Letitia Ann Sage (née Hoare; c.1750–after 1817) was the first British woman to fly, making her ascent on 29 June 1785, in a balloon launched by

Vincenzo Lunardi Vincenzo Lunardi (11 January 1754 in Lucca – 1 August 1806 in Lisbon) was a pioneering Italian aeronaut, born in Lucca. Ascents in England Vincenzo Lunardi's family were of minor Tuscan nobility from Lucca, and his father had married late in li ...

(an Italian aeronaut) from

St George's Fields St George's Fields was an area of Southwark in south London, England. History Originally the area was an undifferentiated part of the south side of the Thames, which was low-lying marshland unsuitable even for agricultural purposes. There ...

in London.

Background

She is thought to have been an actress and to have appeared at Covent Garden in 1773, and at some point lived with a haberdasher whose name she took, calling herself Mrs Sage. She is known to have resided for a time at No. 10 Charles Street, Covent Garden. She had two sisters, who were actresses: Mrs Sarah Ward (c.1753-1838) and Mrs Kate Powell (c.1762-1807). Sarah was the wife of Thomas Ward, manager of the Manchester Theatre, whilst Kate's husband was Sparks Powell.

The flight

Mrs Sage's first flight was planned by Lunardi in May 1785, when the two of them, plus George Biggin, were due to ascend from London, but, as was common in the early days of ballooning, the weight proved too great to allow the balloon - which relied on an adequate supply of

hydrogen Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, an ...

- to get off the ground, so Mrs Sage and George Biggin had their places taken by three animals: a pigeon, a cat and a dog. The follow-up plan was for Mrs Sage, George Biggin and Lunardi himself to make the ascent along with two other guests, Colonel Hastings and a female acquaintance, who had been promised a place only if the balloon proved capable of carrying more than three passengers. However, the balloon was unable to take off with the weight of all five passengers, so the woman and Hastings got out, followed by Lunardi. Biggin and Mrs Sage were left to attempt the voyage and were in the air for an hour and a half. An hour into the flight Mrs Sage was thought to have fainted but was actually assisting with the ascension of the balloon. The balloon had turned North West finally coming to rest in a farmer's field near Harrow. Due to the force of the wind, their landing was not smooth and Mrs Sage sustained an injury as she had hit her leg on an iron rod. They were assisted in getting down by some schoolboys. In the course of the journey they had time to eat a meal consisting of chicken and ham and drink some Florence wine, discarding the bottle over the side. Mrs Sage went on to write about her experiences in a short publication titled ''A Letter, Addressed to a Female Friend, By Mrs. Sage, the First English Female Aerial Traveller'', which was printed later in the year and sold at a price of one shilling. A depiction of the balloon flight, showing three passengers, had been created in advance by

John Francis Rigaud John Francis Rigaud (18 May 1742 – 6 December 1810) was an eighteenth-century history, portrait, and decorative painter. Of French descent, he was born in Turin and spent most of his career in England. Early life Rigaud was born in Turin on ...

Later life

Mrs Sage gained some notoriety for her achievement, writing "the door is never quiet an instant" in her short account of the journey But by 1804 she was working at

Sadler's Wells Theatre Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue in Clerkenwell, London, England located on Rosebery Avenue next to New River Head. The present-day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500-seat ...

, under the name of "Mrs Robinson", as a dresser and wardrobe keeper for

Charles Dibdin the younger Charles Isaac Mungo Dibdin (17 October 1768 – 15 January 1833), or Charles Pitt or Charles Dibdin the younger, as he was professionally known, was an English dramatist, composer, writer and theatre proprietor. He was perhaps best known ...

. From there, she moved on to the

Crow Street Theatre Crow Street Theatre was a theatre in Dublin, Ireland, originally opened in 1758 by the actor Spranger Barry. From 1788 until 1818 it was a patent theatre. History Spranger Barry and Henry Woodward The actor Spranger Barry (1719–1777), born i ...

, Dublin, and later to Drury Lane. Nothing is heard of her after 1817.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sage, Letitia Ann 1750s births 1817 deaths British balloonists British women aviators