Nationalizing provincial weather: Meteorology in nineteenth-century Cornwall

British Journal for the History of Science

Volumn 39, Issue 3, 2006, Pages 407-433

  Naylor, Simon ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL   (United Kingdom)

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[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 33747755834     PISSN: 00070874     EISSN: 1474001X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0007087406008399     Document Type: Article

References (144)

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12. Schaffer, op. cit. Victorian Science in Context (10), 441.
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14. Schaffer, op. cit. The Taming of Chance (10), 444.
15. Schaffer, op. cit. The Taming of Chance (10), 444.
16. Barry op. cit. The Taming of Chance (4), 468.
17. Livingstone, op. cit. The Taming of Chance (8), 142.
18. Golinski, op. cit. The Taming of Chance (6), 138-9.
19. V. Janković, Reading the Skies: A Cultural History of English Weather, 1650-1820, Manchester, 2000, 11.
20. On practices of place see R. Kohler, 'Place and practice in field biology', History of Science (2002), 40, 192.
21. Janković, op. cit. History of Science (18);
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24. See also J. Golinski, 'Barometers of change: meteorological instruments as machines of Enlightenment', in The Sciences in Enlightened Europe (ed. William Clark, Jan Golinski and Simon Schaffer), Chicago, 1999, 69-93.
25. P. A. S. Pool, 'William Borlase, Truro, 1987.
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27. Janković, op. cit. History of Science (18), 111.
28. M. J. Cullen, The Statistical Movement in Early Victorian Britain: The Foundations of Empirical Social Research, Sussex, 1975;
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31. Janković, op. cit. The Statistical Movement in Early Victorian Britain: the Foundations of Empirical Social Research (18), 159.
32. Livingstone, op. cit. The Statistical Movement in Early Victorian Britain: the Foundations of Empirical Social Research (8), 177.
33. M. P. Moyle, 'Meteorological journal kept at Helston, Cornwall, for 1821', T. Thomson's Annals of Philosophy (1822), 3, 190-4.
34. M. P. Moyle, 'On the height of the barometer', T. Thomson's Annals of Philosophy (1823), 5, 376-8;
35. idem, 'On an improvement of the clinometer', T. Thomson's Annals of Philosophy (1825), 7,122;
36. idem, ' On the temperature of the Cornish Mines', Transactions of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall (1822), 2, 404-15;
37. idem, 'On the temperature of mines', T. Thomson's Annals of Philosophy (1823), 5, 34-9;
38. idem,'On the atmosphere of Cornish mines', Report of the RCPS (1839), 74-95
39. M. P. Moyle, Report of the RCPS and (1840), 37-48.
40. See, for instance, L. Squire, 'Meteorological Register', Report of the RCPS (1836), 60-1.
41. J. Couch, 'Tables of the thermometer and weather', Report of the RCPS (1836), 66.
42. Mr Corbett, 'Observations made at Pencarrow', Report of the RCPS (1841), 141.
43. Quoted in Janković, op. cit. Report of the RCPS (18), 162.
44. Janković, op. cit. Report of the RCPS (18), 163.
45. Barry, op. cit. Report of the RCPS (4), 467.
46. On the Royal Meteorological Society see Malcolm Walker, 'The Royal Meteorological Society as seen through its membership', Weather (2000), 55, 104-8;
47. for a longer history of meteorological societies in England see J. M. Walker, 'The meteorological societies of London', Weather (1993), 48, 364-72.
48. J. Burton, 'Robert FitzRoy and the early history of the Meteorological Office', BJHS (1986), 19,147-76.
49. Scharfer, op. cit. BJHS (10), 445.
50. On the history of Cornwall's scientific institutions see S. Naylor, ' The field, the museum, and the lecture hall : the spaces of natural history in Victorian Cornwall ', Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers (2002), 27, 494-513;
51. F. A. Turk, 'Natural history studies in Cornwall (1700-1900)', Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall (1959), 229-79.
52. Anon., 'Meteorological report', Report of the RCPS (1842), 23.
53. Anon., op. cit. Report of the RCPS (40), 24.
54. For a brief history of William Farr's life see S. Sheard, 'Farr, William (1807-83)', in The Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century British Scientists (ed. B. Lightman), 4 Vols., Bristol, 2004, ii, 674-5.
55. Glaisher mobilized an extensive network of volunteer meteorologists around Britain who supplied him with daily weather notes, from which he compiled quarterly meteorological reports for the registrar general. C. Waff, 'Glaisher, James (1809-1903)', in The Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century British Scientists (ed. B. Lightman), 4 vols., Bristol, 2004, ii, 788-9.
