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Margaret Jane Benson

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Margaret Jane Benson
Benson c. 1911
Born(1859-10-20)20 October 1859
London, England
Died20 June 1936(1936-06-20) (aged 76)
Highgate, London
NationalityBritish
Alma mater
Scientific career
FieldsBotany
Institutions
Doctoral advisorFrancis Wall Oliver
Doctoral students
Other notable students

Margaret Jane Benson (20 October 1859 – 20 June 1936) was an English botanist specialising in paleobotany, and one of the first female members of the Linnean Society of London.[1] Most of her career was spent as the head of the Department of Botany at Royal Holloway College, University of London from 1893 to 1922.[2] In 1927, a botanical laboratory was dedicated in her name.[2] She travelled extensively with Ethel Sargant, collecting specimens, laboratory equipment, and meeting other botanists around the world. Her students included Dame Helen Gwynne-Vaughan, Theodora Lisle Prankerd, Nesta Ferguson, and Emily Mary Berridge.[3][4]

Early life and education

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Benson was born 20 October 1859 in London to William Benson and Edmunda Bourne, who was the daughter of the landscape painter James Bourne.[5] Benson's mother was also a painter and exhibited at the Royal Academy of Art.[6]

Benson was introduced to botany by her father, an engineer and architect with an interest in the subject.[5] She was first educated by her sister, who had attended Queen's College.[4] In 1878–9 she studied Classical Studies for one year at Newnham College, Cambridge, before working for seven years as a teacher at Exeter High School in order to have the finance for university study.[7][8] She then matriculated to University College London in 1887 and earned her bachelor's degree in Botany with first class honors from the university in 1891.[7][2] She gained a Marion Kennedy research scholarship[7] and earned her doctorate in 1894 from the University of London, working with Francis Wall Oliver.[5] Her work focused on embryology of a category of Fagales that were called Amentiferae at the time.

Work and achievements

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Benson started working as a lecturer at Royal Holloway College in 1889.[7] Benson was appointed head of the Botany Department at Royal Holloway College in 1893,[5] and remained so until her retirement in 1922. She was the first female Botanist to become a department head in the UK.[2] In 1897, Benson travelled around Europe with Ethel Sargent to gain equipment and knowledge to set up the department.[9] Benson is also credited with planning and stocking the Botanical Garden, Herbarium and Museum.[5]

Benson made various collecting trips for botanical material, including to Australia in 1905–1906, and to Australia, Java and India in 1914-15.[5] Her observations of herbaceous plants from the early Paleozoic era and the earliest true ferns are considered notable.[5] She proposed a model for the evolution of the ovule,[10] which remains a likely explanation.[2] She also described the species Cordaites felicis found in coal deposits in England.[11] To adopt the new technique of microscopic anatomy of fossils, she cut sections herself with a gas-powered machine in her garden shed.[8] Her papers are characterised by precise drawings and wash-paintings which are believed to be produced by Benson herself.[2]

In 1904, she became a fellow of the Linnean Society of London,[1] one of the first fifteen women who were admitted.[5][12] In 1912 she was made a Professor by the University of London.[5]

Death and legacy

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Upon her retirement in 1922,[5] Benson was succeeded by Professor Elizabeth Marianne Blackwell as Head of Botany at Royal Holloway College. Benson died in Highgate on 20 June 1936, and Blackwell authored Benson's official obituary.[4]

