Margaret Graham (née Watson; c. 1804 – c. 1864)[1] was the first British woman to make a solo balloon flight, a feat which she accomplished in 1826.
[2] She was born in Walcot, Bath, and married the pioneer balloonist George Graham, with whom she first flew on 2 June 1824, when he made an ascent from White Conduit Gardens in Islington, London.
[3] On 28 June 1826, a flight was planned in which Mrs Graham and a woman named Jane Stocks were due to ascend from White Conduit Gardens.
[6] On 7 August 1850, a balloon in which Mrs Graham was travelling caught fire following its descent near Edmonton,[7] London, but she survived the accident.
Margaret Graham died impoverished at the age of 60 in 1864 and was buried in an unmarked common grave at Abney Park Cemetery.