1803: We are sorry to hear that the Commissioners are so dissatisfied with the financial conduct of John Taylor, late a mercer in the High Street of this city, that they have had him committed to Newgate Gaol.

On Sunday last, the fanaticism of a poor man at Warwick was raised to such a pitch that, upon hearing a discourse in a Religious Meeting House there, upon the text 'If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off and cast it from thee etc,' he returned home and, by means of a hatchet, cut off his right hand and threw it into the fire.

The Commissioners for street lighting at Bath have fined their main contractor £40 for inattention to his duty, for the bad quality of the oil, and for suffering the lamps to remain unlit far beyond the hour of darkness falling.

R. Lockton's Leather Warehouse in Bridge Street, Worcester, has for sale calf skins, seal skins, German and English hide, and Spanish and Morocco leather.

1903: Worcester City Council is renewing its annual contract with the Gas Company for the street lighting of this city at £2.18s.6d per lamp per year, a reduction of 1s.6d per lamp over the cost last year.

The annual meeting of the Worcester District of the Loyal Order of Ancient Shepherds was held on Tuesday at the Coffee Tavern in College Street. The number of members is on the increase, and the District is to receive a visit in March from Brother A.F. McEwen of Glasgow, Chief Shepherd of the Order.

For Wheat Dressing - Pure Blue Vitriol at 3d per pound, lump or powder, from Kitson, Broad Street, Worcester.

The agricultural authorities have reported that there were 687 cases of anthrax among animals in England in 1902, a increase of 36 cases over the previous year.

1953: Amid scenes of ceremonial splendour, the Freedom of Evesham was conferred this week on Sir Rupert De la Bere, the Lord Mayor of London who has been MP for South Worcestershire for the past 17 years.

On stage at the Malvern Festival Theatre all next week - Dennis Price, Marie Ney and Reginald Beckwith in the play The Man Upstairs by Patrick Hamilton, author of Gaslight and Rope. This is immediately prior to London presentation.

A request that more care should be taken in the countryside by hunting people and foot followers, particularly with regard to the closing of gates, was made by Lt. Col L. Gray-Cheape, the Joint Master, at the annual meeting of the Worcestershire Hunt.

The RAF intends to take over Pershore Racecourse as a domestic camp. This creates a problem for Pershore RDC which will now have to re-house the 22 families living on the racecourse, 17 of them in huts or flats and five living in old bus bodies.