Ronald Illingworth

Ronald Stanley Illingworth
Born	(1909-10-01)1 October 1909 Harrogate, England
Died	4 June 1990(1990-06-04) (aged 80) Bergen, Norway
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Great Ormond Street Hospital
Awards	MRCS, FRCP, OBE, LRCP
Scientific career
Fields	Pediatrics, Author, Writer
Institutions	University of Sheffield Yale University

Ronald Stanley Illingworth MRCS LRCP, MB ChB, MD, MRCP, DPH, FRCP (1 October 1909 in Harrogate – 4 June 1990 in Bergen, Norway) was a British born Yorkshireman and a paediatrician of renown. He was also a prolific writer, who wrote some 600 articles and at least 21 books which were exceedingly popular and sold in large quantities. Illingworth was principally known for being largely responsible for introducing the science and practice of paediatricians to the UK in the early to mid 1940's.

Life

Illingworth was the youngest of three children of Herbert Edward Illingworth an architect, and his wife Ellen Brayshaw. He was educated in Clifton House Preparatory School, then Bradford Grammar School. He achieved a scholarship in classics to read medicine at Leeds University. After a number of house appointments, Illingworth was appointed as a clinical pathologist in general practice at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Before the war he was awarded a Nuffield research studentship in Oxford from the Nuffield Foundation and in 1939 a Rockefeller research fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation in 1939. During World War II Illingworth was conscripted into the Royal Army Medical Corps with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in charge of medical divisions in several military hospitals

After the war, he took up the Rockefeller Research Fellowship he was awarded, and spent six months in New Haven, Connecticut, USA, at Yale University with Dr. Arnold Gesell. He became interested in and studied Gessels approach to child development, called the Gesell’s Maturational Theory, an approach he studied, advocated for and taught the rest of his working life.

On his return to the UK he took up a position as an assistant to the consultant paediatrician at Great Ormond Street Hospital. In 1947 he took up first chair of child health in University of Sheffield, a position he held for 28 years until his retirement.

Illingworth was considered a excellent lecturer, who could deliver 3 or 4 lectures in a day, as a broadcaster he was equally persuasive. He was considered a keen but invariably constructive critic. As a writer, the quality of his writing is crisp, clear and simple of phrase and not a word to spare.

In 1947, he married Cynthia Redhead. He was extensively travelled.

Photography

Illingworth was considered a renowned photographer and was a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society and was considered a frequent lecturer at photographic societies. When he was a student Illingworth sold photos to the press to pay his living costs. During his career he built up a very large collection of slides, more 4000, that he used for teaching.

Awards and honours

• Medal of the University of Turku, Finland. 1974
• Aldrich award of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
• James Spence Medal 1977
• Dawson Williams prize of the British Medical Association.

Illingworth was also awarded honorary degrees from Bagdad, Sheffield and Leeds. In 1982 he was awarded the Freedom of the City of Sheffield.

Bibliography

Illingworth published some 600 articles and several books.

• Babies and young children : feeding, management and care, by Ronald S Illingworth and Cynthia Illingworth. Churchill Livingstone., 7th ed 1984.
• Recent advances in cerebral palsy. With a foreword by Norman B. Capon. by Ronald S Illingworth. J. & A. Churchill., 1958.
• The development of the infant and the young child: normal and upnormal by Ronald S Illingworth. Churchill Livingstone., 8th ed 1983.
• The Normal School Child. His problems, physical and emotional, by Ronald Stanley ILLINGWORTH. Churchill Livingstone., 10th ed., repr. 1992.
• An introduction to developmental assessment in the first year, by Ronald S Illingworth. National Spastics Society.
• The child at school : a paediatrician's manual for teachers, by Ronald S Illingworth Wiley., 1974.
• Common symptoms of disease in children by Ronald Stanley Illingworth. Blackwell., 1991.
• Basic developmental screening, 0-2 year, by Ronald S Illingworth. Oxford, Blackwell Scientific Publications; distributed in the U.S.A. by F.A. Davis Co., Philadelphia. 1973.
• Common ailments in toddlers. by Ronald S Illingworth. British Medical Association. [1960] Series: Family doctor booklet.
• Infections and immunisation in childhood, by Ronald S Illingworth. Edinburgh ; New York : Churchill Livingstone, 1981.
• An Introduction to Development Assessment in the First Year Preface by Dr. Mary D. Sheridan. [With illustrations]. by Ronald S Illingworth. National Spastics Society (Medical Education and Information Unit)., 1962.
• Some Aspects of Child Health, by Ronald S Illingworth. Sheffield., 1949.
• All about feeding your baby. by Ronald S Illingworth. British Medical Association., 1966.
• Children and sleep. by Ronald S Illingworth. Family Health Publications., [1956?]
• All about Feeding your baby illustrated by Gavin Rowe. by Ronald S Illingworth. Corgi., 1971.
• Toddlers-common problems. by Ronald S Illingworth; British Medical Association. British Medical Association., 1987.
• Basic developmental screening: 0-4 years by Ronald Stanley Illingworth. Blackwell Scientific, 1994.
• Common ailments in babies. by Ronald Stanley Illingworth.British Medical Association., 1980.
• Lessons from childhood: some aspects of the early life of unusual men and women, by Ronald S Illingworth; Cynthia M Illingworth. E.& S. Livingstone, 1969.
• The treatment of the child at home. by Ronald S Illingworth. Blackwell Scientific., 1972.