Baldwin's of St. James's
Auction 57 14 Apr 2021
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The Portland Collection, Commemorative Medals, Ballooning: England, James Sadler (1751-1828), the first English aeronaut, The Record Speed Flight over Birmingham and the Midlands, gilt-white metal medal, 1812, by Peter Wyon, bust of James Sadler l., rev. balloon marked THE 21 ASCENT with two figures in its ornamental gondola, 52mm. (BHM.712; Eimer 1020; Malpas 26), the gilding believed contemporary, good very fine, attractive and scarce
James Sadler made his first flight 4 October 1784, in a Montgolfier-type balloon with a 170-foot circumference, and made a number of flights during 1785, only to give up following a near disaster. He was tempted back in 1812 and taking off from Vauxhall in Birmingham, with a Mr Burcham as his passenger, flew for 112 miles in an hour and twenty minutes. The landing was rough and Sadler was thrown from the gondola leaving the unfortunate Mr Burcham to throw out an anchor which caught in some trees. Burcham survived without harm though the balloon was destroyed. Sadler was the son of an Oxford pastry cook and before he took to ballooning had found employment at the Ashmolean Museum. A plaque in Christ Church Meadow honours one of his first flights. Sadler's son, Windham William, lost his life in a ballooning accident in 1824.
James Sadler made his first flight 4 October 1784, in a Montgolfier-type balloon with a 170-foot circumference, and made a number of flights during 1785, only to give up following a near disaster. He was tempted back in 1812 and taking off from Vauxhall in Birmingham, with a Mr Burcham as his passenger, flew for 112 miles in an hour and twenty minutes. The landing was rough and Sadler was thrown from the gondola leaving the unfortunate Mr Burcham to throw out an anchor which caught in some trees. Burcham survived without harm though the balloon was destroyed. Sadler was the son of an Oxford pastry cook and before he took to ballooning had found employment at the Ashmolean Museum. A plaque in Christ Church Meadow honours one of his first flights. Sadler's son, Windham William, lost his life in a ballooning accident in 1824.