{{Short description|English balloonist}} {{other people|Thomas Harris}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}} {{Use British English|date=September 2017}} {{Infobox aviator |name= Thomas Harris |image= Early flight 02561u (9).jpg |caption= Collecting card, portraying Harris falling to his death to save his companion. |birth_date= |birth_place= [[England]], [[United Kingdom]] |death_date= 25 May 1824 |death_place= [[Vauxhall]], [[London]], [[England]], [[United Kingdom]] |death_cause= [[Falling (accident)|Fall]] |known_for= Death in a ballooning accident }}
'''Thomas Harris''' (died 25 May 1824) was a pioneering [[English people|English]] [[balloon (aircraft)|balloonist]] who was killed in an accident. There is little information about his early career, but he invented the gas discharge valve, a device to release all the gas in a [[gas balloon]] to prevent the balloon from dragging after landing.<ref name=Rolt>[[L. T. C. Rolt]], ''The Balloonists'' (Sutton Publishing Ltd, 1966; {{ISBN|0-7509-4202-9}}), pp. 115–116</ref>
==Life== Thomas Harris was an inventive [[London]] scientist and held the military rank of [[Lieutenant]].<ref name=ras/><ref name=poole>[[Lynn Poole]], ''Ballooning in the space age'' (Whittlesey House, 1958), p. 51</ref> He exhibited a [[hydrogen]] balloon at the Royal Tennis Court in Great Windmill Street, [[Haymarket (London)|Haymarket]], in the spring of 1824. While not a professional aeronaut, he may have planned to become one.<ref name=Rolt/>
In 1823, Harris made successful experiments on the [[River Thames]] with a view to preventing ships from being struck by [[lightning]].<ref name=LG>'Aerostation: Death of Mr. Harris', in ''The Literary Gazette: a weekly journal'', vol. 8, [https://books.google.com/books?id=4j6Euu_0YcAC&pg=PA362 p. 362]</ref>
Harris invented the first mechanism for emptying a balloon canopy of gas or hot air, thus reducing the drag on landing.<ref>David Iggulden, ''Hot Air Ballooning'' (Oxford Illustrated Press, 1991) p. 99</ref> He designed a double valve, located at the top of the balloon bag, with a small valve fitted inside a larger one. One was for releasing the gases slowly, the other quickly.<ref name=poole/> Harris commented that "The science of aerostation has lately fallen into much decay and been the subject of ridicule through the total want of invention".<ref>Charles Harvard Gibbs-Smith, ''A history of flying'' (Batsford, 1953), p. 128</ref>
== Death == Harris died while flying the balloon ''Royal George'' from [[Vauxhall]], [[London]], on 25 May 1824.<ref name=wroth>{{cite book |first=Warwick William |last=Wroth |author-link=Warwick William Wroth |title=Cremorne and the later London gardens |year=1907 |pages=57–58}}</ref> An account of his death is given by [[L. T. C. Rolt]], who states that it is likely that as gas gradually escaped from the balloon, the cord connecting the gas discharge valve to the gondola tightened, releasing more gas. In the resulting crash Harris was killed, and his travelling companion, an eighteen-year-old woman named Sophia Stocks "from the [[Haymarket, London|Haymarket]]", was badly injured.<ref name=Rolt/>
From Vauxhall, the wind had carried the balloon towards [[Croydon]], where it crashed into an oak tree at [[Beddington Park]] near [[Carshalton]]. The accident was later blamed on Harris's own valve.<ref name=ras>{{cite journal |publisher=[[Royal Aeronautical Society]] |journal=The Aeronautical Journal |volume=33 |year=1929 |title=1824 DEATH OF LIEUT. THOMAS HARRIS AT BEDDINGTON PARK, CROYDON. |quote=Thomas Harris was the first English aeronaut killed during a flight in a balloon. His death was due to his own invention of a patent valve...}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=John |last=Clare |author-link=John Clare |editor-first=Margaret |editor-last=Grainger |title=The natural history prose writings of John Clare |year=1983 |page=248}}</ref>
The crash was observed by a gamekeeper, who gave evidence at the [[inquest]]: {{Quote|He heard a report resembling distant thunder, and on looking up at the instant in the direction of the sound, saw the balloon descending with great velocity, striking the branch of a tree in its descent; and on proceeding to assist the sufferers, he found the Female almost in a state of insensibility, and Mr. Harris quite dead in the bottom of the car, with a black mark upon his neck.<ref name=LG/>}} Harris's companion, Miss Sophia Stocks, was described by journalists present as an intrepid girl and was reported to have got into the balloon's gondola "with but slight appearance of fear".<ref name=wroth/>
The coroner's jury brought in the finding that "death might have been occasioned by the broken ribs, &c."<ref name=LG/>
According to a less plausible theory of the cause of the crash, the release valve got stuck in the open position, thus releasing the hydrogen. In an attempt to prevent the balloon falling, Harris threw out all the ballast and even the woman's clothes. In the end, he jumped to his death, making the balloon light enough to save his companion's life.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Heavenly Matches |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,753936-1,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091124092038/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,753936-1,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=24 November 2009 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|TIME]] |date=21 August 1933 |access-date=22 November 2008}}</ref> She was later rescued from under the balloon; she sustained severe shock in the accident but no broken bones.
== Commemoration == A month after Harris's death a Mr Rossiter, described as a member of Harris's committee and an uncle of Mrs Harris, announced that on 1 July at the Bedford Arms Hotel, [[Camden Town]], he would make a new ascent in Harris's balloon in order to raise funds for the dead man's widow and children.<ref>John Constable, ''John Constable's Correspondence: The Fishers'' (H.M.S.O., 1968), p. 349</ref> The ''[[Morning Chronicle]]'' of 5 July 1824 reported on the success of the ascent.<ref>Samuel Palmer, ''St. Pancras, memoranda relating to the parish'' (1870), p. 266: "ROSSITER AND HIS COMPANION IN THE BALLOON OF THE LATE MR. HARRIS. At twenty minutes past five o'clock we took our seats in the car from the Bedford Arms. Having cleared the obstructions which at first retarded our ascent..."</ref> The fields around the hotel were thronged with people who had come to see the balloon's departure.<ref>Frederick Miller, ''St. Pancras, past and preset'' (1874): "In 1824 an ascent was made from the Bedford Arms gardens, on which occasion the fields around were crowded with sight-seers..."</ref>
The disaster on 25 May was commemorated in a late 19th-century collecting card set depicting historical events in ballooning and [[parachuting]].
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Aviation accidents and incidents before 1920}} {{Aviation accidents and incidents in the United Kingdom before 1920}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Thomas}} [[Category:Year of birth missing]] [[Category:1824 deaths]] [[Category:Accidental deaths from falls in the United Kingdom]] [[Category:English balloonists]] [[Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1824]] [[Category:1820s disasters in the United Kingdom]]