Museums

History of the College

The foundation of The Veterinary College, London, in 1791 marked the establishment of the veterinary profession in this country. The development of the profession can be traced to that single act. In the racing seasons of 1769 and 1770 the racecourses of England were dominated by one horse. That horse was Eclipse, so named because of the solar event on the day of his birth, 1 April 1764. Eclipse was never beaten on the racecourse and, in the absence of any competition, he was retired from racing in 1770 and stood at stud until he died in 1789 at the age of 25.

Eclipse was a sufficiently important horse to make it necessary to know not only the cause of his death, but also the secret of his successful life. A veterinary opinion was needed, but there was no veterinary school and no qualified veterinarian in the country except the Frenchman Charles Benoit Vial de St Bel. St Bel attended the corpse of the famous racehorse and subsequently published his post-mortem findings.

However, St Bel's chief purpose for being in England was not to attend dead racehorses but to gain support for his plan to establish a veterinary school. He was assisted in this quest by the Odiham Agricultural Society, which consisted of a number of enlightened gentry. These men recognised the need for a better understanding of animal husbandry and disease and had, for some years, been considering how to introduce the veterinary art into this country.

By May 1790 they had realised that this could be best achieved by establishing a veterinary school, and had set up a London committee to further this objective. Vial de St Bel had met one of their number, Granville Penn, the grandson of William Penn who founded Pennsylvania, and Penn had helped him refine the outline of his plans for such a school.

The Veterinary College, London, was born in the parish of St Pancras in 1791, on the present-day site of The Royal Veterinary College's Camden Town Campus. On 4 January 1792, the first four students attended the College to begin a three-year course intended to cover all aspects of the veterinary art. As funds became available the College developed, with facilities that provided a clear benefit to subscribers, such as stabling and an infirmary, taking precedence over a lecture theatre and dissecting rooms.

The College styled itself Royal from 1826 due to the patronage of George IV, but it was not until 1875 that this was substantiated when the College received its first Charter of Incorporation from Queen Victoria. Significantly, during the first 100 years of its existence the College progressed from a horse infirmary with a handful of students to a science based institution, producing veterinarians and scientists with reputations acknowledged all over the world.

John McFadyean, probably the first modern veterinary scientist in the country, joined The Royal Veterinary College as professor of pathology and bacteriology in 1891. During his time as Principal, from 1894-1927, he established a research institute in animal pathology, in which the commercial production of tuberculin and mallein not only contributed to the eventual eradication of tuberculosis and glanders as major diseases of man and animals, but their sale helped the finances of the College. McFadyean was succeeded as Principal by Frederick Hobday. Frustrated by the still inadequate College facilities, Hobday launched a mammoth fundraising campaign. The Giant Nosebag Appeal raised a magnificent £135,000 which, together with a government grant of £150,000, enabled the College to buy the freehold of the site at Camden and to initiate a construction programme. The old buildings between the recently erected pathology institute and The Beaumont Animals' Hospital, which had been built in 1932 as a result of a single legacy, were demolished in 1935 and replaced with modern new facilities. The College's association with pioneering female veterinarians such as Aleen Cust, who took a revision course at the College before qualifying as the first woman to hold the MRCVS diploma in 1922, and Olga Uvarov - the first woman to become President of The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons - who qualified from The Royal Veterinary College in 1934, reflects our aim to provide equality of education for all.

In 1949 The Royal Veterinary College became a full part of the University of London. However, unlike any other University with a veterinary school, London has a federal structure, and so the College retains much of its independence under its own Royal Charter. This includes its own Council and a full time Principal who is appointed by the Council and not the University. As in all other veterinary schools students work for a degree which is recognised by The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. In 1955 the College acquired a country estate in Hertfordshire to provide a new field station, and in 1958 the departments of medicine and surgery moved from their wartime site at Streatley in Berkshire into the new buildings at Hawkshead. In 1956 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II granted a new charter to The Royal Veterinary College and formally opened the College's field station in 1959.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother opened the College's Northumberland Hall of Residence in 1965, and accepted election to Honorary Fellowship of the College in 1981. In 1982 The Queen Mother became Patron of the College's Animal Care Trust, and in 1986 opened the first phase of the new Queen Mother Hospital for Animals, which was built largely as a result of the Trust's work. 1986 also saw the opening of the Sefton Equine Referral Hospital Surgery Wing by HRH The Princess Royal as Chancellor of the University of London.

