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Born in Newcastle in 1897 to a Cooney and a Cunningham, you might say this bairn was Irish; but she was a Geordie first. Margaret Graham was on the stage at 14 as a professional dancer in the Music Halls of Northern England.

By the age 16 she was playing the accordion as ‘Zelma - Lady Accordionist’. Some unknown circumstance or character during her stage days prepared her to assist The Captain, who was looking for a partner to give Boxing Displays on stage: a supplement to his show with trained animals and Margaret’s musical performances. So: not only was she a Lady Accordionist, she was also a Lady Boxer. Now: the last piece in the picture will get you thinking, because her Father took off for America while she was still a child; nobody knows why; and if I tell you that he was the Cooney - then you may begin to wonder. She had her first child to her new husband in 1914, and her last, the thirteenth, in 1933. Two of her daughters still live in Newcastle.