13 Facts About Leonard Colebrook

Leonard Colebrook FRS was an English physician and bacteriologist.

Leonard Colebrook stayed at St Mary's Hospital Medical School from 1907 - 14.

Leonard Colebrook stayed initially at St Mary's Hospital but in 1917 was transferred to France where he worked on wound infections with Sir Almroth Wright at No 13 General Hospital, Boulogne.

Leonard Colebrook became an expert on bacterial chemotherapy, working with arsenic-containing compounds.

In 1929 Leonard Colebrook was appointed Director of the Research Laboratory at Queen Charlotte's Hospital in London.

Leonard Colebrook's research interest was puerperal sepsis, a bacterial infection following childbirth that killed around 2000 women in England and Wales at that time.

In 1935 Leonard Colebrook showed Prontosil was effective against haemolytic streptococcus in childbirth and hence a cure for puerperal fever.

Leonard Colebrook's sister Dora Colebrook was a bacteriologist, working at Queen Charlotte's Hospital, London.

Leonard Colebrook investigated the source of the streptococcal infections within the hospital.

Leonard Colebrook campaigned for the use of gloves, mask, and gown before touching patients and showed that chloroxylenol was both an effective disinfectant and superior to soap and water for hand cleansing.

Leonard Colebrook's father was a farmer, nonconformist preacher and active to benefit the local community.

Leonard Colebrook had two brothers and three sisters, among whom the youngest, Dora, became a bacteriologist, as well as seven half-siblings from his father's first marriage.

Leonard Colebrook died in 1967 at his home in Farnham Common, Buckinghamshire.