James Sadler (February 1753 – 28 March 1828) was the first English
balloonist, as well as a
chemist and
pastry chef.
Life
Sadler worked as a
pastry chef in the family business, The Lemon Hall Refreshment House, a small shop in
Oxford.[1]
Sadler was the second person to make a balloon ascent in England, very soon after the Tuscan
Vincent Lunardi's flight on 15 September 1784 in the grounds of the
Honourable Artillery Company at
Moorfields. James Sadler was still the first English Aeronaut, making his ascent the following month, on 4 October 1784 from
Christ Church Meadow,
Oxford. The balloon, filled with hot air from a wood burner, rose to about 3,600 feet (1,100 m) and landed near
Woodeaton, around six miles (10 km) away.[2]
Sadler's second ascent occurred on 12 November, this time in a hydrogen-filled balloon. It reached
Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire after a twenty-minute flight.[3]
In May of the following year he took off near
Moulsey Hurst, Surrey, accompanied by W. Wyndham MP, hoping to reach France, but in fact descending in the Thames Estuary, and thus failing to repeat the earlier exploit of
Jean-Pierre Blanchard and his passenger.[4]
Sadler made two further ascents in May 1785, the first of which was from a field behind a gentleman's garden on the site of what is now Balloon Street in
Manchester. On this flight he was accompanied by a cat and landed in
Radcliffe.[5]
On his second ascent he travelled alone and, having risen to 13,000 feet (4,000 m), travelled 50 miles (80 km) before landing near
Pontefract, West Yorkshire. On this occasion, he sustained bad injuries after being dragged for around two miles (3 km) by the balloon, which eventually threw him clear before taking off again empty.
Sadler was appointed Chemist in 1796 in the newly created Naval Works Department under
Sir Samuel Bentham. Although the post was only abolished in 1807, he had major disagreements with Bentham and carried out few works. His most important invention was that of the
table steam engine.[2] Sadler was responsible for improvements to cannon design, from the barrel to the shot used, to improve accuracy; for which he was praised by
Admiral Lord Nelson.[1]
He resumed his ballooning activities although he was devastated by the death of his younger son,
Windham William Sadler, in a ballooning accident in 1824.[6][7]
Although a celebrity in his own time, Sadler is largely unknown today. This has been partly attributed to his lack of writing any works and partly to class prejudice: he was only a pastry chef and not formally educated. Despite being a resident of Oxford and an accomplished scientist, the
university mostly ignored him and academics looked down on him. While obituaries for Sadler were written elsewhere on his death, the university's own newspaper wrote simply, "Mr James Sadler, elder brother of Mr Sadler of Rose Hill, Oxford, has died."[1]
A public square in Manchester was named after Sadler on 8 September 2015 by
NOMA, which is a neighbourhood being developed in partnership by The Co-operative Group and Hermes Investment Management. The square is named
Sadler's Yard and is near to Balloon Street.
7 October 1811: a speed record during a gale, travelling over one hundred miles (160 km) in about 1 hour 20 minutes.
12 August 1812: ascended from the 'Pilgrim' Estate at
Everton, near
Liverpool. Travelled in a south-easterly direction and descended safely a short distance from the Derby Chapel.[9]
1 October 1812: from Belvedere House near
Drumcondra, Ireland,[10] attempting to cross the
Irish Sea; he almost drowned in the attempt but was finally picked up by a fishing boat, in the Irish Channel, off Liverpool.[11]
^
abJ. E. Hodgson, 'James Sadler of Oxford', Trans. Newcomen Society, 8,1927–8, 66–82: BL Add. MS 40221 f. 272, Add. MS 37888 f. 161: Science Museum library Goodrich MS C11
^Glasscock, Robin Edgar (1992). Historic Landscapes of Britain from the Air. CUP Archive. p. 154.
ISBN0521325331.
^"DOMESTIC OCCURRENCES, omitted in May, or imperfectly stated". The Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle. 55 (6). Chatto & Windus: 480–486. June 1785.
ISSN2043-2992.
ProQuest8615593.
^Proctor, Richard Wright (1866).
Manchester in holiday dress. Manchester: Abel Heywood and Son. p. 164. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
^J. E. Hodgson. The history of aeronautics in Great Britain. 1924.
Mark Davies: King of all balloons : the adventurous life of James Sadler, the first English aeronaut, Stroud, Gloucestershire : Amberley [2015],
ISBN978-1-4456-5308-2
Jane Browne [part 1 of biographical novel based on life & adventures of James Sadler]: The Oxford Aeronaut Part 1: from Cooking to ChemistryISBN1530817188
Jane Browne [part 2 of biographical novel, based on life 7 adventures of James Sadler]: The Oxford Aeronaut Part 2: The King of BallooningISBN1530890594
Richard O Smith [autobiography with biography of James Sadler]: The Man With His Head in the Clouds
ISBN1909930016