Eve Wiltshaw

1927-2008

Vol XII

Web

b.23 January 1927 d.13 May 2008

MB BCh Wales MD MRCP FRCP(1981) OBE(1992)

This biography is part of a series of historical obituaries, originally published in print. As products of their time periods, some biographies contain language which is inappropriate and offensive and present biased accounts of physicians’ lives and work that do not disclose unethical and discriminatory behaviour. As an establishment organisation, the RCP, its members, and the way they are written about, have often reflected societal power structures that favour dominant groups. We aim to redress these biases through ongoing work.

Below is the biography as originally published between 2005 and 2018.

Eve Wiltshaw was a consultant physician at the Royal Marsden Hospital and one of the pioneers of medical oncology. She was the Royal Marsden’s first medical director, wrote a history of the hospital published in 19981 and received an OBE in 1992 for her outstanding contribution to cancer care.²

Eve Wiltshaw was born on 23 January 1927, the daughter of Cuthbert Frederick Wiltshaw, the owner and managing director of the company in Stoke-on-Trent that produced the famous ‘Carlton Ware’ brand of British pottery, and his wife Alice M M (née Tomkinson).

Eve attended Gloddaeth Hall boarding school in Llandudno, North Wales, before going to the University of Wales for her medical degree. Junior posts followed in South Wales and Birmingham and she also had a spell abroad as a resident in haematology at Tufts University, Boston, USA. Her first senior roles were as a Medical Research Council scientist (senior grade B) at the Institute of Cancer Research and as consultant physician at the Royal Marsden Hospital.

At the Marsden, Eve was involved in clinical trials, and published many papers on various aspects of oncology. It was her team that gave the drug cisplatin to patients in the UK for the very first time. The promising results led to the widespread use of the drug, saving and prolonging many lives.3 Eve was described as one of the pioneers of medical oncology and helped establish the hospital’s Sarcoma Unit, including a multidisciplinary team (MDT) to care for patients. She rose to become the Marsden’s first medical director, a major achievement and unusual for a woman at the time, and in 1992 received an OBE for services to cancer care.

This excerpt from the Royal Marsden’s own magazine gives an insight into Eve’s personality:

‘Dr Wiltshaw was a great character and was extremely popular amongst her colleagues. She would often arrive at work in her Rolls Royce along with her Great Dane. The dog would sleep in her office, accompany her to meetings and was taken for walks by her PA.’²

Even died on 13 May 2008 and a memorial service was held in the Chapel at Chelsea to honour her life. The Wiltshaw Ward at the Royal Marsden was opened in 1991 and still exists today.

RCP editor

References/further reading

1 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15511428-a-history-of-the-royal-marsden-hospital (Accessed 30 November 2022)

2 https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/32115707/rm-magazine-spring-2010-the-royal-marsden (Accessed 30 November 2022)

3 https://news.cancerresearchuk.org/2015/08/26/cisplatin-the-story-of-a-platinum-selling-life-saver/ (Accessed 30 November 2022)

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