Vikki Laidlaw, Glasgow University Archive Services

(First published in Dunaskin News, July 2004)

The weather is a natural phenomenon that affects each and every one of us. In Britain today, for instance, we do not expect disasters caused by hurricanes and tornadoes. They do not occur here with great regularity, or have the devastating effects as in the likes of America and the West Indies. However, as one item within our collections reveal, hurricanes have hit Britain in the past, and caused enormous damage.

A booklet from the MacFie Family collection (GUAS Ref: DC 120/5/11/11) entitled Narrative of the Dreadful Disasters occasioned by the Hurricane, which visited Liverpool and various ports of the Kingdom on the nights of Sunday and Monday, January 6th and 7th 1839. This particular narrative is the second edition of such a work, and was printed by Egerton Smith and Co of Lord Street, Liverpool, 1839. All the information contained within the narrative comes from newspaper reports printed during the days after the event.

The booklet begins with an excerpt detailing a great storm in 1703. It began at ten o’clock at night on the 26th of November 1703, and raged until seven in the morning. Every part of Britain experienced the damaging gusts of winds. It was estimated that in London alone, the damage sustained was worth ‘2 millions sterling’. The damage at sea far exceeded that on the land.

However, the main part of the booklet focuses on the hurricane of January 1839. A report from the Liverpool Mercury on Friday the 11th of January stated that the Sunday past had seen strong gusts of wind, but many vessels went to sea as there was nothing to indicate that a huge storm was about to follow the winds. It was around midnight that the storm became a hurricane, and people never remembered a night of such ‘alarming terror’. People walking in the street had to keep their eyes focused on the rooftops in case chimney’s and slates came flying towards them (page 4).

Accounts are given which relate the damage done to many buildings and businesses by the high gusts of wind. One version, given by a person who had witnessed the hurricane, details the effects of the storm on the cotton factory, the North-Shore Mill in Liverpool. One section of the building had its roof torn off and lost two floors of the building itself. This resulted in a great loss of cotton, which was a severe loss for the business, but also made the surrounding area look as though a snowstorm had swept through the town! (page 6)

The narrative also recounts many personal misfortunes that occurred during the storm. Many had their roofs and chimney’s blown in, sometimes causing death, or near brushes with death. One lady, who was terrified that her window would blow in, placed herself against it to prevent this from happening. Luckily for her she did, as her roof then proceeded to fall in at her feet, and the wall she was standing against protecting her window also fell outwards, leaving her standing without any injury whatsoever (page 11). It also describes the damage done to the surrounding landscape. For example, in Latham Park, Liverpool over 300 trees were blown down. This included some of the oldest and finest. Others were left stripped bare of their branches and stood precariously on the ground (pages 15/16).

The losses recorded at sea were even more damaging. Many ships were battered and wrecked at sea, as well as in the coastal ports. Many ships that were lost and damaged are named in the narrative, as well as giving lists for some of the seamen who were lost or rescued the day after the hurricane. All areas of the country suffered losses at sea, as well as casualties and fatalities in the ports. For example, at Prince’s Dock, Liverpool a dock gateman was blown into the sea, and had it not been for a policeman being present and throwing him a life-buoy, he would have drowned (page 12).

The narrative shows very well that the hurricane did not just effect the immediate areas surrounding Liverpool, but that the whole of Great Britain felt its force, and great damage was spread throughout the districts. Details of damages are given for Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as in Scotland. One person in Scotland even wrote a passage about the storm as given below:

The night has been unruly; where we lay
Our chimneys were blown down; and as they say
Lamentings heard I' the air;
The obscure bird
Clamoured the live-long night; some say the earth
Was feverous and did shake. (page 38)

The narrative gives a very detailed account of the events of January 1839 when the weather caused a lot of damage to businesses and distress to many people. It provides us with an example of how such extreme cases of weather were dealt with in the past. Since transport was not as advanced as it is today, and shipping was the only way of moving goods worldwide, we can only imagine how much trade was lost after the hurricane had swept through the country. It enables us to compare weather patterns of the past to those of the present, and to see if any patterns occur and through further study to try and predict extreme weather conditions so we can be prepared.