Collignon was born in 1725 to family who had come to Britain from France. He attended
Cambridge University where he became an M.D. in 1754. In 1753 Collignon became Cambridge's Professor of Anatomy. This was a role that he was peculiarly suited to: he was said to look like a skeleton because he was so thin. Another source indicates however that his body was bought from
resurrectionists but his skeleton is still in Addenbrookes Hospital. In 1764 Collignon published an important work that summarised his understanding of anatomy.
An Enquiry Into the Structure of the Human Body, Relative to Its Supposed Influence on the Morals of Mankind ran to 67 pages and it was published by Cambridge University. In 1766 he started his final career when he became a physician to Addenbrookes Hospital. Another source indicates however that his body was bought from
resurrectionists but his skeleton is still in Addenbrookes Hospital. After he died in Cambridge in 1785,
The Medical Works of Charles Collignon MD was published. Collignon's daughter Catherine made a £1000 bequest to
Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge where her father had worked in 1832. ==References==