Harold Maxwell-Lefroy

Harold Maxwell-Lefroy (1877 - 1925) was an English entomologist.

He was a Professor of Entomology at Imperial College, London. In the early 1920s, Lefroy was asked by Sir Frank Baines, Principal Architect of the Office of Works, to study ways of exterminating the beetles in the hall. This work led him to devise a formulation which later led to the formation of a company called Rentokil Limited in 1925.

He was appointed Imperial Entomologist and was involved in the creation of the Imperial Agricultural Research Institute in Pusa in the Indian state of Bihar. He was succeeded in the position of Imperial Entomologist by T.B.Fletcher.

Lefroy was accidentally killed by poisonous fumes in a laboratory accident.

Publications

• Maxwell-Lefroy, H. 1909. Indian Insect Life: a Manual of the Insects of the Plains (Tropical India). Thacker and Spink, Calcutta. xii + 786 pp.
• Maxwell-Lefroy, H. 1910. List of Names Used in India for Common Insects. Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, India. iv + 47 + xii pp.
• Maxwell-Lefroy, H. 1971. Indian Insect Pests. Today and Tomorrow's Printer's and Publishers, New Delhi. vii + 318 pp.