Chief Controller Dame Helen Gwynne-Vaughan, Auxiliary Territorial Service, leaving the War Office, 9 September 1939

Photograph, World War Two (1939-1945), 1939.

Dame Helen Gwynne-Vaughan (née Fraser) (1879-1967) was a botanist and mycologist who played an important role in the establishment of women in the armed services.

After studying Botany at King's College, London, Gwynne-Vaughan pursued a successful academic career, becoming Head of the Botany Department at Birkbeck College, London.

During the First World War (1914-1918) she took a career break to support the war effort. She first joined the Red Cross and served in the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) and later joined the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC), the very first women's army unit.

The WAAC (renamed the Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps in 1918), had been established in 1917 primarily to free up men in behind the scenes roles in the British Army, such as in Army stores and in offices. Gwynne-Vaughan was appointed Controller of the WAAC (Overseas), Mona Calmers Watson being her counterpart in London.

For her service in the WAAC, Gwynne-Vaughan was awarded a military Dame Commander of the order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 1919 King's Birthday Honours. She was the first women to be awarded a military DBE. She also served as Commandant of the Women's Royal Air Force (WRAF) from 1918 to 1919. After the war she returned to her science career but, when the Second World War broke out, she saw service once again with the Army, this time as Chief Controller of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) from 1939 to 1941.