Harold Maxwell-Lefroy
English entomologist (1877–1925)
Harold Maxwell-Lefroy (20 January 1877 – 14 October 1925) was an English entomologist. He served as a professor of entomology at Imperial College London before moving to India where he took over the position of entomologist to the government of India from Lionel de Niceville.2
From Wikipedia’s article on Harold Maxwell-Lefroy (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Born Jan 20, 1877, died Oct 14, 1925.1
About
He was later made the first Imperial Entomologist to India. He worked in India for eight years, established entomological research at the Imperial Agricultural Research Institute in Pusa and left India after two of his children died from insect-borne diseases. He worked on applied entomology and initiated experiments on the use of chemicals to control insects. A formula he developed was utilized to save Westminster Hall from destruction by wood-boring beetles, while others were used to control lice in the trenches during the First World War. The success of his chemicals led to increased demand and the founding of Rentokil, a company for insecticide production. He was killed in an accident while experimenting with fumigants to control insects.
From Wikipedia’s article on Harold Maxwell-Lefroy, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2
Companies
- Rentokil InitialFounder10
Early life and education
Education
Harold was sent to school in Church Hill House in Crondall where one of his contemporaries, although a boarder unlike Maxwell-Lefroy, was Claude Grahame-White. He was later sent to study in Germany, and after returning to England in 1890 he was sent to Marlborough College where he was in Preshute House under master W.E. Mullins. Oddly he did not join the Natural History Society at school, contemporary members of which included William Keble Martin, Arthur Hill, and Lawrence C.H. Young (who went to Bombay in 1901 to work in a local business and also contributed to studies of the lepidoptera in the Bombay Natural History Society collections and died young in 1907). He finished school in 1895 and joined King's College, Cambridge, receiving a BA in the natural science tripos with first class in 1898. His specialization in entomology was influenced by David Sharp. He received a master's degree in 1902.
From Wikipedia’s article on Harold Maxwell-Lefroy (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Career
Occupation: lepidopterist, entomologist.6
- Date not recordedWorked at Imperial College London4
- Date not recordedFounded Rentokil Initial5
Personal life
Family
Maxwell-Lefroy and Kathleen had three children of whom the first, Gladys Kathleen died in infancy, and the second, Charles died in November 1910 while he was in Pusa and was the cause of his premature exit from India. The only child who survived was Cecil Anthony (d. 1995) who became a general manager of Burmah Oil Company and was later made CBE. He wrote an unfinished biography of his father which was posthumously published in 2015, edited by Laurence Fleming. Kathleen died on 4 December 1967.
From Wikipedia’s article on Harold Maxwell-Lefroy (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Awards
- Date not recordedFellow of the Zoological Society of London9
Links
Sources
The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.
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- 2WikipediaHarold Maxwell-Lefroy on Wikipedia
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- 10WikidataRentokil Initial, Founder
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