Norman
- John Norman and the London River Procession
- John Norman of Norwich
- Normans of Charminster in Dorset
- Isaac Norman of Culpeper County, Virginia
- The Normandale Blast Furnace
- George Warde Norman of Bromley
John Norman and the London River Procession
John Norman is considered to be the first lord mayor to go to Westminster by water. It is thought that his infirmity may have been the reason for the river procession instead of the usual parade.
The historian Humpherus, in describing the procession in 1453, said:
The watermen were said to have made John Norman a song of praise, which began: "Rowe the bote, Norman, Rowe to thy Lemman" (where lemman meant sweetheart).
The river procession became popular among Londoners and the practice continued to be held for mayors until 1856.
John Norman of Norwich
John
Norman
was born in Norwich in 1657 and lived in Old Catton.
He prospered as a local farmer, landowner and
brewer. He eventually became an alderman
and mayor of Norwich.
He
died in 1724
and, although he had married twice, had no children.
However, he was extremely interested in the
education of children and left the bulk of his estate 'in trust' to
educate the
male descendants of his close relatives.
According to his wishes, the Norman Endowed School was
eventually built
for the benefit of his descendants.
The
school lasted until 1934 when the funds proved insufficient to maintain
it.
Normans of
Charminster in Dorset
The
Norman
family of Charminster was stalwart in their membership of the Society
of
Friends in Dorchester. James Norman and
his brother Ralph were trustees of the Meeting House there when it was
purchased in 1712. James also held monthly
meetings in his own house in Charminster.
In his will, proved in 1747, he bequeathed his house to his son
James
"to give lease and liberty for the people of God called Quakers to keep
meetings therein as in my time."
These
Normans were also clockmakers.
James Norman of Charminster was the earliest, making 30 hour
Grandfather
clocks with brass dials and a single hand during the late 17th and
early 18th
centuries. There was another James
Norman of Charminster and Poole and his son Ralph who was apprenticed
to James
Norman of Poole in 1760.
Some
examples
of their clocks are to be found at the Dorset collection of clocks in
the Mill
House Cider Museum.
Isaac Norman of Culpeper County, Virginia
Isaac Norman, born in 1682 reportedly in Gloucester county, married Frances (by tradition Courtney) and died around 1763. He lived during the early 1700's on Flatt Run in what is now Culpeper County, Virginia.
Nearby, Norman's Ford was an early crossing of the Rapahannock river which was said to have taken its name from Isaac Norman.
Isaac’s parentage is not really known, because of lost records and the similarity of the given names of many of the early Normans in America.
The Normandale Blast Furnace
Normandale is a township along Lake Erie in Ontario. The
following plaque marks the site of the blast furnace there.
The plaque is located to the south of Van Norman Street in Normandale. The Van Norman house on Front Road, built in 1842 from the proceeds of the iron foundry, still stands.
George Warde Norman of Bromley
Initially, like his father and grandfather before him, George travelled to work in London by horseback. However, after the opening of the Greenwich railway in 1836, he rode to Greenwich and finished his journey by train.
He had played cricket while a schoolboy at Eton and that enthusiasm stayed with him as an adult. He helped found the West Kent cricket club and played in the Kent team until he was in his mid forties.
His home was the Rookery in Bromley, where he lived with ample staff. The 1851 census recorded a butler, footman, groom, housekeeper, two ladies maids, a nurse, nursery maid, two housemaids, a cook and a kitchen maid.
George died in 1882. He and his wife Sibella had seven sons. His oldest son George died in the Crimean War. A younger son, Frederick Henry Norman, was Governor of the Bank of England for nearly 25 years at the beginning of the 20th century. Another son, Philip Norman, made his name as an artist and historian.
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