Blue Plaque unveiled for Hove balloon pioneers
A Blue Plaque commemorating the Short Brothers, pioneers of aviation who tested their coal gas air balloons in St Ann’s Well Gardens between 1901 and 1903, has been unveiled at the entrance of the park.
It was funded by the Sussex Industrial Archaeology Society who were delighted to be involved as only six other plaques in Brighton and Hove commemorate pioneering industrial developments. The event, on 9 August 2025, was attended by members of the public, supporters of St Ann’s Well Gardens, descendants of the Short family and Short Brothers historians with a photographic exhibition showing the company’s history.
Eustace and Oswald Short began manufacturing balloons designed to carry flight pioneers, called aeronauts, at their brother Horace’s engineering laboratory in Hove in 1901. Their first trial flight took place in the park in 1901 and was reported by the Brighton Gazette as a great success.
Gas was pumped into the balloon over seven hours, sandbags were hung from the netting covering the balloon and finally the wicker passenger basket was attached. For a small fee, visitors could ascend to 100 ft as the guide ropes were played out. Was this an Edwardian equivalent to the i360?
The highlight of the day was at about 6.45pm when Mr Oswald Short and Mr William Johnson entered the basket, the ropes were cast off, and the balloon rose high into the sky. The balloon landed without mishap in a market garden at Willingdon near Eastbourne.
Many other trial flights were launched from St Ann’s Well Gardens and by 1903 they were attracting so many buyers the brothers needed bigger premises.
They moved to London where they quickly built up a successful business but soon realised that balloons would be left behind and planes would be the future of flight. Horace, a brilliant engineer, joined them in 1908 and their firm, Short Brothers, made some of the first planes in the history of powered flight. They built the Sunderland flying boats and Stirling bombers which made a major contribution to Britain’s defences in World War ll.
Horace’s engineering laboratory was eventually demolished and replaced in 1930 by the spectacular Dubarry Perfume Building opposite Hove Station.
