Our previous post looked at the establishment of a veterinary hospital in Woolwich, and the improvements in equine care which followed the appointment of Edward Coleman as Medical Superintendent. In Part 2 we’ll look more closely at the hospital ledger found in the RCVS Archives, a rare surviving document from this establishment. As previously mentioned, this single ledger fulfilled two different functions.
The early pages give details of each horse and its ailment
The Treatment of Horses
From January 1802 to January 1806 the ledger was used to record admissions and discharges of sick and injured horses to the hospital. For each horse the ledger lists their regiment, ailment, date of admission, date of exit and their eventual fate. The majority of horses were successfully treated and discharged, to be returned to their units. Some died of their ailments or had to be destroyed. Others were retired from warfare and put out to pasture.
During this period horses came from two units – the Royal Horse Artillery and the Corps of Royal Artillery Drivers. Both these regiments were established in 1793 at the start of the French Revolutionary Wars (1793-1802). The Royal Horse Artillery was created to transport canons and similar weaponry to cavalry units. The Corps of Royal Artillery Drivers trained the horses and drivers. Both were subsequently utilised during the Napoleonic Wars (1803-15).
Common ailments recorded in the ledger include staggers, canker, mange and paralysis. Other patients suffered a bruised side, lacerated thigh, fractured jaw, wounded eye, dislocated neck – all injuries likely to have been inflicted during battle.
And what of glanders, so rife when Coleman took over? In the ledger, the term Glanders is not present, but Farcy, a type of glanders appears on many pages. In total eighty-two cases of farcy are noted, of which only twelve (14%) lead to a fatality. The disease is more common in the early years; In 1802 twenty-eight cases are noted of which three proved fatal. By 1805 this had reduced to six cases, none of which were fatal.
Stock Levels
Details of supplies used at the Hospital. This page pertains to 1809
From June 1808, the ledger takes on a different purpose, as described in its title “A Return of Medicines Received, Expended, Remaining and Presently Wanted for the Use of Ordnance Horses, Woolwich”. The volume is a stock ledger, which demonstrates to the modern researcher the types of medicine most commonly used during this period, and their prices. Those regularly listed include camphor (used in pain relief), gum Arabic (used in wound healing) and tobacco water, an antiparasitic. Hemlock is another regularly requested ingredient. As this is known to be poisonous to horses, it may have been given to those animals beyond treatment, who were destined to be destroyed.
The ledger also records the use and purchase of hospital equipment such as pestle and mortar, phials, measuring equipment, and many requests for sponges in large quantities. Ox bladders are another common requirement, although their usage is unclear. Research in the 1940s suggests epithelium from ox bladders could be used in operations to repair bone fractures, but this may not have been known in the Nineteenth Century. Alternatively, ox bladders are airtight and may have been used in the injecting of fluids.
Quantities of medicines varied over time; In the three months up to the 30th of October 1815, as horses returned from the Battle of Waterloo, the hospital utilised 224lbs of aloes cape, which was used in the treatment of wounds. This is a marked increase on the 55lbs used over a comparable period two years previously. Similarly 124lbs of the cleaning agent Sapo Mollis was recorded as being used up to October 1815 compared with 5lbs in a similar period of 1813.
The end of the ledger coincides with the end of the Board of Ordnance, which was disbanded in 1855/6. As with the earlier Napoleonic Wars, the Board was criticised for its handling of army resources during the Crimean War. Its powers were transferred to the newly formed War Office.
A Lucky Survivor
James Collins, who ordered the destruction of hospital records
The ledger has much to tell us about the treatment of army horses during the first half of the Nineteenth Century in terms of ingredients, techniques and success rates. As such it is a fascinating document for students of military history.
As for the question of how it came to be in our archive, it seems thanks are due to Major General Frederick Smith. Smith was a professor at the Army Veterinary School in Aldershot during the 1880s and 1890s, and who’s considerable archive of personal and research papers are one of our most popular collections. He was also a published author on the subject of veterinary history. According to the introduction to his 1927 work A History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, many hospital records were destroyed by James Collins. Collins was Principal Veterinary Surgeon at the reformed Army Veterinary Department and was partly responsible for the creation of the Army Veterinary School at Aldershot. According to Smith Collins “…did not value the records of his predecessors, for he sent them to the Royal Arsenal to be destroyed.” Somehow this volume escaped the bonfire and made its way into the possession of Smith who gave it to the RCVS. Quite how or why this ledger was spared is unclear. Though we are lucky that this volume has been preserved for prosperity, it makes you wish that more records could have survived.
If you would like to view this or any of our other archival holdings, please contact us at archives@rcvsknowledge.org. Please note onsite access is strictly by appointment only.
