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.”