South African farmer and amateur botanist from the village of Haenertsburg, Transvaal, who trained at Witwatersrand University. She planted the Cheerio Gardens on the family farm at Magoebaskloof and developed a plant nursery, specialising in indigenous plants that she collected in the Transvaal, the Cape and in Zimbabwe. Much of the local material was collected during solitary walks lasting up to four days, taking little more than a knife, a tin and her cigarettes. She was an eccentric that wore her hair cut very short, khaki overalls with a leather belt, and preferred to sleep outside of her house. One of her discoveries was Aloe thompsoniae Groenew., which was named after her.