The Poll for an Assistant Minister for the Parish of St. Peter Mancroft, Norwich

This listening experience brings to life a unique slice of mid‑nineteenth‑century Norwich, captured in a faithfully transcribed poll for the assistant minister of St. Peter Mancroft. The document records the two candidates—Rev. Thomas Wilson, backed by the Friends of the Established Church, and Rev. Thomas Clowes, supported by the Dissenting Interest—and then unfolds a lengthy roll of rate‑payers whose names and street addresses were recorded during the election on 16 January 1845. As each name is called, the listener hears a chorus of ordinary citizens, from shopkeepers on Market‑place to tradesmen on Bethel‑street, revealing how deeply the parish church was woven into everyday civic life.

Beyond the numbers, the recording offers a vivid portrait of Victorian community structure. Listeners can imagine the bustling streets of Norwich, the rivalries between established and dissenting factions, and the personal stakes each voter held in shaping their local ministry. The detailed enumeration turns a bureaucratic list into an audible mosaic of a town’s social fabric, inviting curiosity about the people who lived, worked, and prayed there.