Remembering the Suffolk man who invented weather forecasting

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Robert Fitzroy, famous for captaining the HMS Beagle during Charles Darwin's famous voyage and founding the Met Office. Credit: Credit: photographic copy of a portrait lithograph made by Herman John Schmidt

By Aidan McGivern

On April 30th 1865, Robert Fitzroy took his own life following a long struggle with depression. He was just 59 when he died but this Royal Navy Officer, who was born at Ampton Hall in Suffolk, had an eventful life.

HMS Beagle in the Straits of Magellan. Credit: The Popular Science Monthly, Volume 57 p. 87, reproduction of frontispiece from Darwin, Charles (1890)

A career officer with the Royal Navy, Fitzroy made his name as the commander of the HMS Beagle during Charles Darwin's famous voyage to the Galapagos.

It was Fitzroy himself who invited Darwin on board the Beagle as a fellow gentleman to keep him company during the long journey. However, when Darwin subsequently published 'The Origin of Species' Fitzroy did not agree with the theory of evolution and claimed the book had given him 'acutest pain'.

The Origin of Species. Credit: Charles Darwin

Following the return of HMS Beagle, Fitzroy entered politics. He was elected as the Tory MP for Durham and then became the second governor of New Zealand. He became unpopular with the colonists following his attempts to protect the Maori from illegal land sales claimed by British settlers.

The sinking of the Royal Charter in 1959. Credit: Held by John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland.

In 1854, Fitzroy was appointed as director of the Meteorological Office, a new department founded to collect weather data at sea. Following the Royal Charter storm of October 1859, Fitzroy established a Gale Warning service to protect shipping, the first of its kind. On 1st August 1861, in The Times, Fitzroy published the first ever public weather forecast.

The first daily weather forecast, published on August 1st 1861. Credit: The Times / Met Office

Despite a sad end to his own life, Fitzroy managed to save countless lives by inventing the first weather forecasting and warnings system in the world. This lives on in the Met Office today.