Ballooning accident at Ponden Reservoir, Haworth.
On Saturday, 9th June 1906 Haworth Gala, promoted by the Haworth and Oxenhope United Friendly Societies and Tradesmen’s Association, was arranged to held on the football ground at West Lane in the town. One of the events that was planned to happen during the course of the gala was that a gas balloonist and parachutist were booked to make a charity jump for a local hospital charity. The owner of the balloon, "Captain" Frederick Bidmead, and his parachutist employee, "Leaping Lily" Cove, attended the event. Both had been working together for some time and several jumps has been made at various events across the country. The balloon was filled with locally supplied gas and around seven attempts were made to launch it but the balloon would not rise. They abandoned the attempt that day and the balloon was emptied. Two days later on 11th June 1906 they attempted to the feat from football ground during the evening with a crowd present. The balloon succesfully rose at 19.40hrs with the parachutist sat on a wooden trapeze below it and drifted west. Five minutes later it had risen to around 700 feet and the parachutist jumped from the trapeze on which she had been sat. By the time she jumped the balloon was approaching Ponden Reservoir, the parachutist was seen by people on the ground to release herself from the parachute harness but then unfortunately lost her grasp on it and fell to her death in a field near the reservoir. It was considered a possibility that the parachutist had feared landing in the water and being a non-swimmer had released herself so that she could get clear of the parachute if that should happen. The parachute landed partially open around twenty yards from her body and the balloon came down on what a witness described as being on "Lancashire Moor". An inquest was held and recorded a verdict of misadventure, it also recommended that such parachute exhibitions should be made illegal. This resulted in an extension to what was called the Dangerous Performance Act of Parliament being made that, if successful would prevent women from undertaking such activities.
Parachutist - Miss Elizabeth Mary Cove, aged 20/21. Killed. Buried Haworth New Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Balloon owner - "Captain" Frederick Bidmead.
Frederick Bidmead was trained in ballooning by Auguste Gaudron and probably took the title "Captain" for his displays as a stage name rather than because he held any military rank. In September 1895 he was displaying at Dundee when wind blew the balloon off it's tenther with him clinging to the ropes, he cleared houses and was deposited in a turnip field. On Saturday, 18th June 1898 "Captain" Bidmead appeared at Keighley Hospital Gala to make a parachute jump from a balloon. The balloon rose to 3,000 feet and he jumped but the parachute would not seperate, the parachute ropes entangled with the balloon ropes leaving him dangling ten feet below the trapeze. The balloon rose to what Bidmead believed was above three miles in altitude when the dampness on the material made it heavier and in began to descend. It flew over Pontefract at around 400 to 500 feet and as it descended further he was then dragged across a field, through a stream and into a hedge in the grounds of Stapleton Park near Darrington. His size and weight prevented the balloon from travelling further but he could not free himself. He was later freed and taken into Stapleton Hall where his minor injuries were cared for. He was in the air for fifty minutes. In August 1908 a balloon of Captain Bidmead's exploded over Northampton but fortunately the car below it was empty at the time. In June 1909 he found himself caught in ropes beneath a balloon and he was carried some twenty three miles below it from (again) Northampton before landing in a hedge at Thrapstone. Whether he then gave up ballooning is not yet known but would certainly have been recommended by his wife who watched this last incident. He was probably Frederick George Bidmead, born in London in 1874 and died in Middlesex aged 85 in 1960.
Lily Cove's death was registered in the Keighley district and her age was stated as being twenty years old. Her grave states she was twenty one years old. Her birth was registered in the first quarter of 1886 at Poplar, London which suggests she was twenty years old.