{{Short description|French tightrope walker (1824–1897)}} {{redirect|Blondin}} {{lead too short|date=January 2024}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox person | name = Charles Blondin | image = Undated Blondin Portrait.jpg | birth_name = Jean François Gravelet | birth_date = {{birth date|df = yes|1824|2|28}} | birth_place = Hesdin, Pas-de-Calais, France | death_date = {{death date and age|df = yes|1897|2|22|1824|2|28}} | death_place = Ealing, London, England | occupation = Tightrope walker | spouse = {{plainlist| * Marie Blancherie * {{marriage|Charlotte Lawrence||1888|end=her death}} * {{marriage|Katherine James|1895}} }} | children = 8 }}
'''Charles Blondin''' (born '''Jean François Gravelet''', 28 February 1824{{snd}}22 February 1897) was a French tightrope walker and acrobat who achieved international fame in the mid-19th Century. Known for crossing the Niagara Gorge on a tightrope, he toured the United States and beyond.
During an event in Dublin in 1860, the rope on which he was walking broke and two workers were killed, although Blondin was not injured.
He married three times and had eight children. His name became synonymous with tightrope walking.
== Early life == Blondin was born on 28 February 1824 in Hesdin, Pas-de-Calais, France.<ref name=iitt>''Irish Times'', Dublin, 25 May 1861</ref><ref>The birthday is given as "the 24th of February" in: ''Blondin – His Life and Performances''. Edited by George Linnaeus Banks. Published by Authority. London 1862. p. 20 [https://books.google.com/books?id=JZtJAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA20&dq=24th books.google] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180221194907/https://books.google.com/books?id=JZtJAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA20&dq=24th |date=21 February 2018 }}</ref> His birth name was Jean-François Gravelet. He performed professionally as Blondin, although the British press frequently referred to him as "Charles Blondin", a name not used in his own publicity.<ref name="BMTMyths">{{cite web |title=Blondin Myths |url=https://blondinmemorialtrust.com/blondin-myths.html |website=Blondin Memorial Trust |access-date=15 May 2026}}</ref> He was also billed as Jean-François Blondin, Chevalier Blondin, and The Great Blondin. At the age of five, he was sent to the École de Gymnase in Lyon and, after six months of training as an acrobat, made his first public appearance as "The Boy Wonder". His superior skill and grace, as well as the originality of the settings of his acts, made him a popular favourite.<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Blondin |volume=4|page=77}}</ref>
== North America == thumb|upright|left|Charles Blondin crossing the Niagara River in 1859 [[File:Charles.Blondin.jpg|thumb|right|Charles Blondin carrying Colcord on a tightrope]] thumb|left|Engraving ({{circa|1883}}) of Blondin crossing Niagara with his manager, Harry Colcord, on his back Blondin went to the United States in 1855.<ref name="iitt" /> He was encouraged by William Niblo to perform with the Ravel troupe in New York City and was subsequently part proprietor of a circus.<ref name=appletons>{{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Blondin, Emile Gravelet|year=1900}}</ref> He especially owed his celebrity and fortune to his idea to cross the Niagara Gorge (on the Canada–U.S. border) on a tightrope, {{convert|1100|ft|m|abbr=on}} long, {{convert|3.25|in|cm|abbr=on}} in diameter and {{convert|160|ft|m|abbr=on}} above the water, near the location of the current Rainbow Bridge. This he did on 30 June 1859,<ref name=smith/> and a number of times thereafter, often with different theatrical variations: blindfolded, in a sack, trundling a wheelbarrow, on stilts, carrying his manager Harry Colcord on his back, sitting down midway while he cooked and ate an omelette,<ref name=EB1911 /> or standing on a chair with only one of its legs balanced on the rope.<ref name=smith>{{cite web |last=Abbott |first=Karen |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-daredevil-of-niagara-falls-110492884/?no-ist|title=The Daredevil of Niagara Falls|work=Smithsonian}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nflibrary.ca/nfplindex/show.asp?id=89311&b=1|title=Blondin broadsheet – Details|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111204143438/http://www.nflibrary.ca/nfplindex/show.asp?id=89311&b=1|archive-date=4 December 2011}}</ref>
