Cecil Rupert Chaworth Lyster CBE (14 December 1859 – 26 January 1920) was a British physician, electrotherapist and radiologist.[1]

The monument to the Martyrs of Radiology in Hamburg

Lyster was the son of Alfred Chaworth Lyster and his wife Elizabeth (née Kennett). He began his career as resident medical officer at Charing Cross Hospital in London and then served as resident obstetrical officer from 1881 to 1882. Following travels in the United States and Europe, he was appointed medical superintendent of the Bolingbroke Hospital in 1885. Specialising in electro-therapeutics and radiology, he became medical officer-in-charge of the Electrical Department of Middlesex Hospital in 1902, while still continuing to work as a doctor at the Bolingbroke Hospital. He held these positions until his death.

Lyster was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in January 1920 for his work in the First World War.[2] He married Edith Thompson (died 1919) in 1903; they had no children. Lyster died from cancer caused by exposure to x-rays during his research,[3][4][5] the day before his CBE was gazetted. The gazette was later ante-dated to two days before his death.[6]

His name is included on the Monument to the X-ray and Radium Martyrs of All Nations erected in Hamburg, Germany, in 1936.[7]

Footnotes edit

  1. ^ "Cecil Rupert Chaworth Lyster, M.r.c.s". British Medical Journal. 1 (3083): 172. 31 January 1920. ISSN 0007-1447. PMC 2337125.
  2. ^ "No. 31760". The London Gazette (Supplement). 27 January 1920. p. 1237.
  3. ^ "A Doctor's Heroism: Research at Middlesex Hospital", The Times, 28 November 1919
  4. ^ "A Martyr to Science", The Times, 27 January 1920
  5. ^ Berry, R J (September 1986). "The radiologist as guinea pig: radiation hazards to man as demonstrated in early radiologists, and their patients". Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 79 (9): 506–509. doi:10.1177/014107688607900904. ISSN 0141-0768. PMC 1290453. PMID 3534263.
  6. ^ "No. 31788". The London Gazette. 20 February 1920. p. 2060.
  7. ^ "The History of X-rays in Dundee". University of Dundee. Retrieved 27 November 2016.

References edit