Aeronauts in Forest Gate

In conjunction with local historians, Mark Gorman (@Flatshistorian) and Peter Williams, we examine how Wanstead Flats have been used for various kinds of flying and look at some of the early aeronauts who have lived in the Forest Gate area.

Balloonists

There are big skies over Wanstead Flats, and people have been flying through them for nearly two centuries.

The earliest recorded landing on the Flats was in September 1838, when a party of balloonists who had set out from Vauxhall, south of the Thames, came down on what they described as “a lone heath”. The locals soon provided them with company, offering to “look after” the balloon overnight. When this was refused they threatened to shred the balloon, but eventually drifted off home. The intrepid balloon party retired to a local pub (the old “Eagle & Child” in Woodgrange Road.)

More balloons were to appear over the Flats in the following years, and some well-known balloonists lived in the area. Among them was Thomas Wright, an East End photographer who ended up living in Forest Gate. He was an early pioneer of ballooning.

While running his photography business in East India Dock Road in the early 1870s, he came across Henry Croxwell and struck up a ballooning partnership with him.

The Illustrated London News of January 1900 described Croxwell, a one-time dentist, as “the foremost balloonist of the last half of the nineteenth century”. Croxwell made his first balloon flight, aged 25, in 1844 and within four years was described as a professional balloonist.

In his 1889 autobiography, My Life and Balloon Experiences, Croxwell mentions Wright as an important ally in the rapidly developing art of ballooning:

Mr. Thomas Wright, the well-known Crystal Palace aeronaut, became my deputy, and acquitted himself in first-rate style. That gentleman had kindly and efficiently assisted me on some previous occasions, taking charge of my balloon, and commending himself … by his straightforward conduct; he has since become a regular yearly attendant with balloons of his own … and is ably supported by his friends Mr. Dale ... who have both had considerable experience in ballooning; so that with their united efforts this feature of the entertainment is not likely to fall into the hands of those who are incompetent, or who have not deserved to succeed as Mr. Wright has done.

A post-retirement photo of Henry Croxwell

Croxwell’s reference to the “Crystal Palace aeronaut” is illuminating. In 1859 the Crystal Palace, built for the Great Exhibition in central London of 1851, was moved to the south-east London area that now bears its name. The site is on a hill, dominating the local area, which, because of its elevated position, later became a key aerial for early BBC radio transmissions. Its lofty position also made it an ideal spot for balloonist trips, which became expensive tourist attractions in their own right.

The tourist attraction of the Crystal Palace in south London. Photo taken soon after Wright and Dale used it as a base for their aeronautics.

Wright flew balloons from Crystal Palace and in and around London on an almost daily basis, at heights of up to 15,000 ft. Like other pioneers of ballooning he, along with Croxwell and Dale (see below), offered pleasure flights at £5 per passenger (about £500 today, using the Bank of England inflation calculator).

When Croxwell retired from the balloonist scene in the 1880s Wright took over as the main operator, trading with upto 4 balloons at a time. He moved from Poplar to Plaistow in the early 1880s, where his soon-to-be assistant William Dale also lived. 

Dale was born in Merton, Surrey in 1845 and had moved to Plaistow by 1881, when the census described him as a watchmaker. Ballooning soon became more than a hobby for him, so by 1891 he described himself to the census enumerator as an "aeronaut".

William Dale (left), preparing for a flight at Crystal Palace

He became known as Captain William Dale (it was a tradition that aeronauts called themselves Captain) and he soon took over Wright's balloon operations. Dale entertained crowds at the funfairs with balloon ascents and attracted international attention. GM Bacon, in The Record of an Aeronaut, published in 1907, described him thus: "Captain Dale was a short, powerfully built man ... full of life and energy, with a keen grey eye and a jovial manner."

Dale died in a well-publicised balloon accident at the Crystal Palace in 1892, when a tear in the fabric caused the balloon to plunge into the ground. Major Baden FS Baden-Powell (brother of Boy Scouts' founder, Robert) was a significant aeronaut, being associated with the Aeronautic Society for 57 years, until his death in 1937. He described the circumstances surrounding Dale's death, in his 1907 book, Ballooning as a Sport.

