Born and educated in Canterbury, Elizabeth Henderson took a lively interest in social and political issues from her early years, becoming secretary of the Canterbury Children’s Aid Society and a member of the Canterbury Progressive Liberal Association soon after leaving school. In 1903 she married James McCombs, who was a member of parliament for twenty years from 1913, and who supported his wife in furthering her knowledge and involvement in local and national concerns. As well as working for temperance, she was elected to the Christchurch City Council, the North Canterbury Hospital Board, and the Tramways Board, and chaired the Electricity Committee. She contested two Parliamentary elections for Labour before, in 1933, on the death of her husband, she was elected member for his former seat of Lyttelton with a large majority. This success gave her the distinction of being the first woman elected to the New Zealand Parliament.

Elizabeth McCombs was a very good public speaker, an outstanding administrator, with a firm grasp of the issues, and she had a strong social conscience. She brought a wealth of experience and skill to her parliamentary role, unhappily cut short by her premature death in 1935. In all her public activities, she was uncompromising in advocating for women to be involved in decision-making, and argued passionately for greater equality. She set the stage for women to be accepted and respected in the national legislature.