Norah Lillian Penston

Norah Lillian Penston (20 August 1903 – 1 February 1974) was a British botanist and academic administrator.

She was educated at the Bolton School and St Anne's College, Oxford where she obtained a BA in botany in 1927.

She studied under W. O. James, researching the potassium nutrition of potatoes for her DPhil, which she gained in 1930.

From 1940 to 1944 she served as acting head of Botany at King's College.

[1] Appointed Principal of Bedford College in 1951, she remained there until her retirement in 1964.