Helen Benson
Gertrude Helen Benson was a New Zealand professor of home science. She was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, England, on 25 January 1886. Benson completed a BSc in natural sciences at Cambridge but didn't receive her degree until 1919, some years after finishing. After completing a postgraduate diploma in household and social science from King's College, London, Benson was appointed as a lecturer in chemistry and household and social economics in the School of Home Sciences at the University of Otago from 1911.
When Professor Winifred Boys-Smith retired in 1920, Benson became Professor of Home Science and dean of the Faculty of Home Science. Benson married William Noel Benson in December 1923, after which she resigned from her position at the university.
In 1920, after studying in the United States and Canada, Benson founded the New Zealand branch of the International Federation of University Women, and was its first president.
