1883 Signature of Canadian Pioneering Weather Forecaster Henry George Vennor

On offer is an inked signature on a heavy gilded-edge card of Henry George Vennor (1841-1884), a noted Canadian geologist and ornithologist who became well known for his accurate forecasting of the weather. It bears the date “4/30/83” and “Montreal”.

Vennor, born in Montreal to a merchant father, attended McGill College studying natural sciences and civil engineering. From 1865 he was on the staff of the Geological Survey of Canada focusing on mining prospects in southern Ontario and Quebec, assisting in discovering gold, apatite, and phosphate deposits. He resigned in 1881 citing a conflict with his own interests in phosphate mining.

In the 1870s Vennor began studying weather patterns, correctly predicting in Montreal newspapers an unseasonably mild and muddy Christmas in 1875. In 1877 he published the first of his Vennor Almanacs predicting the weather. It sold well and became an annual publication, expanding to an American edition in 1881. At the end of that year, Vennor was visited in Montreal by Mark Twain, who said of him in an after-dinner speech at the Windsor Hotel "Canada has a reputation for magnificent winter weather, and has a prophet who is bound to deliver it."

As an ornithologist, his book Our Birds of Prey was published in 1876. He died in Montreal on June 8, 1884.

This item is an ink signature on thick-card with minor age toning, 3-¾ x 1-¾ inches, mounted on an age-toned 5 x 3 inch card with slightly worn corners. Condition is Good.