Stella May Henderson (25 October 1871 – 1 March 1962), also known as Mrs E. F. Allan and the journalistic pen name of Vesta, was a New Zealand feminist, university graduate and journalist. She was a founding member in 1896 of the National Council of Women of New Zealand and later of the National Council of Women of Australia. She was the first woman parliamentary reporter for a major New Zealand newspaper. Henderson was also a 1924 delegate to the League of Nations assembly in Geneva.
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Early life and education
Henderson was born in Kaiapoi, North Canterbury, New Zealand on 25 October 1871. She was the seventh of nine children of Alice and Daniel Henderson. The family spent some years living in Ashburton, but when Henderson was 11 the family moved to Christchurch.
She attended Christchurch Girls' High School when Helen Connon was principal, and won a Junior Scholarship to Canterbury College in 1888. She completed both a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Master of Arts degree, graduating with first class honours in English and Latin in 1893.
Henderson was initially interested in a career in law, although women were not permitted to practise law at the time. With the help of William Izard, who employed her, she began working in a law firm while attending classes at Canterbury College. Izard subsequently approached the local member of parliament, G.W. Russell, to introduce a private member's bill to Parliament to enable women to qualify as barristers and solicitors. The legislation, the Female Law Practitioners Act, was passed in 1896 and Henderson passed her final LLB exams in 1898.