Our historical collection has over two hundred books on farriery and horse shoeing many of which contain anatomical drawings of the foot of the horse. One such book is Strickland Freeman’s Observations on the mechanism of the horse’s foot its natural spring explained, and a mode of shoeing recommended, by which the foot is defended […]
At 11pm on 4th August 1914 Britain declared war on Germany. That same evening at the Natural History Museum 300 guests were gathered for the conversazione and reception of the 10th International Veterinary Congress. A Congress that had been many years in the planning …. London had been chosen as the venue for the 10th […]
Last Friday the Royal College was delighted to accept a portrait of Lieutenant Vincent Fox from his great grand-nephew. Vincent Fox was killed in action on the 26 August 1914: the first member of the RCVS to die during World War 1. His obituary in the Veterinary Record 3 October 1914, simply read: Vincent Fox, MRCVS, […]
In Volume 5 of The quarterly journal of veterinary science in India, published in 1887, there is a two part article by T J Symonds ‘Illustrations of Indian materia medica’. Thomas J Symonds (?-1892) graduated from the London Veterinary College in December 1870. He entered the Army Veterinary Department in March 1871 and served in the Afghan War […]
In the summer, with the help of our intern Josh, we were able to sort the bundles of applications for entry on the List of Existing Practitioners which were submitted to the RCVS in 1882. The List of Existing Practitioners came into being as a result of the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1881. The introduction to the […]
In 1859 George Fleming volunteered to serve as a veterinary officer on the expedition to North China. Whilst there, in July 1861, he embarked on a journey of almost 700 miles from Tien-tsin, where he was stationed, to Mantchu Tartary. Two years later he wrote an account of the journey which was published as Travels on horseback […]
The Lightbox in Woking, is currently showing an exhibition describing the role of horse and mules in World War 1. The Horse at War: 1914-18 has a wide ranging display of artwork both from the war itself as well as more recent works, most noticeably ‘Joey’ the life size puppet from the National Theatre’s stage production […]
Sitting proudly on top of the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square currently is ‘Gift Horse’ by Hans Haacke. The sculpture is based on illustrations from George Stubb’s Anatomy of the horse and so feels strangely familiar to me – apart from the live share-price ticker tied to its foreleg. Looking at our catalogue I found […]
In 1898 Robert Stordy, who was working for the Colonial Veterinary Service in British East Africa, embarked on a 400 mile journey from Nairobi to Kampala. This journey was the first made by the Uganda Transport which had been set up to convey the effects, equipment and rations of troops serving in Uganda. Stordy wrote […]
The addition of the Coat of Arms of the University of Nottingham to the display of stained glass in the reception at Belgravia House, the RCVS HQ, has awakened interest in the history of the glass in this display and elsewhere in the building. As a result I spent several days pouring over 170 years of […]
