HENRY TRACEY

See also:

• HENRY TRACEY COXWELL (1819–1900)

COXWELL (1819–1900)  , English aeronaut, was born at Wouldham, Kent, on the 2nd of March 1819, the son of a naval officer . He was educated for the army, but became a dentist . From a boy he had been greatly interested in ballooning, then in its infancy, but his own first ascent was not made until 1844 . In 1848 he became a professional aeronaut, making numerous public ascents in the chief continental cities . Returning to London, he gave exhibitions from the Crelhorne and subsequently from the Surrey Gardens . By 1861 he had made over 400 ascents . In 1862 in company with Dr James Glaisher, he attained the greatest height on record, about 7 M . His companion became insensible, and he himself, unable to use his frost-bitten hands, opened the gas-valve with his teeth, and made an extremely rapid but safe descent . The result of this and other aerial voyages by Coxwell and Glaisher was the making of some important contributions to the science of meteorology . Coxwell was most pertinacious in urging the practical utility of employing balloons in time of war . He says: " I had hammered away in The Times for little less than a decade before there was a real military trial of ballooning for military purposes at Aldershot." His last ascent was made in 1885, and he died on the 5th of January 19oo . See his My Life and Balloon Experiences (1887) .