City’s hospice care pioneer Marjory Cockburn dies at the age of 91

ONE OF the pioneers of hospice care in Sheffield and nationally has died at the age of 91.

Marjory Cockburn MBE joined St Luke’s Hospice as Matron in Sheffield in 1974 and she remained with the charity until her retirement in 1990.

Born in 1927, Marjory trained as a nurse at King’s College Hospital, London and subsequently worked in the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Oxford and the Nuffield Maternity Unit and Churchill Hospital, Oxford.

She then attended the Church Mission Society training college and worked in Nigeria from 1961 to 1973, taking up her post as second matron of St Luke’s on her return to Britain.

She was very involved with nurse education at St Luke’s and spoke at many seminars and conferences on the care of the dying, patients and family and was involved with Sir Kenneth Calman at the Witness Seminar on Palliative Medicine held by the History of Modern Biomedicine Research Group, as recently as February 2012.

Since retirement, she acted as a consultant in the setting up of a hospice in Guernsey and was involved with various bereavement groups in Sheffield and in London.

She was awarded an MBE in 1991 for her hospice work.

The Chief Executive of St Luke’s Peter Hartland paid tribute, saying: “Marjory had a huge presence at St Luke’s and was part of the team, along with our Founder Professor Eric Wilkes, upon which the present day St Luke’s is built.”

She died in St Luke’s In Patient Centre on September 22.

A service of thanksgiving for Marjory’s life is to take place at St Gabriel’s Church Greystones on Tuesday October 16 at 1.45pm.