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'The Aeronauts' replaces history's Henry Coxwell with woman balloonist: The 18th and 19th-century women that inspired Amelia Wren

The film replaces Coxwell with a fictional character called Amelia Wren, a wealthy widow. This creative liberty begs the questions: Is there any historical relevance to a woman aeronaut from the 19th century? Or is this an attempt to somewhat sanitize history with an empowered female protagonist?

Amazon Prime Video’s upcoming semi-biographical period drama/adventure flick ‘The Aeronauts’ tells the tale of a hot air balloonist and a meteorologist who flew seven miles into the heavens in pursuit of scientific progress. It dramatizes James Glashier’s 1862 balloon expedition with dentist and fellow-aeronaut, Henry Coxwell.

While Glaisher’s role in the film has been played by Eddie Redmayne, Coxwell’s role has been changed a bit. The film replaces Coxwell with a fictional character called Amelia Wren a wealthy widow and an amateur balloonist, played by Felicity Jones.

This creative liberty begs the question: Is there any historical relevance to a woman aeronaut from the 19th century? Or is this an attempt to somewhat sanitize history with an empowered female protagonist?

While it is easy to assume the latter, given the 19th century wasn’t at all an era conducive to the emancipation of women, it is not quite so. In fact, Felicity Jones, in an interview with Parade magazine cleared that out.

She said, “The character is inspired by Sophie Blanchard, an extraordinary aeronaut. She was one of the first women to fly solo in a balloon. She was a fantastic character who set fireworks off from the basket. She’s an inspiration for Amelia Wren, the character I play.”

So who was Sophie Blanchard? Blanchard was a French aeronaut and the wife of ballooning pioneer Jean-Pierre Blanchard. She was the first woman to work as a professional balloonist, which she continued to do even after her husband’s death. She is estimated to have made more than 60 ascents. 

According to the Smithsonian magazine, Blanchard became a favorite of both Napoleon Bonaparte and Louis XVIII, who bestowed upon her official aeronaut appointments. Her solo flights became famous all over Europe.

Marvelous as they might have been, they were also perilous. In the summer of 1819, she became the first woman to be killed in an aviation accident. A British tourist named John Poole, who was then in Paris and an eye-witness, wrote of her death on July 6, 1819. 

Poole wrote: “For a few minutes, the balloon was concealed by clouds. Presently it reappeared, and there was seen a momentary sheet of flame… In a few seconds, the poor creature, enveloped and entangled in the netting of her machine, fell with a frightful crash upon the slanting roof of a house in the Rue de Provence… and thence into the street, and Madame Blanchard was taken up a shattered corpse.”

But Blanchard wasn’t the only one. And she certainly wasn’t the first woman to soar to the skies on a balloon. In 1784, two years after Joseph Montgolfier invented the hot air balloon, a 19-year-old Frenchwoman named Elisabeth Thible was the first woman to go on an untethered balloon flight.

According to Atlas Obscura, M. Fleurant, a painter, amateur aeronaut and the Count Jean-Baptiste de Laurencin were scheduled to go up in “La Gustave”, a hot-air balloon. However, the Count supposedly, in a fit of nervousness, gave his spot to Thible, a widowed opera singer.

Thible, dressed as the goddess Minerva, climbed into the balloon to the delight and shock of the assembled crowd. Andre-Jacques Garnerin, who became the first person to parachute out of a balloon and was later made the “Official Aeronaut of France”, was also instrumental in the accession of women into the heavens.

His wife Jeanne-Genevieve Labrosse, also supposedly his star pupil, became the first woman to fly solo on November 10, 1798. A year later, she also became the first woman to parachute from a balloon. She dived from an altitude of 900 meters.

The history of ballooning is chockful of women pioneers. But their recognition and contributions are usually forgotten. Perhaps then it is a good thing that 'The Aeronauts' has chosen to honor them through their creative leap.

'The Aeronauts' had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival August 30. The film will be released in theaters December 6 and will be available on Amazon Prime Video December 20.