I have recently posted a most interesting barograph on my website. It has a polished mahogany case with a mirror backing reflecting the barograph movement and has been nicely cleaned and restored.
The instrument has bevelled glass to the front, top and sides, with a chart drawer to the base. The barograph was likely made by Short & Mason and signed and sold by A & N C S (Army and Navy Co-operative Stores), retailers at their flagship Westminster store. The barograph comes with a meticulous record of the weather in Andover and later, Collingbourne Kingston, Marlborough, for over thirty years.
Of special interest are the records of the cold winter of 1962/1963, showing the coldest day on the 24th January 1963 when the temperature dropped to 6.0'F ( -14.4'C) and only reached 22.0'F ( -5.6'C) during the day. The somewhat phlegmatic remark in the adjacent column simply says the day was 'Dull and Cold'! I recall that particular day very well as I checked my own screen thermometer reading 10'F ( -12.2'C) at 8.0am before heading off on my bike to school. (I kept my own weather records in Weston-super-Mare for a number of years around that time).
What an interesting winter that was Richard. I was living in South Wales at around 600 feet above sea level at the time and only has a max-min thermometer on a north facing wall - which due to exposure probably gave readings on the low side. Every day I read the minimum overnight value before heading of to school, usually into an east wind. The lowest value I saw was 9 degF and it could well have been on the date you mention. I think that winter must have generated an interest in Meteorology in lots of people. EB