No. 46 Sadler’s Sharp Shooters

James Sadler (February 1753 – 28 March 1828) was the first English balloonist, as well as a chemist and pastry chef. He is principally known as a balloonist, but he was a prolific inventor, and the War Chariot was a concept of his, although whether it was ever actually created is open to doubt. Some copies of the original book contained this aquatint of the Flying Artillery. Others did not.  This (Hugh Evelyn Edition) did not. Although a celebrity in his own time, Sadler is largely unknown today. This has been partly attributed to his lack of writing any works and partly to class prejudice: he was only a pastry chef and not formally educated. Despite being a resident of Oxford and an accomplished scientist, the university mostly ignored him and academics looked down on him. While obituaries for Sadler were written elsewhere on his death, the university’s own newspaper wrote simply, “Mr James Sadler, elder brother of Mr Sadler of Rose Hill, Oxford, has died.”