Part 31

OCTOBER 27—The Chapel of Ease at Headless Cross consecrated. The Lord Bishop preached, and £60. 11s. were collected. The building will seat about 250 persons, and most of the sittings are free.

DECEMBER 10—Earl Beauchamp’s cash box, containing about £120, stolen during the night from his dressing-room, at Madresfield Court. The thief was never discovered.

DECEMBER 18—A Winter Assizes before Mr. Baron Rolfe, occupying three days. None of the cases tried were of much importance.

LOCAL ACTS—To enable the Worcestershire and Staffordshire Canal Company to lend money to the Severn Navigation Commissioners; to enable the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway Company to raise a further sum of money, and to amend the acts relating thereto.

1844.

THE legislature was this year occupied with many exciting subjects; especially the state of Ireland, then agitated by the proceedings on Mr. O’Connell’s trial; restrictions on labour in factories; and the Dissenters’ Chapel Bill. The financial measures of the year were likewise very important; including, as they did, the reduction of the Three-and-half per Cents., and the passing of the Bank Restriction Act—an act, the wisdom of which is yet to be determined. Mr. Villiers’s annual motion for repeal of the Corn Laws was negatived by 328 to 124. Consols in October reached 100⅞, and averaged throughout the year, 99; wheat averaged 51s. 3d.

FEBRUARY 16—The OMBERSLEY LABOURERS’ FRIENDLY SOCIETY, for granting allotments in that parish, set on foot by the Hon. and Rev. W. W. C. Talbot.

APRIL 12—The WORCESTERSHIRE LABOURERS’ FRIENDLY SOCIETY formed at an influential meeting of landowners and farmers at the Shire Hall, over which Lord Lyttelton presided. The object of the society was to ameliorate the condition and standing of the agricultural labourers, by giving them allotments.

JULY 29—A silver tankard, weighing fifty ounces, presented to T. C. Hornyold, Esq., by his tenantry, at their audit dinner.

OCTOBER 5—Great festivities at Eardiston, on Sir William Smith attaining his majority.

DECEMBER 1—The Lord Bishop of the Diocese, in delivering an ordination charge, expressed very decidedly his disapproval of Tractarianism and the revival of obsolete customs in the Church, such as preaching in the surplice.

DECEMBER 28—An illicit still, which had been for some time quietly at work in Worcester, discovered and seized by the police.

LOCAL ACT—To alter and extend the provisions of the Severn Improvement Act.

1845.

SPECULATION and wild schemes, such as England had not seen since the hey-day of South Sea projects, signalised the earlier part of the year. The railway mania, indeed, continued till November; and then came a sudden collapse, of which it is only to be wondered that its effects were not more serious and lasting. In Parliament, the most important measures were the re-imposition of the Income Tax, with an amended tariff, and the increase of the Maynooth Grant from £9,000 to £26,360 per annum, henceforth to be paid out of the Consolidated Fund, instead of being an annual Parliamentary grant. A large number of petitions were presented against the measure, but the second reading was carried by 323 to 176. Consols, which stood at 100⅝ in January, sunk in December to 94⅝; wheat averaged 50s. 10d.

APRIL 19—In the division on the second reading of the Maynooth Grant Bill, when ministers had a majority in favour of the Bill of 147 in a House of 503, Mr. Barneby, Mr. Godson, Mr. J. S. Pakington, Sir Thomas Wilde, and Sir Thomas Winnington, voted with the majority; and Mr. F. W. Knight and Mr. J. A. Taylor with the minority. General Lygon, Lord Marcus Hill, Mr. Borthwick, and Mr. Benbow were absent.

MAY 24—Festivities at Hewell, continuing during several days, to celebrate the attainment of Mr. Robert Clive’s majority. Several dinners in the tennis court, dancing parties among the labourers, treats to the school children, &c.

JULY 3—Mr. Pierpoint brought forward a motion, at the meeting of the Worcester Turnpike Trustees, for an amalgamation of the different districts, so as to enable the poorer roads to get out of debt. This was opposed by the gentlemen who lived in the more lightly taxed districts, and lost on a division by 18 to 10.

AUGUST 11—The first Worcester regatta.

