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Dame Cecily was born in Barnet and was educated at Roedean School and St Annes College, Oxford. she trained at St Thomas’ Hospital Medical School and the Nightingale School of Nursing.

Dame Cecily is founder of the modern hospice movement and established St Christopher’s Hospice, Sydenham in 1967. Here she promotes the principles of dying with dignity maintaining that death is not a medical failure but a natural part of living. The quality of death can be enhanced by sensitive nursing. She has received several awards for her pioneering work, including the Templeton Prize (1981) and the BMA Gold Medal (1987).

Dame Cecily has also written and edited a number of books including ‘Care of the Dying’ (1960); ‘Hospice: The Living Idea’ (1981); ‘Living with Dying’ (1983); ‘St Christopher’s in Celebration’ (1988).