Bill Foggitt, 28, Market Place, Thirsk, N Yorks, UK - Blue Plaques on Waymarking.com

In 1836 William Jackson Foggitt founded a chemist’s shop which traded until 1935, when Boots bought out the business. From 1830 William Foggitt kept a weather diary with the intention of trying to predict catastrophic weather events. His son augmented the observations with rainfall and barometric measurements and his grandson took measurements for the local river authority. The great grandson, Bill Foggitt, came to fame as a weather forecaster for Yorkshire Television.

William (Bill) Foggitt was born on 11th June 1913 at Sowerby. He was expected to follow the family into the chemist’s business, but didn’t take to the work. He became a Methodist preacher and applied, and failed, to join the ministry. After spending the war in the RAOC he became and English and RE teacher in S Yorks and Stoke on Trent.

Bill Foggitt secured a position as a weather pundit with Yorkshire TV after a viewer enquired about the weather in 1895. Bill was able to provide an answer from the family’s archive. His personal weather predictions were based on cyclical weather patterns referenced to the family records, and to the behaviour of nature in terms of plants and animals.

The plaque reads

“Bill Foggitt. This building which formerly stood on this site was for nearly a century occupied by William Foggitt and Sons Chemists. The founder's great-grandson William "Bill" Foggitt 1913-2004 enjoyed fame as an amateur weather man and tv personality in the 1980s. “

Blue Plaque managing agency: Thirsk Town Council Individual Recognized: Bill Foggitt Physical Address: 28 Market Place Thirsk, N Yorks UK Web Address: [Web Link]

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