Sir Clifton Wintringham

In the west aisle of the north transept of Westminster Abbey is a white marble monument to physician Sir Clifton Wintringham. This shows a mourning woman leaning on a pedestal and on a sarcophagus above is a relief of a doctor attending to a sick and distressed family. The sculptor was Thomas Banks. The Latin inscription can be translated:

Sacred to the memory of Clifton Wintringham, Bart. [Baronet] M.D.; no less distinguished in domestic, military, and medical affairs, than beloved for the innocence of life and the sweetness of his manners, he died, lamented by all, 10th January A.D. 1794 aged 83. Anne Wintringham arranged for the erection of this monument, as an everlasting token of the love with which she cherished her husband during his life, and of the grief which she bestowed upon him after his death

The unpainted shield of arms shows "argent, six lions rampant azure, three, two and one; an escutcheon of Ulster" for Wintringham, impaling "argent three chaplets proper". The motto can be translated as "Be good and pious lest the lion be more dauntless than thou".

Clifton was born in York in 1710, a son of Clifton Wintringham (1689-1748), physician, and his first wife Elizabeth (Nettleton), and grandson of the Reverend William Wintringham. He was educated at Cambridge university and entered the army medical service. He served as physician to William Duke of Cumberland. Later he was appointed physician-in-ordinary to King George III and was highly regarded in his profession. He married Anne Richardson and in 1774 was created a Baronet. However the baronetcy became extinct at his death as he had no children. It is not known where he was buried but it was possibly with his father in St Michael le Belfrey church in York.

Further reading for Clifton and his Father

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 2004