Leicester balloon riot
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The Leicester balloon riot occurred on 11 July 1864 in Victoria Park, Leicester, during a public demonstration of a new hydrogen balloon by the aeronaut Henry Tracey Coxwell. An estimated 50,000 spectators were present for the event.
Disorder broke out amid rumours that the balloon on display was neither the largest nor the newest in Coxwell's fleet, contrary to prior claims. Tensions escalated further following allegations that a woman in the crowd had been struck by a police officer. The balloon was damaged during the disturbance, prompting Coxwell to deliberately collapse the gas envelope before fleeing the scene under attack.
The balloon was subsequently destroyed by the crowd; the envelope was torn apart, and the basket was set alight. The incident resulted in significant financial loss for Coxwell, who was forced to construct a replacement. It also hindered progress in the field of scientific high-altitude ballooning.
Henry Tracey Coxwell was an English aeronaut of the mid to late 19th-century. He became famous for a 5 September 1862 flight with meteorologist James Glaisher.[1] Setting off from Wolverhampton in the West Midlands in a balloon filled with coal gas they reached a record altitude of 37,000 ft (11,000 m). With low oxygen levels and temperatures below −20 °C (−4 °F) the pair almost died before Coxwell managed to release gas from a valve with his teeth (his hands being unusable) to lose height. The flight, which was funded by the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA), provided valuable data about the Earth's atmosphere and Coxwell and Glaisher resolved to continue high altitude flights.[2]
Following the Wolverhampton flight and a subsequent flight on 29 September, Coxwell determined that his balloon's gas envelope was too worn to carry out further flights.[3] He constructed a new envelope which he named Britannia.[1] It was capable of holding 100,000 cu ft (2,800 m3) of gas, a volume increase of 10%.[3] The new balloon required low altitude flights for testing and to make the envelope gas-tight, so Coxwell carried out a series of demonstration flights in June at Crystal Palace and Derby.[3] Coxwell planned a further flight on 11 July 1864 from the racecourse at Victoria Park, Leicester during a fete organised by the Foresters Friendly Society.[4][1] Tickets were sold and 13 passengers, including two women, were scheduled to accompany Coxwell on his flight.[5][6]