Publications

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  • M Benson (1893) Contributions to the Embryology of the Amentiferæ.—Part I. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. 2nd Series: Botany 3(10):409-–424[13]
  • M Benson (1902) A new Lycopodiaceous seed-like organ. The New Phytologist 1(3): 58-59[14]
  • M Benson (1902) The fruitification of Lyginodendron oldhamium. Annals of Botany os-16(3): 575–576[15]
  • M Benson (1904) Telangium Scotti, a new Species of Telangium (Calymmatotheca) showing structure. Annuals of Botany 18(69): 161-177[10]
  • M Benson, E Sanday, E Berridge (1906) III. Contributions to the Embryology of the Amentiferæ.—Part II. Carpinus Betulus. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. 2nd Series: Botany 7(3):37–44[16]
  • M Benson (1908) The Sporangiophore - A Unit of Structure in the Pteridophyta. The New Phytologist 7: 143-149[17]
  • M Benson (1908) X. Miadesmia membranacea, Bertand; a new Palœozoic Lycopod with a seed-like structure. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 199 (251-261): 409-425[18]
  • M Benson (1908) On the Contents of the Pollen Chamber of a Specimen of Lagenostoma ovoides. Biological Gazette 45(6): 409-412[19]
  • M Benson and EJ Welsford (1909) The Morphology of the Ovule and female flower of Juglans regia and of a few allied genera. Annuals of Botany 23(92):623-633[20]
  • M Benson (1910) Root Parasitism in Exocarpus (with comparative Notes on the Haustoria of Thesium). Annals of Botany, os-24 (4): 667–677[21]
  • M Benson (1911) New observations on Botryopteris antiqua, Kidston. Annuals of Botany 25(100):1045-1057[22]
  • M Benson (1912) Cordaites felicis, nov. sp., a Cordaitean leaf from the lower coal measures of England. Annuals of Botany os-26(1):201-207[11]
  • M Benson (1914) I.—Sphærostoma ovale (Conostoma ovale et intermedium, Williamson), a Lower Carboniferous Ovule from Pettycur, Fifeshire, Scotland. Earth and Environment Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 50(1): 1-17[23]
  • M Benson (1918) Mazocarpon or the Structural Sigillariostrobus. Annuals of Botany 32(128):569-589[24]
  • M Benson (1921) The grouping of vascular plants. The New Phytologist 20(2): 82-89[25]
  • M Benson (1922) Hetertheca Grievii the microsporange of Heterangium Grievii. Botanical Gazette 74(2): 121-142[26]
  • M Benson and E Blackwell (1926) Observations on a lumbered area in Surrey from 1917 to 1925. Journal of Ecology 14(1):120-137[27]
  • M Benson (1933) The Roots and Habit of Heterangium Grievii. Annals of Botany os-47(2): 313–315[28]

