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Sarah Hengler (c.1765 – 9 October 1845) was a British businesswoman, pyrotechnist and firework artist. She was one of the "Fire Queens" of Vauxhall Gardens.


Early and personal life

Sarah Hengler was born in Surrey, England c. 1765. She was the second wife of the circus performer John Michael Hengler and they had three children, Henry Michael (1784-1861), Tobias Joseph (born and died 1786), and Magdalen Elizabeth (b.c.1788). Henry Michael Hengler became a circus rope walker and his children and grandchildren, including Frederick Charles Hengler and Jenny Hengler, became leading players in the British circus field.


Career

Sarah Hengler initially worked as a tightrope walker but after her marriage she created and presented firework displays for
Vauxhall Gardens Vauxhall Gardens is a public park in Kennington in the London Borough of Lambeth, England, on the south bank of the River Thames. Originally known as New Spring Gardens, it is believed to have opened before the Restoration of 1660, being ...
, Astley's Royal Amphitheatre, the Royal Circus and the Surrey Theatre. She collaborated with Madame Saqui, a leading tightrope walker of the day, providing the fireworks which were a part of Saqui's act. Hengler toured with her family, supplying fireworks to accompany their acrobatic rope performances. The Hengler family performed at a "Grand Display of Fire Works and Instrumental Concert" during the Leicester Races in September 1821. John Michael Hengler died in 1802 and Sarah Hengler took over running the business for the next thirty nine years. She remarried on 6 December 1808 and became Mrs Fields, although she was also known as Mrs Wells, but continued to use the Madame Hengler name. She was sometimes known as Signora Hengler as well. She continued to create firework displays, running the business from a property, number 4 Asylum Buildings, off
Westminster Bridge Road Westminster Bridge Road is a road in London, England. It runs on an east–west axis and passes through the boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark. Between 1740 and 1746, the Commissioners of Westminster Bridge bought land from the Archbishop of C ...
on the south side of
Westminster Bridge Westminster Bridge is a road-and-foot-traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, linking Westminster on the west side and Lambeth on the east side. The bridge is painted predominantly green, the same colour as the leather seats in the H ...
in London. The property had a ground floor showroom, workshops for packing fireworks and accommodation for Hengler plus her staff and family members. Three people were killed in a series of explosions there in August 1818. In 1821
Thomas Bish Thomas Bish (5 May 1779 – 27 December 1842) was a British politician. Bish worked as a stockbroker and held a government contract for the lottery. At the 1826 UK general election, he stood in Leominster as a Whig. He was elected, but was ...
bought the lease to Vauxhall Gardens and started work revitalising the public entertainments. He sent Hengler to Paris to learn cutting edge techniques from the pyrotechnists at the
Jardin de Tivoli The Tivoli gardens of Paris were amusement parks located near the current site of the Saint-Lazare station, named after the gardens of the Villa d'Este in Tivoli near Rome. There were several such gardens in succession between 1795 and 1842, none ...
, famed for its firework displays. On 9 July 1822, Madame Hengler, described as The King's Pyrotechnic, was involved in experiments run by
Henry Trengrouse Henry Trengrouse (18 March 1772 – 14 February 1854) was a British inventor who invented the "Rocket" lifesaving apparatus. On 24 December 1807 he witnessed the wreck of the frigate ''Anson'' in Mount's Bay, when over a hundred people di ...
in Hyde Park across the Serpentine. Trengrouse was attempting to create a rocket on a rope that could be fired to ships in distress near shore and enable a rescue chair to be set up. Hengler was credited with inventing the rocket element of the lifesaving equipment. In August 1882, Hengler advertised “the newly-invented Green Fire" as part of a new fireworks display, shortly after the recipe for a chlorate-based green fire had been published in ''The Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature and the Arts''. Advertising claimed that the green fire was “unknown to any other Artist”. In 1830, Hood's Comic Annual published an ''Ode to Madame Hengler, the Firework maker to Vauxhall'' and in 1839 the poet
Thomas Hood Thomas Hood (23 May 1799 – 3 May 1845) was an English poet, author and humorist, best known for poems such as "The Bridge of Sighs" and " The Song of the Shirt". Hood wrote regularly for '' The London Magazine'', '' Athenaeum'', and ''Punch' ...
also wrote an ''Ode to Madame Hengler''.


Later life and commemoration

In 1841 her daughter Magdalene, took over running the business and Hengler retired. Sarah Hengler was killed in a fire at the Asylum Buildings premises during October 1845. Her son Michael performed as a tightrope dancer on the same bill as Madame Saqui in the Hippdrome in Paris in 1852, to "immense success". The family circus business is commemorated by a pub called The Hengler’s Circus in Glasgow, where their circus ran on
Sauchiehall Street Sauchiehall Street () is one of the main shopping streets in the city centre of Glasgow, Scotland, along with Buchanan Street and Argyle Street. Although commonly associated with the city centre, Sauchiehall Street is over in length. At its ...
between 1904 and 1924.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hengler, Sarah 1760s births 1845 deaths 18th-century English businesspeople 18th-century English women artists 18th-century English businesswomen 19th-century English businesswomen 19th-century English businesspeople 19th-century English women artists Artists from Surrey Deaths from fire Fireworks People from Surrey