AUGUST 30—A fearful collision occurred at the Defford station; first in a luggage train dashing against another that was being moved to a siding, and then in the down train dashing into the wreck of the luggage train, and becoming itself a mass of confusion. Three passengers lost their lives, and several others were injured; one engine was smashed, and several carriages were set on fire. The coroner’s jury laid a deodand of £1,500 upon the engine, because there appeared to have been much negligence on the part of the officials.

NOVEMBER 7—A brick maker, named Humphrey Willis, having become intoxicated, wandered on to the railway at Stoke Prior, and was killed by the night mail train.

DECEMBER 25—Abberley Hall, the residence of Mrs. Moilliett, destroyed by fire.

LOCAL ACTS—The Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway Act. To enable the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway Company to make a branch at Stoke Prior, and for other purposes. To make and maintain a road from Stanford bridge to Ham bridge, Clifton-on-Teme.

1846.

SIR ROBERT PEEL having, from the failure of the potato crop and the imminence of famine, become convinced that the Corn Laws could no longer be maintained, resigned office in December, 1845, and resumed it again for the purpose of carrying Free Trade measures when Lord John Russell had failed to form a Government. His measure for a gradual reduction of the duties on corn was ordered to go into committee, after twelve nights’ debate, by a majority of 337 to 240. After the settlement of the new commercial policy, the Government was defeated by a union of the Whigs and Protectionists, in a proposal to carry a bill for the repression of outrage in Ireland; and this was followed by Sir Robert Peel’s retirement from office, which had for some time been foreseen as unavoidable. Lord John Russell then became Premier. Consols averaged 95½; wheat, 54s. 8d.

JANUARY 13—St. Matthias’ Church, Malvern Link, in the parish of Leigh, consecrated by the Lord Bishop of the Diocese. £130 were collected after a sermon by his lordship. The total cost was £1,700, and it will seat 350 persons.

FEBRUARY 27—In the first division on Sir Robert Peel’s Free Trade measures, the majority included Mr. Benbow, Hon. R. Clive, Viscount Eastnor, Mr. R. Godson, Lord Marcus Hill, Mr. Robert Scott, Sir Thomas Wilde, and Sir Thomas E. Winnnington. Mr. Borthwick, Mr. F. W. Knight, General Lygon, Mr. Pakington, Mr. R. Spooner, and Mr. J. A. Taylor voted with the minority.

MARCH 21—The Queen Dowager took her final leave of Witley Court.

MAY 11—The Worcester New Gas Company’s Bill went into committee. The Marquis of Granby, as chairman, suggested an amicable arrangement between the New and Old Companies. The committee accordingly adjourned for two days, and an agreement was then effected, principally by the zealous endeavours of Sir Thomas Wilde. The New Company consented to become purchasers of the Old Company’s plant, works, and stock at a valuation by arbitrators, and to pay £1,000 over and above the valuation, but to give nothing for “goodwill;” this being the point which had been the principal difficulty in the way of an arrangement.

JULY 3—Blowing-up of the Droitwich Patent Salt Company’s Works by the sudden explosion of the steam pipes. Two men named Carter, father and son, were so severely scalded that they died in a few hours after the accident.

AUGUST 4—First meeting of the Worcestershire Archery Society at Strensham Court. The Dowager Lady Winnington was Lady Paramount. The first prizes were won by Miss Clive and Miss Marion Bearcroft, Captain Clowes and J. H. Galton, Esq.

AUGUST 21—The Catholic Church at Hanley opened. A sermon preached on the occasion by Dr. Wiseman.

DECEMBER 26—The last number of the _Worcestershire Guardian_ published, the interest of the paper being afterwards identified with the _Worcester Journal_. It was one of the many Tory papers started by influential parties in London, during the years 1833 and 1834, for the purpose of regaining the power which the Conservative party lost in the Reform Bill agitation. It fought the battles of the party with much fidelity; and during the years in which Mr. George Hyde was editor, its attacks upon the Liberals were distinguished by a good deal of smartness and ability, though too highly seasoned with personality.

LOCAL ACTS—For paving, cleansing, and improving the town of Bromsgrove; Worcester New Gas Company’s Act; Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway Amendment Act; Severn Navigation Commissioners’ Amendment Act; for making a railway from the Birmingham and Gloucester line at Kingsnorton to Halesowen; Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and Dudley Railway Act.

1847.

