The balloonist MP who gave his life for meteorology

Intrepid trio were trying to find the cause of a thick fog that had descended on Victorian London. But then disaster struck

English meteorology may seem rather tame, but it can be hazardous, as shown by a balloon expedition by the Meteorological Council in December 1881.

The expedition, in a balloon called Saladin, was to examine the conditions that had produced "a very peculiar fog", thick enough to delay the trains in London.