Fitzroy: The Remarkable Story of Darwin's Captain and the Invention of the Weather Forecast - Hardcover

The finely drawn portrait that emerges...is of a very British hero in the mould of Nelson... Highly readable - Gavin Bell, Daily Telegraph I would unhesitatingly recommend [FitzRoy] by John and Mary Gribbin. Not only is it more scholarly and better written, but the authors have made a greater effort to enter FitzRoy's world - Anthony Daniels, Sunday Telegraph [A] superb and moving biography - Toby Green, Independent A thorough, far more detailed account of FitzRoy's life, from his childhood to his final years as a frustrated meteorologist... A clear, conscientious but still intriguing account of a man who seemed destined for greatness - Robin McKie, Observer

Admiral FitzRoy made his name as a captain on the HMS Beagle. It was for his second voyage on the ship (1832-36) that he decided to ask Charles Darwin to accompany him, and it was during this time that Darwin began to develop the ideas that would lead him to his theory of evolution by natural selection. But there was so much more to FitzRoy than this: he was an MP, he was the second governor of New Zealand form 1843-45 when he made himself unpopular with the settlers by upholding Maori rights, and in 1854 he set up the Meteorological Office so for the first time sailors could know what weather to expect when they set sail.