How a tiny Surrey village became a penicillin powerhouse
Penicillin is a cornerstone of modern medicine - but how did an old ice cream fridge and a makeshift incubator built by a local baker help bring it to the masses?The antibiotic was first discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928 but it took until 1940 to master the process of mass manufacture.By this time the UK was in the grips of World War Two, so the government wanted to keep penicillin under wraps and for military use only, meaning the authorities were not issuing the chemicals or culture needed for large-scale production.But one resourceful pharmacist from Ripley, a small village in Surrey, would not be defeated and would become the first person to produce it for the public in the UK.
Kenneth White, like so many others, was turned down for the things he needed to begin producing penicillin, but managed to get hold of an old ice cream refrigerator and asked a baker from the area to build an incubator.With the help of a plant pathologist from Wisley Gardens in Woking, Mr White then had everything he needed to make the antibiotic.
He began giving it away to people, rather than charging for it, so the authorities were unable to clamp down on his production.Eventually, the Ministry of Supply provided Mr White with what he needed and later issued him a production licence.He would soon receive letters from various pharmaceutical companies as production began, including one from Bayer Products in July 1944, which congratulated him on becoming the first pharmacist in the UK to manufacture penicillin filtrate for members of the public.The people of Ripley remain proud of Mr White's huge achievement, one which is commemorated by a blue plaque on the front of his former chemist building in the High Street.
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