THE terrible condition of Ireland, and the decimation of its inhabitants by famine, occupied the greater share of the attention of Parliament. The Corn and Navigation Laws were entirely suspended until towards the close of the year; in spite of which, the average price of wheat in May was 100s. 5d. The issuing of the Minutes of the Council on Education, which have since been acted upon, and the increase of the grant to £100,000 per annum for the purpose of carrying them into effect, may be regarded as the most important measure of the year. Parliament was dissolved in July, and the elections tended to confirm the predominance of Free Trade principles. Parliament met again on the 18th November. Consols averaged 87; wheat, 69s. 9d.

JANUARY 26—An elegant silver salver, with appropriate inscription, presented to the Rev. Thomas Pearson by the honorary members of the Worcestershire Friendly Institution, in testimony of the value of the services by which, as chairman of the board of directors, he had so greatly increased the efficiency and usefulness of the society.

FEBRUARY 4—A massive silver tureen and four corner dishes presented to Captain Candler on his retirement from the mastership of the fox hounds—which he had held for ten years—at a splendid banquet given at the Star, Lord Lyttelton in the chair.

APRIL—Petitions presented from various of the Dissenting bodies throughout the county against the new Educational Minutes of the Privy Council.

APRIL 22—The first County Court held in Worcestershire, under the presidency of Benjamin Parham, Esq., then recently appointed the Judge of the Worcester District.

AUGUST 6—Shelsley Beauchamp Church reopened, after some costly alterations. The Rev. T. L. Claughton preached on the occasion, and £566 were collected; Lord Ward being a donor of £500.

AUGUST 6—An engine running off the rails on the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway at Kingsnorton, the driver, named John Warburton, was dashed to pieces.

AUGUST 16—The allottees took possession of the O’Connorite Lowbands settlement at Redmarley. The National Land Scheme, under which this estate, with others in different parts of the country, was purchased, set out into lots, and divided to the few drawers of prizes in a lottery to which thousands of others had subscribed, was one of the hugest delusions to which the working men of this country ever lent themselves under demagogue leadership. They allowed themselves to be persuaded, not only that to leave their manual handicraft and become squatters on an acre or two of ground would be the climax of independence and happiness, but that by some legerdemain of compound interest, their money and estates would be so reproductive that all the subscribers would in a few years get allotments, which, being freehold, would give them immense political power, and be the regeneration of the land. The fortunate allottees soon found that they did not hold the fee simple of their acres, but were called upon by O’Connor to pay a large rent, and being unaccustomed to husbandry were speedily reduced to the condition of ruined paupers, subsistent on the charity of the farmers among whom they were located. The affairs of the company are now being wound up under an Act of Parliament.

AUGUST 17—A Provincial Grand Lodge of Freemasons established in the county. Dr. Roden of Kidderminster was appointed Deputy Provincial Grand Master of Worcestershire.

AUGUST 17—Grand Bazaar in Mr. J. H. H. Foley’s grounds at Prestwood, in aid of the funds of the Stourbridge Mechanics’ Institute. It continued open for three days, and realised £1,117.

SEPTEMBER 14—At the annual assembly of the Queen’s Own Yeomanry Cavalry, the portrait of the gallant Colonel of the regiment, which had been purchased by a general subscription of the officers and privates, and painted by Pickersgill, R.A., was presented to Lady Harriett Clive in the Shire Hall, Worcester. The pleasing duty of presentation was performed by Major Martin, as senior officer, and Colonel Clive acknowledged the compliment at length.

OCTOBER 7—A meeting held at Dee’s Hotel, Birmingham, to take steps for the establishment of a WORCESTER DIOCESAN TRAINING SCHOOL. The Right Rev. The Lord Bishop took the chair. The resolutions were moved by Lord Lyttelton, Archdeacon Spooner, Viscount Lifford, and Sir John Pakington, Bart., M.P., and a large sum was subscribed upon the spot. The first stone of the new school was laid by Sir John Pakington, October 10, 1850.

LOCAL ACTS—For rating, to the relief of the poor, the owners instead of the occupiers of certain property in the parishes of Kingsnorton, Northfield, and Beoley.

1848.

THIS year is to be gratefully remembered on account of the happy escape which our country had from the confusion and revolution which raged over the ill-governed kingdoms of the continent. A proposal of Government to increase the Income Tax was defeated by the general expression of popular disapprobation. Consols averaged 85; wheat, 50s. 6d.

