200 Years Ago in Norwich : The Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex Rail Road Company

And just one more post from the Norwich Mercury of 200 years ago this week…..

“NORFOLK, SUFFOLK, AND ESSEX Rail Road Company.

At the request of several Gentlemen of influence and respectability of Norwich, the Committee of Management have consented to receive SUBSCRIPTIONS for SHARES until the 1st February, before which time all Tenders must be made, to Messrs. Gurney, Messrs. Tompson, Barclay, & Ives, Messrs. Onley, Hudson, and Harvey, and Messrs. Day, Bankers; Messrs. Unthank and Foster, Solicitors, at Norwich; Messrs. Brown and Co. Messrs. Oakes & Co. and E. Squire, Esq. Bankers, at Bury St. Edmund’s; Messrs. Borton, Solicitors, Bury St. Edmund’s; or to Messrs. Sir W. Kay, Price, Marryatt, and Coleman, Bankers, Mansion House-street, London; Messrs. Morland & Co. Pall Mall; Messrs. Wolfe and Edmunds, Brokers, ‘Change Alley, Cornhill; and Messrs. Wilks and Verbeke, Solicitors, 36, New Broad-street.

But all parties so making Tenders must remit the amount of deposit of £1 per Share, on the Shares for which they may tender, to one of the above-named Bankers, otherwise the Tender cannot be received.

London, 13th Jan. 1825. WM. SIM, Sec. Pro-Tem.”

I’ll ignore that Oxford Comma in the first line…. I can’t find any substantial reference to this company, although I like the early use of the words rail road, so I’m not entirely sure what happened to it. However, this must have been one of the earliest attempts to create a rail company in East Anglia, but it took over a decade for any line to appear in the region. However, I suspect I’ll start to see a lot more journalism and adverts about the rail network from 200 years ago, as in 1826 there was an Act of Parliament that authorised the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.