== Britain and Ireland == On 23 August 1860, he performed at the Royal Portobello Gardens, on South Circular Road, Portobello, Dublin, on a rope {{convert|50|ft|m|0}} feet above the ground. While he was performing, the rope broke, which led to the collapse of the scaffolding. Blondin was not injured, but two workers who were on the scaffolding fell to their deaths. An investigation was held, and the broken rope (reportedly {{convert|2|in|cm|0}} in diameter and {{convert|5|in|cm|0}} in circumference) examined. No blame was attributed at the time to either Blondin or his manager; the judge said that the rope manufacturer had a lot to answer for. The organiser of the event, a Mr. Kirby, said he would never have another one like it. A bench warrant for the arrest of Blondin and his manager was issued when they did not appear at a further trial, having returned to the US.<ref>''The Irish Times'', 24 August 1860, p. 3</ref>
In 1861, Blondin first appeared in London, at the Crystal Palace, turning somersaults on stilts on a rope stretched across the central transept {{convert|70|ft|m|0}} from the ground.<ref name=EB1911 /> He performed in September 1861 in Edinburgh, Scotland, at the Royal Botanic Gardens (then called the Experimental Gardens) on Inverleith Row.<ref>Eccentric Edinburgh, JK Gillon</ref>
The following year, Blondin was back at the same venue in Dublin, this time performing {{convert|100|ft|m|0}} above the ground.<ref name=Irish>''Irish Times'', 1861, 1862</ref> He gave a series of other performances in 1862, as well, again at the Crystal Palace, and elsewhere in England and Europe.<ref name=EB1911 /> On 6 September 1873, Blondin crossed Edgbaston Reservoir in Birmingham.<ref>''Birmingham Daily Post'', Monday, 8 September 1873 "Blondin at the Reservoir"</ref> A statue built in 1992 on the nearby Ladywood Middleway marks his feat.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Halifax|first1=Justine|title=Ever wondered what the Ladywood Middleway statue is?|url=https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/nostalgia/mystery-ladywood-statue-revealed-commemorate-10257612|access-date=7 April 2018|work=birminghammail|date=19 October 2015}}</ref>
In October 1869, Blondin appeared in London at The Crystal Palace Harvest Fete. He traversed the long rope on a bicycle expressly made for the occasion. The bicycle was manufactured by Messrs. Gardiner and Mackintosh, engineers at New Cross and had no weights or attachments of any kind. The bicycle was a replica of a normal bicycle with the exception of the wheels which were deeply grooved to hold the rope.<ref>{{Cite news|date=19 October 1869|title=Crystal Palace – The Harvest Fete|work=Morning Advertiser}}</ref>
On 3 August 1896, at the age of 71, Blondin walked on a tightrope across Waterloo Lake in Roundhay Park Leeds, several times. On one crossing he was blindfolded and on another he stopped to cook himself an omelette and eat it.<ref>{{cite journal |journal=The Yorkshire Archaeological Journal |title=Roundhay Park |volume=58–60 |publisher=Yorkshire Archaeological Society | year=1986 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aqRQAQAAIAAJ&q=%22charles+blondin%22+roundhay |page=184 |access-date=1 October 2023}}</ref>
== Later years and death == [[File:Charles Blondin grave Kensal Green 2014.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=An elaborate funerary monument of red granite, with two white marble tondi of Blondin and his wife, surmounted by a marble statue of a female figure clad in robes holding an anchor|Blondin's grave at Kensal Green Cemetery, London]]
After a period of retirement, Blondin reappeared in 1880<ref name=EB1911 /> and starred in the 1893–94 season of the pantomime ''Jack and the Beanstalk'' at the Crystal Palace, organised by Oscar Barrett.<ref>[http://www.backstage.ac.uk/cgi-bin/query.pl?view=full_single&query=type%3ditem+and+any%3dbic.ox.1038872776]{{dead link|date=November 2016|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}} Backstage.ac.uk – Blondin</ref> His final performance was in Leeds, England in 1896.
