Army Veterinary Corp

[June Welsby]

My husbands grandfather was a member of the Army Veterinary Corp during WW1. He doesn't have a Service Number. Can anybody give me any information about this Corp. How does one join (obviously you have to be a vet) who are they answerable to and are they attached to any regiment or what?
How do I go about obtaining his records?

June Welsby

[keith9351]

200 year history of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps

http://www.army.mod.uk/medical/royal...tory/index.htm

Keith

[Peter Goodey]

obviously you have to be a vet

I don't think so! Not for other ranks.

Obtain his records in the usual way ie they're probably lost.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/c...?sLeafletID=18

[seekingsusan]

Hi June,

I don't think they had to be qualified vets. A soldier I found in the service records was a butcher by trade. Tells you something, doesn't it?

I'm trying to establish the ID of my ancestor who may have been in the AVC before transferring to RAMC. He had been into game and poultry before joining up.

I'm just going onto this website that has been recommended -

Kind regards,

Sue

[Retlaw]

My husbands grandfather was a member of the Army Veterinary Corp during WW1. He doesn't have a Service Number. Can anybody give me any information about this Corp. How does one join (obviously you have to be a vet) who are they answerable to and are they attached to any regiment or what?
How do I go about obtaining his records?

June Welsby

If he was in the army in WW1 he must have had a number, most men who served in that unit, were to tend the horses, those that had been wounded or were exhausted etc, others were issued with a revolver and special ammo headstamped C.K.

Cattle Killers, they were used to put animals out of their misery, other men were employed to get rid of the carcases.

If your doing a search in documents online, dont put Army Veternary Corps,
lots of these men ahd served in other units.

Retlaw.

[seekingsusan]

Hello again everybody. Retlaw, are you saying that the men who saw to the medical needs of the horses, who were not trained vets in civvy street, were perhaps recruited from trades such as butchery, farming etc., perhaps given some training in dealing with injured and traumatized horses (also dispatching of same) then sent back to their chosen regiments to work with horses as and when required?

I had difficulty imagining a whole corps of trained veterinarys being camped on the edge of a battlefield!

Knowing that my grandfather's effort in WW1 was with R.A.M.C. (T) (and he was not a trained medic) can well see how the horse stuff would fit in with this.

Thanks for a really welcome thread!

Seekingsusan

[Retlaw]

Hello again everybody. Retlaw, are you saying that the men who saw to the medical needs of the horses, who were not trained vets in civvy street, were perhaps recruited from trades such as butchery, farming etc., perhaps given some training in dealing with injured and traumatized horses (also dispatching of same) then sent back to their chosen regiments to work with horses as and when required?

Yes.
A lot of the men in that corps were farm workers, ostlers, blacksmiths,
slaughterhouse workers, and others used to dealing with animals.

There would only be a few vets per unit, just like a medical officer and his crew in a regular service battalion.
Retlaw.

[Maximilian]

First, it was the Army Vetinary Corps, not Corp. Corps is a French word (so the ps is silent) meaning "body" = corpse, but it is used in the same sense as a "body of men". The Royal prefix was added after WW1.

As has been said, the Corps comprised qualified vets as officers, and men with experience and aptitude with animals as other ranks, much like the Royal Army Medical Corps, with doctors as officers, and other ranks comprising paramedics and nurses.

To understand how the various Corps work, it is important to understand the basic structure of the Army. The "business" end of the Army, euphemistically called the "combat" (sounds better than killing) component, is the various infantry regiments together with the artillery. The Corps make up the service component - providing, food, clothing, equipment, transport, engineering, as well as medical and vet services. The personnel of regiments work together in large numbers, whereas those of Corps are distributed as small attachments to combat units.

The main work of vets in WW1 was with horses, which were still used in large numbers - it is significant that the statue in Whitehall of the most controversial general of WW1, Douglas Haig, has him sitting on a horse.

A great uncle of mine, my mother's favourite uncle, after whom I am named, was a Vet in charge of what was called the Remount in Marseilles. Sadly, he succumbed to a fever, was put on a train for shipment to Blighty, but died at Le Havre, where he is buried. He might have worked with June Welsby's grandfather-in-law, but we shall never know.

[seekingsusan]

Re my Grandad, whose Regimental number is known: Has anybody successfully traced the AVC career of their ancestor? If so, how did you go about it please? !!!

And did you know there is a Purple Poppy in remembrance of the hidden victims of war, the animals? I've obtained a few of these, and if anybody would like one, please email your postal address to me at: snooty-fox AT ntlworld DOT com and I will be pleased to pop one in the post for you. Sue

[June Welsby]

Sue
The only way I know of is through the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Wellcome Library, Belgravia House, 62-64 Horseferry Rd., London SW1P 2AF. E-mail Library@rcvs.org.uk. This is where we found info on Joseph Randolph Welsby.
Hope this helps
June Welsby