Sir George Cayley (1773-1857) is widely known as ‘The Father of Aeronautics’ – being regarded as the first person to study aeronautics scientifically and the first to understand the underlying principles and forces of flight.  There is an interesting podcast about Cayley on the The Royal Aeronautical Society website marking his 250^th Anniversary.

His three papers ‘On Aerial Navigation’, published in Nicholson’s Journal of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry and the Arts, in November 1809 and February and March 1810 respectively, have been the subject of much technical study and analysis in establishing his contribution to aviation.  Versions of the articles are available via Google Books, and can be found by searching Author = Cayley in the Nicholson’s Journal Index.

I was aware that flight was a subject of general interest in the Nicholson household, where Jack Sadler (1779-1838), son of Britain’s first aeronaut James Sadler (1753-1828), was employed (described in The Life of William Nicholson). I wondered whether there was any other correspondence between Nicholson and Cayley on the subject, and contacted the archives of The Royal Aeronautical Society, where there was one short unpublished letter from Nicholson to Cayley.

Nicholson had already published two papers by Cayley: ‘Description of an Engine for affording Mechanical Power from Air expanded by Heat’ in December 1807 (p260), and a ‘Plan for an improved Theatre’ in April 1809 (p242) – the latter being a response to the destruction by fire of the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden on 20 September 1808. Both of those articles had been attributed to Cayley, but Nicholson (who would publish articles anonymously if the author desired) decided to double check with Cayley, writing :

I have received your interesting [paper] on arial Navigation, and as the Engravings will retard its insertion into the journal to be published Nov 1. I have time to beg the favorthat you would say whether your name is to be put in the title or head. I hope so, but this not being clearly signified, I have thought it best to trouble you with a line.

It would have been entirely understandable if Cayley had asked Nicholson to remove his name as, in 1809, the pursuit of aviation was not seen by all as a respectable scientific pursuit. Towards the end of the eighteenth century, advances by aeronauts in balloons had been dismissed by Sir Joseph Banks at the Royal Society as ‘Ballomania’ and ‘of scarce more importance than soap bubbles’.  Aeronauts were regarded as daredevils and showmen in many quarters, and so it required a different sort of bravery for Cayley to submit a series of papers for publication on the subject of manned flight at that time.

I was delighted to see several letters from Anthony Carlise (1768-1840) to Cayley, some of which mention Nicholson. They provide a fascinating insight into Carlisle’s enthusiasm for manned flight, which he felt obliged to keep quiet about for fear of public ridicule. Carlisle was tremendously keen to entice Cayley to London so that they might collaborate together, while keeping his own involvement out of the limelight. He also invited Cayley to join him with Nicholson and William Hyde Wollaston on a trip to Oxford in 1810 to see James Sadler fly his balloon to mark the installation of Lord Grenville as Chancellor of the University of Oxford.

Carlisle’s letters date from 1809 to 1817, so their correspondence seems to have continued well beyond publication of the original three papers.

Click on the title below to download transcripts:  

‘On Aerial Navigation’ –Correspondence between Cayley, Carlisle & Nicholson at the Royal Aeronautical Society Archives (1809-1817) 

These fascinating letters are too long to include in my biography of Nicholson, but are too interesting not to share more widely. So, I am very grateful to the family of Sir George Cayley for agreeing to allow the publication of these letters here on this blog. I would also like to express my thanks to Tony Pilmer MCLIP FRAeS and Anne Hayward MCLIP at the National Aerospace Library, Royal Aeronautical Society for all their kind and patient assistance.

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