He recalled how he - Baden-Powell - had sold an old worn out and defective balloon to a dealer, who in turn sold it on to Dale, who attempted to patch it up and sell it on: "emulating the magician in Aladdin, (he) had the great invention of converting old balloons into new ones". Unfortunately, that balloon, The Eclipse, crashed on its first ascent in India, having only reached a height of 2-300 feet, killing its aeronaut.

Dale was clearly not deterred. Baden-Powell continued:

Meanwhile poor Dale doubtless thought he had found the elixir of life for balloons, and prepared a second old balloon in the same way, and what proves that he did not realise the danger or intentionally commit so awful a blunder, made an ascent himself in it, accompanied by his son and others. This balloon acted in just the same way as the first, bursting ere it was clear of the Crystal Palace grounds, and dashing to earth its human freight - Dale and one of his companions being killed, the others dreadfully injured.

The inquest, at which Thomas Wright spoke,  found that the fabric of Dale's balloon was old and weak, and patched from several balloons. Below is a press report recording Dale's fatal fall and a drawing accompanying his obituary in an Australian newspaper. Below these is a photograph of his grave in the East Ham parish church graveyard.

Chelmsford Chronicle 8 Jul 1892

A drawing of Dale,from an Australian obituary

  

Grave of Captain Dale – St Mary Magdalen East Ham parish church

 

 

 

 

 

		57 Cecil Road, Plaistow - Dale's final home - today Wright, meanwhile, survived, and following the death of his wife, moved to 15, Margery Park Road, in Forest Gate, between Romford Road and West Ham Park, where he was resident at the time of the 1891 census. Thomas Wright (left) ascending in one of his balloon voyages In August 1897 he told the Forest Gate Weekly News (see accompanying photo below) that his ballooning had not exactly been profitable :

"I do not think I have lost money over it, but I do not think I have made very much. I suppose I should average £20 per journey and I have had all my balloons ... going up on different parts of the country on one day. But then I have had to pay as much as £100 damages at one time and the return journeys by road and the hotel charges are very expensive."

A photograph of Thomas Wright from 1897

Wright was possibly a bit economical with the truth when he declared “I don’t think I have made very much”. He was from a modest background and would not have earned a great deal as a photographer, before becoming a prominent balloonist. But by the 1890s was living in a rather splendid house (see below) and the Lloyds Weekly Newspaper of 12 May 1901 shows him advertising eight, six-roomed houses for sale, presumably as a developer/landlord.

He died in Margery Park Road on 5 September 1912, aged 79. Probate records show that he left £19,515 in his will - a huge amount for the time for a one-time jobbing photographer - representing 122 times the average national salary of contemporary lower middle-class worker.

Wright's death is widely regarded as marking the end of the golden age of ballooning.

15 Margery Park Road today

Unfortunately there is no record that Wright, Dale or other local balloonists flew from Wanstead Flats and it wasn’t until the early 20^th century that an attempt was made to launch a flying machine.

 Powered kites

In November 1901 Col. Samuel Cody (not related to "Buffalo Bill" Cody), an American inventor, showman and part-time actor demonstrated his military reconnaissance kite on the Flats. Sadly for Cody (who was appearing in a Wild West drama at the Theatre Royal Stratford at the time) a windless day meant that the kite failed to take off properly. This amused the crowd of small boys present, but not the British military, who didn’t adopt Cody’s invention.

A Cody man-lifting kite (source:here)

Here are extracts from his diary....

1901

1 November: Experiment to take place on Wanstead Flats. Wrote to War Office (WO) saying he "was about to attempt some kite experiments using a kite of my own invention called the Viva kite similar to the American Blue Hill Box Kite i.e. flown on that principle with certain additions which I claim are an advantage over any kites yet flown". He also claimed to be the maker of the largest kite in the world. Length 27ft. Width 13 ft. Height 5 1/2 ft. with a spread of 657 sq ft.

