The Lost History of the Lady Aeronauts by Sharon Wright

Author:Sharon Wright [Wright, Sharon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781399005388
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2021-07-22T00:00:00+00:00

Dastardly, it was, dastardly. Only then did Margaret allow herself to collapse back into the pillows to recuperate. It is noticeable that she blames John Fley for his own death, as a drunk who dislodged the stones himself and went on to die of a skin infection. This may spring from unreported details at the inquest, or a guilty conscience. Either way, she certainly did not kill two people. One was unfortunate, two really might have been carelessness. Mr Swain was delighted with getting a rise, so to speak, out of the aeronaut and wrote another letter to the editor, accusing her of being high-handed about the press and anyway, aerostation was a dangerous waste of time.

Margaret, always a woman to be reckoned with, was now fit to be tied. Her usual articulate and lightning-fast response begins with a defence of her relationship with the gentlemen of the press. It is a fascinating glimpse into how a nineteenth century celebrity looked after the press so they looked after her, always finding time for a briefing over a cup of tea whatever time she arrived home from work, exhausted:

‘Many of those gentlemen I have known for years, and after returning home, at two or three o’clock AM., after an ascent and descent, will acknowledge that I have remained up at my own residence an hour or two very often when I found them waiting my return, and over an early cup of tea supplied them with the information they required, as to place of decent, &c. &c. I did not apply the term “paid hireling” to the respectable class of men alluded to, but I said, I concluded he was a paid hireling, by whom I leave him to guess, or one of those would-be reporters, who do not know when they call upon an individual (even though that one is the property of the public) how to conduct themselves in a gentlemanly manner.’

She demands details and evidence after Swain implies a passenger died from brain fever after a ride in her balloon. Then she tackles his criticism of her ability head on. She is loved by charities all over the country for her fundraising ascents. If Swain will ‘ascend with me willingly,’ the proceeds will go to ‘a fund for the benefit of aged and decayed respectable reporters of the press of this country, than whom a more deserving or enlightened class of men does not exist.’ She is understandably vexed that he only highlights her misadventures when she has an impressive record of managing a balloon in tough conditions. How come a solo flight to mark Queen Victoria’s public entry into Windsor when ‘the rain poured down in torrents’ somehow ‘did not prove my ability to manage a balloon.’ Then she gets to the nub of the matter. If he hated ballooning so much, why did he save up all his scorn for her?

‘If Mr. Swain’s intention is only to provide for the public safety, why did he not

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