Balloon ("The Telephone"?) incident at Rotherham.

On Monday, 19th August 1878 a planned and advertised balloon ascent was made from Clifton Lane Gardens, Rotherham. During the afternoon of the event the balloon was filled with gas and the ascent begun during the evening with the aeronaut and his son in the basket. The balloon initially rose and went south but the ballast was too heavy so it then descended near the cricket ground on Broom Road where it struck trees and the basket struck a gas lamp, the head of which became caught on the basket or attaching ropes and was carried off. Ballast was thrown out which enabled the balloon to rise and it drifted off in a south-westerly direction over the Attercliffe and Broomhill areas of Sheffield. The balloon descended over Broomhill and it eventually landed in a garden on Manchester Road owned by Mr Watson. The two in the basket climbed out successfully. Whether the gas lamp was still attached to it is not recorded. Unfortunately a large crowd began to grab at the balloon and risked damaging it so the aeronaut cut the ropes from the basket to allow the balloon to rise again unsupported. It eventually drifted south-west and landed at Wardlow Mines, near Eyam, Derbyshire. Here the local innkeeper Thomas Furness opened the gas release valve and packed up the balloon into the basket. He also found some sandwiches in the basket. A reward was often offered for the return of lost balloons so I presume happened here and it was returned later that week. Mr Jackson had a new balloon named "The Telephone" around this date and this may well have been the balloon used at Rotherham.

Aeronaut - Mr Emanuel Jackson, of Derby.

Passenger - Mr Jackson (Jnr).