A new book linking Cornwall with the man who some say achieved powered flight before the Wright brothers is about to be launched at the Flambards Experience in Helston.
Richard Pearse was the fourth child of Digory Sargent Pearse who was brought up at Trewarlet Farm near Launceston. In 1865, Digory made the momentous decision to emigrate to New Zealand and, on 3 December 1877, Richard Pearse was born there.
A quiet, introspective boy - who was known as a bit of a dreamer - Richard enjoyed both music and sport. His dream was to study engineering at Canterbury College but his family couldn't afford it. Instead, he built himself a workshop on land that his father gave him and, after designing his own forge and lathe, he spent most of his time inventing gadgets.
One of those, inspired by an article in the magazine Scientific American, was a machine that would fly through the air. Richard built the plane out of bamboo tubing mounted on a tricycle frame and, on 31 March 1903 - 8 months before the Wright brothers famously took off from Kitty Hawk in America - he started the two cylinder petrol engine that he had also built and took off down the road.
According to eye witness reports, he flew 150 metres, at a height of 12 feet, before crashing into a gorse hedge. Undeterred by the landing, several further powered take-offs followed - most of them witnessed - earning the Cornish Kiwi what is rapidly being recognised as his rightful place in the history books.
Dave Moore, an aviation enthusiast from Nottingham who runs an annual writing competition for the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum, came across the story when Stephen Roberts from Glastonbury wrote a ten verse ballad about it as his entry to the competition. Not only did the ballad win in 2001 - it also set Dave off on a six year exploration of the Pearse family history that has resulted in a book entitled Who was Richard William Pearse?' "I was intrigued by what a poor farm boy managed to achieve," said Mr Moore. "He was developing his plane at the same time as the Wright brothers but, whilst they had financial backing and wide publicity, he had virtually nothing - even though he did fly first.
"His Cornish background fascinated me so I've spent the last six years tracing his family tree, looking at the social history that ultimately made Richard Pearse the man he was. I've made lots of trips to Cornwall in that time and I'm delighted that Flambards, which has a very interesting Pearse exhibition, has agreed to provide the venue for the book launch."
A number of the people Dave has managed to trace in his research will also be attending the launch. They include Rex and Julia Pearse from Slough who are descended from the Australian side of the family, Mark Dingle, the current owner of Trewarlet Farm near Launceston which once belonged to Richard's grandmother, Phil and Jo Parsons from West Petherwin Farm, the original home of the Australian Pearses, and Stephen Roberts who wrote the ballad that inspired Mr Moore's book.
The launch and book-signing will take place in Flambards' Exhibition Hall at 2pm on Thursday April 19.
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