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and tradespeople generally, but had little effect upon the condition of the working classes; and the war had not yet withdrawn so many men from productive industry as materially to raise the rate of wages.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 70?, 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.

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 Phoenix 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.

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 100?, 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 100? in January, sunk in December to 94?; 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.