Blacklock, Professor Donald Breadalbane (1879-1955): malaria in West Africa

Report on malaria in ships in West Africa, compiled 1947 for the 'Medical History of the War'; notes for a talk on 'Malaria in Freetown Sierra Leone'; correspondence; photographs

1930s-1950s

1 file

Given to the Contemporary Medical Archives in April 1997 by Dr K R Allen of South Bank University, who had purchased them in an auction at Professor Blacklock's former home in St Ives, Cornwall, in 1976.

West Africa was an important staging-post for ships dyring 1940-1941, when the Mediterranean was under Axis control, and Donald Blacklock, Professor of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, was invited by the Colonial Office to investigate the reasons for outbreaks of malaria among personnel on board ship who had not been ashore. He began his investigations in September 1940, and after his return to Britain in October 1941 kept in touch with those continuing the work in Africa. He was asken in 1947 to produce an account of the attempts at prevention for the 'Medical History of the War'. The published history touches only briefly on his report, concentrating on protection of personnel, whereas this account deals mainly with mosquito eradication.