The autumn of 1846 was spent by the philanthropist quietly at home, with the exception of engagements connected with the attendance of meetings of Friends, and with what proved to be a farewell visit to his beloved daughter at Darlington, and to his friends in several places on his way home. He attended a committee of the Norwich District Visiting Society on December 28th in that year, and on his return to Earlham he complained of great exhaustion, feverishness, &c. A few simple remedies were administered, but the uncomfortable symptoms remaining his medical man was summoned on the following morning. He pronounced it a slight bilious attack, and seemed to have no anxiety about the recovery. The philanthropist, however, gradually sank, apparently from exhaustion, and he died on January 4th, 1847, in the 59th year of his age. The news of his death spread a gloom over the city, and the universal lamentations of the citizens proved that they regarded him as a father and a friend, as indeed he had been to thousands of them. The sensation in Norwich and its neighbourhood cannot easily be described, and is probably without precedent in the case of a mere private individual. During the entire interval of seven days between his decease and the funeral, the half-closed shops and the darkened windows of the houses gave ample proof of the feelings of the inhabitants. It furnished the principal topic of conversation in every family, in every private circle, in every group by the wayside. People of all ranks vied with each other in their eulogies of their departed friend. Everyone had his own story to tell of some public benefit, or of some private kindness which had been shown to others or to himself.
The funeral, as might have been expected from this unusual public emotion, was an extraordinary scene. All the shops were closed and all business was suspended in the city. A number of gentlemen, including the mayor, the ex-mayor, and the sheriff, went out in carriages as far as Earlham Hall. The citizens generally formed the funeral procession, and followed the hearse and plain carriages from the hall to the burial place at the Gildencroft. There was no pomp or parade, no mockery of woe. A simplicity in harmony with the character of the departed marked all the arrangements. As the procession moved on towards the city it was joined by an increasing number of the inhabitants, who issued forth in a continuous stream to pay their last tribute to the memory of departed worth. Silently and sadly many stood while the hearse passed slowly by, and many a tearful countenance among the crowd bore testimony to their love for the dead. The procession gradually increased in numbers all the way to the Gildencroft, and after the thousands of people had gathered round the grave a profound silence ensued, which was at length broken by a Friend repeating the verses, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” &c. Another pause then took place, followed by another address, and then the body was lowered into its last resting place. The circle of mourning relatives, including J. H. Gurney and his wife, the surrounding crowd of spectators—persons of all ranks, of all ages, of all communions—magistrates and artizans, clergymen and Nonconformists—representatives, in short, of the whole people of Norwich, now took their last farewell of Joseph John Gurney, and slowly turned towards the meeting house, where a meeting for worship was to be held. The service was deeply impressive, and formed an appropriate conclusion to the solemn occasion. At the Cathedral, on the following Sunday, the good Bishop Stanley preached a funeral sermon before a large congregation. His text was “Watchman, what of the night?” and after enlarging on it, he alluded in a most pathetic and impressive manner to the virtues of the deceased, and we never before saw so many people so deeply moved. The death of the beloved citizen was also publicly adverted to in most of the places of worship in Norwich.
Mr. J. J. Gurney was the author of various works, the most popular being one on the Evidences of Christianity. It is a production more calculated to confirm the faith of a believer than to convert a free thinker who may not admit the possibility of anything supernatural. He also published a work on “The Vows and Practices of Friends;” “Essays on Christianity;” “Essays on the Moral Character of Christ,” and “Love to God;” “The Papal and Hierarchical System compared with the Religion of the New Testament, &c.” His last and best work is entitled, “Thoughts on Habit and Discipline,” an excellent moral treatise.
Henry Bathurst, LL.D., canon of Christchurch, rector of Cirencester, and prebend of Durham, was installed bishop of Norwich in 1805. He was a prelate much esteemed and respected. His christian deportment, conciliatory manners, and general benevolence, endeared him to this city and diocese. He was eminently distinguished for his liberal sentiments, and for his attachment to the great principles of civil and religious liberty. He was often seen walking arm in arm with Dissenters in our streets. He voted in the House of Peers for the Repeal of the Catholic Disabilities Bill, and also in favour of the Reform Bill. This disinterested and noble advocacy of liberal principles is thought to have stood in the way of his promotion to an archbishopric. He died April 7th, 1837, in the 93rd year of his age, and much lamented. A statue to his memory was placed in the choir of the Cathedral. This beautiful work of art was the last work of Sir Francis Chantrey, and is executed in his masterly style from a block of the purest Carrara marble. It is placed on a plain pedestal of white marble, and fixed in the recess at the foot of the altar steps, on the north side of the choir, commonly called Queen Elizabeth’s seat, because she sat there when she visited Norwich. The bishop is represented in a sitting posture, clothed in full ecclesiastical costume, and the artist has admirably succeeded in giving to his face that expression of benevolence for which he was so well known.
