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In 1854 a well respected and distinguished naval sea captain
was chosen to head up a new, experimental government department
within the Board of Trade. That department was, what is now known
as, the Met Office, and that captain was Robert FitzRoy.
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It was his drive and knowledge of the effects
of weather that resulted in major developments in the area
of meteorology, which continue today. Although he was not
responsible for initially setting up the department, FitzRoy
is now regarded as the Met Office's founding father. He was
the world's first full-time weather forecaster and invented
the term 'weather forecast'. |
Background
Robert FitzRoy was born into an aristocratic family, at Ampton
Hall in Suffolk in 1805. He joined the Royal Navy at the age of
14 and his early career was spent surveying the coasts of Patagonia
and Tierra del Fuego, but it is a voyage he made in 1831 for which
he is best known.
In command of HMS Beagle, and with the naturalist Charles Darwin
on board, he embarked on the five-year round-the-world voyage
that was the inspiration for Darwin's epoch-making 'The Origin
of Species', eventually published in 1859. Although they later
fell out, Darwin described Captain FitzRoy as '…a very extraordinary
person….' and compared him to Napoleon and Nelson.
In 1841 FitzRoy was elected as Member of Parliament for Durham
and was made the Governor General of New Zealand in 1843 - although
he was later dismissed.
Throughout his naval career FitzRoy had always been keenly interested
in the weather and in 1854 he was appointed 'Meteorological Statist'
- charged with establishing meteorology as a science.
It was FitzRoy who developed the fundamental techniques of modern
weather forecasting. His work was pivotal to the development of
storm warnings; he pioneered the printing of a daily weather forecast
in newspapers and he even designed a standard barometer, which
was named after him. In 1862 he published 'The Weather Book' which
described his theories and methods.
But criticism of his methods started to be made by Parliament,
other scientists and in the media. In 1865, depressed and in ill
health he took his own life.
However, his legacy and memory lives on. In February 2002 the
sea area Finisterre
was renamed FitzRoy and in Exeter the Met
Office's headquarters is situated on FitzRoy Road.
More about the history
of the Met Office
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