Who founded the United Kingdom’s first national weather forecasting service in 1854?

Robert FitzRoy founded the United Kingdom’s first national weather forecasting service in 1854.

FitzRoy was a British naval officer, hydrographer, and former captain of HMS Beagle. As head of what became the Meteorological Department of the Board of Trade, he organized standardized weather observations from ships and coastal stations. His goal was practical: warning mariners about dangerous storms.

The service began issuing storm warnings in 1861, using telegraph communications to distribute information quickly. FitzRoy also popularized the term “weather forecast,” helping move weather reporting from informal observation toward a coordinated national system.

His forecasts were not always accurate, and public criticism contributed to pressure on the service after his death. Nevertheless, the network he established helped lay the foundations for the modern UK Met Office, which now uses satellites, numerical models, radar, and global observations.