History
On 16 May 1783, the Odiham Agricultural Society was inaugurated as a 'society for the encouraging of Agricultural and Industry in their town and neighbourhood'. The activities and influence of some of its key members was to result in a far more important outcome: the foundation of the veterinary profession in Britain. The Society had 47 members initially, drawn from 'Gentlemen of Rank, fortune and Ingenuity' plus some 'intelligent farmers'. Amongst those founding members was Thomas Burgess, son of the local grocer, Winchester and Oxford scholar, who became Bishop of St David's, where he founded St David's College, Lampeter before being translated to Salisbury. Thomas Burgess found an interest in agricultural reform and an affinity with the Odiham Agricultural Society, both for its encouragement to sobriety, Scriptures and Sunday school, and for its focus on new developments. His zeal and his philanthropic nature led him to take up the cause of animal welfare and to campaign for more humane treatment of sick animals. And he started this through the Odiham Agricultural Society. The minutes of the meeting of 19 August 1785 record Burgess' motion: "That Farriery is a most useful science and intimately connected with the Interests of Agriculture; that it is in a very imperfect neglected state and highly deserving the attention of all friends of Agricultural economy. That Farriery, as it is commonly practised, is conducted without principle or science and greatly to the injury to the noblest and most useful of our animals. That the improvement of Farriery established on a study of the Anatomy, diseases and cure of cattle, particularly Horses, Cows and Sheep, will be an essential benefit to Agriculture and will greatly improve some of the most important branches of national commerce, such as Wool and Leather." The minutes also record that the meeting resolved: "That the Society will consult the good of the community in general and of the limits of the Society in particular, by encouraging such means as are likely to promote the study of Farriery upon rational scientific principles." Unfortunately, neither the Society nor Burgess had the money, medical or scientific knowledge, influence or practical ability to follow through on this resolution, but the quest had begun. The next step was agreed at the meeting on 17 June 1786 at which it was resolved to set up the Farriery Fund: "For the breed, management and improvement of horses, cows, sheep and hogs – for the best fully authenticated cures of diseases incident to horses etc, for accurate registers of dairies – for registers of management, profit and loss of a flock of sheep etc" Another member of the Society now played their part. Arthur Young, an author and traveller, who joined the Society in 1785, spent time in France during 1787 and visited the French veterinary school near Paris. In his 'Travels in France' he wrote that the school had "over one hundred pupils from different parts of France as well as pupils from every country in Europe except England, a strange exception considering how grossly ignorant our farriers are". The May 1788 meeting of the Odiham Agricultural Society, having heard of this, decided to send 2 or more boys to study at the school in France and advertised for contributions. In the same year, James Clark, a Scottish farrier wrote a treatise entitled 'Prevention of Disease' in which he put the case for farriery schools "to qualify the farrier for his profession" and praised the work of the French schools, calling for similar in Britain. At this point another new name is added to the Odiham Agricultural Society,Notes
References
* * {{cite book , author=Cotchen, Ernest , year=1990 , title=The Royal Veterinary College London, A Bicentenary History , publisher=Barracuda Books LtdSources
The content of this section is sourced from the book 'From Farriery to Veterinary Medicine 1785-1795' by L.P.Pugh, published for RCVS by Heffner, Cambridge in 1962. * http://www.rvc.ac.uk/AboutUs/Services/Museums/History.cfm Organisations based in Hampshire Royal Veterinary College Odiham