56. Anon., 'Thirty-eighth annual report, 1856', Report of the Royal Institution of Cornwall (1857), 11.
57. Anon., ' Report of the Council ', Report of the Royal Institution of Cornwall (1865), p. xi.
58. M. P. Moyle, ' Meteorological summary of the weather at Helston, in Lat. 50° 7′ N., and 5° 18' W., for the year 1864', Report of the RCPS (1865), unpaginated.
59. Schaffer, op. cit. Report of the RCPS (10), 445.
60. Janković, op. cit. Report of the RCPS (18), 161.
61. See, for instance, W. P. Dymond, 'Meteorology of West Cornwall. 1870', Reports of the RCPS (1871), 125-8.
62. Peter Nichols, Evolution's Captain: The Dark Fate of the Man Who Sailed Charles Darwin around the World, London, 2003.
63. Burton, op. cit. Evolution's Captain: the Dark Fate of the Man Who Sailed Charles Darwin Around the World (37), 169.
64. For a history of FitzRoy's involvement in the Meteorological Office see G. Simpson, 'FitzRoy and weather forecasts', Meteorological Magazine (1955), 84, 167-73.
65. Anon., Report of the Meteorological Committee of the Royal Society, for the Year ending 31st December 1870, London, 1871, 6.
66. See also Burton, op. cit. Report of the Meteorological Committee of the Royal Society, for the Year Ending 31st December 1870 (37), 170.
67. For a short biography of Scott see J. Burton, 'Pen portraits of Presidents [of the Royal Meteorological Society] - Robert Henry Scott, MA, DSc, FRS ', Weather (1994), 49, 323-4.
68. R. H. Scott, Instructions in the Use of Meteorological Instruments. Compiled by Direction of the Meteorological Committee, London, 1875, 7.
69. Anon., Annual Reports of the Meteorological Council to the Royal Society, for the Year ending 31st of March 1883, London, 1884.
70. Sir H. James, Instructions for Taking Meteorological Observations, London, 1861;
71. Scott, op. cit. Instructions for Taking Meteorological Observations (54).
72. Anon., op. cit. Instructions for Taking Meteorological Observations (52).
73. Anon., Annual Reports of the Meteorological Council to the Royal Society, for the Year ending 31st of December 1867, London, 1868, 55-60. This report provides a detailed account of the correspondence between the Board of Trade (on behalf of the Royal Society) and the Treasury on the matter of finance for the observatories project.
74. K. Anderson, 'The weather prophets: science and reputation in Victorian meteorology', History of Science (1999), 37, 179-216. Greenwich Observatory did serve as an informal eighth observatory.
75. Anon., op. cit. History of Science (58), 22.
76. Anon., Report of the Meteorological Committee of the Royal Society, for the Year ending 31st December 1869, London, 1870, 20;
77. R. H. Scott, ' On the work of the Meteorological Office, past and present', Weekly Meeting of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, Pamphlet 19, Meteorological Office archive, Exeter, 30 April 1869.
78. Falmouth Meteorological Observatory, Untitled Pamphlet, Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society Minute Book 1873-1884, RCPS archive, June 1883.
79. On science and improvement in Britain see R. H. Drayton, Nature's Government; Science, Imperial Britain, and the ' Improvement' of the World, New Haven, 2000 ;
80. M. Bravo, ' Geographies of exploration and improvement: William Scoresby and arctic whaling (1782-1822)', Journal of Historical Geography (2006) 32, 512-38.
81. See Anon., Annual Reports of the Meteorological Council to the Royal Society, for the Year ending 31st of December 1868, London, 1869, 22, which notes continuing discussions as to the conversion of continuous records into 'mean numerical results, at once satisfactory to science and practically useful to the public'.
82. A full list of stations was provided by the Meteorological Council in Anon., Annual Reports of the Meteorological Council to the Royal Society, for the Year ending 3 1st of March 1880, London, 1881,20-3.
83. Anon., 'Annual committee meeting', Cornwall Polytechnic Society Minute Book, No. 3, 1857-1873, RCPS archives, 30 January 1867.
84. Anon., 'First meeting of the Meteorological Sub-Committee', Cornwall Polytechnic Society Minute Book, No. 3, 1857-1873, RCPS archives, 6 March 1867.
