Gwynne-Vaughan, Helen (1879–1967)

British botanist who was the head of women's services in both world wars. Name variations: Dame Helen Gwynne-Vaughan. Born Helen Charlotte Isabella Fraser in England in 1879; died in 1967; attended Cheltenham Ladies' College and King's College, London; B.S. in Botany, 1904; D.S., 1907; married D.T. Gwynne-Vaughan, in 1911 (died 1915).

British botanist and college professor Dame Helen Gwynne-Vaughan combined an academic career with distinguished military service in two wars. Receiving her degree in botany in 1904, Gwynne-Vaughan taught at various London colleges while studying for her doctorate, which she received in 1907. In 1909, she became the head of the botany department at Birkbeck College in London. Early in her career, she was active in the University of London Suffrage Society, which she founded with Louisa Garrett Anderson . During World War I, Gwynne-Vaughan served as joint chief controller of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps in France, and then as a commandant in the Women's Royal Air Force (1918–19). Returning to Birkbeck College in 1921, she served as a member of the Royal Commission on Food Prices in 1924. At the onset of World War II in 1939, she was appointed the first director of the Auxiliary Territorial Service, although disagreements with senior officers brought about her forced resignation in 1942. She returned to Birk-beck College, where she remained until 1944. Gwynne-Vaughan published many scientific studies, two textbooks on fungi, and authored an autobiography, Service with the Army (1942). She was created Dame of the British Empire (DBE) in 1919 and Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) in 1926.