The tornado that swept a carpenter to his death

Henry West was just 24 when he was swept off the roof of Reading station to his death.

The carpenter was one of dozens of workers building the Berkshire town's first station on the Great Western Railway more than 180 years ago.

But just a week before the major terminus was due to open, a tornado ripped through the area causing mayhem and destruction.

In the chaos, the whirlwind swept Henry off the roof where he had been working. His body was found nearby.

A number of other workers were injured in the freak weather incident in March 1840.

Today, thousands of commuters and passengers, often unknowingly, pass a memorial that marks one of the strangest and saddest moments in Reading's weather history.

Radio Berkshire's Lorin Bozkurt went to meet Dr Stephen Burt, meteorologist and professor of weather extremes at the University of Reading, to find out more.

"The eyewitness accounts at the time spoke of a sudden gust of wind," said Burt.

"We know now that it was probably a tornado but the word tornado wouldn't even have been in the English language at that time.

"You can imagine there would be a lot of confusion with people being injured."

Burt said the area would have been a hive of activity as people were doing various jobs to finish the station. Once opened, the terminus created a much faster route into London than the typical six hours by coach and horses.

He said: "There were a group of carpenters working on finishing the roof. One of these was a chap called Henry West, a single man from Wiltshire.

"He had the unfortunate circumstance of working on the roof, when this whirlwind or tornado whipped him off the roof to his death.

"It would have happened in an instant.

"There would have been complete chaos reigning for several minutes until they found poor Henry. "

Near a cafe on the current platform seven is a plaque, which reads: "In memory of Henry West, who lost his life in a whirlwind at the great Western Railway Station, Reading, on the 24th of March, 1840."

Burt said: "It's nice that Henry West is still commemorated in Reading station where he lost his life all those years ago.

"His memorial is still really important today because as well as being important in meteorological history it is part of the fabric of Reading's history."

A second memorial lies at St Laurence's Church, in Reading town centre, erected by his fellow workers to honour his memory.

Over the years, it was renewed by Henry's brother George, his niece and much later the Reading Corporation.

It was not the only time the town was hit by the extreme weather phenomena, said Burt.

On 13 June 1998, Lower Earley experienced a tornado, which caused considerable damage and left several people injured after walls fell over, the professor said.

"People are surprised that we get tornadoes in this country but we get typically 35, 40 a year.

"We know of at least seven tornadoes in the Reading area, including Henry West's incident in 1840.

"The most recent one we know of for Reading was in June 2016 and we have a very dramatic photograph of a funnel cloud, a tornado if you like, hanging over The Blade and it was certainly something that a lot of people noticed at the time."