Albert Alexander was a policeman when he received penicillin at Oxford. More precisely, he was a reserve or police constable serving in the County of Oxford.
Alexander became the first patient treated with injected penicillin by the Oxford team in February 1941. He had a severe infection involving streptococci and staphylococci, which spread across his face, eyes and scalp. His condition had become desperate after conventional treatment failed.
The initial response was striking: his fever fell, his appetite returned and the infected wounds began to heal within about a day. However, the Oxford laboratory could produce only a small amount of penicillin. Researchers even recovered some of the drug from his urine, but supplies ran out after several days, and Alexander relapsed and died on 15 March 1941.
He is sometimes described simply as a police officer, while contemporary accounts may call him a constable. Those descriptions refer to the same occupation; “surgeon,” “miner” and “soldier” are incorrect.