">304</p> +</td> +<td><p>405</p> +</td> +<td><p>1 in 446</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1827</p> +</td> +<td><p>Assizes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">110</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">34</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">25</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">29</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">22</p> +</td> +<td colspan="3"><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Sessions</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">124</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">17</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">79</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">28</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">332</p> +</td> +<td><p>516</p> +</td> +<td><p>1 in 354</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1828</p> +</td> +<td><p>Assizes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">42</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">13</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">6</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">10</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">13</p> +</td> +<td colspan="3"><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Sessions</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">156</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">27</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">88</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">41</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">304</p> +</td> +<td><p>448</p> +</td> +<td><p>1 in 414</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><i>a</i>1829</p> +</td> +<td><p>Assizes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">83</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">39</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">5</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">13</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">26</p> +</td> +<td colspan="3"><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Sessions</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">154</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">34</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">75</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">45</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">287</p> +</td> +<td><p>453</p> +</td> +<td><p>1 in 412</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1830</p> +</td> +<td><p>Assizes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">80</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">32*</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">3</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">12</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">33</p> +</td> +<td colspan="3"><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Sessions</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">142</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">25</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">81</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">36</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">319</p> +</td> +<td><p>470</p> +</td> +<td><p>1 in 405</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1831</p> +</td> +<td><p>Assizes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">90</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">43*</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">7</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">23</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">17</p> +</td> +<td colspan="3"><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Sessions</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">220</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">41</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">112</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">67</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">402</p> +</td> +<td><p>628</p> +</td> +<td><p>1 in 307</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1832</p> +</td> +<td><p>Assizes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">74</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">28*</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">9</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">16</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">21</p> +</td> +<td colspan="3"><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Sessions</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">164</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">36</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">83</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">45</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">373</p> +</td> +<td><p>545</p> +</td> +<td><p>1 in 345</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1833</p> +</td> +<td><p>Assizes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">73</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">22</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">13</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">19</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">19</p> +</td> +<td colspan="3"><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Sessions</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">258</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">53</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">137</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">68</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">448</p> +</td> +<td><p>692</p> +</td> +<td><p>1 in 285</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1834</p> +</td> +<td><p>Assizes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">69</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">3*</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">20</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">23</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">23</p> +</td> +<td