Home Magazines Editors-in-Chief FAQs Contact Us

Directors of veterinary services in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan: William (Bill) Kennedy, 9 September 1924-September 1934


Abstract

William Kennedy was born in Scotland in 1884 and was elected a Member of the Royal College  of  Veterinary  Surgeons  (MRCVS)  in  1908.  Working  in  British  East  Africa  (now  largely Kenya) in the years before the First World War (!914-1918) as a Veterinary Officer he was in part responsible for ensuring the health of livestock moving from the northern Masai areas to a southern reserve and preventing disease being transmitted to the herds of white settlers. Kennedy served in the East African Veterinary Corps as a Major throughout the war, was on the Staff of the Commander in Chief when Britain was fighting the armed forces of German East Africa and where his main concern was to ensure the health of the large number of riding and transport animals. He was three times Mentioned in Despatches and  awarded  the  Distinguished  Service  Order.  After  the  war  he  was  successively  acting  and then Chief Veterinary Officer of the Kenya Colony and Protectorate, issuing numerous proclamations  designed  to  control  rinderpest,  contagious  bovine  pleuro-pneumonia  and  foot and mouth disease. Leaving Kenya in 1924 he was appointed Director of Veterinary Services in Sudan, the first civilian to occupy the position. He served in Sudan until 1934 during a period when disease identification, diagnosis and control made great progress. Honoured  with  the  award  of  the  Order  of  the  Nile  Third  Class  by  the  King  of  Egypt,  he  retired to England and died there aged 80 in 1965.

Keywords

east african veterinary corps, first world war, kenya, german east africa, animal diseases

Testimonials