Cynthia Illingworth was the first consultant in paediatric accident and emergency, wrote a diagnosis and care manual for paediatric emergencies and sat on national committees on accident prevention, child abuse and service provision.
Cynthia Mary Illingworth was a consultant in paediatric accident and emergency medicine at Sheffield Children's Hospital (1972-1985). She was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the daughter of Arthur Blenkinsop Redhead, an electrical engineer, and Mary Ann Walker, a schoolteacher. She was educated at Dame Allan’s School for Girls, and then studied medicine at Durham University. Her student years were affected by the war – she cycled around Newcastle in the blackout to attend home deliveries, and she qualified six months early because of the shortage of doctors.
She held a house physician post at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle, under Sir James Spence, and was then a registrar and resident medical officer there. She was later a research assistant under Spence.
In 1947 the new professor of child health at Sheffield, Ronald Illingworth appointed her as a tutor in child health. They married shortly afterwards. She worked in the accident and emergency department at Sheffield Children’s Hospital and became the first consultant in paediatric accident and emergency medicine in the UK. She empathised with injured children and their parents and was a mentor to many of her staff. She was on several national committees on accident prevention, child abuse and service provision.
She and her husband wrote Babies and young children: feeding, management and care (London, J & A Churchill, 1954; 7th edition 1984) and Lessons from childhood: some aspects of the early life of unusual men and women (Edinburgh and London, E & S Livingstone, 1966). She also wrote The diagnosis and primary care of accident and emergencies in children: a manual for the casualty officer and the family doctor (Oxford, Blackwell Scientific, 1978; 2nd edition 1982), as well as papers on a variety of subjects, including poisoning in childhood, patterns of accidents and the regeneration of amputated finger tips.
Outside medicine, she enjoyed travelling, the theatre, music and painting. She and Ronald had three children, Andrea, Robin and Corinne. All three qualified as doctors and became Fellows of the College. There are six grandchildren. She died suddenly with unsuspected carcinomatosis.
RCP Editor, revised by Robin Illingworth 29.10.2021.
[Brit.med.J.,1999,319,1204]