colspan="3"><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Sessions</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">260</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">63</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">124</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">73</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">526</p> +</td> +<td><p>759</p> +</td> +<td><p>1 in 262</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1835</p> +</td> +<td><p>Assizes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">51</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">11</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">6</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">16</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">18</p> +</td> +<td colspan="3"><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Sessions</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">139</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">24</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">82</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">33</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">373</p> +</td> +<td><p>512</p> +</td> +<td><p>1 in 393</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><i>b</i>1836</p> +</td> +<td><p>Assizes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">47</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">4</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">14</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">12</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">17</p> +</td> +<td colspan="3"><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Sessions</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">212</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">32</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">125</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">55</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">357</p> +</td> +<td><p>544</p> +</td> +<td><p>1 in 363</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><i>a</i>1837</p> +</td> +<td><p>Assizes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">66</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">14*</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">10</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">24</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">18</p> +</td> +<td colspan="3"><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Sessions</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">278</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">47</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">141</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">90</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">328</p> +</td> +<td><p>564</p> +</td> +<td><p>1 in 354</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><a name="page330"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +330</span>1838</p> +</td> +<td><p>Assizes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">64</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">3</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">23</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">21</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">17</p> +</td> +<td colspan="3"><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Sessions</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">303</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">36</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">179</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">88</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">425</p> +</td> +<td><p>687</p> +</td> +<td><p>1 in 292</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1839</p> +</td> +<td><p>Assizes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">70</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">16</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">31</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">22</p> +</td> +<td colspan="3"><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Sessions</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">323</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">44</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">190</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">89</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">411</p> +</td> +<td><p>693</p> +</td> +<td><p>1 in 292</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><i>c</i>1840</p> +</td> +<td><p>Assizes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">76</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">10</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">36</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">30</p> +</td> +<td colspan="3"><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Sessions</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">474</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">68</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">278</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">128</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">566</p> +</td> +<td><p>958</p> +</td> +<td><p>1 in 202</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1841</p> +</td> +<td><p>Assizes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">99</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">9</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">60</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">29</p> +</td> +<td colspan="3"><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Sessions</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">383</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">43</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">231</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">109</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">461</p> +</td> +<td><p>805</p> +</td> +<td><p>1 in 