Thursday 30th September 1819
Thursday Sep 30th The day proving excessively wet Mama & myself remained in doors the whole of the day
OBSERVATIONS & COMMENTS:
We have seen the Copland family endure wet weather throughout much of their journey. Was 1819 a particularly wet year?
A family group out in heavy rain from the Wellcome Collection https://wellcomecollection.org/works/wqhjawv9 Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) terms and conditions
According to reports the previous year, 1818, had been a very good year. The following information is from http://www.pascalbonenfant.com/18c/geography/weather.html
“The summer was claimed to be the longest, driest & warmest in living memory. (?London/South) Overall, using the CET series, the anomaly for the three summer months (JJA) was +1.3C, with June (16.4degC/+2.1C) & July (18.2degC/+2.3C) notably warm. However, August was slightly cooler than average, with an anomaly of -0.3C. It was certainly a dry season, with an EWP figure of 102mm representing ~50% of the all-series mean. At Greenwich, only 40mm of rain was recorded over these three months, with August particularly dry: the value measured at the time (in inches) was 0.1" (or 2.5mm). This remarkable summer was followed by a wet autumn.”
In the few weeks before their departure they would have experienced colder weather than normal for the time of year. Severe frost covered wide areas of Britain at the end of May with widespread damage to crops in areas as far apart as Gloucestershire, Rugby and several parts of Scotland.
Their Summer, from June to September and most of October was unremarkable. However, from their last couple of days in Edinburgh and during the two weeks spent travelling down the Great Northern Road to London, the weather was colder than normal for the time of year in the south of England, which experienced deep snow. London and Surrey were the worst hit, with around 2 inches / 5 cm reported.
London’s overall weather for 1819 was recorded as being particularly wet and the family may have had less rain on their journeys north than if they had remained at Gunnersbury.
Can you help us?
Old Regency Prints, Pictures an Coaching maps: Do you have access to any prints or pictures showing what town and country would have looked like when Lucy travelled through? Any illustrations of what she would have seen in 1819 will enliven our research.
New Pictures: Do you have any modern pictures of the streets, buildings, gardens and views that would enable us to see the changes that two centuries have wrought?