9:45 AM - 10:00 AM
[MZZ42-04] The Father of National Meteorological Services in Japan: An Weather Observer Henry Batson Joyner – England, Japan, and Brazil –
Keywords:Henry Batson Joyner, history of meteorology, National Meteorological Services in Japan, oyatoi gaikokujin
Henry Batson Joyner was born on July 9th, 1839 as eldest son of Henry St. John Joyner, of Northwick, (abt 1810–1882) Harrow, England. The father, St. John Joyner was a tenant farmer, occupying 1000 acres of land and also he was a dedicated citizen weather observer. He send regular reports and some reports about remarkable events by request from the meteorologist George James Symons (1838-1900) who published "British Rainfall". Some of St. John's reports were published in "Symons's Monthly Meteorological Magazine" (MM) also published by Symons.
Batson served as an engineer of railways and a resident engineer of a town in England to 1870, in which year he left England to take up an appointment under the Imperial Government of Japan, being employed first in the Public Works Department, in the construction of the earliest railway in Japan. He carried meteorological instruments including a raingauge and a thermometer, presented by English donors and performed volunteer weather observation at Tokyo for two years and send reports to England. They were also published in MM. After that he got a chance to establish the national meteorological service of Japan. He trained and instructed the native students in a thorough knowledge of that science and laid the solid basis on which the service system was built up. This led to the prosperity of the later Central Meteorological Observatory of Japan, today's Japan Meteorological Agency.
He left Japan in 1877, and after a short stay in England, proceeded at the latter end of 1878 to Sao Paulo, Brazil as Engineer in-Chief for the planning and construction of the extensive water supply and sewerage system of the city. He also performed weather observation there for five years and send data tables to Meteorological Office, England. But it didn't lead the national meteorological service of Brazil. Further studies about the details of the observation, including the instruments, the siting, supporters, should be needed
On the completion of his works as Engineer in-Chief in May 1884, he returned to England hoping to recruit his somewhat impaired health, but got worse and died on the 23rd of November. Observation data tables of five years are stored in the National Meteorological Library and Archive of Met Office United Kingdom. Summary of the observation at Sao Paulo was published in "Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society" after his death. He was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery, London.
Batson served as an engineer of railways and a resident engineer of a town in England to 1870, in which year he left England to take up an appointment under the Imperial Government of Japan, being employed first in the Public Works Department, in the construction of the earliest railway in Japan. He carried meteorological instruments including a raingauge and a thermometer, presented by English donors and performed volunteer weather observation at Tokyo for two years and send reports to England. They were also published in MM. After that he got a chance to establish the national meteorological service of Japan. He trained and instructed the native students in a thorough knowledge of that science and laid the solid basis on which the service system was built up. This led to the prosperity of the later Central Meteorological Observatory of Japan, today's Japan Meteorological Agency.
He left Japan in 1877, and after a short stay in England, proceeded at the latter end of 1878 to Sao Paulo, Brazil as Engineer in-Chief for the planning and construction of the extensive water supply and sewerage system of the city. He also performed weather observation there for five years and send data tables to Meteorological Office, England. But it didn't lead the national meteorological service of Brazil. Further studies about the details of the observation, including the instruments, the siting, supporters, should be needed
On the completion of his works as Engineer in-Chief in May 1884, he returned to England hoping to recruit his somewhat impaired health, but got worse and died on the 23rd of November. Observation data tables of five years are stored in the National Meteorological Library and Archive of Met Office United Kingdom. Summary of the observation at Sao Paulo was published in "Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society" after his death. He was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery, London.