Stephen Martin Saxby (21 August 1804 – 11 March 1883)''Cambridge University Alumni, 1261-1900'' was a British practitioner of a form of meteorological astrology or Pseudo Meteorology in the

Victorian Era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

. Through his calculations he predicted an 1869 storm called the

Saxby Gale The Saxby Gale was a tropical cyclone which struck eastern Canada's Bay of Fundy region on the night of October 4–5, 1869. The storm was named for Lieutenant Stephen Martin Saxby, a naval instructor who, based on his astronomical studies, ha ...

. Saxby also published a book in 1864 called the ''Saxby Weather system'' that taught his methods of Astrological Meteorology. He also distributed lists of days when atmospheric disturbances would occur that were given to

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

s of that era so they could anticipate approaching storms. Saxby's Astrological Meteorological methods have inspired others who predict weather using astrology including Ken Ring of New Zealand.

Biography

Saxby was born in Kent. He attended

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of th ...

. He was a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

in the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

and lectured on . Saxby was an instructor of steam engineers and inventor the "spherograph" for correcting the compass, which he offered to ships. He taught at the Steam Reserve College in Greenwich. Saxby published his weather predictions in the '' Nautical Magazine'', a journal for the merchant marine. He tried to get the attention of the Government Meteorological Department. The Astronomer Royal told Saxby to drop his investigations. In 1861, Saxby sent weather warnings to the marine insurers at

Lloyd's of London Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is an insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gov ...

. Saxby also tried to interest

Robert Fitzroy Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy (5 July 1805 – 30 April 1865) was an English officer of the Royal Navy and a scientist. He achieved lasting fame as the captain of during Charles Darwin's famous voyage, FitzRoy's second expedition to Tierra de ...

of the British

Meteorological Office The Meteorological Office, abbreviated as the Met Office, is the United Kingdom's national weather service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and is led by CEO Penelope ...

. The method of Lunar forecasting was not acceptable to the authorities of the Victorian era.

Saxby Weather System

''The Weather System'' was a book published by Saxby in 1864 outlining his theories. The position of the

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

indicates when there will be atmospheric disturbances according to his theory. The

phase of the moon Concerning the lunar month of ~29.53 days as viewed from Earth, the lunar phase or Moon phase is the shape of the Moon's directly sunlit portion, which can be expressed quantitatively using areas or angles, or described qualitatively using the t ...

its proximity to earth and hemispheric location indicated change days when the weather might change. If the phase, position and hemispheric location aligned then a large storm might occur somewhere in the world. Although Saxby could not predict where the storm would occur. Saxby published lists of days when atmospheric disturbances would occur. These lists were given to sailors. Sailors in some parts of the world claimed his methods seemed to work at sea in some latitudes. In the second edition of the book Saxby provided arguments against

Robert FitzRoy Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy (5 July 1805 – 30 April 1865) was an English officer of the Royal Navy and a scientist. He achieved lasting fame as the captain of during Charles Darwin's famous voyage, FitzRoy's second expedition to Tierra de ...

's debunking of lunar

weather forecasting Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology forecasting, to predict the conditions of the Earth's atmosphere, atmosphere for a given location and time. People have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia a ...

Saxby Gale

Saxby predicted a storm which occurred on 5 October 1869 in

Eastern Canada Eastern Canada (also the Eastern provinces or the East) is generally considered to be the region of Canada south of the Hudson Bay/Strait and east of Manitoba, consisting of the following provinces (from east to west): Newfoundland and Labrador, ...

. Today the storm is known as the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saxby, Stephen English meteorologists 1804 births 1883 deaths Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge