Queen Elizabeth I visited the city of Norwich. It was a grand affair. The Queen had left London in mid-July on that year’s Summer Progress, accompanied by a vast entourage. With her came the Yeoman of the Guard, 130-strong, and the mounted Gentleman Pensioners. The Queen’s whole Government came along too, including her trusted Chancellor[…]
Captain Frederick Marryat died at Langham in Norfolk. He was a former Royal Navy officer, born in 1792, who had a distinguished literary career. A close associate of Charles Dickens, Marryat wrote at length about naval affairs. Marryat’s Code was a widely used system of flag signalling at sea. Later he turned his hand to[…]
Preparations commenced for the defence of Norfolk in view of possible invasion from Napoleonic France. Several officers and non-commissioned officers of the 47th Regiment of Foot arrived in Norwich to begin training the Army of Reserve in Chapel Field. By the following day 702 men had offered themselves, the number rising to 1,085. A public[…]
The Royal squadron accompanying the Queen on her voyage to Scotland passed Yarmouth at 5am. On the return of her Majesty, on the evening of September 16, several yawls put out to sea, and the occupants were gratified with a sight of the Queen and Prince Albert on the main deck of the Trident steamer.[…]
Author George Borrow, writing to the Norfolk Chronicle, suggested the derivation of the word Tory. “Tory,” he wrote “is composed of three Irish words, and doubtless originated among the Irish adherents of Charles II, at the time they were suffering under the sway of Cromwell and were sighing for the Restoration. The words are Tar[…]
The following names were published as those of local officers present at the Battle of Waterloo: Lt Col Charles West, 3rd Regiment of Guards; Lt the Hon Horace G Townshend, 1st Regiment of Guards; Lt Sigismund Trafford, 1st Royal Dragoons, eldest son of Mr S Trawford Southwell; Ensign Alfred Cooper, 14th Regiment, youngest son of[…]
A lecture was given at St Andrew’s Hall, Norwich, by Prof Isham Baggs, of the Polytechnic Institute, London, on the ‘Economy and Philosophy of the Electric light’. The electric light was shown by the aid of a powerful voltaic battery. It was described as “a light of dazzling lustre and surpassing brilliancy, on which no[…]
At Diss a number of labourers in husbandry refused to work at the customary wages, and being out of employment applied to the magistrates, who advised the parish officers to put them to work, which they accordingly did. Their business was to carry bricks in a hod from Palgrave to Diss, a distance of two[…]
The summer of 1816 was a disaster. According to the Norfolk Annals, on July 18, “after a week’s continuous rain, which greatly impeded the hay harvest, a severe thunderstorm occurred”. Crops were beaten down, acres of turnips were washed away and in several villages the lanes were full of water. This went on not just[…]
On July 2, 1667, a desperate battle was fought on the Suffolk coast. Landguard Fort, south of Felixstowe, was attacked by the formidable forces of the Dutch Republic. Defending it was a detachment of marines, a then experimental branch of the English army who fought off a force four times their size. Dutch Admiral Michiel[…]