Admiral FitzRoy (patent) storm barometer, by Negretti & Zambra, London, England, 1876-1884. Fitted with dry and wet mercury thermometers and ordinary mercury thermometer, serial no. 1265.

Robert FitzRoy founded the Meteorological Office – the UK’s weather service – under the government’s Board of Trade in 1854. A devastating hurricane wrecked the steam clipper S.S. Royal Charter in 1859, and FitzRoy believed that the storm could have been predicted and the disaster avoided. This prompted the Meteorological Office to start issuing storm warnings: the beginning of the nation’s weather forecasting service. While this barometer is titled a ‘Storm Barometer’, it is a type designed for domestic use and was made after FitzRoy’s death. It carries inscribed rules, drawn in part from the weather lore of farmers, shepherds and sailors, for foretelling future weather based on observed conditions.