15th February 1816: Weather report from Derby

The Derby Mercury of Thursday 15th February 1816 contained a weather report about the very cold conditions being experienced so far in the 'year without summer':

METEOROLOGY.—The night between Thursday and Friday last is generally considered to have been one of the coldest experienced for many years; and although the cold was very intense in most parts of the country, yet the Thermometers have shown very different degrees of temperature. It is generally believed that the coldest period was between 7 and 9 A.M. Mr. Swanwick's Thermometer in the middle of the town at 8 stood at 8 ½ degrees. The Rev. D. Flamstead’s, at Spondon, and one exposed near the river in Derby at 9 were only 6 degrees. Mr. Beare’s, at the Depot, was below 5°. And Mr. Chas. Lowe’ss, Pear Tree House, near this town, the Thermometer on Friday morning at 7 o'clock, was observed at 4 degrees below Zero. A self-registering thermometer in Birmingham was found to have fallen in the course of the night below 7 degrees Fahrenheit; and on the morning of Friday the intenseness of the cold was such, that the mercury stood at 6. The Nottingham Journal of Saturday states that a thermometer, the aspect of which was western (exposed in that town) at haf-past seven o'clock on Friday morning stood at 4 ½ degrees, at eight 5, at nine 7, and at 10 14 degrees. According to an observation made by Dr Pole, of Bristol, at eight o'clock the same morning, the mercury had fallen to 3 degrees, a temperature probably as low as has ever been felt in this country.

29th October 1812: Anonymous letters begin to circulate again in the Midlands

The Thursday 29th October edition of the Derby Mercury carried an article which reported that anonymous letters were once again appearing across the region:

We are sorry to find that anonymous letters are again in circulation. A Gentleman who has been noticed in this way both last winter, and very lately, begs to reply in the words of the poet:—"Merses profundo pulchrior evenit;" which (for the information of all anonymous letter writers) he will translate thus:—"Plunge men or women, into the Gulph of Tartarus for the sake of making Devils of them, and they will come out from thence adorn'd with the brightness of Angels."