Part 26

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.