Alongside her husband, she trained horses in Cheshire. Her husband served with the Cheshire Yeomanry in the Second World War. The couple bought the Woodway stable near Blewbury from trainer Francis Cobb in 1945, and moved to Berkshire (now Oxfordshire).
She took over the running of the Woodway stable after her husband was killed in a hunting accident in 1952. The Jockey Club refused to issue training licences to women until Florence Nagle won a court case in 1966, and so the licence was held by a series of male assistants. While she continued to train the horses, the licence was officially held by Colonel Dick Poole, then Charles Jerdein, then her cousin Peter Walwyn, before her son Fulke Johnson Houghton took over in 1961. Her achievements were belatedly recognised by the Jockey Club in December 1977, when she was one of the first three women to be elected as a member, alongside Priscilla Hastings and Ruth Wood (née Primrose), Countess of Halifax.
Her horse Gilles de Retz won the 2,000 Guineas in 1956 under Charles Jerdein's name, at odds of 50–1.
Other successful horses included
The licence has been held by her granddaughter Eve Johnson Houghton since January 2007.[2]
Helen Johnson Houghton's achievements were belatedly recognised by the Jockey Club when she was one of the first women to be elected as a member in 1977.[3]
She was survived by her son and daughter.