256</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1842</p> +</td> +<td><p>Assizes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">101</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">16</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">59</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">25</p> +</td> +<td colspan="3"><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Sessions</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">440</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">57</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">252</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">131</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">439</p> +</td> +<td><p>824</p> +</td> +<td><p>1 in 253</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1843</p> +</td> +<td><p>Assizes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">120</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">2</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">14</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">44</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">60</p> +</td> +<td colspan="3"><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Sessions</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">418</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">39</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">245</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">142</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">535</p> +</td> +<td><p>879</p> +</td> +<td><p>1 in 242</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1844</p> +</td> +<td><p>Assizes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">141</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">17</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">78</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">45</p> +</td> +<td colspan="3"><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Sessions</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">390</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">31</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">239</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">120</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">535</p> +</td> +<td><p>901</p> +</td> +<td><p>1 in 237</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1845</p> +</td> +<td><p>Assizes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">135</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">20</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">66</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">48</p> +</td> +<td colspan="3"><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Sessions</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">368</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">28</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">220</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">120</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">460</p> +</td> +<td><p>785</p> +</td> +<td><p>1 in 298</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1846</p> +</td> +<td><p>Assizes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">154</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">17</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">79</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">58</p> +</td> +<td colspan="3"><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Sessions</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">329</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">7</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">220</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">102</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">377</p> +</td> +<td><p>700</p> +</td> +<td><p>1 in 337</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><i>a</i>1847</p> +</td> +<td><p>Assizes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">88</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">7</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">52</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">29</p> +</td> +<td colspan="3"><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Sessions</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">458</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">30</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">302</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">126</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">458</p> +</td> +<td><p>849</p> +</td> +<td><p>1 in 281</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1848</p> +</td> +<td><p>Assizes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">109</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">12</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">70</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">27</p> +</td> +<td colspan="3"><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Sessions</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">515</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">21</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">354</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">140</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">599</p> +</td> +<td><p>1056</p> +</td> +<td><p>1 in 228</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1849</p> +</td> +<td><p>Assizes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">99</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">3*</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">10</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">33</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">53</p> +</td> +<td colspan="3"><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Sessions</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">452</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">50</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">289</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">113</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">614</p> +</td> +<td><p>999</p> +</td> +<td><p>1 in 244</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1850</p> +</td> +<td><p>Assizes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">115</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">3</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">15</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">62</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">35</p> +</td> +<td colspan="3"><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Sessions</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">427</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">38</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">280</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">109</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">605</p> +</td> +<td><p>1003</p> +</td> +<td><p>1 in 246</p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<p>* Executions in all these years—vide pp. 146, 148.