Browne, Stanley George (1907-1986)

Papers of Stanley George Browne, 1960s, reflect his work and interest in the field of leprology and contain manuscripts and reprints of articles written by Browne whilst employed by the Leprosy Service Research Unit, Uzuakoli, Eastern Nigeria. Publications include Leprosy in Africa today reprinted from the Postgraduate Medical Journal, 38, 1962. Manuscripts notably include 'Present perspectives in leprosy', 1961, based on an address given to the Edinburgh branch of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 29 Nov 1961 and 'Lecture notes for medical students and practitioners', on subjects including bacteriology, epidemiology and the varieties, treatment and control of leprosy, 1960s.

Stanley George Browne was born on 8 December 1907, in New Cross London; educated at Waller Road Elementary School, New Cross, 1910-1919, and Brockley Central School, 1919-1923. Browne left school early due to the illness of his father, Arthur Browne (1874-1967) and was employed as junior clerk in the New Cross' clerk's department at Deptford town hall from 1923, whilst studying at night school. Browne passed matriculation in the first division, June 1926; was awarded one of the first London County Council (LCC) non-vocational scholarships in 1927 and entered King's College London in 1928, receiving a further scholarship allowing him to follow a medical course. Browne received an MB, BS, at London University in 1933.

Browne became a member of the Royal College of Physicians, 1934 and a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, 1935; attended the Institut de M decine Tropicale Prince L opold, Antwerp, gaining a diploma in tropical medicine; worked at Baptist Missionary Society Hospital at Yakusu in the Belgian Congo,1936. In 1940, a leprosarium was opened at Yakusu and the American Mission to Lepers sent out a new drug, diasone, which Browne used successfully. He also worked on the increasing rate of onchocerciasis and the control of its vector, the blackfly Simulium damnosum, 1954. This leprosarium was known internationally and Browne was urged by leprologist Robert Cochrane to continue to focus upon leprosy.

Browne resigned from the Baptist Missionary Society, 1958 and returned to England for a year; was appointed senior leprologist at the Leprosy Research Unit, Uzuakoli in eastern Nigeria, 1959 and continued his work with trials of new drugs, in particular B663 or clofazimine. Browne was invited to be chairman of the working group on the treatment of leprosy at the International Congress on Leprosy at Rio de Janeiro, 1963 and advised on the establishment of the All Africa Leprosy Training and Rehabilitation Centre, in Adis Ababa. During this time Browne published extensively in both English and French on leprosy, onchocerciasis and other tropical diseases, as well as on medical ethics and succeeded Robert Cochrane as Director of the Leprosy Study Centre, London, 1966-1980.

Browne campaigned against the stigma attached to the disease leprosy and his work in this field was recognised when he was appointed an OBE in 1965 and the CMG in 1976. He was president of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from 1977 to 1979, and president of the Baptist Union from 1980 to 1981. Brown died, 29 January 1986.

Publications include Health of the whole person: a challenge to Christians (Medical Missionary Association by Christian Medical Fellowship, London, 1985); Leprosy: new hope and continuing challenge (The Leprosy Mission, London, 1966) and Leprosy in the Bible (Christian Medical Fellowship, London, [1970]).

Arranged into two sections: printed and manuscript material.

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Sources: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography www.oxforddnb.com. Compiled by Samantha Velumyl, AIM25 cataloguer.

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Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine. Reference: WTI/SGB