See also

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References

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  • BENSON, Margaret J., Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2016 (online edition, Oxford University Press, 2014)
  1. ^ a b Linnean Society of London [1].
  2. ^ a b c d e f H.E. Fraser & C.J.Cleal, The Contribution of British Women to Carboniferous Palaeobotany during the first half of the 20th Century, in Cynthia V. Burek & Bettie Higgs, The role of Women in the History of Geology, Geological Society of London, 2007 ISBN 9781862392274, pp. 51–54
  3. ^ Joy Harvey and Marilyn Ogilvie, The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: Pioneering Lives from Ancient Times to the Mid-Twentieth Century, Volume 1 (Google eBook), p. 116, Taylor & Francis US, 2000.
  4. ^ a b c Blackwell, E. M. (1937). "Dr. Margaret Benson (Obituary)". Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London. 149 (4): 186–189. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.1937.tb00139.x.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Creese, Mary R S (2004). "Benson, Margaret Jane". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/46416. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  6. ^ A collection of drawings by the Bourne family (c1773–1854). Bourne, James, 1773-1854, of 7 Somerset Street, Portman Square, London; Bourne, Edmunda, fl 1820–1844, of 7 North Crescent, Hertford.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  7. ^ a b c d Creese, Mary R S (2000). Ladies in the Laboratory? American and British Women in Science, 1800–1900: A survey of their contributions to research. 0810832879: Scarecrow Press. p. 39.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  8. ^ a b Fara, Patricia (2018). A lab of one's own. Oxford University Press. p. 126. ISBN 9780198794981.
  9. ^ Joyce Harvey and Marilyn Ogilvie, The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: Pioneering Lives from Ancient Times to the Mid-Twentieth Century, Volume 1 (Google eBook), p. 116, Taylor & Francis US, 2000.
  10. ^ a b Benson, M. (1904). "Telangium Scotti, a new Species of Telangium (Calymmatotheca) showing Structure". Annals of Botany. 18 (69): 161–177. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.aob.a088950. ISSN 0305-7364. JSTOR 43235563.
  11. ^ a b Benson, Margaret (1 January 1912). "Cordaites Felicis, sp. nov., a Cordaitean Leaf from the Lower Coal Measures of England". Annals of Botany. os-26 (1): 201–207. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.aob.a089385. ISSN 0305-7364.
  12. ^ Toogood, Mark D.; Waterton, Claire F. J.; Heim, M. Wallace (April 2020). "Women scientists and the Freshwater Biological Association, 1929–1950". Archives of Natural History. 47 (1): 16–28. doi:10.3366/anh.2020.0618. S2CID 204475518. Archived from the original on 15 January 2021. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  13. ^ Benson, Margaret (1 November 1893). "XI. Contributions to the Embryology of the Amentiferæ.—Part I". Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. 2nd Series: Botany. 3 (10): 409–424. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.1894.tb00624.x. ISSN 1945-9351.
  14. ^ Benson, Margaret (1902). "A New Lycopodiaceous Seed-Like Organ". The New Phytologist. 1 (3): 58–59. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8137.1902.tb06555.x. ISSN 0028-646X. JSTOR 2427331.
  15. ^ Benson, Margaret (1 September 1902). "The Fructification of Lyginodendron Oldhamium". Annals of Botany. os-16 (3): 575–576. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.aob.a088890. ISSN 0305-7364.
  16. ^ Berridge, Emily; Sanday, Elizabeth; Benson, Margaret (1 April 1906). "III. Contributions to the Embryology of the Amentiferæ.—Part II. Carpinus Betulus". Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. 2nd Series: Botany. 7 (3): 37–44. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.1906.tb00150.x. ISSN 1945-9351.
  17. ^ Benson, M. (1908). "The Sporangiophore-A Unit of Structure in the Pteridophyta". The New Phytologist. 7 (6/7): 143–149. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8137.1908.tb06081.x. ISSN 0028-646X. JSTOR 2427255.
  18. ^ Benson Margaret; Scott Dukinfield Henry (1 January 1908). "X. Miadesmia membranacea, Bertand; a new Palœozoic Lycopod with a seed-like structure". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Containing Papers of a Biological Character. 199 (251–261): 409–425. doi:10.1098/rstb.1908.0010.
  19. ^ Benson, Margaret (1908). "On the Contents of the Pollen Chamber of a Specimen of Lagenostoma ovoides". Botanical Gazette. 45 (6): 409–412. doi:10.1086/329595. ISSN 0006-8071. JSTOR 2467224. S2CID 85036280.
  20. ^ BENSON, M.; WELSFORD, E. J. (1909). "The Morphology of the Ovule and Female Flower of Juglans regia and of a few allied Genera". Annals of Botany. 23 (92): 623–633. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.aob.a089244. ISSN 0305-7364. JSTOR 43235811.
  21. ^ Benson, Margaret (1 October 1910). "Root Parasitism in Exocarpus (with comparative Notes on the Haustoria of Thesium)". Annals of Botany. os-24 (4): 667–677. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.aob.a089297. ISSN 0305-7364.
  22. ^ BENSON, MARGARET (1911). "New Observations on Botryopteris antiqua, Kidston". Annals of Botany. 25 (100): 1045–1057. ISSN 0305-7364. JSTOR 43236750.
  23. ^ Benson, Margaret J. (1914). "I.—Sphærostoma ovale (Conostoma ovale et intermedium, Williamson), a Lower Carboniferous Ovule from Pettycur, Fifeshire, Scotland". Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 50 (1): 1–17. doi:10.1017/S0080456800017245. ISSN 2053-5945. S2CID 83832002.
  24. ^ BENSON, MARGARET J. (1918). "Mazocarpon or the Structural Sigillariostrobus". Annals of Botany. 32 (128): 569–589. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.aob.a089693. ISSN 0305-7364. JSTOR 43236279.
  25. ^ Benson, Margaret (1921). "The Grouping of Vascular Plants". The New Phytologist. 20 (2): 82–89. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8137.1921.tb05774.x. ISSN 0028-646X. JSTOR 2427971.
  26. ^ Benson, Margaret (1922). "Heterotheca Grievii the Microsporange of Heterangium Grievii". Botanical Gazette. 74 (2): 121–142. doi:10.1086/333069. ISSN 0006-8071. JSTOR 2469795.
  27. ^ Benson, Margaret; Blackwell, Elizabeth (1926). "Observations on a Lumbered Area in Surrey from 1917 to 1925". Journal of Ecology. 14 (1): 120–137. doi:10.2307/2255785. ISSN 0022-0477. JSTOR 2255785.
  28. ^ Benson, M. (1 April 1933). "The Roots and Habit of Heterangium Grievii". Annals of Botany. os-47 (2): 313–315. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.aob.a090386. ISSN 0305-7364.
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