14 November: Cody and assistants dressed as cowboys and riding horses tried unsuccessfully to give kite exhibition at Wanstead Flats. Cody told the crowd that his kites, so far, lifted only bags of sand.

20 November: Filed a provisional application for patent no. 23566 - Improvements in Kites and apparatus for the same. Cody residing at 38 Grove Crescent Road, Stratford. (now council flats, just behind Golden Grove pub).

26 November: Received letter from WO saying that they had been unable to attend his kite trials at Wanstead Flats but hoped to attend any further trials (source:here).

Model aero club

Probably the first flight of any form of aircraft from the Flats was in about 1909, by members of the Leyton and District Model Aero Club. The club which initially met by the Model Yacht Pond (now Jubilee Pond) at the Dames Road end of the Flats, flew very basic model aircraft and gliders. To this day, Wanstead Model Flying Club has a licence from the City of London, managers of Epping Forest, to fly radio-controlled aircraft on the Flats. They now have a landing ground just off Centre Road, between Forest Gate and Wanstead.

 

 

 

The club in the 70s/80s. Source Newham council archives

In more recent times paragliders, launched by being towed across the Flats at speed by a Land Rover, were for a brief period in the 1990s a Sunday afternoon feature.

Space exploration

The Flats has also played a part in UK space exploration. In 1965 the Daily Mirror reported on the British Interplanetary Travel Society, which had launched more than 30 rockets from the Flats over the previous decade. One launch achieved a height of 100 feet (30 metres). Edward Harris, the society's chairman explained that the group's main aim was: "to beat the Americans. By 1970 we should be really going places". That worked, then!

Footnote: Special thanks to David Webb of East London History Society Newsletter, Winter 2014-15, for the information on Thomas Wright. Full article: here

Community gardening in Forest Gate and beyond

Forest Gate Community garden stalwart, Derek Smith, surveys community gardening in the Forest Gate locality and shows how you can get involved.

There are three community gardens in the Forest Gate area. Forest Gate Community Garden, the Up Garden, and Manor Park Community Garden. The latter is not in Forest Gate, but in easy walking distance, either through Manor Park cemetery or along the Flats.

All three of the gardens are on land owned by the Council. Forest Gate Community Garden and Manor Park have leases. So both have to justify their existence by what they do in the space to ensure the lease is renewed. While The UP Garden has simply taken on the upkeep of a neglected space, with none of the hassle of lease renewal. 

Forest Gate Community Garden

The garden is on Earlham Grove, about 100m west of Woodgrange Road. It is bordered by Earlham Grove, Sprowston Road, and the Gateway estate along its eastern edge. The space had been a hostel for abused women until 2006, when it was abandoned to buddleia and sycamores. In 2013 a group approached the Council to set it up as a community garden. The group finally got a lease in 2015 and worked to clear rubbish and buddleia, build raised beds, a pond, and finally put in plants. The garden opened to the public in 2016. Since then it has run music events, various celebrations for Winter, Christmas and Spring, art activities, children’s activities, as well as regular plant sales.

 The fence was originally wooden boards with a colourful mural. When part of it blew down in the winter of 2022, the opportunity was taken to erect a wire fence, making the garden more visible, and less intimidating. A prized part of the garden are the two large, colourful mosaics, one a snail, the other a frog

Forest Gate WI have met here, Woodcraft Folk use it in the warmer months, as do local artists. There are three paid, part-time workers: a gardener, an admin worker, and an outreach worker with all other helpers volunteers. The garden is a charity, open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sunday morning, always with volunteers in attendance. The philosophy is to be more than a garden, having regular events with music, art, food, and activities for children.

 

Garden volunteers looks after some of the raised bed in the Forest Gate area too, going out on Sunday mornings to maintain them. In September 2023, the garden put in a standpipe to provide water for the garden, though it uses collected rain water as much as possible. In 2019 the garden was awarded the accolade ‘Outstanding’ by the RHS in the community garden category.

