16 March 2004

Hartwell House held the first Meteorological Meeting in 1850

On 3 April 1850, ten gentlemen met in the library of Hartwell House in Aylesbury, now a hotel, to "form a society the objects of which should be the advancement and extension of meteorological science by determining the laws of climate and of meteorological phenomena in general". They formed the British Meteorological Society, Samuel Charles Whitbread (grandson of the founder of the famous brewing firm) became its first president.

In 1866 the British Meteorological Society became The Metrological Society and in 1883 her Majesty Queen Victoria granted the privilege of adding 'Royal' to the title.

Besides Whitbread, those present at the meeting on 3 April 1850 were Dr John Lee, the owner of Hartwell House, a teetotaller and amateur scientist; the Reverend Samuel King of Latimer, near Chesham; the Reverend Joseph Bancroft Reade of Stone Vicarage near Aylesbury; the Reverend Charles Lowndes of Hartwell Rectory; James Glaisher, Superintendent of the Magnetic and Meteorological Department of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich; Edward Joseph Lowe of Highfield House, near Nottingham; Vincent Fasel of Stone near Aylesbury; John Drew of Southampton; and William Rutter of Haverstock Hill, London.

Hartwell House is now a luxurious hotel, acclaimed restaurant and refreshing spa, and is set in 90 acres of beautiful parkland, only an hour from London, and 45 minutes from Heathrow Airport. Hartwell was once the home of the exiled French King, Louis XVIII and his wife Queen Marie-Josephine de Savoie and their extended family. The hotel is set in rolling parkland, and guests can play croquet and tennis. Nearby are fabulous Waddesdon Manor, Stowe Landscape Gardens and the dreaming spires of Oxford.

Note to Editor

Hartwell House Hotel, Restaurant & Spa
Oxford Road
Near Aylesbury
Buckinghamshire
HP17 8NL
www.hartwell-house.com.

Hartwell House, Hotel, restaurant and spa are privately owned by Historic House Hotels and are part of Relais & Chateaux. For further information, please contact Mary Bird on mary@marybird.net or on 020 8690 9677.