Citoyenne Henri (often called Citizen Henry in English) was a woman who accompanied

André-Jacques Garnerin André-Jacques Garnerin (31 January 1769 – 18 August 1823) was a French balloonist and the inventor of the frameless parachute. He was appointed Official Aeronaut of France. Biography André-Jacques Garnerin was born in Paris. During the fir ...

on a trip by

balloon A balloon is a flexible membrane bag that can be inflated with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, or air. For special purposes, balloons can be filled with smoke, liquid water, granular media (e.g. sand, flour or rice), ...

on 8 July 1798 from the

Parc Monceau Parc Monceau (; English: Monceau Park) is a public park situated in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, at the junction of the Boulevard de Courcelles, Rue de Prony and Rue Georges Berger. At the main entrance is a rotunda. The park covers ...

in Paris. She was credited as the first woman "who ever had the courage to trust herself in the regions of air", although several women had already made ascents in a balloon: on 20 May 1784, the Marchioness and Countess of Montalembert, the Countess of Podenas and a Miss de Lagarde had taken a trip on a tethered balloon in Paris, and

Élisabeth Thible Élisabeth Thible, or Elizabeth Tible (, 8 March 1757 – 13 February 1785), was the first woman to make a flight in an untethered hot air balloon. She was born in Lyon, France, on 8 March 1757. On 4 June 1784, eight months after the first crewed ...

had made an ascent in an untethered balloon on 4 June 1784.

Announcement and legal challenge

The balloonist and

parachuting Parachuting and skydiving are methods of descending from a high point in an atmosphere to the ground or ocean surface with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or multiple parachutes. For hu ...

pioneer André-Jacques Garnerin announced in 1798 that on his next ascent he would be accompanied by a young woman. Although the public and press were in favour of Garnerin's idea, he was forced to appear in front of officials of the Central Bureau of Police to attempt to justify his project. Chief among their concerns was the effect that the

air pressure Atmospheric pressure, also known as air pressure or barometric pressure (after the barometer), is the pressure within the atmosphere of Earth. The Standard atmosphere (unit), standard atmosphere (symbol: atm) is a unit of pressure defined as , whi ...

might have on the organs of the delicate female body, though it appears that they were also concerned about the moral implications of a man and woman being alone in a balloon together. When questioned as to the expected results of the atmospheric pressure and what would happen if the woman was to lose consciousness, Garnerin replied that he did not expect anything untoward to occur and that he would be personally responsible for dealing with any mishaps. Unsatisfied with Garnerin's responses, the police issued an injunction against him, forbidding the ascent on the grounds that the young woman was committing herself to the venture without any idea of the possible outcome. Garnerin refused to accept the decision handed down by the Central Bureau and appealed to the administration of the department. Consultation with the

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

and Minister of the Police followed and the injunction was eventually overturned on the grounds that "there was no more scandal in seeing two people of different sexes ascend in a balloon than it is to see them jump into a carriage." They also concluded that the decision of the woman to take the balloon trip showed proof of her confidence in the experiment and a degree of personal intrepidity. Citoyenne Henri had already been chosen by Garnerin to accompany him, and as result of the lifting of the ban he was immediately ready to proceed with his plan. He advertised the ascent in the ''L'Ami des Lois'':

The balloon flight

On 8 July 1798 a large number of spectators gathered in the

to witness the ascent. By all accounts Citoyenne Henri was young and beautiful, and she and Garnerin took several turns around the park to the applause of the crowd before she was assisted into the basket of the balloon by the

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

Jérôme Lalande Joseph Jérôme Lefrançois de Lalande (; 11 July 1732 – 4April 1807) was a French astronomer, freemason and writer. He is known for having estimated a precise value of the astronomical unit (the distance from the Earth to the Sun) using measu ...

. The balloon trip passed without incident and the journey ended at Goussainville about to the north of Paris. There is no record of the relationship between Garnerin and Citoyenne Henri, where he recruited her for the trip or what her motives were in accepting. Garnerin gave her a present after the trip.

Aftermath

There was fervent press interest in the beautiful young girl for a few days, but her fame did not endure. Shortly afterwards, on 10 November 1798, Garnerin's future wife Jeanne Geneviève Labrosse was also taken up in his balloon. Subsequently, both his wife and his niece

Élisa Garnerin Élisa Garnerin (1791 – 1853) was a French balloonist and parachutist. She was the niece of the pioneer parachutist André-Jacques Garnerin, and took advantage of his name and of the novelty of a woman performing what were at the time extremely ...

became well known for their parachuting feats and Madame Blanchard was celebrated for her solo ballooning, relegating the less impressive exploits of Citoyenne Henri to a footnote in history.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Henri, Citoyenne 18th-century births French balloonists Women balloonists French aviation pioneers Year of birth missing Year of death missing French women aviators