Dorothy Davison (1890–1984): Manchester medical artist and her work for neurosurgeon Sir Geoffrey Jefferson (1886–1961)

Abstract

Miss Davison was a medical artist at the Manchester Royal Infirmary and the University of Manchester from around 1918 until her retirement in 1957. She illustrated books and scientific papers on anthropology, anatomy and surgery, and became well known for her striking pictures produced by the ‘Ross board technique’– a difficult process that she helped pioneer from the 1930s and which forms the bulk of the work she undertook for neurosurgeon Geoffrey Jefferson during the 1930s–1950s. His Neurosurgical Department became the main base for her work until his retirement in 1953. She was an active member of the Medical Artist Association (MAA) which she helped found in 1949.