Dear VHS Member

The circumstances which moved farmers and landowners to form the first Agricultural Societies in this country are now being repeated on a world-wide scale: farmers must increase food production to feed the growing population. It is timely that we have been invited to visit the Royal Agricultural Society of England. Dr John Wilson, the Hon. Librarian of the Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE) has invited us Stoneleigh on June 1st 2011  - please see the details on the enclosed flyer. We are pleased to strengthen our relationship with the RASE, and look forward to seeing much of our own history in its archives.

Other future Meetings:
Our autumn Meeting including the AGM is on November 30th 2011, again at Belgravia House, the RVCS headquarters in London. The theme will be small animal practice.
And 2012 is the 50th anniversary of the foundation of our own Veterinary History Society. We plan a two-day meeting, so ensuring that the occasion is well marked and that there is a celebratory dinner. We have in our Register of Attendance the signatures of the 26 members who made up this inaugural meeting – signatures of many members who have been very valuable to the profession, including several who continue to be.

The World Veterinary Congress, October 10th-14th this year, is in Cape Town. Bruce V Jones, our Senior Vice Chairman, has been invited to give the opening paper on the history of the veterinary profession and its importance.

The World Association for the History of Veterinary Medicine Congress will next year be held at the veterinary school in Utrecht, August 22nd-25th 2012. As it will be celebrating the 150th anniversary of the formation of the Royal Netherlands Veterinary Association too it will surely be a special occasion.

A Victorian Veterinary Student's Diary by Dick Lane (hardback, 241 pages, 13 illustrations), published by the Veterinary History Society.  A unique book which sheds light on veterinary life, the early London Veterinary College, Victorian society and life on a tea clipper to China, as well as telling several personal stories,
      " this book should appeal across the board, to those interested in vets and history alike "                  The Veterinary Record
      " an eminently readable volume "   Veterinary Practice
Retail price £22.00, members of the Veterinary History Society price £18.70 (plus UK post & packing = £22.30) from The Granville Penn Press, order form available on VHS website.

And the Press will soon publish its second volume: the Twentieth Century Veterinary Lives now includes chapters of about a hundred veterinarians who have proved remarkable.

Oral History Project: at our Meeting in November 2009 Sue Bradley, from Newcastle University’s School of Agriculture and Rural Economy recorded our ‘conversation with Mary Brancker’ at a recent meeting, which has since been transcribed and put on disc and so has begun this archive of veterinary lives. The VHS has been included in consultations on further progress, and would like examples of lives from different types and levels of veterinary work selected. An experienced interviewer can tease out the essence of a career, and an editor must bear in mind the veracity and reliability of memory, and such things as libel and copyright in the making of an interesting account which should be suitable for the general public as well as veterinarians and historians. The British Library will provide technical space. It is hoped that the project will find sufficient funding to proceed.
Tim Cox is involved in a similar scheme in Newmarket, where examples are being recorded from all varieties of lives in the racing world.

The Accounts for last year were circulated at the AGM where they have a limited exposure, so here is the general financial position of the Society. Income and expenditure was finely balanced, there being a small surplus of £57.96; a slightly larger surplus would be more comfortable. In the Current Account there remained £5,416.68 and the Business Reserve Account £3,773.88 at the end of the year.

Lastly - Triumph: The Life and Art of Captain Adrian Jones by Robert S Burns was published by the Logaston Press recently, and has had good reports from some of our members. The Press is based in Shropshire which is where Jones was born and then attended Ludlow Grammar School, where the author of this biography has been headmaster. Burns has had access to the family archives and also those of the Sladmore Gallery, where a retrospective exhibition of Jones’s work was held in 1984; this exhibition was held in association with the Duke of Edinburgh’s Fund for the restoration of ‘Duncan’s Horses’, which are now in the London campus. Other material has come from military and private sources.
Adrian Jones (1845-1938), after graduating from the RVC served as an army officer for 24 years in various regiments; he retired in 1890 and then became a full-time sculptor. He received many commissions from royalty and the military, being the leading horse sculptor, and we also see aspects of Victorian and Edwardian society in this book when great crowds attended dedications of his war memorials all over the world. And we have inspected the great Peace quadriga. At the end of his long life Jones lived in Chelsea and was active in the arts world – a fascinating life.

Any news and views?  please contact us -

Tim Cox – Chairman:  Ormsdale, Coldharbour Lane, Dorking, Surrey RH4 3AZ
timothy.cox@btinternet.com             01306 881128             www.thecoxlibrary.com

Jean Mann – Secretary:  17 Anseres Place, Wells, Somerset BA5 2RT
jeanmann968@btinternet.com            01749 673558

John Clewlow – Editor: 1 St James Court, Grange Park Drive, Biddulph ST8 7XX
editor@veterinaryhistorysociety.org.uk          01782 518641