</p> +<p><i>a a</i> Criminal code greatly mitigated. Various +offences hitherto only triable at Assizes, transferred to the +jurisdiction of Quarter Sessions.</p> +<p><i>b</i> Prisoners’ Counsel Bill passed.</p> +<p><i>c</i> County Police established.</p> +<p><i>d</i> Sir John Pakington’s Juvenile Offenders’ +Act passed.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p><sup>*</sup><sub>*</sub><sup>*</sup> In 1836 the +jurisdiction of the City Quarter Sessions was extended to the new +city boundary, and the deduction of population from the county +raises the proportion of convicted persons from that year +forwards. In 1845 the outlying parts of the county were +included in the jurisdiction of the County Quarter Sessions, and +the ratio of convicted persons is proportionably diminished.</p> +<h3><a name="page331"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +331</span>TABLE No. 3.—PROVISION FOR RELIGIOUS +WORSHIP.</h3> +<p>It is not pretended that the following statistics are +absolutely accurate—the amount of accommodation afforded +being altogether matter of computation. Neither do they +afford reliable data for comparing the relative increase of +different religious denominations, because a considerable +proportion of the old churches have been enlarged in the present +century; while, on the other hand, many of the new chapels built +by Dissenters, especially the Wesleyans, were erected in the +place of preaching rooms used before the year 1800.</p> +<table> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p>Built before A.D. 1800.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Accommodation.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Built after A.D. 1800.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Accommodation.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Places of Worship in the County connected with the +Established Church</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">210</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">63,680</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">24*</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">14,590</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Wesleyans</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">6</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">3,240</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">34</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">6,760</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Baptists</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">13</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">3,654</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">17</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">3,498</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Independents</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">4</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">2,283</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">10</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">3,176</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Primitive Methodists</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">13</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1,906</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Wesleyan New Connexion</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">8</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">2,526</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Wesleyan Association</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">4</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">950</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Countess of Huntingdon</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1,400</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">9</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">2,790</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Catholics</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">2</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">630</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">10</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">2,089</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Unitarian</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">8</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">2,300</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>The Friends</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">7</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1,500</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Other Sects</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">4</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">500</p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<p>* The Churches built in the county since 1800 +are—Redditch (chapel of ease); St. George’s Chapel, +Kidderminster; St. Andrew’s, Netherton; St. George’s +Chapel, Claines; St. Peter’s, Malvern Wells; Christchurch +Chapel, Broadheath; Christchurch Chapel, Catshill; Bartley Green +Chapel, Northfield; Christchurch Chapel, Lye; St. James’s, +Dudley; St. John’s Chapel, Kate Hill, Dudley; St. +Michael’s Chapel, Broadway; Christchurch Chapel, Trimpley, +Kidderminster; Yardley Wood, Yardley; St. John’s Chapel, +Kidderminster; Aston Magna, Blockley; St. Matthias, Malvern Link; +St. Paul’s, Worcester; St. Peter’s, Cookley; North +Hill District Church, Mathon; The Quinton, Halesowen; Langley +Green, Halesowen; St. Peter’s, Worcester; Amblecote, +Oldswinford; Trinity Church, Malvern.