The following is a translation of the Latin inscription on the pedestal:—
To the Memory of
The Right Reverend Father in Christ,
HENRY BATHURST, Doctor in Civil Law,
Who,
While for more than 30 years he presided over
This Diocese,
By his frankness and purity of heart,
Gentleness of manners, and pleasantness of conversation, attached to himself the good will of all:
His friends,
In testimony of their regret for one so much beloved,
Have caused this effigy to be erected.
He died 5 Ap. A.D. 1837, in the 93rd year
Of his age.
Dr. Stanley was born January 1st, 1779, and became rector of Alderley, in Cheshire. After twice declining the office, he was installed bishop of Norwich, August 17th, 1837. He ruled the diocese for twelve years, and was highly esteemed by all sects for his unceasing efforts to promote the spiritual interests of every class of society, and his readiness on every occasion to co-operate with Dissenters in every good work. He often attended their meetings to promote religious and benevolent objects. In one of his sermons he quoted the injunction “The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men; in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves;” &c. His subsequent conduct furnished ample evidence of the sincerity with which he obeyed this injunction; and although some of his clergy were somewhat estranged from him by his frequent expressions of unbounded charity, yet all were obliged to esteem him for his noble zeal and consistency of character. He was distinguished for his extensive liberality to the poor and his interest in their education. He was often seen going about from school to school, and the kindliness of his heart was so well known to the children that they sometimes pulled his coat behind to obtain his benignant smile, which to them was like sunshine after rain. On all occasions he was earnest in his advocacy of civil and religious liberty, and active in his exertions on behalf of all benevolent associations, both of the Church and of Dissenters. He was also a promoter of all literary institutions in the city and elsewhere, and often attended their anniversaries at which he delivered animated addresses. He did not lay claim to the character of a man of science; but astronomy, geology, botany, and natural history were his favourite studies. He was the author of two interesting volumes on “The History of Birds,” which were published by the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge. He was elected president of the Linnæan Society, and he accepted an appointment as one of the commissioners chosen to inquire into the state of the British Museum.
Bishop Stanley was so little of a bigot that he appeared once on the same platform with Father Mathew, a Roman Catholic, at a temperance meeting in St. Andrew’s Hall. He then and there eulogised the apostle of temperance, and advocated the cause with great eloquence. On another occasion he invited Jenny Lind, now Madame Goldscmidt, to the palace, when she visited this city. At the palace one evening, she sang before a large company. When it became known that the lord bishop of the diocese had actually entertained an operatic singer, great was the indignation of some of the clergy. This however did not at all distress the good bishop, who held on the even tenor of his way, doing good whenever he had an opportunity. By his frequent earnest discourses in many churches in this diocese, he caused quite a revival of religion among the clergy and church-going people. He died, much lamented, on September 6th, 1849, in the 70th year of his age, and he was buried in the middle of the nave of the Cathedral, in the presence of thousands who had known and loved him. A short time after his decease, a slab to his memory was laid over his grave, bearing the following inscription:—
In the love of Christ
Here rests from his labours
EDWARD STANLEY,
Thirty-two years Rector of Alderley,
Twelve years Bishop of Norwich,
Buried amidst the mourning
Of the Diocese which he had animated,
The City which he had served,
The Poor whom he had visited,
The Schools which he had fostered,
The Family which he had loved,
Of all Christian people
With whom, howsoever divided, he had joined
In whatsoever things were true and honest,
And just, and pure, and lovely,
And of good report.
Born January 1st, 1779.
Installed August 17th, 1837.
Died September 6th, 1849, Aged 70.
Buried September 21st, 1849.
