Charles P. Childe

Charles Plumley Childe (1858 – 30 January 1926) was a British surgeon, cancer researcher and public health activist.

Biography

Childe was born in Cape Colony. He was educated at Cambridge University and King's College Hospital for his medical training. He graduated from the University of the Cape of Good Hope with honours in 1877. He obtained a Warneford scholarship at King's College Hospital. In 1883, obtained the M.R.C.S., in 1885 the L.R.C.P. and in 1900 the M.R.C.P. He encouraged early detection of cancer and recourse to surgery. Childe's mission to propagate lay education of cancer was not popular in the United Kingdom during his lifetime but influenced the American Society for the Control of Cancer.

His best known work was The Control of a Scourge: Or How Cancer is Curable, published in 1906. Childe died at Monte Carlo on Jan 30th, 1926, from influenza and pneumonia. He was buried at Highland Road Cemetery, Southsea.

Selected publications

The Control of a Scourge: Or, How Cancer is Curable (1906) Cancer, Public Authorities, and the Public (1914) Surgical Nursing and Technique (1916) Cancer and the Public: The Educational Aspect of the Cancer Problem (1925)