Thomas Barker (1722 – 29 December 1809) was a Rutland squire who kept a detailed weather record at Lyndon Hall from 1736 to 1798. Life and work Thomas Barker was born at Lyndon Hall, Lyndon, Rutland, England in 1722. The son of Samuel Barker and grandson of William Whiston, he came from a distinguished local family, which had lived in Lyndon from the time of Henry VIII. He married Anne White, sister of Gilbert White the famous naturalist. The couple had five children, a son and four daughters. Thomas Barker was a vegetarian, having discovered in early childhood that his constitution was unsuited to the consumption of meat. Barker's meteorological records have proved a valuable resource for those researching the 18th century British climate, because of its early date for instrumental observations, its length and the meticulousness with which it was compiled. He recorded barometric pressure, temperature, clouds, wind and rainfall. (In the early years his thermometer was indoors, in an unheated room, as was common at the time.) Barker's temperature data was amongst that used by Gordon Manley in compiling his Central England Temperature series. Barker recorded during September 1749 what was clearly, from his careful description, a tornado: A remarkable Meteor was seen in Rutland, which I suspect to have been of the same kind as Spouts at Sea… It was a calm, warm and cloudy Day, with some Gleams and Showers; the Barometer low and falling, and the Wind South, and small. The Spout came between 5 and 6 in the evening; at 8 came a Thunder-Shower, and Storms of Wind, which did some Mischief in some places; and then it cleared up with a brisk N.W. Wind. The earliest Account I have was from Seaton. A great Smoke rose over or near Gretton, in Northamptonshire, with the Likeness of Fire, either one single Flash, as the Miller said, or several bright Arrows darting to the Ground, and repeated for some Time, as others say. Yet some who saw it, did not think there was really any Fire in it, but that the bright Breaks in a black Cloud looked like it. However, the Whirling, Breaks, Roar, and Smoke frightened both Man and Beast. Coming down the Hill, it took up Water from the River Welland, and passing over Seaton Field, carried away several Shocks of Stubble; and crossing Glaiston, and Morcot Lordships, at Pilton Town's End