Samuel Hinds, D.D., succeeded Bishop Stanley. He was the sixty-seventh bishop of the diocese, and was installed on January 24th, 1850. He was the son of Abel and Elizabeth Thornhill Hinds, born Dec. 23rd, 1793, in Barbadoes; and at the age of twelve he was sent to England, to the school of Mr. Phillips, at Frenchay, near Bristol. He entered at Baliol College, Oxford, but for want of rooms removed to Queen’s, graduated in honours 1815 (second in classics), and in the year following he obtained the Latin essay. He returned to Barbadoes as a missionary and remained there five years, the three latter as vice-principal of Codrington College. After he returned to England he became vice-principal of Alban Hall, Oxford; and he accompanied Archbishop Whately to Ireland, as his private chaplain. He was subsequently presented with the living of Yardley, in Herts., by Dr. Coplestone, bishop of Llandaff. Dr. Hinds again returned to Ireland, having been preferred to the living of Castlenock by Archbishop Whateley, and was chosen private chaplain to Lord Clarendon, lord lieutenant of Ireland. Hence he removed to the deanery of Carlisle, but was scarcely settled there when he was appointed to the bishopric of Norwich. He had previously refused the bishoprics of New Zealand and Cork. He laboured in this diocese for seven years, often preaching in the churches, attending religious meetings, and delivering addresses of a high character. He generally preached at the anniversaries of the Church Associations in this city. He resigned the see of Norwich in April, 1857, and retired into private life. His health is said to have been impaired by his arduous labours in conducting the Oxford commissions which the government had entrusted to him, and which, added to his duties in the diocese and the office of chaplain to the house of lords, proved too much for his constitution. Dr. Hinds is perhaps the most learned of modern bishops. His literary talents are considerable. He is the author of the “Rise and Progress of Christianity,” first published in the “Enclyclopædia Metropolitana,” and considered a standard work, highly esteemed for its comprehensive views of religious truth. The “Three Temples of the One God;” “Catechists’ Manual;” and “Inspirations of the Scriptures,” are works from his pen, which testify to his deep learning and great research. He is the author of many beautiful poems and hymns, some of which are familiar to the congregation at Norwich Cathedral, from being repeated in the service as arranged to music. The confirmation hymn is simple and appropriate.
In a brief history of the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, published by Dr. Copeman, we find the following memoir of the subject of this notice:—
“Mr. Dalrymple was a native of Norwich, his father having removed thither from Scotland. He was born in 1772, and at an early age was sent to the Grammar School at Aylsham, in Norfolk, from whence he was removed to the Free School at Norwich, where he became a favourite pupil of its then head master, the celebrated Dr. Parr. Here he had for a schoolfellow Dr. Maltby, and with both, Dr. Parr kept up a friendly intercourse of visits to the latest period of his life. It affords a strong proof of Mr. Dalrymple’s early talents and his industry in cultivating them, that, although in accordance with the then custom of requiring medical apprenticeship to extend to seven years, he was obliged to leave school at the age of fourteen, he had yet attained such a proficiency in classical reading, and so correct an appreciation of its beauties, that, amidst all the urgent and various occupations and anxieties of his succeeding life, he found the greatest relief to his toils in a recurrence to his favourite authors. His taste was scholarlike as well as scientific; his conversation embued with classical allusion, and his felicity in quotation remarkable. [527]
“Mr. Dalrymple was apprenticed in London, and studied at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Hospitals under Cline and Sir Astley Cooper. He returned to Norwich in 1793, and opened a surgery in his father’s house; and although for several years his progress in establishing a practice was slow, he at last attained the highest reputation as a surgeon in his native city, and for many years enjoyed the confidence, friendship, and patronage of a very large number of patients of every grade of society and in every district of the county.
“In 1812 Mr. Dalrymple was elected assistant surgeon to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, and two years afterwards succeeded to the full surgeoncy, a post which he occupied with great credit to himself and benefit to his profession until 1839, a period of twenty-five years. He was then in the 67th year of his age, his powers were less vigorous, and finding himself no longer equal to his hospital practice, he resigned his position there, receiving a cordial acknowledgment from the governors, of ‘the able, humane, and successful exercise of his official duties,’ and being honoured by a request to accept the appointment of honorary consulting surgeon. In 1844 Mr. Dalrymple finally retired from professional life, and died in London on the 5th of December, 1848, aged 75 years.
