Vice-Admiral Robert Fitzroy

Vice-Admiral Robert Fitzroy was the first director of the Met Office, he is also famous as the captain of HMS Beagle on her voyage around the world with Charles Darwin onboard. It was during this voyage that Charles Darwin explored the Galapagos Island and started to establish his theory on the Origin of Species
The Met Office was founded in 1854 under the leadership of Captain, (later Vice-Admiral), Robert FitzRoy.

From his naval background FitzRoy had a strong understanding of the importance of the weather to the lives of those at sea. He was thus the perfect choice to lead the fledgling Meteorological Office whose purpose was to further understand the nature of the weather in the oceans, particularly the Atlantic Ocean, in order to protect life and property at sea. The earliest information to be collected by the office was daily weather data, recorded at 9am at set locations, known as stations, around the British and Irish coasts and sent to the Meteorological Office in London by the new telegraph system, the cutting edge technology of its day. This information consisted of pressure, temperature, wind direction and force, cloud amount, weather conditions eg. rain, thunder, fog and sea disturbance for each location. The observations were collated into Daily Weather Reports and these, renamed the Daily Weather Summary from 1980, form the longest continuous series of data in the National Meteorological Archive.

Using the data sent in for the Daily Weather Reports and his own skills, experience and knowledge FitzRoy began to develop and pioneer the science of meteorology and weather forecasting. Following the disastrous Royal Charter Gale of 25/26 October 1859. FitzRoy developed a national Storm Warning Service which began in February 1861. Whilst he had government permission for his Storm Warning Service he had no such permission for a land forecasting service. He did not let this stop him and on 1st August 1861 he published the first Public Weather Forecast in the Times Newspaper. The forecasts were for 24 to 48 hours ahead and were very general. The country was split into the north, south and west - initially the east was missed out but was added a couple of days later - and used simple forecast terminology such as 'fine' although there was more precision on the expected wind direction. FitzRoy developed a national Storm Warning Service which began in February 1861. Whilst he had government permission for his Storm Warning Service he had no such permission for a land forecasting service.

FitzRoy continued to produce daily forecasts and all can be found in the Daily Weather Reports. As the data available from the Weather Reports increased he refined his forecast areas and began to add more detail but the science of meteorology was very young and many of the factors influencing land based weather forecasting were not yet understood. There were inevitable errors and he faced significant criticism from the scientific establishment, many of whom did not believe weather forecasting to be possible. The constant criticism took a severe toll on FitzRoy's health, not aided by facing near bankruptcy after spending most of his fortune developing a barometer for fishermen which would allow them to predict the weather and save lives at small harbours where storm warnings could not be provided. FitzRoy's frequent absence from the office can be traced through the increasingly sporadic presence of his handwriting in the weather reports. His final forecast was produced on the orders of Queen Victoria, who required a forecast before sailing to her retreat on the Isle of Wight and his final entry in the Daily Weather Reports was written on 20th March 1865, just a few weeks before he took his own life on 30th April 1865.

FitzRoy should be remembered as a pioneer of weather forecasting. He proved that weather forecasts and weather warnings were not only possible, but useful and valuable in reducing the impacts of bad weather. In addition he wrote the first textbook on the science of meteorology and coined the term 'forecast' which remains in use throughout the world to this day.