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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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lowing > ear he was cJl < 3 ? eu Treasurer of Mrs JWW liO ^ b ^ ra frensfacttou to - * eatip g MiM » si , er ^ , which office he also held to tbe | ims of his death . He was $ oon after ejected Treasurer of the Chanty Schools belonging to the rongregai ion . Drtnug the tong period
that be held this office , by vigilant and prudent management he not only considerably increased the income of the schools , bat , aided by the able advice of his brother trustee , Alderman Marsh , laid the foundation of a larger , though more distant , augmentation of their funds .
The year 1780 is memorable in the annals of Norwich for the triumph achieved by the freemen over a junto of great families who had conspired to turn out their useful and independent member , Sir Harbord Harbord , and to return a manufacturer , by name ThurJow , who had no other merit than that of being brother to the
Lord Chancellor . Sir Harbord was joined , two days before the election , by Mr . Windham , who happening accidentally to be passing through Norwich in his way to Felbrigg , was invited to join the popular candidate . The effort in his favour was so strong , that though an unsuccessful candidate , there was little doubt of
his success on a future occasion . Mr . Windham appeared at this time as a supporter of Whig principles—to " an unaltered perseverance in which he pledged himself . " It was on this occassion that my father wrote his first electioneering song . The following verse occurs in it :
" Lo ! public virtue hears thy voice , She mocks the power of wealth and name , Proud of a Harbord for her choice , She lifts her Windham high to fame . " My father lost his surviving parent in 1781 . He thus speaks of her : « * All the
duties of life were eminently rilled up by her , but her merit in bringing up a young famil y of eight children , with which she was so early left a widow , was of no common rate . She possessed- sound sense , a steady temper of mind , and a tirm reliance on Divine Providence : these
* < jii < j ucteu her through her domestic cares , aud she lived to see her children rising into that kind of respectability which is more attached to character than nches . In pursuance of the plan laid d own by her husband , she laboured to form in her-children ' s minds her own de ^
votional character , free from bigotry or JW rlty , and svhe has raised in their he art » a monument of love and veneration which nothing but death can dea tix > y /» ° About thitir lime my father began the < "sehar # e of Ms duties a * a citizen . He was e ^ ted a metfit > er of the Corporation
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of Guardians . The business of this body is principally Conducted by { Wo cdtfiniitr tees wfto meet once every Nfreek , Ah , d to " each of vVhich is confided the distribution of the out-door allowances to the poror in the respective wards to which they belong , while the management of the
workhouses ( for tli ere were then two ) is directed by them conjointly . Pur many years my father was iudefatigable iD i \ % e discharge of the arduous duty of a member of one of the committees . At this time the paupers in the workhouses were
iu a state of idleness , and thus the-burthen of their maintenance ( to say nothing of the bad habits thus engendered ) was entirely thrown upon the city . To em ^ ploy a part of this population , to change a scene of idleness into one of active
jtidustry , to render what had been a drain upon the city a source of revenue , was a most desirable result . My father thus speaks of the attempt and its success ; "In October 1782 , I delivered rny proposals to the Corporation of Guardians for setting to spinning the women and children iu the workhouses , and , after great
opposition , succeeded in obtaining leave to give my scheme a trial . In February 1783 , 1 carried this project into full effect . The whole plan having been previously arranged , between 2 and 300 began to learn at once . The first essays were unpromising , but order and perseverance overcame all obstacles . Tlie scheme
succeeded beyond expect at ion ,- and its op posers were silenced . Mauy thousands of pounds have since been thus earned for the public by this useful labour . " In consequence of this success , he afterwards introduced the same plan into the charity schools , under the sanction ; of Bishop Bagot . ¦ : ¦ < .
Iu 1784 , the Norwich Public Library was established . To Mr . P . M . Martiueau the city is principally indebted for this admirable institution . It wa $ his zeal and public spirit which dr ** w together all parties and overcame all difficulties ; My father actively co operated with him in
the work , ' asisisted in drawing up the laws , and in making the arrangements for carrying the design into effect .- He waa nearly as often as the law permitted a member of the committee , and lived to see the Norwich Library , in point of value and usefulness , exceeded by few siuiilar institutions in the kingdom .
This year the first of those family meetings which I have mentioned , waa held at Norwich . All its members assembled , in number 21 , and on thin occasiou my father produced his nn « t family song . This part of the entertainment . he was ever after expected to furnish as often as a similar event took place , and though the character of these songs , in . tU « hu-
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Olntyury . —Mr . John Taylor . 485
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vol . xxi . 3 n
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1826, page 485, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2551/page/41/
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