FEBRUARY 12—On the second reading of the Jewish Disabilities Bill, J. H. H. Foley, Esq., O. Ricardo, Esq., and Lord M. Hill voted in the majority for their removal—and R. Godson, Esq., T. J. Ireland, Esq., Hon. General Lygon, Sir J. S. Pakington, Bart., F. Rufford, Esq., Captain Rushout, and Sir H. Willoughby in the minority.

FEBRUARY—The Corn Exchange dispute now raged in Worcester, being made in great measure a question of politics; the Protectionists supporting the proposal to build a new exchange in Angel Street, and the Free Traders insisting on the old site, from which they contended it could not be removed without much injustice to the shopkeepers and owners of property in the Corn Market. The Mayor, Mr. Webb, made many strenuous efforts to effect an amicable arrangement between the parties, but without success; and the silly result was, that instead of uniting the funds to build a handsome hall that would have been a credit to the city, two were built. The erection in Angel Street entailed great loss upon the subscribers; and the handsome room in the Corn Market, though left without many embellishments which had been intended to be added, was a ruinous affair both to the shareholders and the contractor. As the agriculturists all steadfastly attended the Angel Street room, the one in the Corn Market was at last obliged to be closed as a corn exchange, and was sold under the Joint Stock Company’s Winding-up Act for £1,710—the price to the shareholders being upwards of £4,000. It is now transformed into a very handsome Music Hall.

APRIL 22—The Worcestershire Agricultural Protection Society dissolved itself, and voted its funds in hand, amounting to £500, towards the erection of the Angel Street Corn Exchange. The Messrs. Dent, with Mr. Francis Hooper and Mr. Lucy, protested against the appropriation of the money to the building of the Angel Street Corn Exchange.

JUNE 19—Sir John Pakington moved an amendment on Lord John Russell’s plan for gradually reducing the duties on colonial sugar, and was only defeated by a majority of 15—260 members voting with ministers, and 245 with Sir John Pakington. Mr. Benbow, Mr. Godson, Viscount Mandeville, Mr. Rufford, Captain Rushout, Sir H. Willoughby, and Sir J. Pakington voted in the minority, and Mr. J. H. H. Foley, Mr. O. Ricardo, and Lord M. Hill with the majority.

JULY 31—Several Worcester theatrical amateurs performed Sheridan Knowles’s _Hunchback_ with great success and excellence of acting. The proceeds of this and another night’s performance were devoted to the establishment of a gloving school.

AUGUST—The British Archæological Association, under the presidency of Lord Albert Conyngham, held their annual congress in Worcester. They were received by the Mayor and Corporation—held morning and evening sederunts, at which papers were read and antiquities exhibited—visited Sudeley Castle and other places of interest in the neighbourhood—unrolled a mummy at the County Courts, &c. The meeting was concluded by a _soirée_ at the Guildhall, given by Lord and Lady Conyngham, at which Mr. Silk Buckingham delivered a lecture on Thebes, &c.

SEPTEMBER—After a lapse of ten years an EXHIBITION OF PAINTINGS was again opened in Worcester, and proved upon the whole very successful. The catalogue numbered 200 pictures, amongst which were Constable’s “Salisbury Cathedral,” and works by Etty, Sidney Cooper, Müller, &c.

LOCAL ACTS—Worcester New Gas Company’s Amendment Act; to authorise the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway to raise a further sum of money; to authorise an alteration in the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway; to enable the Worcester Turnpike Trustees to make alterations in roads, &c.

1849.

THE extreme distress in Ireland caused by the continuance of the potato blight—the repeal of the Navigation Laws, carried on second reading by 266 to 210—and the admission of Jews to Parliament, refused by the Lords—were the chief topics of Parliamentary discussion. Consols averaged 92½; wheat, 44s. 3d.

FEBRUARY 3—Mdlle. Jenny Lind gave a concert in the College Hall, Worcester, in aid of the funds of the Infirmary, to compensate for the disappointment which had been felt by her non-appearance at the Festival in the previous year. The band of the 5th Dragoon Guards and the Worcester Harmonic Society took part in the concert. Thirteen hundred persons attended. The total receipts were £1,100, and £840 were cleared for the Infirmary.

APRIL—The WORCESTER MADRIGAL SOCIETY, recently formed, gave their first concert. This society, which executes the quaint music of the old madrigalists in excellent style, has already extended its fame far beyond the limits of the “faithful city.”