During 1991 the College celebrated its Bicentenary with a range of important events, including a renewed building programme which has involved the opening of a second students' hall of residence, Odiham Hall; the construction of the second phase of The Queen Mother Hospital; and, most recently, the establishment of purpose-built facilities for pathology at Hawkshead in the Mill Reef Pathology Building, which was opened by HRH The Princess Royal in May 1995.

In 2001, seventy-six years after the opening of the College's Research Institute in Animal Pathology at Camden, the building which once housed it became the London Biosciences Innovation Centre, the premier biotechnology incubator in Central London.

With expansion in student numbers and the increasing use of computer technology in the curriculum, the Hawkshead Campus saw the erection of the Eclipse Building containing the Learning Resources Centre which was opened by H.M. the Queen in 2003; this year also saw the opening of the Large Animals Clinical Centre at Hawkshead by HRH Prince Philip. The RVC's Royal connections continued with the appointment of the Duchess of Cornwall as Patron of the Animal Care Trust in 2005, and in 2007 the LIVE centre was opened by The Princess Royal ensuring the development of professional skills for veterinary, paraveterinary and animal science students to the highest level.

Historical Milestones

1791	The foundation of The Veterinary College, London, which later becomes known as The Royal Veterinary College.
1792	January 1st. The first four pupils begin their three-year course under the direction of a Frenchman, Professor Charles Vial de St. Bel.
1796	John Shipp is the first qualified veterinary surgeon to join the British Army.
1844	The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons is awarded its Royal Charter.
1865	RVC Professor James Beart Simonds is appointed as the first Chief Inspector and Veterinary Advisor to the Privy council, with particular regard to cattle plague.
1875	The RVC is granted the first Royal Charter. To this day the RVC remains the only veterinary college in the UK to have its own Royal Charter.
1879	Establishment of the Cheap Practice Clinic, later known as the Poor People's Out-Patients Clinic. Some veterinary surgeons are concerned that the College was threatening their livelihoods. The College argues that poor people can afford neither the RVC's annual subscription, nor the normal veterinary fees, therefore their animals will go untreated if the Clinic is to be closed.
1891	RVC centenary. Foundation of the Students' Union. The first issue of the journal, The Student, is published on November 29th; the second issue, December 11th, is renamed The Students' Record.
1895	The RVC acquires its first X-ray machine.
1907	Major renovation of the College horse boxes, which have fund-raisers' commemorative shields hung at their doorways.
1925	Opening of the Research Institute in Animal Pathology, which is headed by Professor John McFadyean.
1927	RVC buildings are officially declared dangerous structures. Nationwide fund-raising for the total rebuilding of the College begins under the new Principal, Professor Frederick Hobday.
1932	The Beaumont Animals' Hospital opens.
1937	New RVC buildings are officially opened by King George VI, accompanied by Queen Elizabeth, the present Queen Mother, on November 9th.
1940	The RVC evacuated to Streatley, Berkshire. However, the Beaumont Animals' Hospital remains open at Camden Town throughout the war years.
1949	The RVC becomes a school of the University of London.
1958	The Hawkshead field station is officially opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
1982	The Animal Care Trust is launched with the Queen Mother as patron.
1986	The Queen Mother Hospital for Small Animals is opened at Hawkshead by the Queen Mother. Princess Anne, the Princess Royal and Chancellor of the University of London, open the surgical wing of the Sefton Equine Referral Hospital.
1991	RVC bicentenary. The skeleton of the famous racehorse Eclipse, dissected in 1789 by St. Bel is once more the property of the RVC and is on display in the Museum at Hawkshead.
2001	The London Bioscience Innovation Centre is opened.
2003	The Learning Resource Centre (Eclipse Building) is officially opened at Hawkshead by Her Majesty the Queen in October 2003
2003	The Large Animal Clinical Centre is officially opened by HRH, Prince Philip The Duke of Edinburgh in October 2003.
2005	The Duchess of Cornwall visits the Hawkshead Campus as new Patron of the Royal Veterinary College Animal Care Trust
2007	The LIVE Centre at Hawkshead is officially opened by HRH The Princess Royal in February 2007