Thomas Walley

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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[]

Family grave of Thomas Walley in Highgate Cemetery

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[]

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[]

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[]

  • Public Abattoir in Relation to Human Food (1887)
  • Animal Tuberculosis in Relation to Consumption in Man (1887)


References[]

  1. ^ "Physicians welcome a veterinarian to problem-solve on tuberculosis: One Health meetings in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1888".
  2. ^ Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1873
  3. ^ Greyfriars Bobby: The Most Faithful Dog in the World, J Bondeson
  4. ^ Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1875
  5. ^ Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1895
  6. ^ The Development of Veterinary Education in Eastern Scotland: Boddie & Philips
  7. ^ "Edinburgh, Summerhall, Royal (Dick) Veterinary College | Canmore".
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