85. Anon., 'Second meeting of the Meteorological Sub-Committee', Cornwall Polytechnic Society Minute Book, No. 3, 1857-1873, RCPS archives, 3 April 1867.
86. Anon., 'Report of the Meteorological Sub-Committee', Cornwall Polytechnic Society Minute Book, No. 3, 1857-1873, RCPS archives, 26 April 1867.
87. Anon., 'Report of the Committee', Report of the RCPS (1868), p. xiii.
88. Anon., 'Report of the Meteorological Committee', Cornwall Polytechnic Society Minute Book, No. 3, 1857-73, RCPS archives, 18 January 1870.
89. Falmouth Meteorological Observatory, op. cit. Cornwall Polytechnic Society Minute Book, No. 3, 1857-73 (62).
90. See Anon., 'Description of a self-recording rain-gauge, invented by Robert Beckley, of the Kew Observatory; made by James Hicks, London', Report of the RCPS (1869), 43-7;
91. Anon., 'The sunshine recorder', Report of the RCPS (1880), 73-5. A history of the origin, development and use of self-recording instruments was also provided by the Meteorological Committee of the Royal Society:
92. Anon., 'A description of the self-recording instruments recently erected by the Meteorological Committee of the Royal Society in various parts of the United Kingdom ', Report of the Meteorological Committee of the Royal Society, for the Year Ending 31st December 1867, London, 1868, 27-54.
93. K. Anderson, 'Looking at the sky: the visual context of Victorian meteorology', BJHS (2003), 36, 301-32, 302.
94. The required duties and activities of the observatory's staff were published in W. L. Fox, ' Report of the Meteorological Committee for the year 1883', Reports of the RCPS (1883), 121-6.
95. Falmouth Meteorological Observatory, W. L. Fox, op. cit. Reports of the RCPS (62).
96. Anon.,'Report of the Committee. 9th February 1871', Reports of the RCPS (1871), 13.
97. Anon., 'Code of regulation adopted by the Meteorological Committee for ensuring accuracy in the results derived from their self-recording instruments', Report of the Meteorological Committee of the Royal Society, for the Year ending 31st December 1868, London, 1869, 62-72.
98. Anon., op. cit. Report of the Meteorological Committee of the Royal Society, for the Year Ending 31st December 1868 (78), 62.
99. Anon., op. cit. Report of the Meteorological Committee of the Royal Society, for the Year Ending 31st December 1868 (77), 13.
100. Anon., op. cit. Report of the Meteorological Committee of the Royal Society, for the Year Ending 31st December 1868 (70), p. xiii.
101. Anon., op. cit. Report of the Meteorological Committee of the Royal Society, for the Year Ending 31st December 1868 (71).
102. Anon., 'Meeting of the Meteorological Sub-Committee", Cornwall Polytechnic Society Minute Book, No. 3, 18S7-1873, RCPS archives, 18 January 1882.
103. Anon., 'Meeting of the Meteorological Sub-Committee', Cornwall Polytechnic Society Minute Book, No. 3, 1857-1873, RCPS archives, 26 January 1882;
104. W. L. Fox, 'Report of the Meteorological Sub-Committee for the Year 1882', Reports of the RCPS (1882), 15-16.
105. Barry, op. cit. Reports of the RCPS (4), 468.
106. W. P. Dymond, 'Meteorological notes', Reports of the RCPS (1874), 1-8.
107. W. L. Fox, 'Report of the Meteorological Sub-Committee for the Year 1882', Reports of the RCPS (1882), 15-16.
108. 'Meeting of the Meteorological Committee', Cornwall Polytechnic Society Minute Book, 1873-84, RCPS archives, 6 August 1881.
109. W. L. Fox, op. cit. Cornwall Polytechnic Society Minute Book, 1873-84 (87), 16.
110. Whipple's paper was subsequently published by the society: G. M. Whipple, 'Meteorology, or weather knowledge: its progress and modern aspects', Reports of the RCPS (1882), 147-53.
111. G. J. Symons, ' On rainfall in Cornwall", Reports of the RCPS (1882), 129-33.
112. Symons was a nationally renowned expert on rainfall. For a history of Symons's work in this area see D. E. Pedgley, A Short History of the British Rainfall Organization, Occasional Papers on Meteorological History No. 5, Reading, 2002.
113. R. H. Scott, 'Minute explanatory of the reasons for which the Meteorological Council have resolved to close some of their self-recording observatories', Annual Reports of the Meteorological Council to the Royal Society, for the Year ending 31st of March 1884, London, 1885, 91-2.
