V

Veterinary surgeon

 

The first veterinary school (now the Royal Veterinary College) was founded in 1792 and the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons created in 1844, but it was 1922 before the first woman was admitted as a member of the professional body.

Aleen Isabel Cust (1868–1937) was the eldest daughter of Sir Leopold Cust and had the appropriate upbringing of a wealthy young aristocrat, being presented at Court in 1886. What she really wanted, however, was to be a vet and she pursued her dream. She attended the New Veterinary College in Edinburgh and in her first year was awarded the first prize medals, but then was barred from taking the professional examinations because the authorities decided that the word ‘student’ in this context meant ‘male student’. Nonetheless, she finished the course and went off to practise in Ireland, her birthplace, where she won the approval of local farmers and even held the post of Veterinary Inspector to the Galway County Council – the most vociferous opposition came from the parish priest, who was won over when she managed to save the life of his cow. By 1901 she was living in Northumberland, at Falloden Kennels. The First World War saw her volunteer to serve with the veterinary hospitals in France. She had continued her fight for professional recognition and registration, and finally the RCVS allowed her to sit a practical examination, which of course she sailed through, and admitted her to their number (see Aleen Cust, Veterinary Surgeon: Britain’s First Woman Vet, Connie M. Ford, Biopress, 1990).

Until the 20th century the great part of a vet’s practice was made up of farm animals, particularly horses and cattle. Much of the popular prejudice against women vets arose because they were seen as too weak to be able to control large animals, not to mention the impropriety of a woman undertaking tasks such as castration and insemination. The growing popularity of small pets opened up new opportunities for employment and although a woman would still have had a hard time convincing a rural practice of her competence, before her death in 1937 over 60 women had followed Aleen Cust into the RCVS and demand for places at the College was such that the number of women students had had to be limited to 50. In 1934 Olga Uvarov qualified from the College – forty-two years later, as Dame Olga (DBE, DSc, HonCBiol, FlBiol, FRCS), she became the first woman President of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.

Although vets in large practices would have had auxiliary staff, the position of veterinary nurse did not gain official approval until after the scope of this book, in the 1960s – see the website of the British Veterinary Nursing Association (www.bvna.org.uk).

It is only since 1948 that all vets have had to hold qualifications approved by the RCVS, though the majority of vets after 1844 were registered. The RCVS has a library and archive (Belgravia House, 62–64 Horseferry Road, London SW1P 2AF; www.rcvs.org.uk), and so has the Royal Veterinary College (Royal College Street, London NW1 0TU; www.rvc.org.uk). The latter is the principal college but there are others associated with different universities (the Society of Genealogists has a good collection of published lists of university alumni). The veterinary school of the University of Edinburgh is the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies (www.vet.ed.ac.uk/History.htm).

Voluntary Aid Detachments (VADs)

 

The origins of the VADs lay with the formation of the medical service of the Territorial Force (in 1901 in England and Wales, 1910 in Scotland) and they were intended only as home defence units. From the beginning, recruitment was carried out with the support of the British Red Cross and the Order of St John, but the women’s detachments were always seen as nursing assistants rather than fully trained professionals, and as cooks, domestics etc. All VADs – which was also the name given to members of the detachments – were required to gain certificates in first aid and home nursing.

Once the First World War began volunteers flooded into the VADs; the value of using the detachments overseas in France and Belgium was immediately recognised and the first units left England in August and September 1914. At this point their most important task was to staff rest stations, providing food and comfort to wounded servicemen, but within six months VADs were being sent to military hospitals in the UK and at the Front – in the Mediterranean, Egypt and Mesopotamia as well as France. Here they worked under the supervision of QAIMNS nurses; the age limit was set at 23 to 38 years, and they were paid £20 a year plus board, lodging and travelling expenses. VADs also worked with the American Army and in hospitals administered by the Australian, Canadian and South African services.

 

An entry from Volume IV of the Roll of Honour, published after the First World War.

 

Not every VAD was a nurse. Apart from acting as nursing assistants and ambulance drivers, as ‘general service members’ they provided clerical, cooking, laboratory, laundry, telephone, pharmaceutical and X-ray support. From 1917 these general service members also served overseas. VADs of all kinds also continued to serve after the war, particularly with the Army of Occupation in Germany.

The future of VADs was considered in the inter-war years, in collaboration with the British Red Cross, the St John Ambulance Brigade and the St Andrew’s Ambulance Association, and it was decided that in future they would support the armed services anywhere in the world and that members would be asked to formally sign up and give an undertaking to serve in the event of war, as if they were a member of the Territorials. Women aged 21 to 40 (later, 19 to 45) would be considered ‘mobile’, while the age limits for ‘immobile’ VADs were 18 to 65 years – and as well as nurses, once again pharmacists, dispensers, radiographers, cooks, clerks, masseuses, opticians and laboratory assistants would be encouraged to join. When war was declared in September 1939, mobile VADs were called up immediately to military hospitals under the control of the Joint War Organisation, and many ‘immobile’ VADs transferred to the new Civil Nursing Reserve to enable them to work at Emergency Services Hospitals (civilian hospitals).

Every ‘mobile’ VAD wore on her left arm ‘a Red Cross brassard stamped by the competent authority’, which gave her protection under the Geneva Convention. Those serving with the Royal Navy also had a blue anchor flash on their left arm; with the RAF a pair of golden eagles on their collar; with the Army the RAMC badge on their left breast; and for India VADs had a pair of red enamel Tudor roses on their collar. VADs in the Second World War served in military hospitals, auxiliary hospitals and convalescent homes, in the blood transfusion service and first aid posts and mobile units during the Blitz, and on ambulance trains and hospital ships.

There is quite a lot of background information available about the VADs, particularly during the First World War. The classic account of personal service is Testament of Youth, Vera Brittain (first published 1920 and reprinted many times since); see also The Roses of No Man’s Land, Lyn Macdonald (Penguin, 1993) and its bibliography.

The British Red Cross Museum and Archives (44 Moorfields, London EC2Y 9AL) has indexes of service details for VADs of both world wars, although they may be incomplete: they include dates and place of service, nature of duties, detachments, honours etc. See their website (www.redcross.org.uk/standard.asp?id=3423) or write to the address above for details. The Museum of the Order of St John is at St John’s Gate, St John’s Lane, London EC1M 4DA (www.sja.org.uk). The Imperial War Museum has a very useful guide to ‘Voluntary Aid Detachments in the First World War’ (Information Sheet 40) online at www.iwm.org.uk/upload/pdf/Info40.pdf. A listing of auxiliary hospitals, which could help to point the way to finding local records, is online at www.juroch.demon.co.uk/kentvad.htm.