664 
PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS. 
1807), younger son of Alderman William Crowe (1693 P-1778) 
and Mary, daughter of Charles Mackerell. The Alderman was 
Sheriff of Norwich in 1741, and Mayor in 1747 ; also Captain 
of the Hon. Artillery Company. His portrait painted by 
Bardwell hangs in Blackfriars’ Hall, Norwich." 6 
In 1771 James Crowe was Sheriff of Norwich. During 1774 
the Mayor died in office, and Crowe accepted the Mayoralty for 
the remainder of the year ; and again m 1797-8 he was Mayor, 
when Lord Nelson presented to the city the sword surrendered 
by the Spanish admiral at the battle of Cape St. Vincent. 
The mural monument which now contains the sword was put 
up in the council chamber of the Guildhall in May, 1806, by 
the Mayor and Corporation “ in order to its being preserved as 
a Memento of the event, and of his affection for his native 
county.” 4 In the year of Sir James Smith’s birth, Lord 
Nelson was born at Burnham Thorpe. 
James Crowe’s principal residence was at Lakenham, near 
Norwich; but he had also Holt House at Ashwicken, an 
adjoining parish to East Winch, in west Norfolk. Besides 
this, he owned a considerable part of the parish of Saham 
Toney near Watton. I am indebted to Mr. F. C. Newton and 
Mr. Fred Robinson for particulars of this estate. In the award, 
in 1797, of the Common land of the village of Saham, James 
Crowe received 1467 acres, 2 roods, 19 rods, including Saham 
mere, in compensation for his rights of soil, shackage and 
sheepwalk as Lord of the Manor of Saham Toney. Mr. Crowe 
therefore got most of the 2,000 acres then enclosed, including a 
hundred acres of woodland. But he already owned all the 
N.E. end of the parish, a large farm in the southern part, and 
Boyce’s farm in Ashill ; he probably owned not less than 
2,500 acres in all. This estate was heavy land with some good 
farmhouses. Here was the happy hunting ground for wild 
plants which Dr. Smith delighted to visit — only 26 miles from 
Norwich; and here in 1804 James Crowe discovered B minus 
triflorus — a grass new to Britain. Nearly all the acts of 
parliament for the “ improving and drainage, enclosure and 
allotment ” of Marsh and Common lands in Norfolk came into 