“From the year 1831 to 1835, I had ample opportunities, as house surgeon of the hospital, of observing, and profiting by, the mode in which the late Mr. Dalrymple performed his public professional duties in that institution; and remember with pleasure and satisfaction, that I was sometimes able to render assistance, and save trouble, to one so deserving of the gratitude and goodwill of those with whom he had to do. At the period referred to, Mr. Dalrymple was beginning to feel the burden of heavy surgical responsibilities more weighty than his somewhat feeble frame would bear; his naturally acute sensibility was increased by a measure of debility resulting from overmuch professional occupation. The sudden call to perform a serious and difficult operation was accompanied sometimes with a degree of shock to his nerves, which told upon him injuriously; and the desire he had to save the life of the sufferer submitted to his charge (always a predominant feeling in his mind,) would well-nigh overpower him with emotion. I have often heard him say that he was not able to sleep the night before he had to perform the operation of lithotomy, although in such cases his success was great; but he possessed so much sympathy for his patient, and felt his own responsibility so strongly, that he failed to secure to his mind that rest which alone could have enabled him to meet the contingencies of his profession with composure. This nervous sensibility was due in part to original constitution, and increased by professional toil. Sometimes it arises from defective knowledge, or from want of success; but so far from either being the case with Mr. Dalrymple, his knowledge was ample, the result of many years’ industrious application of a mind capable of vast acquirements—sufficient to have given him confidence in the treatment of any case submitted to his care; his success was beyond that of many placed in similar circumstances; such, indeed, as might fairly have been expected from one who had so much sympathy for suffering humanity, and who devoted the whole energy of his mind to devise means to relieve it. For a long period no one but himself, perhaps, was aware of the stress upon his feelings which his professional duties, so well performed, were wont to occasion; and when it did become apparent to others, it was delightful to witness how pleased, how grateful, how kind in expression he was for any attention, encouragement, or assistance offered him; and how highly he estimated the friendship of those who watched an opportunity to perform those little offices of kindness and consideration, which, although difficult to be defined, can always be appreciated by a sensitive mind and a feeling heart.
“The experience of a long and active professional life endued Mr. Dalrymple with the valuable qualification of forming a right judgment in cases of a complex and difficult nature, which was fully appreciated and acknowledged. The firmness and decision of his opinion upon a difficult case, when once formed, could not fail to impress the practitioner by whom he was consulted with confidence, and his patient with the assurance that dependence might be placed upon the result of his deliberations.
“No one who had the privilege of Mr. Dalrymple’s acquaintance can think of him otherwise than as a kind friend, a highly intelligent and well-informed man, an amusing and instructive companion, and a profoundly gifted practitioner of the art and science it was the business and happiness of his life to pursue.”
We make the following extracts from a memoir of Mr. Crosse published in Dr. Copeman’s History of the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital.
“John Greene Crosse was the second son of Mr. William Crosse, of Finborough, in Suffolk, and was born on the 6th of September, 1790. In order to make known some particulars of his early life and education, I cannot do better than quote his own journal, which contains many remarks upon the subject evidently intended to have formed part of a history of his life. In April, 1819, he penned the following observations.
“‘I never went to boarding school, which contributed, with many other occurrences of my subsequent life, to fix me in the unsocial habits that hitherto never did and never will forsake me. In my early years, no classical learning, not a line of Latin, was taught at the proximate market town to which I resorted as a daily pupil; and my first lessons of reading, arithmetic, and writing were received from a master of whom I entertained the greatest horror, for the ferocity of his conduct, the severe discipline by which he drove into us the simplest rudimental knowledge. His stern brow, raucous voice, and long cane, are now livelily depicted to my mind: how much I owe to him, I am even now, with a long life in retrospect, unable to tell; but I was glad when circumstances arose that released me from his tutorage.’
“‘Very small matters, and such as we have no control over, and call accidental because unable to trace the chain of causes giving rise to them, influence our mortal destinies. I had attained my 12th (?) year, under such tremendous instruction as is related, when a Welsh gentleman making some mistake at college (not implicating his good character, an informality I should call it) found it well to rusticate; and taking with him his premature wife, sought a living by opening a classical school in Stowmarket. I became one of his early pupils; and but for this good, easy man’s settling in the town, should never have launched into such studies as Latin and Greek; of which, it is true, I did not learn much, nor very accurately. But he was, nevertheless, a plodding, working man; an increasing family made him exert his abilities to the utmost; and I got out of him all the instruction I ever received as a school-boy in the learned languages. When about fifteen years of age, returning from my daily school, in a feat in jumping, I had the accident, I ought not perhaps to say the misfortune, to break my leg. The respectable village surgeon attended me: he was one of the old school; of fine, soft, soothing manners, clean dressed, with powdered head; rode slowly a very well-looking horse; in short, he was a gentleman, and commanded the respect of every one when he entered the house; he was also a skilful and kind surgeon. What wonder that the idea should be awakened in my mind to be of the medical profession! to be as great a man as he—the Village Doctor! to whom every one bowed, and who could relieve pain and cure injuries so quickly and skilfully. I had conceived an object of ambition, and the idea never deserted me. I was in a month upon my crutches, and soon recovered; a surgical case fixed my future destinies.’
