Zita Mary Stead Blackburn (née Stead) (1904-1986) was a

medical illustrator A medical illustration is a form of biological illustration that helps to record and disseminate medical, anatomical, and related knowledge. History Medical illustrations have been made possibly since the History of medicine, beginning of medicin ...

and one of the founders of the

Medical Artists Association of Great Britain The Medical Artists Association of Great Britain was founded on 2 April 1949 by British medical illustrators Dorothy Davison, Audrey Arnott and Margaret McLarty to act as a professional body for medical artists and to raise the standard of medic ...

Early life

Zita Stead was born on 21 March 1904 in

Bedale Bedale ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the district of Hambleton, North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the North Riding of Yorkshire, it is north of Leeds, south-west of Middlesbrough and south-west of the county town of ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

. Her parents were Robert Stead, a blacksmith, and Mary Helen. She had a brother, George Robert, and three sisters; Mary Helen, Christina and Winifred.

Training and career

Stead gained a diploma in fine art from the Scarborough School of Art and studied anatomy and histology at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

. In 1933 she was appointed as artist and research assistant in the Department of Anatomy under H.H. Woollard at

St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College , mottoeng = Temper the bitter things in life with a smile , parent = Queen Mary University of London , president = Lord Mayor of London , head_label = Warden , head = Mark Caulfield , students = 3,410 , undergrad = 2,23 ...

. In addition to her work for the department, Stead provided illustrations of surgical procedures, pathological specimens, teaching exhibits and other medical artwork for various clinical units at

St Bartholomew's Hospital St Bartholomew's Hospital, commonly known as Barts, is a teaching hospital located in the City of London. It was founded in 1123 and is currently run by Barts Health NHS Trust. History Early history Barts was founded in 1123 by Rahere (died ...

. Stead was also an expert in photomicrography and examples of her work were featured in medical journals and textbooks including ''Gray's Anatomy'' and ''Cunningham's Textbook of Anatomy''. In 1936, Stead moved to

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

along with H.H. Woollard. During the Second World War, Stead was assigned to work with Arnold Kirkpatrick Henry at the

Royal Postgraduate Medical School The Royal Postgraduate Medical School (RPMS) was an independent medical school, based primarily at Hammersmith Hospital in west London. In 1988, the school merged with the Institute of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, and in 1997 became part of Imperial ...

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. ...

, London. They collaborated on the publication ''Extensile Exposure Applied to Limb Surgery'' (Edinburgh: E. & S. Livingstone Ltd. 1945), a revised edition of Henry's previous book ''Exposure of the Long Bones'' (1927)''.'' According to Stead, most of the research and illustration work for this was carried out in the post-mortem room where tutorials were held for paratroop surgeons being taught how to access main arterial supplies between muscles without resort to drastic surgery. After the war, Stead worked mainly in a freelance capacity. In 1949 she was one of a group of established medical illustrators, along with Dorothy Davison, Audrey Arnott, Margaret McLarty, Clifford Shepley, Dr David Thompsett and Dorothy Barber, who founded the

. The chief aim of the Association was to set professional standards and act as a qualifying body for new entrants to the field. Stead served as the Association's Honorary Secretary. Following the death of her husband, Stead returned to full-time employment as Medical Artist at the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

from 1958 until 1959.

Personal life

Zita Stead married Edgar Blackburn in April 1940 in Kensington, London. Following her marriage, Stead was known by the name Zita Stead Blackburn. Edgar Blackburn died on 19 October 1956. Stead spent her retirement in

Kingston-upon-Thames Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable as ...

where she indulged her hobbies of golf and fishing. She died on 31 August 1986, aged 82.Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Entry for "Zita Mary Stead," in ''England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995'' (database online). Provo, UT, USA, 2010. Accessed March 4, 2021 (subscription required).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stead, Zita 1904 births 1986 deaths 20th-century English women artists People from Bedale Medical illustrators Alumni of King's College London Academics of University College London Academics of the University of Manchester