What do we know of the Commonwealth Veterinarians who died in the Great War?

The heavy workload took a toll on the veterinary officers serving in the various Veterinary Corps, with officers dying because of enemy fire, disease, accidents or, in a small number of cases, self-inflicted injuries.

There was quite a spread in age - inevitably, many died young, some dying within a year of graduating, others who were over 50, and some who had previously served in the South African War. Between them, they served on most of the front lines of the war around the world. As a result, they are buried or commemorated in the battles field of France, Egypt, Greece, Turkey and India.

Major-General Layton. J. Blenkinsop, in his book on the Veterinary Service in the Great War, published in 1925, provides some of the early data about the members of the Army Veterinary Corps during the war. On page 28 of his book, Blenkinsop has a table of the number of AVC officers killed, wounded and died of wounds during the Great War. The numbers included by Blenkinsop include Canadian officers who were serving with the Army Veterinary Corps.

Two officers from Blenkinsop’s data were excluded from our analysis as they were Quartermasters, not Veterinarians.

While Blenkinsop does not provide a list of the actual names of the officers who died in the war, he provides the following statistics:

CAUSE OF DEATH NUMBER
Killed in Action 4
Died of Wounds 10
Died of Disease 31
Died from Accidents 8
Died by Drowning 2
Died by Suicide 6
TOTAL 61

In analyzing Blenkinsop’s data we belive these were the names of offcers included in each section.

CAUSE OF DEATH NAME
Alexander Campbell ANDERSON
KILLED IN ACTION Harry Leonard ANTHONY
Vincent FOX
James SHIRLEY

Vincent Fox was the first Veterinary to be killed in in the War. He was killed in action on the 26 Agust 1914. Alexander Campbell was killed in action in 1915, while Harry Anthony and James Shirley were to be killed in action in 1917.

All these deaths were to occur on the Western Front.

CAUSE OF DEATH NAME
Archibald Wright CAMPBELL
John Wilson BROWNLESS
William Arthur BUCHANAN
Alfred HOSKIN
DIED OF WOUNDS Hugh McColl JOHNSON
Stuart Kirby JONES
Robert Edward LEACH
Marcus James STEVENSON
George Charles TAYLOR
Herbert Mainwarring WILLIAMS

Of those who died from their wounds, seven were serving in France, two were serving in Egypt; while one died of wounds received while serving at Gallipoli.

CAUSE OF DEATH NAME
Robert John BEECH
Arthur Doyle BINGHAM
James Blakeway
William Hutchinson BLANCHARD
John BRADLEY
William Stanley CARLESS
Frederick Ulysses CARR
John Ladyman CLARK
Robert William CLARKE
Robert Bowes COCKBURN
James Robert CRANE
William Benn CRONYN
Thomas EASTWOOD
Edward EVANS
DIED OF DISEASE George Clifford HARDING
John Peter HEYES
Arthur Akin HIGGINS
Wiiliam John KEE
Charles Henry LAMBERT
Hubert LENOX-CONYNGHAM
Henry Cooke LOWERY
Bruce Metcalf McMAHON
Frederick Owen MAYNARD
Thomas Augistine O’BRIEN
Arthur Richard ROUTLEDGE
William SCOTT
Henry William TAYLOR
Percival THEXTON
Warren Stanley THOMPSON
William TULLY-CHRISTIE
William WALSH
James Matthew WHITE

This proved to be the hardest section to determine who among the 31 officers who died of disease because of their war service was. Again, it appears that Bleinkshop included in his data those Canadians who were serving in the Army Veterinary Corps.

By far, the largest killer in this category was respiratory disease, no doubt linked to the Spanish Flu epidemic.

CAUSE OF DEATH NAME
Joseph Wiiliam COE
Alfred Henry CLAPP
DIED OF ACCIDENTS Francis Hubert DOYLE
William HUSTON
Roy Herbert Charles LUCAS

Accidents included officers falling off horses,or by accidents involving railways carriages or motor lorries.

CAUSE OF DEATH NAME
DIED BY DROWNING Thomas Francis DONWORTH
Daniel POLLOCK

Thomas Donworth died while bathing in the River Seine, while Daniel Pollock died in U-Boat attack on the HT Arcadian.

CAUSE OF DEATH NAME
Leonard Baker COLE
Charles Cranston CORBETT
DIED BY SUICIDE David HANNAH
Edward William HUGHES
William Ingham MACAULEY
Francis ROCHE

At the outbreak of the war, the Army Veterinarian Corps provided a veterinary officer for each field formation. Thus, veterinary officers were assigned to cavalry regiments, divisional ammunition columns, infantry brigades, horse artillery brigades, and field artillery brigades. So, when a horse incurred an injury or suffered an illness, the regimental officer would diagnose the animal. If the animal needed further care, it would be transferred to the Mobile Veterinary Unit, where the officers would determine the nature of the illness or injury and treat the animal. If the recovery period was three or four days, the animal would be returned to its combat unit for further service. If the animal needed more care, it would be transferred to one of the veterinary hospitals for either surgery or more intensive care to restore its condition.

This structure reflects the units in which fallen veterinary surgeons served. Of the units identified, eighteen veterinarians died while serving in Artillery Units; seven died while serving in Mobile Veterinary Units or Veterinary Hospitals; five died while serving in Infantry Divisions; three died while serving Remount Units, and three died while working for the Indian Civil Veterinary Department.

While Blenkinsop’s data is focused on the Army Veterinary Corps, what was the pattern across all Commonwealth forces, including the Army Veterinary Corps?

THE YEAR OF DEATH

YEAR NUMBER FRENCH COMPARISON
1914 5 12
1915 13 32
1916 10 22
1917 26 26
1918 31 29
1919-21 10 4
UNKNOWN 0 10
TOTAL 95 135

Information of the French Veterinarians can be found at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336968685

Analysis of the deaths shows that 1917 and 1918 were the years with the most losses. During the last year of the war the impact of the Spainish Flu, killed may veterianrians.

AGE OF DEATH

AGE NUMBER FRENCH COMPARISON
< 30 Years 20 24
30-39 29 44
40-49 31 31
50-59 13 14
> 60 years 2 9
UNKNOWN 0 13
TOTAL 95 135

CAUSE OF DEATH

CAUSE OF DEATH NUMBER FRENCH COMPARISON
Killed in Action or Died of Wounds 21 34
Lost at Sea 3 7
Infectious Disease 33 54
Accidents 15 12
Cancer,Strokes,Heart Attacks etc 16 No Information
Self Inflicted Wounds 7 No Information
Not Known 0 33
TOTAL 95 135