October 4, 1859 Tsunami: SW England, United Kingdom
A tsunami of meteorological origin began at SW England, United Kingdom on October 4, 1859. The water rose as high as 4.44 meters.
Where the waves reached
The source of the tsunami. No runup with a place is recorded for it.
- Under 1 m
- 1 to 3 m
- 3 to 10 m
- 10 to 30 m
- 30 m and more
- Height not recorded
The tsunami
- Date
- October 4, 1859
- Source
- SW England, United Kingdom
- Cause
- Meteorological
- Maximum water height
- 4.44 m (14.6 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 0
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Questionable tsunami
The toll
The record gives no deaths, injuries or damage for this tsunami.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
South West England 1859. On the 4 October 1859 Edmonds (1862) describes several waves arriving at the Isles of Scilly with a maximum height of 14ft 7in (~4.44m). This was most probably a meteotsunami associated with the warm weather and thunderstorms as reported by Edmonds (1862). (reference #14269)
1859 Oct 04. Dawson et al., (2000) plot localities where agitation of waves were reported on both the southern and northern coasts of Cornwall and Devon, and also further afield in the Bristol Channel (Swansea and Bridgewater) where events were recorded by Edmonds (1860, 1862). These rises and falls were noted over several hours. Edmonds also notes that a thunderstorm did occur and so it possible that this may be a meteotsunami. This is considered a non-tsunami event. (reference #14326)
More
Every tsunami in 1859The 1800sTsunamis of United KingdomThis day in weather historyAlerts in force
Sources
Tsunami events and runups from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. NCEI tsunami event 6105.