You’d have needed sharp eyes to spot the tiny entry in the ‘small ads’ column of The Evening Chronicle on Monday 26th August, 1889.
“A Descent from the Clouds: MISS ALMA BEAUMONT, AMERICAN AERONAUT AND PARACHUTIST will make an ascent in a Balloon of 12,000 Gas Capacity, and descend in a Parachute, at the NORTH SHIELDS CYCLING GROUNDS on Wednesday evening, August 28th. Admission 6D.”
And that’s exactly what she did – twice – although we know, from a later report in The Shields Gazette, that things didn’t go exactly to plan.
At the end of the 1800s, jumping from a balloon using only a primitive parachute was a surprisingly popular form of entertainment. And so, on that Wednesday evening, a large crowd assembled at the bicycle track on Hawkey’s Lane (just opposite the junction with Cleveland Road) to watch the spectacle. The crowd helped out by holding down the edges of the enormous silk balloon as it filled with gas. Once inflated, the balloon rose above North Shields with Miss Beaumont sitting on a thin strap that hung beneath it. There must have been a collective gasp as the balloon rose higher and higher above the crowd. Then – health and safety be damned – the brave Miss Beaumont leapt from her unsteady perch, to perform a terrifying free-fall, before her parachute opened and returned her safely to the ground.
So, what could possibly go wrong? Well, nothing the first time she jumped, and news of the daredevil event spread like wildfire, so that a few days later a crowd of 3,000 people gathered to see her repeat the stunt. This time there was a bit of a breeze. The parachute, which didn’t have any steering mechanism, drifted off course and became tangled at the top of a 70 ft chimney near Billy Mill, leaving Alma dangling helplessly. It was decided that the quickest way to rescue her was by climbing the chimney’s lightning conductor, but that gave way on the first attempt, so ladders had to be lashed together to reach her.
Alma and her rescuers returned to the Cycling Grounds in triumph. The crowd had certainly got its money’s worth! But not everyone was so thrilled. The balloon had come down to earth in a field on Hawkey’s Hall Farm, flattening a crop of wheat. The farmer wasn’t happy; he sued the North Shields Bicycle Club and was awarded £9 in damages by North Shields County Court.
When asked why she’d chosen this peculiar career path, the 21-year old from Omaha, Nebraska, replied, “To make money! Ballooning is a very pleasurable pastime; but no one is likely to become a parachutist simply for the enjoyment it affords. It is too risky a business for that.”
Alma went on to make more than 150 parachute jumps from a balloon in different parts of the UK, but always made the point that “few other aeronautes dared to exhibit in the north on account of the weather” – a reference perhaps to her unfortunate experience in North Shields.
