Benson , Mary , b 1919 , civil rights campaigner and author

Mary Benson was born in South Africa in 1919. After a period spent travelling in Europe and the United States she enlisted in the South African Women's Army as a Personal Assistant and was sent to the Middle East, Italy, Greece and Austria. Following the War she became secretary to the film director, David Lean. On reading Alan Paton's Cry, the Beloved Country in 1948, she became friendly with the author and determined to involve herself more fully in South African politics. From 1950-1956 she assisted the radical Anglican priest, Rev. Michael Scott and helped to found the African Bureau in London. In 1957, Mary Benson became Secretary of the Treason Trials Defence Fund. Her biography of Tshekedi Khama was published in 1960 and then in 1963 The African Patriots: The Story of the African National Congress of South Africa. In May 1963 she became the first South African to testify at the Committee on Apartheid at the United Nations, risking imprisonment on her return by calling for sanctions. In February 1966 she was banned and placed under house arrest until she went into exile later that spring.

Mary Benson's other writings include a novel, At the Still Point (1969), South Africa: The Struggle for a Birthright (an update of African Patriots) (1966), and Nelson Mandela (1986). She also edited Athol Fugard's Notebooks (1983) and has written a number of radio plays.