Thomas Walley
Prof Thomas Walley FECVS (1842–1894) was a 19th-century British veterinarian who served as Principal of the Dick Vet school in Edinburgh from 1874 to 1894.
He was a pioneer in identifying the link (through milk consumption) between bovine and human tuberculosis.[1]
Life[edit]
He entered the Dick Vet School as Professor of Animal Pathology and Cattle Pathology around 1872 and at first lived at 9 Thistle street close to the college (then on Clyde Street).[2] In March 1872 he came to an odd claim to fame as the person responsible for the autopsy on Greyfriars Bobby, which concluded that Bobby died from cancer of the jaw.[3]
He became Principal of the College in 1874. He then lived at 1 Wellington Place in Leith, facing onto Leith Links.[4]
In 1894 he was running the Veterinary College (Dick Vet) on Clyde Street in the First New Town in Edinburgh and also ran a veterinary infirmary and farriers yard on Jane Street in Leith, living at that point at 10 Broughton Place in the eastern New Town.[5]
He died in office in Edinburgh on 10 December 1894 and was replaced by his friend Prof John Dewar.[6] He was buried in a family grave on the east side of Highgate Cemetery.
Family[edit]
Thomas married Elizabeth Spratt Clay and they had five children: Mara Eleanor (b.23.6.1865), Thomas St.George (b.5.8.1867), Ralph St.John (b.13.5.1869), Constance Elizabeth (b.23.7.1872) and Gertrude Amy (b.18.8.1874).
Their eldest daughter, Mara Eleanor Walley, married John McFadyean (1853-1941), the first British veterinary bacteriologist, who was later knighted, and was Principal of (and a Professor at) the Royal Veterinary College from 1894 to 1927.
Artistic Recognition[edit]
Walley was one of twenty "shadow portraits" created in the Summerhall building of the college, depicting former Principals. The portraits are now in the Easter Bush buildings.[7]
Publications[edit]
- Public Abattoir in Relation to Human Food (1887)
- Animal Tuberculosis in Relation to Consumption in Man (1887)
References[edit]
- ^ "Physicians welcome a veterinarian to problem-solve on tuberculosis: One Health meetings in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1888".
- ^ Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1873
- ^ Greyfriars Bobby: The Most Faithful Dog in the World, J Bondeson
- ^ Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1875
- ^ Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1895
- ^ The Development of Veterinary Education in Eastern Scotland: Boddie & Philips
- ^ "Edinburgh, Summerhall, Royal (Dick) Veterinary College | Canmore".
