James Sadler of Oxford (1753-1828) – A Celebration

Light refreshments will be provided after the talks have concluded.Places are limited so please book using this booking link: https://www.trybooking.com/uk/event/122641 

Sadler was a Freeman of Oxford and sometime pastry cook. He made his first balloon ascent from Oxford on 4 October 1784 and another public flight on 12 November that year, from Oxford’s Botanic Gardens, when he travelled 20 miles and descended near Aylesbury.

The Sadler family were resident in Oxford from at least the early seventeenth century and found employment as tailors, gunsmiths, victuallers, chemists, confectioners and cooks. They of course carried on their trades in the city by virtue of being admitted as Freemen. James Sadler was duly admitted to the liberties of the City of Oxford on 2 July 1779 when he was sponsored by his father, also James Sadler, a cook and outside caterer. The family business was run for some years from 84 High Street Oxford.

James Sadler subsequently worked as assistant to the Professor of Chemistry at Oxford University, becoming an engineer and inventor who developed guns and steam engines; he was appointed Chemist to the Board of Naval Works in 1796.After being dismissed from this post, he resumed his ballooning career in 1810.