</p> +<h3><a name="page332"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +332</span>TABLE No. 4.—OBSERVATIONS AS TO FALL OF +RAIN.</h3> +<table> +<tr> +<td><p>Year.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Worcester. *</p> +</td> +<td><p>Cleobury. †</p> +</td> +<td><p>Orleton. ‡</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1835</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">29.16</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">27.265</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1836</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">32.93</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">28.155</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1837</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">24.465</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">31.18</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">28.545</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1838</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">23.850</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">28.73</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">26.355</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1839</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">34.595</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">37.70</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">34.145</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1840</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">20.715</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">26.94</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">25.800</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1841</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">29.649</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">34.82</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">32.770</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1842</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">25.09</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">25.480</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1843</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">30.42</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">29.935</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1844</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">23.56</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">21.730</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1845</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">27.91</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">27.405</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1846</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">29.24</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">27.015</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1847</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">28.60</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">27.985</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1848</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center">—</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">36.69</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">39.015</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1849</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">23.88</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">30.79</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">26.945</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1850</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">18.66</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">22.84</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">24.615</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1851</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">18.93</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">21.33</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">28.276</p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<p>* The first series of these observations at Worcester +were taken by Mr. T. R. Hill, at the Literary and Scientific +Institution, and those for 1849–51 by Dr. Turley, St. +John’s. It would seem as though less rain fell in +this neighbourhood than in other parts of the county; but the +years given happen to be amongst the drier ones, and in general +it will be found that more rain falls at Worcester than in most +other parts of England. The mean height of the thermometer +in the midland districts of England is about 50°, at +Worcester the mean will be found slightly to exceed that +figure.</p> +<p>† From observations taken by Mr. Hunter of Mawley +Gardens.</p> +<p>‡ From observations taken by Mr. T. H. Davis of Orleton, +who possesses an accurate register of the rain which has fallen +in each month for the last twenty years. The result shows +May to be the driest, and November the wettest, month, and gives +2.19 as the average of January; February, 2.21; March, 1.91; +April, 2.05; May, 1.82; June, 2.41; July, 2.39; August, 2.70; +September, 2.41; October, 2.80; November, 3.16; December, 2.17; +and of the whole year, 28.276 inches.</p> +<h3><a name="page333"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +333</span>ELECTIONS OF 1852.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Worcestershire East</span>—J. H. H. +Foley, Esq., and Captain Rushout reëlected without +opposition.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Worcestershire West</span>—Hon. +General H. B. Lygon and F. W. Knight, Esq., reëlected +without opposition.