“‘I persevered a few years longer at Latin, Greek, French, and Euclid. My father was successful and able now to place me out well; wished me to be a lawyer, and I was for a time under the instruction of a gentleman of that profession—attending bankruptcy meetings, and feasting at midnight at the expense of the already distracted creditors. Those were good times for lawyers. A learned chancellor, whom I met on one such occasion, I well remember complimenting me on my quickness in counting money; but all would not do, my mind was prepossessed—I quitted the law to follow my inclination; I made my own choice; it was a pledge to success. The surgeon who cured my leg agreed to take me as his first and only pupil, and I was accordingly articled in due form for five years.’
“On the 27th of September, 1811, Mr. Crosse went to London for the purpose of studying his profession in that Metropolis, and was the following day introduced to Mr., afterwards Sir Charles Bell, whose pupil he became, with whom he contracted a close intimacy, and of whose merits as a teacher and man of science he always spoke in the highest terms of respect and gratitude. In the following January, he entered to Abernethy’s Lectures; and in April, 1812, became a student at St. George’s Hospital, where his industrious habits and intelligence attracted the particular attention and marked notice of the medical officers of that noble institution. In the following month, he entered as a pupil at the Lock Hospital; and in the course of the year, officiated as House Surgeon during the temporary absence of the gentleman who occupied that situation. In the following winter session, commencing October, 1812, he studied under Brodie, Bell, Brande, Clarke, Home, and others; and remarks in his journal, ‘very industrious all this winter, sitting up constantly till past two a.m.’ In March, 1813, he became a dresser to Sir Everard Home at St. George’s Hospital; attended Midwifery under Dr. Clarke; and on the 16th of April, passed the College of Surgeons in London. After a short holiday, he returned to London on the 13th of May, and attended the Eye Infirmary at Charter-house Square. In June, he resigned his dressership under Sir E. Home; became acquainted with the late Mr. Travers, Abernethy, Sir W. Blizard, and Dr. Macartney, whom he agreed to accompany to Dublin; and much of his spare time during this summer was devoted to the study of German, a language he ever after cultivated that he might enjoy the profundity and research of the professional literature of that country.
“Mr. Crosse left England for Dublin on the 2nd of October, 1813, arriving there the following day. In December he became Demonstrator of Anatomy under Dr. Macartney, and remained there until October, 1814, when he returned to London, having received a very handsome testimonial from the numerous students of the school in which he taught, as to his ability and energy in the capacity of their instructor in anatomy.
“On quitting Dublin, Mr. Crosse returned to Suffolk, and was afterwards introduced to the late Dr. Rigby of Norwich. In December he went to Paris, where he remained until the end of February, 1815, during which period he took French Lessons, wrote his Diary in the French language, and availed himself of every possible opportunity of increasing his professional knowledge.
“On the 29th of March, 1815, Mr. Crosse came to Norwich; and after remaining one year in lodgings, took a house in St. Giles’, in which he resided for many years. He soon after published his “Sketches of the Medical Schools of Paris,” and showed, both by his writings and the industrious pursuit of his professional avocation, that he was destined to arrive at considerable eminence in the locality he had chosen for the arena of his future life. On the 19th of July, 1823, he was the successful candidate for the appointment of Assistant Surgeon to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital. So great was his desire to become connected with the Hospital, and so strong the competition in which he was engaged to obtain this object, that his health gave way under the exertions he made to succeed; and he was obliged to absent himself for a time, on which occasion he took a trip to Holland, visiting Brighton on his return. The result was favourable, and he returned to Norwich in good health. On the death of Mr. Bond, in 1826, he was elected full Surgeon to the Hospital, and thus attained one of the greatest objects of his ambition.
“The rapid rise and progress of Mr. Crosse’s reputation as a professional man, and the large extent of his private practice, are too well known to require further notice; but notwithstanding the unremitting exertions required to fulfil his private engagements, he never allowed them to interfere with his public duties; and the devotedness of his service to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital was remarkable. It may be truly said that no private patient received more kindness, skill, and attention at his hands, than did those who were placed under his care in the wards of the Hospital.
“As an operating surgeon, Mr. Crosse had but few superiors, and not many equals. He was possessed of considerable manual tact and dexterity, which, coupled with a sound judgment as to the necessity for the performance of an operation, stamped him as a surgeon of first-rate attainments. In his early professional life he studied anatomy with great assiduity, and his subsequent occupation as Demonstrator of Anatomy at Dublin so impressed the subject upon his memory, that the constitution and form of the human body were always in his mind’s eye; and thus he was rendered equal, at all times and upon all occasions, to the serious emergencies of surgery. In short, he obtained and held for a long period the foremost rank in his profession in this district; and such was the quality of his mind, that he would probably have been pre-eminent in whatever locality it might have fallen to his lot to be placed.
