Bayshill Rd, Cheltenham GL50 3EP, United Kingdom
From 1895 to 1896, Helen was educated at Cheltenham Ladies' College, an all-girls independent boarding school in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
Strand, London WC2R 2LS, United Kingdom
In 1899, Helen attended the ladies' department of King's College, London to study for the University of Oxford entrance exams.
Senate House, Malet St, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 7HU, UNited Kingdom
Helen graduated from the University of London with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1904.
Senate House, Malet St, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 7HU, UNited Kingdom
Helen graduated from the University of London with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1904.
Strand, London WC2R 2LS, United Kingdom
In 1899, Helen attended the ladies' department of King's College, London to study for the University of Oxford entrance exams.
Bayshill Rd, Cheltenham GL50 3EP, United Kingdom
From 1895 to 1896, Helen was educated at Cheltenham Ladies' College, an all-girls independent boarding school in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
https://www.amazon.com/Fungi-Ascomycetes-Ustilaginales-Uredinales-Cambridge/dp/B00089G5IE/?tag=2022091-20
1922
https://www.amazon.com/structure-development-Charlotte-Isabella-Gwynne-Vaughan/dp/B00085GW0Y/?tag=2022091-20
1937
Botanist leader military mycologist
Helen Charlotte Isabella Fraser was born on January 21, 1879, in Westminster, London, England. She was the elder daughter of The Honourable Captain Arthur H. Fraser and Lucy Jane. Her father was an army officer and her mother was a novelist. Helen's father died when she was young. In 1887 her mother married for a second time to Francis Hay-Newton, a diplomat. Due to her step father's career, she spent a large amount of her youth living abroad.
In childhood, Helen was educated mainly by governesses. From 1895 to 1896, she was educated at Cheltenham Ladies' College, an all-girls independent boarding school in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
In 1899, she attended the ladies' department of King's College, London to study for the University of Oxford entrance exams. However, she stayed on at King's College as one of its first female students to study botany and zoology. She was awarded the Carter Medal in 1902 and graduated from the University of London with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1904. She also studied under Margaret Jane Benson, head of the Department of Botany at Royal Holloway College.
Having completed her bachelor's degree, Helen spent 1904 working as a demonstrator for mycologist V. H. Blackman at University College, London. She moved to Royal Holloway College in 1905 as a demonstrator to botanist Margaret Jane Benson. She was promoted to assistant lecturer in 1906. In 1907, she was appointed a lecturer in botany at University College, Nottingham.
In 1909, she was named head of the botany department at Birkbeck College, London. From 1917 to 1919, she took a break from academia to serve during the First World War.
In 1917, she was appointed Controller of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps in France, alongside Mona Chalmers Watson, Chief Controller of the WAAC in London For her service she was the first woman to be awarded a military DBE in January 1918. She served reluctantly as Commandant of the Women's Royal Air Force (WRAF) from September 1918 until December 1919.
Having returned from the War, in 1920 she applied for the Regius Professor of Botany at the University of Aberdeen; she was not successful. Instead, she returned to Birkbeck College and was appointed Professor of Botany in 1920. She continued her studies on fungi genetics. Gwynne-Vaughan resumed her academic career and in 1922 published the well-received Fungi: Ascomycetes, Ustilaginales, Uredinales. She was Head of Department from 1921 to 1939 and again from 1941 to 1944. She retired from full-time academia in 1944 and was appointed Professor Emeritus by the University of London.
Gwynne-Vaughan, who had gained a reputation as an efficient administrator in the WAAC, was asked by Sir William Weir, Secretary of State for Air, to take charge of the organization.
Gwynne-Vaughan was a great success as commander of the Women's Royal Air Force.
Gwynne-Vaughan helped to form the WRAF Old Comrades Association and became its first president in March 1920. With war with Germany looking inevitable in the summer of 1939, Gwynne-Vaughan was asked to become head of the recently established Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF).
Helen Gwynne-Vaughan was active in the Soldiers', Sailors' and Airmen's Families Association until just before her death in 1967.
Fungal species named in her honor include Palaeoendogone gwynne-vaughaniae and Pleurage gwynne-vaughaniae.
Gwynne-Vaughan was interested in politics. She stood in the 1922 London County Council election as a Municipal Reform Party councillor for Camberwell North: she was not elected. She stood as the Unionist parliamentary candidate for Camberwell North in the 1922, 1923, and 1924 General Elections. She lost by 254 votes in 1922, by 4686 in 1923, and by 3736 in 1924.
British Mycological Society , United Kingdom
the Soldiers', Sailors' and Airmen's Families Association , United Kingdom
the WRAF Old Comrades Association , United Kingdom
1920
Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) , United Kingdom
1939
On the outbreak of the First World War, Gwynne-Vaughan joined the Red Cross and became a VAD. This work was halted by the need to nurse her seriously ill husband. On the death of T. G. Gwynne-Vaughan in 1915, she returned to her voluntary war work.
Red Cross
1914
In 1911, Helen Gwynne-Vaughan married David Thomas Gwynne-Vaughan. Her husband died from tuberculosis after four years of marriage, and they did not have any children.