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Worcester</span>—<span +class="smcap">May</span>—(Election on Mr. Rufford’s +accepting the Chiltern Hundreds)—William Laslett, Esq., of +Abberton Hall, had some time previously announced himself as a +candidate for the representation whenever a vacancy should occur, +professing Radical opinions. The Conservatives brought +forward Mr. Charles M‘Garel, who declared himself a +supporter of Lord Derby’s Government; but as he was not +explicit on the subject of “Protection,” he found so +little favour with the voters, that after four days’ +canvass he left the city. Mr. Laslett was then returned +unopposed. <span class="smcap">July</span>—Mr. +Ricardo and Mr. Laslett united the suffrages of the Whig and +Radical parties, and the candidate supported by the Conservatives +was J. W. Huddleston, Esq., the well known barrister on the +Oxford Circuit. He avowed himself a Free Trader, but would +support Lord Derby’s Government in other matters. The +Sheriff’s return showed 1,212 votes given for Mr. Laslett, +1,164 for Mr. Ricardo, and 661 for Mr. Huddleston.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Kidderminster</span>—Mr. John Best, +the former member, was opposed by Robert Lowe, Esq., a member of +the Australian Council from 1843 to 1850, and member for Sydney +in 1848. He professed to be ready to support Lord +Derby’s Government according to their measures, though a +thorough Free Trader. He thus obtained the support of the +Whig and Radical parties in the borough, and also of a section of +the moderate Conservatives. He was returned on the poll by +a majority of 94: the numbers being—Lowe, 246; Best, +152.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Bewdley</span>—Sir Thomas E. +Winnington, Bart., Liberal, and Joseph Sandars, Esq., +Conservative, were the candidates—Viscount Mandeville +having been previously elected for Huntingdonshire. The +votes were—for Winnington, 169; Sandars, 151.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Evesham</span>—Lord Marcus Hill +retired from the representation, and the candidates were Charles +Lennox Grenville Berkeley, Esq., formerly member for Cheltenham, +Liberal; Sir Henry Willoughby, Bart., Conservative; and Sergeant +Wilkins, Radical. The votes given were—for +Willoughby, 189; Berkeley, 170; Wilkins, 87.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Dudley</span>—John Benbow, Esq., the +former member, Conservative, and James Baldwin, Esq., an alderman +of Birmingham, Radical, were the candidates. The votes +given were—for Benbow, 400; Baldwin, 231.</p> +<h3><a name="page334"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +334</span>WORCESTER RACES.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> following are the winners of +the “<span class="smcap">Gold Cup</span>,” value 100 +guineas, the surplus in specie—4 miles—which used to +be the principal race at the Worcester Summer Meeting, and which +was first run for in the year 1812.</p> +<p>1812—August 12—Mr. Shawe’s b. h. +Offa’s Dyke.</p> +<p>1813—August 11—Mr. Munsey’s b. m. +Meteorina.</p> +<p>1814—August 10—Sir W. Wynn’s b. c. +Bravo.</p> +<p>1815—August 8—Hon. W. B. Lygon’s b. c. +Tozer.</p> +<p>1816—August 14—Mr. Charlton’s b. c. +Tozer.</p> +<p>1817—August 13—Sir W. Wynn’s b. c. +Piscator.</p> +<p>1818—August 12—Mr. Charlton’s ch. c. +Indus.</p> +<p>1819—August 11—Mr. West’s br. h. Fitz +Orville (w. o.)</p> +<p>1820—August 9—Lord Stamford’s ch. c. +Comet.</p> +<p>1821—August 15—Mr. L. Charlton’s Master +Henry.</p> +<p>1822—August 14—Lord Stamford’s Peter +Lely.</p> +<p>1823—August 15—Mr. Mytton’s ch. g. +Euphrates. The Grand Stand was first used at these +races.</p> +<p>1824—August 11—Mr. Mytton’s br. c. Comte +d’Artois (w. o.)</p> +<p>1825—August 4—Mr. Mytton’s ch. g. +Euphrates.</p> +<p>1826—August 2—Mr. Mytton’s b. h. +Longwaist.</p> +<p>1827—August 22—Sir W. Wynn’s ch. c. May +Fly.</p> +<p>1828—July 30—Mr. Mytton’s ch. g. +Euphrates.</p> +<p>1829—August 19—Sir T. Stanley’s ch. g. May +Fly.</p> +<p>1830—August 11—Mr. Davies’s ch. g. +Villager.</p> +<p>1831—August 10—Mr. Beardsworth’s br. g. +Independence.</p> +<p>1832—August 16—Mr. Griffith’s +Thorngrove.</p> +<p>1833—August 7—Mr. Phillips’s b. c. Tom +Brown.</p> +<p>1834—August 6—Mr. L. Day’s b. m. Diana.</p> +<p>1835—August 5—Sir T. Stanley’s b. c. +Intriguer.</p> +<p>1836—August 3—Mr. Haywood’s br. g. +Lentulus.</p> +<p>1837—August 2—Mr. Speed’s gr. g. +Darling.</p> +<p>1838—August 8—Mr. Speed’s gr. g. Isaac.</p> +<p>1839—August 8—Mr. Tomes’s gr. g. +Isaac. The “Gold Cup” was discontinued after +this year.</p> +<p><a name="page335"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +335</span>Winners of the <span class="smcap">Worcestershire +Stakes</span>, 20 sovs. each, 2 mile heats, from 1840.</p> +<p>1840—August 4—Mr. Collins’s gr. g. +Isaac.</p> +<p>1841—July 8—Mr. J. Taylor nas. Earnest.</p> +<p>1842—July 7—Major Hay’s ch. g. +Retriever.</p> +<p>1843—July 6—Lord Palmerston’s b. m. +Ilione.</p> +<p>1844—July 11—Lord Warwick’s b. c. +Yardley.</p> +<p>At the Worcester Autumn Meeting this year was run, the +celebrated match between Mr. Timms’s Cora and Mr. T. +Smith’s Lady Harkaway, both ridden by the owners: Cora +winning by a length only. Time, 9 minutes; 52 seconds; 4 +miles; 6 flights of hurdles.</p> +<p>1845—July 8—Mr. Collett’s b. h. Coranna.</p> +<p>1846—July 7—Captain Harcourt’s br. c. The +Druid.</p> +<p>1847—July 6—Mr. Bristow’s ch. f. +Marietta.</p> +<p>1848—July 4—Mr. J. Day’s b. m. Milliner (w. +o.)</p> +<p>1849—August 7—Mr. Mynors’s br. f. Miss +Bunney (w. o.)</p> +<p>1850—August 6—Mr. Sharratt’s b. f. +Egret.</p> +<h3>STEEPLE CHASES.</h3> +<p>1836—March 2—The first steeple chases ever run in +Worcestershire came off this day. The ground chosen was on +the west bank of the Severn, from Frieze Wood to the centre of +the Lower Powick Ham, about four miles of a stiffish hunting +country. Captain Lamb’s Vivian, ridden by Captain +Beecher, beat Midnight and Saladin.</p> +<p>1841—March 24—Steeple chases at Crowle. +Cotton Ball won the first and Fairy the second.</p> +<p>1844—March 14—The first of the Worcester grand +annual steeple chases. Sixteen horses started for the Royal +Birthday Stakes, which were won by Discount—Vanguard being +second and Harkaway third.</p> +<p>1845—March 19—Seventeen starters for the Royal +Birthday Handicap. Won by Mr. W. Holman’s The +Page. Value of stakes, £819.</p> +<p>1846—November 7—Twelve starters for the Grand +Annual. Won by Lord Strathmore’s Switcher; Marengo +second, and Pioneer third.</p> +<p>1847—November 6—Sixteen horses started. +Winner, Mr. Little’s br. g. Chandler; Glaucus second.