Cynthia Illingworth


Cynthia Mary Illingworth FRCP FRCPCH was an English consultant paediatrician and medical author. She was the first consultant in paediatric accident and emergency medicine in the United Kingdom.

Biography

Cynthia Mary Redhead was born in Newcastle upon Tyne on 3 August 1920. Her father, Arthur Blenkinsop Redhead, was an electrical engineer. She was educated at Dame Allan's School and went on to study medicine at Durham University. She medical training was taken at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle, working with the paediatrician Sir James Spence.
In 1947, she took up a position as a lecturer in child health at the University of Sheffield. She was a physician in the paediatric accident and emergency department at Sheffield Children's Hospital. In 1972 she was became the first consultant in paediatric accident and emergency medicine in the UK.
In 1947 she married Ronald Illingworth and together they had two daughters and a son. Their children all became physicians. She had six grandchildren.
She enjoyed travel, painting, the theatre, and music.
Illingworth died suddenly on 30 August 1999 of carcinomatosis.

Selected bibliography

Illingworth authored and co-authored more than ten medical text books and several journal articles including: