Sir Leonard Erskine Hill was a medical researcher. Born Bruce Castle School (his father owning the school). Professor of physiology in the University of London. Contributed to the understanding of the cerebral circulation and the hazards associated with the rapid decompression of divers.
An accomplished artist he founded the Medical Art Society in 1935. He wrote ten medical books but also published stories for children, such as 'The Scarecrow and Other Fairy Tales'. Died at Corton, a village near Lowestoft.
Sources: , , and , which has examples of his paintings.
The plaque claims that LH and his son Sir Austin Bradford Hill were "joint discoverers of the link between smoking and cancer". We thought we'd quickly be able to find confirmation of this, and we did for ABH - see his page. But we could find no confirmation that LH investigated this link, indeed, his attitude to smoking seems to have been confused; we found contradictory information.
Firstly, includes: "In 1904 Leonard Hill succumbed to respiratory tuberculosis and had to take an extended leave of absence. This he spent in the milder climate of the west country at St Ives and Lyme Regis. Post hoc or propter hoc he overcame the infection - and it was at this time that he gave up smoking."
But in a LH is reported as disagreeing with an American doctor Karn whose research showed that "non-smokers brains were better than smokers". "Professor Leonard Hill recommends the office worker to use the pipe as a substitute for fresh-air as smoking mildly stimulates the air passages and preventing {sic} infections of the respiratory tract of diseases like influenza and pneumonia." Perhaps he is the first example of the power of the tobacco lobby.
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