“In 1819, Mr. Crosse published A History of the Variolous Epidemic of Norwich, which has been, and is even now, quoted as an excellent standard work. In 1822 he published Memoirs of the Life of the late Dr. Rigby, prefixed to the valuable Essay which the Doctor had published some years before On Uterine Hæmorrhage.
“In 1835, the Jacksonian Prize was awarded him for his Essay on the Formation, Constituents, and Extraction of the Urinary Calculus; and in the same year he received, in consequence of this Essay, the Diploma of M.D. from the University of Heidelberg.
“From 1822 to the close of his life, Mr. Crosse contributed many valuable Papers to different medical periodicals, which are of deep interest to professional men.
“In 1836, Mr. Crosse was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society—a distinction which marked him for eminence throughout the whole civilized world. In 1845, the College of St. Andrew conferred the Degree of M.D. upon him, and there is scarcely a medical or surgical society in Europe of which he was not a member, as well as being an honorary member of the most eminent societies in Asia and America.
“During the last year of Mr. Crosse’s life (1850), it became painfully evident to his friends that he was gradually losing that vigour of mind and body which had so long characterized him; and at the urgent solicitation of his medical advisers, he was induced to leave home for a few weeks, when he took the opportunity of consulting Sir B. Brodie and Dr. Watson in London, and spent a short time with the late Dr. Mackness at Hastings, of whose kindness he afterwards spoke in the highest terms of gratitude. On his return home, he endeavoured to resume his professional and even his literary avocations; but although in a degree benefited by his holiday, he gradually lost power, and it was clear that his race was almost run.”
He died in his 60th year, having been a resident in Norwich 35 years.
Norwich and Norfolk have produced an array of distinguished botanists, such as Smith, Turner, Lindley, and the elder Hooker. The president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Dr. Joseph D. Hooker, F.R.S., is the son of Sir William J. Hooker, formerly Director of the Royal Gardens at Kew, and he succeeded his father in that very important post on November 12th, 1865. The present director of Kew sprung from a race of botanists. His paternal grandfather, a citizen of Norwich, devoted his leisure to the cultivation of curious plants. This circumstance, doubtless, helped to create that taste for botany which, in the career of his illustrious father, has borne such ripe fruits. On the maternal side, the grandfather of Dr. Hooker was Mr. Dawson Turner, of Yarmouth. The eldest daughter of this gentleman became the wife of Sir William J. Hooker in 1814. Mr. Turner’s is a well-known name in the annals of British botany; he is the author of various botanical publications, and it was at his suggestion that a narrative of a visit made to Iceland in 1809 by his future son-in-law was given to the world, a work which brought the name of Sir William J. Hooker prominently before the scientific world. So descended Dr. Joseph D. Hooker was born at Halesworth, in Suffolk, on June 30th, 1817. Although thus by birth a native of Suffolk, he is by descent a Norwich man. He has been a great botanical traveller in many parts of the world, and he has added greatly to our knowledge of the plants of Asia and India. On August 19th, 1868, as President of the British Association, when the meeting took place in Norwich, he delivered the Inaugural Address in the Drill Hall before a large audience.
Amelia Opie was the daughter of Dr. Alderson, a physician in Norwich, and was born here in 1769. The varied circumstances of her early life gave the bent to her after career. In her girlhood she beguiled the solitude of her father’s summer house by composing songs and tragedies; on her visits to London, the superior society into which the graces of her person and the accomplishments of her mind introduced her, served to stimulate her aspirations; and after her marriage, in 1798, to the painter, Mr. John Opie, she was encouraged by her husband to become a candidate for literary fame. Accordingly, in 1801, she published a novel, entitled Father and Daughter. Although this tale showed no artistic ability in dealing either with incidents or with characters, yet it was the production of a lively fancy and a feeling heart, and speedily brought its author into notice. She was encouraged to publish a volume of sweet and graceful poems in 1802, and to persist in the kind of novel writing which she had commenced so successfully. Adelaide Mowbray followed in 1804, and Simple Tales in 1806. The death of her husband in 1807, and her return to Norwich, did not slacken her industry. She published Temper in 1812, Tales of Real Life in 1813, Valentine’s Eve in 1816, Tales of the Heart in 1818, and Madeline in 1822. At length, in 1825, her assumption of the tenets and garb of the Society of Friends checked her literary ardour, and changed her mode of life. Nothing afterwards proceeded from her pen except a volume entitled Detraction Displayed, and some contributions in prose and verse to various periodicals. A good deal of her life was spent in travelling and in the exercise of Christian benevolence. When in this city she was often seen in the assize court, sitting near the judge. She seemed to take a great deal of interest in criminal cases. She died here in 1853. A life of Mrs. Opie, by Miss C. L. Brightwell, was published in 1854.
