Will it rain on St Swithin’s Day for George James Symons FRS ?
Thursday 8th Jul 2010 15:36:42
Will it rain on St Swithin’s Day for George James Symons FRS ?
Members of the Royal Meteorological Society and their invited guests will be hoping that it will not
rain on St Swithin’s Day, the 15th July, although there is a possibility of thundery showers in southeast
England. They are gathering together on Thursday 15 July for the graveside re-dedication of
George James Symons FRS, one of the world’s most distinguished meteorologists.
At the age of 22 he founded what became known as the British Rainfall Organization, and over the
next 40 years published detailed annual summaries of rainfall over the British Isles. By his untimely
death in 1900 his voluntary observer network was some 3,500 strong: 110 years later this still forms
the backbone of our rainfall observing system and records in the UK, which provides us with the
densest rainfall observing network in the world.
It came to the Society’s attention in 2009 that Symons's grave, and that of his family, at Kensal Green
Cemetery in west London, had fallen into disrepair. The Society decided to repair the grave and with
the help of a kind donation of slate from Mark Weir, owner of the Honister Slate Mine in Cumbria, has
been able to renovate the site. Situated high in the mountains of the Lake District, Honister Slate Mine
is the last working slate mine in England and is particularly appropriate as Honister is one of the
wettest places in Britain.
To mark the completion of this renovation work the Society is holding a re-dedication event at Kensal
Green Cemetery, Harrow Road, London at 1300 on Thursday 15 July (appropriately enough on St
Swithin’s Day). There will be a supply of umbrellas available – just in case!