Blondin died from complications of diabetes at his "Niagara House" in Ealing, London, on 22 February 1897, at age 72 and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery.<ref>Grave of Jean François Gravelet – Blondin [http://www.nflibrary.ca/nfplindex/show.asp?id=91836&b=1 nflibrary.ca] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002175611/http://www.nflibrary.ca/nfplindex/show.asp?id=91836&b=1 |date=2 October 2013 }}, Obituary [https://www.nytimes.com/1897/02/23/archives/ropewalker-blondin-dead-he-breathed-his-last-in-a-suburb-of-london.html THE NEW YORK TIMES, 23 February 1897] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002202859/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F7081EFB355911738DDDAA0A94DA405B8785F0D3 |date=2 October 2013 }}</ref> His estate at death was valued at £1,832 (£{{Inflation|UK-GDP|1832|1897|r=-3|fmt=c}} as of {{Inflation-year|UK-GDP}}).<ref>Probate Index for 1897: "GRAVELET otherwise BLONDIN Jean Francois of Niagara-house Ealing Middlesex artist-acrobat died 22 February 1897 Probate London 22 March to Katherine Gravelet widow Henry Coleman Gravelet gentleman and Henry Levy solicitor Effects £1832 16s."</ref>
==Personal life== Charles Blondin married Marie Blancherie on 6 August 1846, legitimising their son Aime Leopold, after which they had two more children.<ref name="BMT">{{cite web|title=The Blondin Memorial Trust – A Biography|url=https://www.blondinmemorialtrust.com/biography|website=www.blondinmemorialtrust.com|access-date=25 January 2018|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180125074633/https://www.blondinmemorialtrust.com/biography|archive-date=25 January 2018}}</ref> He was still legally married to Blancherie when he moved to America.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Trust |first=Blondin Memorial |title=Blondin Myths |url=https://blondinmemorialtrust.com/blondin-myths.html |access-date=2026-02-08 |website=Blondin Memorial Trust |language=en-GB}}</ref>
While in the U.S. he married a second wife, Charlotte Lawrence in Boston, Massachusetts in 1852.<ref>Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, US: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.Original data: Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Vital and Town Records. Provo, UT: Holbrook Research Institute (Jay and Delene Holbrook).</ref> Together they had five children: Adele (b. 1854), Edward (b. 1855), Iris (b. 1861), Henry Coleman (b. 1862), and Charlotte (b. 1866).<ref name="BMT"/> In 1895, Blondin married again, this time in the United Kingdom. His third wife, Katherine James,<ref>Register of Marriages for Brentford registration district, Oct–Dec 1895, volume 3a, p. 235: Gravelet, Jean Francois, & James, Katherine</ref> had nursed him through a back injury earlier that year.<ref name=wilson>Ken Wilson, ''Everybody's Heard of Blondin'' (Forward Press, 1990), p. 92</ref> Although much younger, Katherine survived him by only four years, dying of cancer in 1901 at the age of 36.<ref name=wilson/><ref>Register of Deaths for Chelsea registration district, July–Sept 1901, volume 1a, p. 243: Blondin, Katherine G, 36</ref>
== Legacy == thumb|Abraham Lincoln depicted as Charles Blondin
During his lifetime, Blondin's name became so synonymous with tightrope walking that many employed the name "Blondin" to describe others in the sport. For example, there were at least five people working with variations of the Blondin name in Sydney in the 1880s, the most famous of whom was Henri L'Estrange—"the Australian Blondin".<ref>{{cite web|last=Dunn |first=Mark |url=http://www.dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/lestrange_henri |title=L'Estrange, Henri |year=2011 |work=Dictionary of Sydney |publisher=Dictionary of Sydney Trust |access-date=19 December 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131003045541/http://www.dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/lestrange_henri |archive-date=3 October 2013 }}</ref> So popular had tightrope walking become, that one Sydney resident wrote to the ''Sydney Morning Herald'' to complain of "the Blondin business" that saw people walking on high wires wherever the opportunity arose. He noted that he had seen one walking on a wire in Liverpool Street in the city with a child strapped to his back. The practice which had become so popular was both dangerous and, the correspondent thought, likely to be unlawful, particularly in the risk of harming others.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13446425 |title=Dangerous Sports|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=19 February 1880 |access-date=19 December 2011 |page=8 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> In reporting on the fall of a woman from a tightrope at an 1869 performance of Pablo Fanque's Circus in Bolton, the ''Illustrated London News'' described the tightrope walker, Madame Caroline, as a "female Blondin".<ref>{{cite web |author=The Illustrated London News |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/brizzlebornandbred/4085580229/ |title=Thrilling Accident at Bolton 1869 |publisher=Flickr |access-date=9 April 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140328142857/http://www.flickr.com/photos/brizzlebornandbred/4085580229/ |archive-date=28 March 2014 }}</ref>
Two streets in Northfields, London, are named in his honour: Blondin Avenue and Niagara Avenue; they were formerly the site of part of Hugh Ronalds' renowned nursery.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ronalds|first=B.F.|date=2017|title=Ronalds Nurserymen in Brentford and Beyond|journal=Garden History|volume=45|pages=82–100}}</ref> Blondin Park in the same area is also named after him.
