![]() | CITY OF WORCESTER. 377 Chief Justice; Dr. Nash, the historian; Dr. Wall, the founder of the porcelain trade; Drs. Cameron and Johnson, celebrated physicians at the Infirmary; and a troop of benevolent men - the Berkeleys (wealthy clothiers), Worfield, Nash, Inglethorp, Tellers, Wyatt, Moore, Shewring, Goulding, Jarvis, Walsgrove, White, Lloyd, Hebb, and Lea - who still live in our grateful remembrance, for their hospitals, almshouses, schools, and other good deeds of Christian charity. And now let us review the events of pur own times - that medley of occurrences which from the year 1800 have chiefly absorbed the attention or excited agitation among the good people of Worcester. Always taking a prominent part in the treatment of public questions, they were distinguished in denouncing negro slavery and the corn-laws, protested against Papal aggression, and did a good stroke in the Reform riots of '31. During the great distress in the early part of the century, arising from bad crops and the continental wars, the riots on account of the high price of provisions called into existence the "Loyal Worcester Volunteers" of 1803. This corps was drilled on Sundays on Pitchcroft, and the ladies of the city purchased all the flannel they could procure to make dresses for the Volunteers. The freemen rioted in 1818 on account of encroachment on their rights in Pitohcroft - the racecourse. Agricultural distress in 1821; and manufacturing (gloving) distress in 1824, when Mr. Huskisson made his proposal to introduce French gloves, occasioned great stir here, as also did the heavy cost of erecting a new gaol and Shirehall; but this was a mere trifle compared with the agitation consequent upon the application of the Public Health Act, the sanitary question, and the long-remembered "little bill" of the engineer of that day. One result of that disturbance was the "shelving" of the proposed officer of health, and the ejection of the poor candidate from the city. The great "battle of the gauges," too - who can forget the eventful '45! - when plans for no less than thirty-six railways in the Worcester district were deposited |