</p> +<p>1848—November 4—Nineteen horses started. +Winner, Proceed; Red Lancer second.</p> +<p>1849—November 2—Ten horses started. Winner, +Mr. Vevers’s Vainhope; Young ’Un second.</p> +<p>1850—December 4—Twelve starters. Winner, +Miss Collingwood; Tipperary Boy second.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><a name="page336"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 336</span><span +class="GutSmall">BIRMINGHAM:</span><br /> +<span class="GutSmall">PRINTED BY JOSIAH ALLEN AND SON,</span><br +/> +3, <span class="GutSmall">COLMORE ROW.</span></p> +<h2><a name="page337"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +337</span>ADDENDA AND ERRATA. <a name="citation337"></a><a +href="#footnote337" class="citation">[337]</a></h2> +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> addition to the Enclosure Bills +enumerated in note, p. 6, must be mentioned the following: +Aldington, Astley, Abberley, Broughton Hackett, Bredon, Bonehill, +Badsey, Churchill, Little and Great Comberton, Crowle, Eckington, +Flyford Flavel, Holdfast (Ripple), Iccomb, Inkberrow, North, +South, and Middle Littleton, Norton, Overbury, Pensham, North +Piddle, Rushock, Salwarp, Sedgberrow, Shipston-on-Stour, +Strensham, Tibberton, Wick (Pershore).</p> + +<div class="gapshortline"> </div> +<p>Page 97, line 3—<i>for</i> “Rev. George +Turnbull,” <i>read</i> “Rev. George +Turberville.”</p> +<p>Page 188, line 19—<i>for</i> “small +majorities,” <i>read</i> “small +minorities.”</p> +<p>Page 241, line 5—<i>for</i> “vestin,” read +“vesting.”</p> +<p>Page 264, line 24—<i>for</i> “accepted as the +text,” <i>read</i> “accepted as the test.”</p> +<h2>FOOTNOTES.</h2> +<p><a name="footnote6"></a><a href="#citation6" +class="footnote">[6]</a> The number of enclosure bills +passed between 1800 and 1814 was 1,448; in the next year they +fell off remarkably; and between 1814 and 1830, only 557 passed +the legislature. The enclosure bills passed for +Worcestershire in the present century are Astley, Bayton, +Ombersley, Hartlebury, Alton (Rock), Feckenham, Minith Wood, +Coston Hackett, Burlish Common, Stock and Bradley, Hagley, +Harberrow and Blakedown, Fladbury, Yardley. And since the +passing of the General Enclosure Act, powers have been obtained +to enclose part of Welland Common, Areley Common, Longdon, +Newbold-on-Stour, and Hatfield (Kempsey).</p> +<p><a name="footnote65"></a><a href="#citation65" +class="footnote">[65]</a> The ports were opened, at 1s. a +quarter duty, from the end of February, 1818, when some superior +white wheat was fetching 102s. a quarter, to the end of March, +1819.</p> +<p><a name="footnote90"></a><a href="#citation90" +class="footnote">[90]</a> On the Sunday during or +immediately following the Assizes, which used to be known as +Assize Sunday, and kept as a great fair, the keepers at the +county gaol were accustomed to show the prisoners through the +bars to the curious crowd, and collect sixpences in a boot for +pointing out those who were sentenced to be hanged, &c.</p> +<p><a name="footnote156"></a><a href="#citation156" +class="footnote">[156]</a> The titles of the projects +were—Worcester and South Wales Junction; East and West +Junction; Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and Stour Valley, Midland +and Eastern Counties Railway; London, Warwick, Leamington, and +Kidderminster; Direct Birmingham and Leicester Railway; Oxford, +Worcester, and Wolverhampton Branches; Worcester, Hereford, Ross, +and Gloucester; Warwickshire and London; Derbyshire, +Staffordshire, and Worcestershire Junction; Worcester, Tenbury, +and Ludlow; Trent Valley, Midlands, and Grand Junction; Worcester +and Leominster; Worcester and Portdynllaen; Birmingham and Oxford +Junction; Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and Dudley; South +Staffordshire Junction; Gloucester and Hereford Canal and +Worcester; Welsh Midland: Welsh Midland Extension; Midland and +Eastern Counties; Oxford and Worcester Extension and Chester +Junction; Birmingham and Bristol; Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and +Stour Valley (No. 2); Warwickshire and London (Worcester to +Weedon); Birmingham and Gloucester (branches); Northampton, +Banbury, and Cheltenham; Leamington, Warwick, and Cheltenham; +Worcester, Warwick, and Rugby; Shropshire Union; Dudley, Madeley, +Broseley, and Ironbridge; Cambrian and Grand Junction; Warwick +and Worcester; Warwick and Birmingham; Rugby, Warwick, and +Worcester.</p> +<p><a name="footnote165"></a><a href="#citation165" +class="footnote">[165]</a> Some facts, with regard to +currents and the course of running water, established during the +course of the recent alterations in the Severn, were totally +opposed to all the theories previously held by hydraulic +engineers; and when first brought under their notice were +scarcely credited, though backed by the best of testimony.</p> +<p><a name="footnote171"></a><a href="#citation171" +class="footnote">[171]</a> The present commissioners are +Lord Hatherton, The Right Hon. Sir John Pakington, Bart., M.P., +T. C. Hornyold, Esq., John Benbow, Esq., M.P., H. E. Strickland, +Esq., Thomas Fulljames, Esq., W. H. Hyett, Esq., J. W. Lea, Esq., +E. Evans, Esq., J. M. Gutch, Esq., E. Webb, Esq., D. M. Walker, +Esq., T. Sturge, Esq., N. P. Price, Esq., M.P., W. H. Barrow, +Esq., M.P., Richard P. King, Esq., S. Tombs, jun., Esq., William +Dowdeswell, Esq., W. R. Anstice, Esq., Richard Blakemore, Esq., +J. M. G. Cheek, Esq., J. Rogers, Esq., J. S. Rutter, Esq., +William Mabson, Esq., P. Baldwin, Esq., A. H. Jenkins, Esq., John +Home, Esq., E. L. Kendall, Esq., W. Wills, Esq., John W. Hughes, +Esq.</p> +<p><a name="footnote337"></a><a href="#citation337" +class="footnote">[337]</a> The errata have been applied in +this Project Gutenberg eText.—DP.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORCESTERSHIRE IN THE NINETEENTH +CENTURY***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 44040-h.htm or 44040-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/4/4/0/4/44040 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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