Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mackenzie, George (1777-1856)
MACKENZIE, GEORGE (1777–1856), meteorologist, was born in 1777 in Sutherlandshire, where his relations were thriving farmers, and where he in his early days tenanted a large farm. But after a lawsuit with the factor in the court of session, in which he won 600l. damages, he gave up farming and enlisted in the Sutherland local militia. Eventually he volunteered into the Perthshire militia, in which he continued till it was disbanded; but he was retained on the staff, and awarded a pension of half a crown a day.
As early as 1802 he began to keep a register of atmospheric changes, making observations in succession at Perth, Edinburgh, Dover, London, Haddington, Plymouth, Newcastle, and Leith. Ultimately he settled at Perth, where he spent only two hours a day (usually 5 a.m. to 7 a.m.) in bed. It was fourteen years before he was able to form a tolerable classification of atmospheric phenomena. He discovered that the periodical commencement and termination of years of scarcity or abundance are undoubtedly ascertainable, with the recurrence of favourable or unfavourable seasons. In the spring of 1819 Mackenzie succeeded in forming his 'primary cycle of the winds,' and in that and the following year he received the thanks of the English board of agriculture. For nearly twenty consecutive years he circulated annually printed 'Reports' or 'Manuals' of his observations. He died at County Place, Perth, on 13 May 1866, aged 79.
Mackenzie was author of:
- 'The System of the Weather of the British Islands; discovered in 1816 and 1817 from a Journal commencing Nov. 1802,' 4to, Edinburgh, 1818. On receiving a presentation copy the French Institute accorded a special vote of thanks to Mackenzie, and desired Baron von Humboldt to make a report on it.
- 'Manual of the Weather for 1830, including a brief Account of the Cycles of the Winds and Weather, and of the Circle of the Prices of Wheat,' 12mo, Edinburgh, 1829.
- 'Elements of the Cycles of the Winds, Weather, and Prices of Corn. … Also Reports of the Weather for 1844 and 1846 … with Notices of the Weather in 1862,' 8vo, Perth (1843).
[Perthshire Advertiser, 15 May 1856; Woods's Elements and Influence of the Weather; Gent. Mag. 1856, pt. i. p. 667.]