114. It was reprinted in the minutes of the Cornwall Polytechnic Society Minute Book, 1873-84, RCPS archives.
115. The council sought the opinions of Dr Hann, the director of the Vienna Meteorological Observatory; Dr Wild, the head of the Meteorological Service in Russia; and Mr H. S. Eaton, a past president of the Meteorological Society of London.
116. Scott, op. cit. Cornwall Polytechnic Society Minute Book, 1873-84 (92), 93.
117. For a short biography of Mann see M. Walker, 'Pen portraits of presidents [of the Royal Meteorological Society] - Robert James Mann, MD', Weather (2001), 56, 8-11.
118. Extract from the Report of the Treasury Committee, 1877, 88
119. quoted in Scott, op. cit. (92), 95.
120. Anon., op. cit. Report of the Treasury Committee (64), 21.
121. Anon., Annual Reports of the Meteorological Council to the Royal Society, for the Year ending 31st of March 1884, London, 1885.
122. Anon., 'Report of the Committee', Reports of the RCPS (1884), 2.
123. A lengthy extract from the letter is printed in the Reports of the society, in Anon., 'The Falmouth observatory', Reports of the RCPS (1885), 103-4.
124. A draft of the full letter is in Anon., ' Meeting of the General Committee, 4 April 1883', Cornwall Polytechnic Society Minute Book, 1873-84, RCPS archives.
125. Adams, a Cornishman by birth, was persuaded to write his letter supporting the case to the Royal Society, and his letter to them was reprinted in the reports of the society: Anon., 'The Falmouth observatory', op. cit. Cornwall Polytechnic Society Minute Book, 1873-84 (100), 106-9.
126. Anon., 'Meeting of the General Committee, 4 April 1883', Cornwall Polytechnic Society Minute Book, 1873-1884, RCPS archives.
127. Anon., untitled entry dated 29 November 1883, Minute Book of the Meteorological Committee, 1882-94, RCPS archives, 34.
128. G. G. Stokes, letter to the RCPS from the Royal Society, dated 31 December 1883, Minute Book of the Meteorological Committee, 1882-94, RCPS archives, 48. This letter stipulated conditions on the grant and the yearly stipend: that all instruments would be the property of the Royal Society, for instance, and that the RCPS would be obliged to furnish the Society with regular statements of expenditure, receipts and results collected.
129. On the production of local civic science see D. Finnegan, 'Natural history societies in late Victorian Scotland and the pursuit of local civic science', BJHS (2005), 38, 53-72.
130. Anon., 'Laying the foundation stone of the new observatory', Reports of the RCPS (1884), 34.
131. A full list of donors is provided in the Reports of the RCPS (1885), 89-95.
132. Anon., article on the new observatory published in the Western Morning News and pasted into the Minute Book, 30 June 1885
133. Minute Book of the Meteorological Committee, 1882-1894, RCPS archives, 63.
134. For a full account of the establishment of the magnetic house see H. M. Jeffery, 'Report of the Meteorological Committee on the establishment of the magnetograph instruments at Falmouth observatory', Reports of the RCPS (1886), 16-19.
135. A description of the instruments was also given in Anon., 'Falmouth observatory magnetographs", Reports of the RCPS (1886), 195-206.
136. Mr G. M. Whipple, quoted in the minutes of the Meteorological Committee, 21 October 1889, Minute Book of the Meteorological Committee, 1882-94, RCPS archives, 139.
137. Anon., Minutes of a Committee Meeting, 11 December 1886, Minute Book of the Meteorological Committee, 1882-94, RCPS archives; Anon., Minutes, 31 July 1888
138. Minute Book of the Meteorological Committee, 1882-94, RCPS archives.
139. Anon., Brief History of Relationships between the Meteorological Office and the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society, Meteorological Office Archives, Exeter, undated.
140. Janković, op. cit. Brief History of Relationships between the Meteorological Office and the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society (18), 104.
141. Janković op. cit. Brief History of Relationships between the Meteorological Office and the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society (18), 167.
142. Janković op. cit. Brief History of Relationships between the Meteorological Office and the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society (18), 167.
143. For further discussions on this theme see Lewis Pyenson, 'An end to national science: the meaning and the extension of local knowledge', History of Science (2002), 40, 251-90;
144. In Inkster and Jack Morrell (eds.), Metropolis and Province: Science in British Culture, 1780-1850, Philadelphia, 1983.