The records were taken two times a Day at 9:30 and 15:30. In 1852 the Royal Engineers (British Army) under the supervision of Colonel Sir Henry James started a network of meteorological observations in the principal foreign stations. Sir James born in 1803 in Rose Vale (Cornwall, UK) study at the Royal Military Academy (Woolwich) and he commissioned the 22 September 1826 in the Royal Engineers. He was promoted to Capitan in 1846 and to Colonel in 1857. From 1854 he was Director-General of the Ordnance Survey (the national mapping agency of Great Britain). He collaborates in the invention of the photozincography (1860) and used this method to preserve historic manuscripts. He retired in 1875 and died on 14 June 1877 in Southampton. The stations were supplied with meteorological instruments and a book entitled ""Instructions for taking Meteorological Observations"" (James, 1851) revised in 1861 (James, 1861). So, the Royal Engineers start to take homogenous meteorological measurements (same instruments, same observational methodology) all around the world. The observations were taken twice a Day (at 9.30h and 15.30h), for the barometer, the dry and wet bulb thermometer, wind (direction and force), amount of cloud, together with the computed values of the dew point, vapour tension, and relative humidity. Also give daily record of maximum temperature in the sun, maximum temperature in the shade, maximum temperature of evaporation, minimum temperature in the shade, minimum temperature on the grass, minimum temperature of evaporation, rainfall in past 24 hours on the ground, rainfall in past 24 hours at 20 feet above the ground, maximum pressure of wind in past 24 hours, amount of ozone, and Remarks (state of the sky, prevalent diseases, arrival of birds of passage, leafing of trees). In addition hourly readings of the instruments were taken on 21st March, 21st June, 21st September, and 21st December and at certain stations readings were taken all the 21st. Unfortunately not all the variables were taken in all stations, for this we explain in each location the retrieved observations. James H 1851. Instructions for taking Meteorological Observations at the Principal Foreign Stations of the Royal Engineers. London: HMSO./ James H 1861. Instructions for taking Meteorological Observations with tables for their correction, and notes on meteorological phenomena. London: George E Eyre and William Spottiswoode.---The data of this dataset might have been revised during the review process. This might therefore be an old version. To be sure, please check the respective dataset at doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.871480