The garden’s opening times are currently: Fridays: 10 to 3pm, Saturdays: 10 to 3pm and Sundays: 10 to 12 noon. These are currently under review and any changes will be announced on the garden’s website – see below.

 https://www.fgcommunitygarden.org

The UP Garden

This was created from an abandoned laundry yard in Eric Close. The yard is part of a Council estate, managed by Swan Housing Association, in the very north of Forest Gate, just a few yards from the borough boundary with Waltham Forest. The yard had become an eyesore, overgrown and with evidence of drug users. It was crying out for a new purpose. With many eager to make it happen.

As the land is owned by the Council, they agreed to start the transformation. In December 2021, the Council did an initial clearance, including fencing off an area of Japanese knotweed. Then residents took over, with much of the funding for this coming from GLA, with substantial amounts from the Council and Swan. The local community donated furniture and materials, as well as muscle. With much volunteer effort and various donations, raised beds were built and painted, along with sheds for tools and other items. Seating and tables for picnics, art and just sitting around and gossiping, were put in, as well as an undercover space.

 

The garden opened in October 2022. Across the length of the rear of the garden is a mural in neon coral (pinkish red), black and blue telling us: The Only Way is UP! The UP in the name denotes the garden as a source of growth and creativity. There is a wealth of colour all over the garden, neon coral, blues, yellows, on the benches, tabletops, and planters.

The UP Garden is now overseen by a small Committee of local residents. Within a year of launch, it won the RHS and BBC Growing Together award as an outstanding example of community gardening, and was featured on The ONE Show and got a mention on Gardeners Question Time. The garden runs regular activities with music and nature-themed art for children. There are many raised beds, some growing vegetables from a regular gardening group, and one with a difference, where a local family is growing tea.

The UP Garden is very much part of its community. Its north boundary is a block of the Swan estate, with the rest of the estate close by. Nearby are streets of terraced houses, the occupants drawn in to the activities of the garden. The estate itself is rather drab, and so with its colour and energy, the garden has been welcomed with open arms.

 

The garden doesn’t have running water but collects rainwater in a huge water butt fed from the guttering of the estate block and other smaller butts here and there. Water is precious, use it wisely, users are told.  The garden is open every day from 9.00-ish until 6pm or sunset (whichever is earlier), unlocked and locked up by a rota of volunteers but unmonitored in between, The UP Garden trusting the community - to whom it belongs.

https://www.theupgarden.org

Manor Park Community Garden

Manor Park Community Garden is on Manor Park Road, E12, a few minutes from the station. The garden was established by residents in 2012 on Council ground. As the area was a former garage, the ground was very polluted with petroleum products and asbestos, hence the need for raised beds and for soil renewal. Originally, individual volunteers had a raised bed each. Now, the beds are more communal.

 

The garden was transformed in 2020 when a group of locals won a bid for a Community Assembly grant to re-invigorate the garden. More raised beds were built, with a covered area, and the Council were persuaded to put in a planted area outside the garden which the garden maintains. Before the outside bed was in place, cars would park directly against the fence, obscuring the garden. The outside bed, apart from being attractive, prevents this, and is a welcoming feature. Within the garden itself, the emphasis has been to create an edible garden with fruit trees, berry bushes, herbs, vegetables and various flowers.

The garden has a water tap just outside the garden on the Council estate which overlooks the space. It aims to be a social focus, a quiet space, or a festive one where locals can run fun activities. Like The Up Garden, Manor Park Community Garden opens on a trust basis, without the need for volunteers to be present, from 8am to 6pm. There’s a rota for garden openers, who also close the garden. The garden shuts in winter when there would be few visitors but opens again in the early spring until the turn of the year.

 

In the nearby streets are over 30 flowerbeds, in the Durham Road Conservation Zone. In 2013 they were either empty or filled with weeds. The community, including community garden volunteers, won a grant to put in shrubs, perennials and bulbs. They now maintain them, seeing them as wildlife corridors, decorating the streets and providing insect life.

Manor Park Community Garden is a charity, run by volunteers, overseen by the charity trustees.

 

 https://manorparkcommunitygarden.co.uk