Which Dragon's Den investor was the first female Dragon on the British programme?

Rachel Elnaugh was the first female Dragon on the British version of Dragon's Den.

Elnaugh joined the original investor panel when the programme began. Her business background was in retail and mail order, particularly through Red Letter Days, a company that sold experience gifts such as driving and leisure packages.

Her presence made her one of the defining figures of the early series. She later left the panel, and other female Dragons—including Deborah Meaden, Kelly Hoppen and Sara Davies—joined in subsequent years. Those later appointments are why viewers sometimes remember a different woman as the first.

The wording refers to the British programme's investor panel, not to the first woman to appear in any international version of the Dragons' Den format. It also refers to the first female Dragon, rather than the first female entrepreneur to pitch in the Den.