Balloon "City of York" at York / Skirpenbeck.

We must appreciate that the language used to name various buildings and describe locations was very different in Victorian times. On Thursday, 14th June 1883 a planned and advertised balloon ascent took place from Bootham Field, York. This appears to have been on the grass fields close to the York "Lunatic Asylum" on what is now the sportsfield near what is now Clifton Hospital. The balloon was owned by Henry Coxwell of London but he was unwell so could not attend, he did allow his balloons to be used at York and the one flown on this incident was flown by James Whelan. The balloon was filled with gas during the afternoon and it was planned to carry an aeronaut and four passengers but when it came to the ascent the weight was took heavy and only the aeronaut and one passenger ended up taking the flight. After the balloon left the ground it only rose to around fifty feet off the ground and narrowly missed various things including trees on "Asylum Avenue" (probably now Clifton Park Avenue). Ballast and the grappling hook was thrown out to attempt to make the balloon rise, it succeeded to some extent and the balloon lifted slightly but the balloon drifted roughly south-east and over the city. The hook dangling below the basket caught on roofs on Huntington Road damaging tiles and broke tree branches. The balloon then crossed the River Foss in the Monk Bridge area at tree top height. It eventually rose to 7225 feet by the time it was over Stamford Bridge. Gas expansion may have been a problem at that height. The gas release valve was opened and the balloon descended safely on land owned by Mr Hughes at Skirpenbeck without further incident.

Aeronaut - Mr James A. Whelan, of Huddersfield.

Passenger - Mr T Humphries, of Heworth, York.