| 1811 | 58 | 1821 | 152 | 1831 | 168 |
| 1812 | 57 | 1822 | 178 | 1832 | 153 |
| 1813 | 59 | 1823 | 188 | 1833 | 100 |
| 1814 | 68 | 1824 | 196 | 1834 | 108 |
| 1815 | 87 | 1825 | 198 | 1835 | 124 |
| 1816 | 89 | 1826 | 187 | 1836 | 98 |
| 1817 | 96 | 1827 | 188 | 1837 | 55 |
| 1818 | 109 | 1828 | 186 | 1838 | 46 |
| 1819 | 121 | 1829 | 180 | 1839 | 42 |
| 1820 | 124 | 1830 | 179 |
He says he married 7,744 persons, but, either his arithmetic, according to the above account, is faulty, or there is an inaccuracy in the Times figures.
On 3 March arrived, in London, the first instalment of the Chinese indemnity—£1,000,000, all in silver. I remember seeing the dock wagons guarded by soldiers, and wondering,
until told, what they contained. Some more arrived on the 7th.
The Thames Tunnel was opened to the public on 25 March, with as much ceremony as a private company could manage. There were the Lord Mayor, the directors, and a host of scientific persons, who solemnly went in procession down the staircase on the Rotherhithe side, passed along the western archway of the Tunnel, ascended and descended the staircase at Wapping, and returned through the eastern archway. In the evening there was a grand dinner at the “London Tavern,” where “Prosperity to the Thames Tunnel” was drunk in some wine which had been preserved from the commencement of the enterprise, to celebrate its completion.
As with motor cars, so with aeronautics, the time of which I write, was well in advance. We know of Sen. Santos Dumont’s performances with his motor balloon, in connection with the Eiffel Tower, but Mr. Samuel Henson was before him in applying mechanical power in aeronautics. He took out a patent (No. 9,478), dated 29 Sep., 1842, for “Apparatus and machinery for conveying letters, goods and passengers, from place to place through the air.”
It was an aeroplane. The car which contained passengers, engineer, engines, etc., was suspended in the centre of a framework, which combined strength with lightness, covered with a light, but close, woven fabric. It was started by descending an inclined plane, the impetus from which caused it to rise in the air, when the steam engine was put in action, to continue its motion. The area of the sustaining surface was some 4,500 square feet, and the weight to be borne by it, including the carriage, etc., was estimated at 3,000lbs., which was claimed to be considerably less per square foot than that of many birds.
In April, 1843—but on what exact date I do not know, an experimental voyage was made from the Hill of Dumbuck, near Glasgow, by Professor Geolls. He successfully negotiated the descent of the inclined plane, and rapidly rose in the air, until he reached an altitude of nearly 3 miles. Feeling giddy, he determined to descend to a mile and a half
above the earth. “This I easily effected by depressing the tail of the machine, which, up to this moment, I had kept at an angle with the horizon of 9¾ degrees, to that of 45. My course I had not varied since leaving the hill; it was, per compass, south-west, and by west, half-west, passing over Ayrshire, and in a direct line from Dumbuck to Ailsa Craig, whither, indeed, I was tending, with the view of landing, the latter being admirably suited for launching the machine in a similar way to that adopted at Dumbuck, on my return home again.
“Daylight had now broken, and the scene was most gorgeous. I passed many ships; and, in particular, one steamer, but whose paltry speed, in comparison with mine, was nothing. Alas! however, this was not destined to last; for, just as I had shot ahead of the steamer, something went wrong with the machinery, and the fanners stopped. This did not at all alarm me; for, as described by Mr. Henson, these fanners are only necessary for propulsion, and not at all requisite for maintaining the machine in the air. Unfortunately, however, I perfectly forgot, in the hurry of the moment, to remove the weights from the safety valve, and the effects from this were disastrous in the extreme. The great accumulation of steam that took place was too much for the pipes; and, consequently, bang went three of them, at the same instant. The machine, at this exact moment, feeling its equilibrium altered, surged considerably, and the remaining pipes necessarily followed the example of the others: fizz—bizz—whizz, away they went, one after the other, like pop guns. Unfortunately, one of these pipes, in flying off, struck a bamboo stretcher, and shattered it so, that the machine, losing bearance on one side, toppled over and became perfectly unmanageable; she, in fact, whirled over and over in a way that may be imagined, but which it is altogether impossible to describe.