The celebrated musician, William Crotch, was born in the parish of St. George at Colegate in this city, July 5th, 1775. His genius for music may be supposed to have commenced with his existence, as his parents did not remember any period in which he did not shew a great predilection for an organ, to which instrument he seemed to have a special attachment. Indeed he had a penchant for every musical instrument at an early age. As soon as he could walk alone, which was at the beginning of his second year, he would frequently quit his mother’s breast to hear a tune on the organ, and when he wanted any particular tune, he would put his finger upon that key on which the tune began; and as it sometimes happened that more than one tune began on the same key, he would strike two or three of the first or leading notes of the tune he chose to have played. Before he was two years and a quarter old, he played “God save the King” with both hands. At two years and a half he had played to several ladies and gentlemen, and was soon afterwards noticed in the public journals. At two and three quarters he could distinguish any note, and call it by its proper name, though he did not see it struck. His memory was so retentive, that a gentleman only playing to him the Minuet in Rodelinda two or three times in the evening, was astonished to hear him perform it next morning, as soon as he went to the organ. Before he was three years old, he played at Beccles, Ipswich, and other places. Afterwards he was taken to Lynn, Bury, &c., and in October, 1778, to Cambridge. In November, he was nominated to a degree of Bachelor of Arts, with a small annuity annexed to it. In December he went to London, and after performing before the foreign ambassadors, maids of honour, &c., in 1779, he was introduced to the sovereign, to whom he gave the greatest satisfaction, as he had done to the nobility and gentry in general, but more particularly to the greatest musicians. At the early age of 22 he was appointed professor of music in the University of Oxford, and there, in 1799, took his degree of doctor in that art. In 1800 and the four following years, he read lectures on music at Oxford. Next he was appointed lecturer on music at the Royal Institution; and subsequently, in 1823, principal of the Royal Academy of Music. He published a number of vocal and instrumental compositions, of which the best is his oratorio of “Palestine.” In 1831 appeared an octavo volume, containing the substance of his lectures on music, delivered at Oxford and in London. He also published “Elements of Musical Composition and Thorough Bass.” He arranged for the piano-forte a number of Handel’s oratorios and operas, besides symphonies and quartetts of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. He performed all his public duties laboriously, zealously, and honourably, and in private life he was much beloved. He died on December 29th, 1847, in the house of his son, at Taunton.
Norwich artists must have flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries, as proved by their portraits of city worthies in the Guildhall and St. Andrew’s Hall, but we have few notices of early painters or engravers. About the commencement of the present century, a gentleman named Thomas Harvey lived at Catton, and was recognised as a very clever amateur artist. He painted in oil, admirably, and he induced several of the leading artists of the day to visit Norfolk, such as Opie, Gainsborough, Sir William Beechey, Collins, and many others, who produced beautiful works of art.
About the year 1802, a few professional and amateur artists, drawn together by a similarity of taste and inclination, for the advancement of the arts of painting and design in their native city, began to associate to form a regular academy. Each member in his turn furnished matter of discussion according with his particular view; and by eliciting the opinions of his brother artists, mutually communicated and received information. The first exhibition of this society was in 1805, in Wrench’s Court, and contained 223 pictures. The following is a list of the members and exhibitors of the Norwich Society of Artists from the first catalogue of 1805:—Arthur Browne, J. Blake, E. Bell, (engraver) Mrs. Coppin, H. M. M. Crotch, M. B. Crotch, J. Crome, R. Dixon, J. Freeman, W. Freeman, Rev. Wm. Gordon of Saxlingham, C. Hodgson, W. Harwin, R. Ladbrooke, W. C Leeds, J. Percy, J. Thirtle, F. Stone, architect. This Society of Artists, after their establishment, within twenty years exhibited about 4000 pictures, the productions of 323 painters, very few of which were sold here, but which were readily purchased in London and other places. In fact, the local artists were very little patronized in the city; and old Crome, one of the very best landscape painters in England, was a very poor man all his life, though, since his death, his pictures have been sold for thousands of pounds in London.