JUNE 29—The cholera broke out in Worcester, and continued fitfully to seize upon its victims till the middle of October, when it altogether disappeared. There were altogether eighty-nine cases, out of which forty-three were fatal. The expenses of the Cholera Hospital amounted to £832. Dr. Stevens’s saline treatment, only partially put in practice there, seemed to be successful, so far as opportunity was allowed for its trial.

AUGUST—The seventeenth anniversary of the Provincial Surgical and Medical Association was this year held at Worcester—Dr. Hastings, the founder of the association, being president. Many interesting discussions, on topics connected with medical science and the status of the profession, took place, and valuable papers were read at the different sittings. The meeting closed with a dinner at the Guildhall, at which the principal county gentlemen attended.

SEPTEMBER 21—St. Peter’s Church, Cookley, consecrated. William Hancocks, Esq., was the principal contributor to the expense of this handsome building, which cost some £3,400, and will accommodate upwards of 400 persons.

NOVEMBER 15—This day was very generally and religiously observed throughout the county as one of thanksgiving for the abatement of the cholera in the land.

DECEMBER 10—Rejoicings at Prestwood, Stourbridge, Stewponey, &c., in celebration of Mr. Henry Wentworth Foley’s coming of age.

LOCAL ACT—For better assessing the poor rates on small tenements in Kidderminster.

THE COUNTY ARISTOCRACY.

PEERS.

BEAUCHAMP, Earl—Seat, Madresfield Court. William Lygon, Esq., having for some years represented the county in Parliament, was elevated to the peerage by the title of Baron Beauchamp of Powyke Court, Worcestershire, 26 February, 1806, and created Viscount Elmley and Earl Beauchamp 1 December, 1815. He assumed the surname and arms of Pyndar, instead of those of Lygon, in October, 1813. He married Catherine, only daughter of James Denn, Esq., and had issue eight children. His lordship died 21 October, 1816, and was succeeded by his eldest son, William Beauchamp, who for some years acted as Chairman of Quarter Sessions, and represented the county from 1806. At his decease, unmarried, May, 1823, the honours devolved upon his brother, JOHN REGINALD, the present Earl. He married, first, 14 March, 1814, Charlotte, only daughter of the first Earl of Clonmel, who died 26 April, 1846; and, secondly, 1851, the third daughter of the Baroness Braye, and relict of Henry Murray, Esq. Is patron of four livings.

COVENTRY, Earl of—Seat, Croome Court; created, 1697. George William, sixth Earl, died 1809, and was succeeded by George William, the seventh Earl, Recorder of Worcester and High Steward of Tewkesbury, who died 1831, and was succeeded by George William, eighth Earl, Lord Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum of the county of Worcester. He married, first, 16 January, 1808, Emma Susanna, second daughter of William, first Earl of Beauchamp, and had issue George William, Viscount Deerhurst, who married Harriett Anne, daughter of Sir Charles Cockerell, Bart., and died in November, 1838, leaving one son, the present Earl, and one daughter. The eighth Earl died May, 1843, when the title devolved on his grandson, who was born 9 May, 1838, and is, consequently, at present a minor. Is patron of five livings.

LYTTELTON, Lord, Baron of Frankley, county of Worcester—Seat, Hagley Park. William Henry, Governor of Carolina county, Jamaica, &c., was created Baron, in Great Britain, 1794, the title having expired with his nephew, Thomas, the second Lord Lyttelton (the probable author of the _Letters of Junius_), who died November, 1779. William Henry, Lord Lyttelton, died 14 September, 1808, and was succeeded by his eldest son, George Fulke; at whose decease, unmarried, 12 November, 1828, the title devolved on his brother by a second marriage, William Henry, third Baron. He married, 4 March, 1813, Lady Sarah Spencer, eldest daughter of the second Earl Spencer. His lordship died 30 April, 1827. He represented the county in Parliament from 1807 to 1820, during which time he was the consistent supporter of Liberal measures, and to him we are indebted for the extinction of state lotteries. He was a fluent and argumentative speaker. He was the warm friend of literary and educational institutions in the county. His lordship was succeeded by his eldest son, GEORGE WILLIAM, the present peer. The present Lord Lyttelton was born 31 March, 1817; he married, 25 July, 1839, Mary, daughter of the late Sir Stephen Glynne, Bart. Is patron of three livings.