{"id":4310,"date":"2024-08-02T08:30:12","date_gmt":"2024-08-02T08:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/?p=4310"},"modified":"2024-08-01T15:10:09","modified_gmt":"2024-08-01T15:10:09","slug":"what-a-scorcher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/2024\/08\/02\/what-a-scorcher\/","title":{"rendered":"“What a Scorcher!”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Between 2015 and 2018 Dorset History Centre undertook the ‘Unlocking the Bankes archive<\/a>‘ project. During the life of this project, staff and volunteers contributed well over 100 blogs to the project website. As we reach 2024, this project website is no longer functional in the way it originally was, and we have made the decision to close the website permanently.<\/p>\n

However, we didn’t want to lose all of the intriguing stories and individual research which had been done by so many people, and we are therefore going to slowly be recycling these pieces onto this blog site going forward, to ensure that these fascinating tales have a home for people to read (or possibly re-read)!<\/p>\n

This time we have the thoughts of Henry Bankes about the summer weather in 1817…<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

In recent years we have experienced exceptionally hot summers. With temperatures rising to well over 30 degrees Celsius, everyone\u2019s had something to say about the heat.<\/p>\n

As did Henry Bankes II. In June 1817, he wrote in his diary: a\u00a0\u2018week of uncommonly hot weather\u2019<\/em>. You might be thinking, \u201cSo what? That\u2019s normal for June isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n

But the point is that in 1817, the weather had\u00a0not<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>been \u201cnormal\u201d for two years.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In April 1815,\u00a0Mount Tambora<\/a>\u00a0erupted in Indonesia. The cloud of ash was so large, it blocked out sunlight and affected global weather conditions for the next three years. It caused famine, disease and unrest around the world. The eruption was labelled as one of the \u201clargest eruptions of the last 10,000 years\u201d and caused an estimated 100,000 deaths in the local area.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Mount Tambora, Indonesia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

1816 became known\u00a0as\u00a0\u201cthe year without a summer\u201d.\u00a0Many states across America saw snow and frost in June; rice crops failed in China; and in Ireland it rained for eight weeks straight. Indeed, it was this bad weather that inspired Mary Shelley to write\u00a0Frankenstein\u00a0<\/em>whilst on holiday in Switzerland.<\/p>\n

In the diaries\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Henry Bankes writes in his diaries (D-BKL\/H\/H\/1\/98):<\/p>\n

\u2018September 1816:\u00a0 a general calamity \u2026extended over the whole continent of Europe, as well as of America, of most unseasonable weather and a deficient harvest\u2026.\u2019<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He goes on to say:<\/p>\n

\u2018The grievous effects of the unfavourable harvest were felt throughout the kingdom as heavily as elsewhere.\u00a0 I never remember so long a continuance of wet weather during the whole summer and autumn, which delayed everywhere the carrying in of crops, prevented the corn coming to maturity, and in many counties rendered it unfit for the food of man.\u2019<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The knock-on effects of these failed harvests were disastrous.<\/p>\n

\"\"
D-BKL\/H\/H\/1\/98<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018Farms were\u2026 relinquished and\u2026 abandoned even without any notice.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2018\u2026 in the Isle of Purbeck, upon my own property\u2026 the stone trade\u2026threw a very large proportion of the labouring class wholly out of employment.\u2019<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It could be argued that 1817 was one of the grimmest years in British history. Looking through Henry\u2019s diaries, we can see the rioting and unrest:<\/p>\n