Smith - skeleton of a horse shoing back bone and ribs

Horses and the problem of sore backs

“Sore backs appear inseparable from mounted service, they have existed as long as the horse has been used in war … it was reasonable to suppose … as knowledge advanced, a reduction in this class of injury should have been possible.” So says Frederick Smith in his book A veterinary history of the war in […]

William Somervile The Chace 1767 feeding hounds

The thrill of ‘The Chace’

Today is  World Poetry Day, so to mark the occasion we have brought out one of the poetry books we have in our Historical Collection, William Somervile’s The Chace: a poem (id 15172).  This was first published in 1735 and we have a copy of the fifth edition which was published in 1767. William Somervile (1675–1742), […]

Prioritisation Project

Equal Pay for Equal Work – Part 2

The final instalment of Julie Hipperson’s piece to mark International Women’s Day. The last post looked at how in its early days the SWVS was conflicted about adopting whole-sale the notion of equal pay for equal work based on their physical ability to do the job, an ambiguity beautifully encapsulated in an interview held with […]

Prioritisation Project

Equal Pay for Equal Work – Part 1

Part one of two guest blog posts from Julie Hipperson, PhD student at Imperial College London. In February 1943, the Council of the SWVS were not surprised when their attention was alerted to the fact that the Veterinary Record was carrying adverts which offered different salaries for men and women.  The issue of equal pay […]

Prioritisation Project

Celebrating women’s achievements

Thousands of events will take place around the world tomorrow to celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD).  This day has been observed, in one incarnation or another, for over 100 years.   Today, IWD celebrates women’s achievements and looks forward to a bright, safe and equal future for women. Over the next few days the Library blog will […]

Prioritisation Project

Warrior – one of the real war horses

In an introductory note to Sidney Galtray’s  The horse and the war Field-Marshall Sir Douglas Haig, Commander-in-Chief of the British Forces, states: “I hope that this account … will bring home to the peoples of the British Empire …  the wisdom of breeding animals for the two military virtues of hardiness and activity.” Last night’s Channel 4 […]

Convolvulus Jalapa or Mexican bindweed

Reading for Pleasure

Today is World book day.  Some of us will remember the £1 book tokens given out at school, picking out our favourite book at the book shop and rushing home to read it– today is definitely a day for the bookworm!  World book day is a celebration of illustrators, authors and, most importantly, reading. As […]