Part 27

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.