Sir Frederick Thomas George Hobday CMG

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

(4 November 1869 – 24 June 1939) was an innovative veterinary surgeon who served as President of the

Royal Veterinary College , mottoeng = Confront disease at onset , established = (became a constituent part of University of London in 1949) , endowment = £10.5 million (2021) , budget = £106.0 million (20 ...

1927 to 1937. The college holds an annual lecture entitled the Frederick Hobday Memorial Address. He was the official veterinary surgeon to

Queen Alexandra Alexandra of Denmark (Alexandra Caroline Marie Charlotte Louise Julia; 1 December 1844 – 20 November 1925) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 22 January 1901 to 6 May 1910 as the wife of King ...

from 1912 to 1939. He made major advances to animal anaesthesia and to small animal surgery. He also invented a series of thermometers, specific to different animal types. The term "to Hobday" a horse, is a treatment for recurrent laryngeal neuropathy in which the left side of the horse's larynx is weak or paralysed, reducing the ability to perform at high speeds and creating the characteristic noise of a "roarer". The Hobday procedure involves removal of the horse’s left vocal cord along with two adjacent pouches, to reduce turbulence and noise to improve deep breathing during racing. This stems from a practice created by Karl Adolf Gunther but refined by Hobday.

Life

He was born on 4 November 1869 in

Burton-on-Trent Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. In 2011, it had a population of 72,299. Th ...

the son of Thomas Hobday, a manager in the

Bass Brewery The Bass Brewery () was founded in 1777 by William Bass in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The main brand was Bass Pale Ale, once the highest-selling beer in the UK. By 1877, Bass had become the largest brewery in the world, with ...

, and his wife, Mary Newbold. He was educated at Burton Grammar School. He left school around 1883 and began working in his uncle’s coal merchant business but then decided to apprentice as a veterinary surgeon under Alfred Hodgkins in Hanley Staffordshire. He studied at the

1888 to 1892. In 1903 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

. His proposers were

James Cossar Ewart James Cossar Ewart FRS FRSE (26 November 1851 – 31 December 1933) was a Scottish zoologist. He performed breeding experiments with horses and zebras which disproved earlier theories of heredity. Life Ewart was born in Penicuik, Midlo ...

, Sir

German Sims Woodhead Sir German Sims Woodhead, KBE FRSE PRMS LLD (29 April 1855 – 29 December 1921) was an English pathologist. Life He was born at Woodland Mount, a large country house near Huddersfield, on 29 April 1855 the son of Joseph Woodhead, a newspap ...

Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer Sir Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer FRS FRSE FRCP LLD (2 June 1850 – 29 March 1935) was an English physiologist. He is regarded as a founder of endocrinology: in 1894 he discovered and demonstrated the existence of adrenaline together with G ...

, and

John Berry Haycraft John Berry Haycraft FRSE (bapt. 15 March 1857 – 30 December 1922) was a British physician and professor in physiology who carried out important medical research. Biography Haycraft was born in Lewes, East Sussex, England, in 1857, the son ...

. In the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he served as a Major in the

Royal Army Veterinary Corps The Royal Army Veterinary Corps (RAVC), known as the Army Veterinary Corps (AVC) until it gained the royal prefix on 27 November 1918, is an administrative and operational branch of the British Army responsible for the provision, training and ca ...

and saw active service in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

with

King Edward's Horse King Edward's Horse (The King's Overseas Dominions Regiment) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1901, which saw service in the First World War. Early history The regiment was originally formed as part of the Imperial Yeomanry ...

Regiment. He was in command of the No 22 Veterinary Hospital at

Abbeville Abbeville (, vls, Abbekerke, pcd, Advile) is a commune in the Somme department and in Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is the chef-lieu of one of the arrondissements of Somme. Located on the river Somme, it was the capital of ...

, the largest hospital for mules and horses on the western front. He was twice

Mentioned in Dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

. After the war he lived at 31 Argyll Road in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

, a pleasant Victorian terraced house. He was knighted in 1933 and received an honorary doctorate (DSc) from the

University of Zurich The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...

in the same year. In 1937 he was made an Honorary Fellow of the

Royal Society of London The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. He died in

Droitwich Droitwich Spa (often abbreviated to Droitwich ) is an historic spa town in the Wychavon district in northern Worcestershire, England, on the River Salwarpe. It is located approximately south-west of Birmingham and north-east of Worcester. The ...

on 24 June 1939.

Family

In 1895, he married Mrs Elizabeth Chambers, a widow of a fellow veteran. They had one son and one daughter.

Publications

*''Surgical Diseases of the Cat and Dog'' (1901) *''Fifty Years a Veterinary Surgeon'' (1938)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hobday, Frederick Thomas George 1869 births 1939 deaths People from Burton upon Trent Alumni of the Royal Veterinary College British veterinarians Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Knights Bachelor