What was the name of Ireland’s first balloonist?

Richard Crosbie was Ireland’s first balloonist.

Crosbie made Ireland’s first balloon ascent on 19 January 1784 at Ranelagh Gardens in Dublin. He had studied the early French balloon experiments and built a balloon for public demonstration. The event attracted considerable attention because ballooning was then a new and technically uncertain form of travel.

Crosbie’s ascent was part of the rapid spread of ballooning across Europe after the Montgolfier brothers’ demonstrations in 1783. He later planned an ambitious attempt to cross the Irish Sea, although that project did not succeed as intended.

Ireland’s early balloon history is sometimes mixed up with the first flights by visiting French aeronauts. Crosbie’s importance is specifically his role as the first Irish aeronaut to make a recorded ascent in Ireland, not as the inventor of the balloon or the first person to fly anywhere.