When control of the Meteorological Department passed to the Royal Society, the Meteorological Committee and officials of the Board of Trade may have thought that the storm of protest over the suspension of the storm-warning service would soon blow itself out. If so, they were much mistaken. The stream of complaints which began to flow as soon as the suspension was announced continued unabated, and a campaign to restore the service soon developed, with a formidable champion in the person of Colonel W H Sykes, FRS, MP.

The Campaign in Parliament to Restore Storm Warnings

Sykes's offensive began in the House of Commons on 15 February 1867, when he asked the President of the Board of Trade whether the Storm Signals as hitherto practised by the late Admiral FitzRoy were to be continued. If so, in what manner would they be continued, and by whom? If they were to be discontinued, would it not be prudent to invite the Chamber of Commerce of the United Kingdom to express an opinion on the subject? Furthermore, he wondered, was the Meteorological Report which had appeared in The Times and other papers to be continued, and, if so, could not observations from the Paris, Brussels and St Petersburg Observatories be added to it?