John Crome, sen., was born December 21st, 1769, in the parish of St. Peter per Mountergate. He was apprenticed to Mr. Francis Whisler, coach, house, and sign painter, who, in 1783, lived in Bethel Street; but he felt the true impulse of genius, and his industry surmounted all obstacles. By almost unaided exertions he cultivated drawing and painting in oil with such ardour and success, that during the latter years of his life he had attained an eminence highly creditable, and was incessantly employed as a master in the one branch by families of distinction, and by the principal schools of Norfolk and Norwich. He possessed the rare faculty of communicating the ardour he himself felt to his pupils, both professional and amateur. His mind was too acute to exact from them a servile imitation of his own style; on the contrary he contented himself with instilling the more useful principles of art, and with giving freedom and spirit to their pencils. He then invited them to let loose the reins of fancy and taste, and to follow unfettered the promptings of imagination. The fruits of this wise discrimination were seen in the reputation of his son, and his companions in excellence, whose works for some time attracted much attention in the metropolis to the growing talents and promise of the Norwich school of artists. In the other department he was seldom without commissions. He principally cultivated landscape painting, and he was exceedingly happy in seizing small picturesque local scenes, which he elevated to a degree of interest which they could hardly bear in their natural state. He was in painting the counterpart of Burns in poetry, both delighting in homely scenes. His pictures were beginning to be known and appreciated in London, the great mart of talent, and those he last exhibited in the British Gallery gained him a lasting fame. He was a man of heart, of impulse and feeling, quick, lively, and enthusiastic, and in his conversation animated to a high degree, especially when speaking on subjects connected with his art, the fond, the incessant, the earliest and latest object of his thoughts. A wide field of enterprise and exertion had just opened upon his view, the last stage of his ardent ambition had unfolded itself, when he was suddenly seized with an acute disease, which terminated his life in the short space of seven days, on April 22nd, 1821, aged fifty years. He was buried in a vault in St. George’s Colegate Church, where the last sad offices of respect were paid to his memory by a numerous attendance of artists and other friends. Of late years a subscription was raised here for a monument to his memory, and after some delay a suitable memorial was placed in the church. (See page 89.)
The following list of Mr. Crome’s principal pictures, with their former possessors, was extracted from the published catalogue of his works:—
“Lane Scene near Hingham,” 1812; “Lane Scene at Blofield,” 1813; and “Grove Scene near Marlingford,” 1815—Samuel Paget, Esq., of Yarmouth.
“View at the back of the New Mills,” 1817—William Hawkes, Esq., Norwich.
“Wood and Water Scene near Bawburgh,” 1821—Miss Burrows, Burfield Hall.
“View in Postwick Grove,” 1816—Lord Stafford.
“Hautbois Common, Norfolk,” 1810—Mr. F. Stone, Norwich.
“Lane Scene near Whitlingham,” 1820—Mr. Charles Turner.
“Scene near Hardingham, Norfolk,” 1816—Mr. J. B. Crome.
“Lane Scene,” 1817—John Bracy, Esq.
“Carrow Abbey,” 1805—P. M. Martineau, Esq.
“Cottage and Wood Scene,” 1820—Michael Bland, Esq., London.
“Landscape—Evening”—Mr. Crome.
“Grove Scene,” 1820—Mr. F. Geldart, jun.
“View of the Italian Boulevards at Paris,” 1815; and “Fish Market at Boulogne,” 1820—R. H. Gurney, Esq.
A “Wood Scene” was the last picture painted by Old Crome, in April, 1821. He painted many others, and etched a number of plates of Norfolk scenery, some of which have been printed. His pictures have been lent for various exhibitions and always much admired.
J. B. Crome, son of the father of the Norwich School of Landscape Painting, was a landscape painter of moonlights, &c. The editor of the Examiner for March, 1828, speaking of this artist’s pictures, says:—
“Mr. Crome’s moonlight is good, and has the grey and brown hues of Vanderneer, whose moonlight scenes have been considered the best as to natural effects; but except the parts under the immediate light of the moon, no specific colour should be seen. The browns and yellows here mingle well into the black shades of night, and have nothing of that flat grey blue which justly made coloured moonlights to be compared to a shilling on a slate.”
Mr. J. B. Crome’s pictures were “Rouen,” in the possession of Mrs. Southwell, Wroxham; “Yarmouth Quay”—T. Cobbold, Esq., Catton; “Yarmouth Beach, Moonlight”—R. J. Turner, Esq., Catton; “View near Amsterdam, Moonlight”—J. Geldart, Esq., Norwich; “Norwich by Moonlight”—Hon. General Walpole; “Moonlight”—C. Turner, Esq., Norwich. Several others of this artist’s pictures were exhibited at the Norwich Industrial Exhibition in 1867, and were much admired.