Description
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Minutes, 1859-81; correspondence, 1912-20; subscriptions, 1891-1901. Records of meteorological observatories throughout Scotland 1775- current, including: Kirkcaldy (?), 1775-8; Ednam, 1804-7; Carbeth House, Stirlingshire, 1817-59; Inverness, 1838-43; Cult House, 1841-80; Ayr, 1844-6; Peterhead, 1870-87; Inverlochy, 1881-2; registers, log books and papers relating to Ben Nevis observatory, 1883-1906; Fort William, 1883- current; Edinburgh, 1896 - current; Aberdeen 1903 - current.
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Admin
History
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On 11 July 1855, five years after the founding of the British Meteorological Society (later the Royal Meteorological Society), a meeting was held in Edinburgh to discuss the formation of 'an Association for Promoting the Observation and Classification of Meteorological Phenomena in Scotland'. Support for the proposal was sufficiently enthusiastic for a provisional council to be formed and by early in 1856 a network of observing stations had been established, whose data were published in the Quarterly Reports of the Registrar-General for Scotland. Dr James Stark, the Superintendent of Statistics in the Registrar-General's Department became the first Meteorological Secretary. Mr J D Everett and Mr A H Burgess briefly held the position of Secretary in 1859 and 1860 before, in December 1860, Alexander Buchan was appointed to the post which he filled until his death in 1907 at the age of 78.
The Society's primary object was 'to investigate the meteorology of Scotland' and for this it was essential to have a network of reliable observing stations whose returns were received monthly. The voluntary observers were located not only in Scotland but in the Faroes, Iceland and the Near East. Among the subordinate objects was 'the discovery of the general laws regulating atmospheric changes'. Occasional reports and addresses to the Society were published from the inception of the Society, but from 1864 onwards there was published the Journal of the Scottish Meteorological Society. Many of the papers were by Alexander Buchan, who made important contributions to the development of meteorology, including the exposition of the general relationship between the pressure field and winds. He also produced climatological averages of temperature, pressure and rainfall for the British Isles and the first maps of mean isobars and prevailing winds for the world.
The Society's members included representatives of a wide variety of scientific disciplines, including physics, chemistry, mathematics, geology and medicine. The Honorary Secretary from 1871 to 1887 was Thomas Stevenson, the lighthouse engineer, who designed the Stevenson screen. The most ambitious project of the Society was the setting-up and running of the Ben Nevis Observatory from 1883 to 1904, but failure to obtain sufficient Government funding to cover operating costs put a heavy financial burden on the Society.
In 1913 the Meteorological Committee in London agreed to provide a grant of £450 per annum to cover the cost to the Society of running the climatological network in Scotland and to maintain a public office in Edinburgh to supply climatological data to the Courts, public departments and the public generally in Scotland. In 1920 the Meteorological Office formally agreed to take over this work completely, with an Advisory Committee for Scotland being set up to oversee the arrangement. This committee was abolished in 1980 as part of Government expenditure cuts, but the lecture to an invited audience, which formed part of the annual meeting of the Committee, has been maintained and is followed by an Open Forum chaired by a senior member of the Meteorological Office Directorate. The Society's collection of books and maps etc was handed over to the Meteorological Office in trust for the maintenance of a meteorological library at the Office in Scotland, with freedom of access to members of the Society and the general public.
Having made what appeared to be a satisfactory arrangement for its climatological work in Scotland, the Scottish Meteorological Society decided that its residual function as a scientific society would best be served by amalgamation with the Royal Meteorological Society. The proposal was well received by the latter and confirmed by a meeting of that Society on 19 January 1921. Members of the Scottish Society became Fellows of the Royal Meteorological Society, the funds of the Scottish Society were used to establish the Buchan prize, and the Royal Meteorological Society was made a party to any agreements which had been entered into by the Scottish Meteorological Society. It was part of the understanding that from time to time meetings of the Society should be held in Scotland. The position of Vice-President for Scotland is a continuing reminder of the amalgamation of the two Societies in 1921.
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