Background
He was born on 17 April 1881 in Witch Road, Kilmarnock, Scotland, the eldest of three children of John Leiper (d 1895), tailor, and his wife, Jessie Aird.
He was born on 17 April 1881 in Witch Road, Kilmarnock, Scotland, the eldest of three children of John Leiper (d 1895), tailor, and his wife, Jessie Aird.
After his family moved to England, he was educated at Warwick School, and he spent a year at Mason Science College, (which later became the University of Birmingham), before entering the University of Glasgow medical school, graduating in 1904.
From an early age he was devoted to helminthology (the study of parasitic worms).
Royal Society.