9781422277577

a shipping office. Fleming did not enjoy the work, but he had little choice—he needed the money. In 1900, when the Boer War became serious, John, Alec, and later Robert joined the Territorial Army, which was formed to defend the United Kingdom territories so that the British Army could be sent to South Africa. The Fleming brothers enlisted in a Territorial Army unit called the London Scottish, a regiment largely composed of men of Scottish descent. Most of the men never saw any action. However, the London Scottish gave Alec a great opportunity to indulge in his love for sports. All three brothers played for the regiment’s water polo team, and Alec turned out to be quite a good shot, also. To everyone’s surprise, H Company—traditionally the most awkward bunch in the regiment—carried off the shooting trophy, largely due to the marksmanship of Alexander Fleming. Medical School Fleming would, perhaps, have remained in the business world all of his life, but his Uncle John, a bachelor, had died in 1901, leaving him just enough money to take up his brother John’s suggestion that he should go to college and study medicine. Alec Fleming applied for a University of London scholarship in natural sciences, and won in July 1901. He earned the highest scores of all candidates in the United Kingdom. Fleming intended to be a surgeon, perhaps specializing in eye diseases like his brother. There were twelve medical schools in London, but he chose to attend St. Mary’s Hospital in the Paddington neighborhood. Fleming later said that he chose St. Mary’s because he had played water polo against the school’s team while with the London Scottish regiment, and had liked them. This turned out to be a fortunate decision. Because of the time Fleming had spent as a clerk, he was a little older than most of the others in his school class, but he never regretted that fact. “I gained much general knowledge,” he later said, “and when I went to medical school I had a great advantage over my fellow students, who were straight from school and never got away from their books into the school of life.”

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