Helen Kemp Porter (née Archbold, later Huggett; 10 November 1899 – 7 December 1987) was a British botanist from Imperial College London.

Her studies of polysaccharide metabolism in tobacco plants were groundbreaking; she was one of the first British scientists to use the innovative technologies of chromatography and radioactive tracers.

Her father, George Kemp Archbold, was the headmaster of a school and her mother, Caroline Emily Broughton Whitehead, was a Belgian-trained professional singer.

[2]: 1042  She was educated at home during her early years in a conservative Victorian environment, acquiring skill in reading and writing French and English.

[1]: 402  In her early years, she travelled extensively, canoeing the Danube River in the 1920s and making several trips to Middle Eastern archaeological sites.

[1]: 404 Porter continued her studies at Imperial College London as a postgraduate student; she worked in the organic chemistry laboratory run by Professor Thorpe under Dr. Martha Whiteley.

[1]: 404  By 1931, Porter and her team had successfully understood the chemical reactions in stored apples but had not yet ascertained their cause; that year, the study's funding was cut off and their research was concluded.

Porter also began work with the Research Institute of Plant Physiology at Imperial College and the Rothamstead Experimental Laboratories.

Instead, Porter and her research group found that the carbohydrates in the plant's stem were used for energy late in its life cycle; the starch was actually synthesised directly in the grain.

The next year, Porter was promoted to the position of Principal Scientific Officer of the Institute of Plant Physiology and was appointed Reader of Enzymology in the Botany Department.

Porter retired from her position as department head in 1964, the same year that she spearheaded the creation of specialised task forces in the Society and became Second Secretary to the College's Agricultural Research Council.