The ascent of hydrogen and hot-air balloons was a popular attraction at London's pleasure gardens during the 19th century, and finding safe methods of descending from the balloons was a contemporary concern in the 1830s. This illustration, the front cover of the magazine The Mirror, or, Literature, Amusement and Instruction for Saturday June 15, 1839, shows various views of John Hampton's Albion Balloon's ascent and descent at Cremorne House, Chelsea on 13 June 1839. His balloon is shown attached to the parachute below, in which Mr. Hampton is standing.

John Hampton (b.1799) was in the navy before he began his career as an astronaut with an ascent from the Eyre Arms Tavern, St. John's Wood, on 7 June 1838. After various mishaps, including landing in the sea and being rescued by boat after an ascent from Rochester, Hampton developed his parachute which he first exhibited and used in an ascent from the Montpellier Gardens, Cheltenham, on 3 October 1838, becoming the first Englishman to make a successful parachute jump.

Hampton's parachute was based on Garnerin’s ‘umbrella’ design, consisting of a canvas envelope stretched over a framework of whalebone ribs and bamboo stretchers, attached by a copper tube to a small wicker car. John Hampton retired in 1852, unlike Robert Cocking whose attempt to descend in a similarly-designed parachute had resulted in his death on 24 July 1837.