Benson, Mary, 1842-1918

Biography

Mary Benson was born on December 9, 1919 in Pretoria, South Africa. She attended school in Australia. After her studies, she became secretary with British High Commission in Pretoria, South Africa from 1940 to 1941. She worked with the film director David Lean in London from 1947 to 1949. Subsequently she became the co-founder and secretary of Africa Bureau, London from the years 1950 to 1957. Benson lobbied in England and at the United Nations on South African issues and was active in the African Development Trust and National Campaign for the Abolition of Capital Punishment. She was also a known activist against apartheid. Benson left South Africa and became a political exile in London in 1966. Her publications include Tshekedi Khama (1960), Chief Albert Lutuli of South Africa (1963), The African patriots: the story of the African National Congress of South Africa (1963), At the still point (1970), and Nelson Mandala (1980).