This photograph shows a portrait of Dame Helen Gwynne-Vaughan by Philip Alexius de László. Helen Gwynne-Vaughan, (née Fraser, 1879-1967), was a prominent British botanist who also had a distinguished military career. In 1909 she succeeded her husband, David Thomas Gwynne-Vaughan, as Head of Department of Botany at Birkbeck College. In 1921 she became the College’s first female professor. She retired as Professor Emeritus in 1944. During the First World War, Gwynne-Vaughan was appointed Controller of the Women