During the run-up to the 1864 United States presidential election, Abraham Lincoln compared himself to "Blondin on the tightrope, with all that was valuable to America in the wheelbarrow he was pushing before him." A political cartoon in ''Frank Leslie's Budget of Fun'' took up this quotation on 1 September 1864 depicting Lincoln on a tightrope, pushing a wheelbarrow and carrying two men on his back—Navy Secretary Gideon Welles and War Secretary Edwin Stanton—while "John Bull", Napoleon III, Jefferson Davis (representing England, France, and the Confederacy, respectively), and Generals Grant, Lee and Sherman (representing the military) looked on, among others.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://elections.harpweek.com/1864/cartoon-1864-Medium.asp?UniqueID=43&Year=1864 |title=The Political Blondin |date=2008 |website=Harper's Weekly |access-date=21 February 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091128230451/http://elections.harpweek.com/1864/cartoon-1864-Medium.asp?UniqueID=43&Year=1864 |archive-date=28 November 2009 }}</ref>
== See also == * Blondin (quarry equipment), a form of aerial ropeway used in Welsh quarries, and named after Charles Blondin, for the resemblance of its high cables to a tightrope.
==References== ===Citations=== {{reflist}}
===Sources=== * This article includes content copied from the essay "[https://web.archive.org/web/20131003045541/http://www.dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/lestrange_henri L'Estrange, Henri]" in the ''Dictionary of Sydney'' written by Mark Dunn, 2011, and licensed under CC by-sa. Imported on 19 December 2011.
== External links == {{commons category|Charles Blondin}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080906132027/http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1958/5/1958_5_34.shtml American Heritage magazine article on Blondin] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20050307221923/http://www.peopleplayuk.org.uk/guided_tours/circus_tour/circus_performers/blondin.php Biography] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060212031458/http://www.bplphoto.co.uk/imagefiles/F23/pages/F23-056.html Ladywood Middleway, Birmingham statue] at {{Coord|52.476656|-1.925325|region:GB-BIR_type:landmark|display=inline}} * [http://www.nflibrary.ca/nfplindex/start.asp?db=images Find images at the Historic Niagara Digital Collections at Niagara Falls Public Library by using keyword 'Blondin'] * {{cite web |work = Theatre and Performance |publisher = Victoria and Albert Museum |url = http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/theatre_performance/features/history_of_circus/circus_performers/blondin/index.html |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110109005756/http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/theatre_performance/features/history_of_circus/circus_performers/blondin/index.html |url-status = dead |archive-date = 9 January 2011 |title = Blondin |access-date = 15 February 2011 }} * [https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/such-was-life/blondin-and-his-imitators/ Blondin and his imitators] by Andrew McConville
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Blondin, Orrin}} Category:1824 births Category:1897 deaths Category:French stunt performers Category:History of Birmingham, West Midlands Category:Niagara Falls Category:Tightrope walkers Category:Deaths from diabetes in England Category:People from Ealing Category:People from the Pas-de-Calais Category:Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery Category:French circus performers Category:19th-century circus performers