Earthquake Records

1677 One in Staffordshire and Dorsetshire.

1678 One in Oxfordshire and Staffordshire.

1679 One in Oxfordshire.

1683 One at Oxford.

1689 Lyme in Dorsetshire nearly destroyed.

1734 One at Arundle.

1734 One in Ireland which destroyed 5 churches and 100 houses.

1745 One in Somersetshire.

1750 Two felt in London.

1786 One in Scotland and different parts of England.

1790 One in Westmoreland.

1791 One in Scotland.

1792 One in Bedford, Leicester, Lincoln and Nottingham.

1793 One in Shaftesbury and Salisbury, but not much damage done.

1795 One in different parts of the North of England.

1808 One at Dunning in Scotland.

1816 One in the North of Scotland.

1822 One in Ireland.

1852 A shock of Earthquake felt at Liverpool, Holyhead, and at Manchester, about 4h.30m A.M.

1853 A shock of Earthquake felt at Havre, Constance, Caen, Southampton, and other places. At Caen barrels on the quay were set in motion and rolled along.

From the following paragraph taken from the Melbourne Argus, of March 5th, 1855, Australia appears to be subject to slight Earthquakes.

Earthquakes

A correspondent residing in Truro has communicated the following:

"On Monday last about 8 a.m., a slight vibration of the earth supposed to be the shock of an Earthquake, was experienced in this neighbourhood. At Truro it caused a dull rumbling motion such as would be produced by a heavily laden waggon passing somewhat quickly by. At Barton, one mile distant, the sensation was considerable, buildings shook to their foundations, plates, &c., for the moment chattering on the shelves, and persons being conscious of a staggering impulse as they stood on the floor of their houses. How far beyond us this tremor extended I am unable to state, nor do I know if any other cause besides that mentioned above, to which the shock felt here can be assigned. The air at the time was tranquil, and though hazy, the sky was cloudless, there were no indications of a tempest near or distant nor was the heat excessive."

The shock of an Earthquake, such as described above, if in New Zealand would be considered a sharp one, the movement appears to have been strong, and had it continued for one or two minutes serious damage to buildings must have taken place, nothing but its being a momentary one prevented such a catastrophe.

The Commissioners having now arrived at the conclusion of their report, trust, that though it may be found to be neither free from imperfections, nor so complete as it might be, yet notwithstanding these defects, a portion of the information contained in it will be found useful to the community at large.

Charles Mills.
Charles R. Carter.

Sept. 4th, 1855.

ADDENDA

In Chambers’ Journal for March 14th, 1840, which has been kindly forwarded by a gentleman, for the perusal of the Commissioners, is a paper on "Earthquakes in Great Britain;" one portion of which bears such a striking analogy to a violent New Zealand earthquake that the Commissioners cannot forbear giving an extract therefrom.

"The earthquake which took place on the evening of the 13th of August, 1816, about ten minutes before eleven o’clock, was felt throughout the greater part of Scotland, but evidently was strongest in a tract extending from western Ross-shire, through eastern Inverness-shire, and so on through the province of Moray—the direction being from W.N.W. to E.S.E. Directly to the north and south of Inverness, it was comparatively slight, but yet was perceptible to many in Edinburgh and Glasgow. At no considerable seat of population was its action nearly so intense as at Inverness. The streets of that town had been emptied of the inhabitants, most of whom had retired to bed, when suddenly the percussion took place. 'I could think of nothing' says a gentleman residing there, 'that could give so good an idea of what we felt, as that of a person seated on the back of a horse, when he suddenly and violently shakes himself.' A noise like distant thunder was heard. The tremor..."