James Drummond Lambert qualified as a veterinarian (MRCVS, Edinburgh) in 1855. He came to Natal as veterinary officer to the 17th Lancers regiment during the Anglo-Zulu war in 1879, but was wounded in the battle of Ulundi and had to return home. A second tour of duty in Natal followed in 1881-1882, during the Transvaal Campaign. In this period he published two papers, one of them on Glanders and Farcy. In the other, "Horsesickness or Anthrax in South Africa", published in the Veterinary Journal (1881), he stated that these two diseases are identical - an opinion shared with other leading veterinarians such as Duncan Hutcheon* and S. Wiltshire*, but later shown to be false. At some time he published a pamphlet, 'Horse sickness' in South Africa: Its nature, causes, prevention, symptoms and treatment, the third edition of which was published in London in 1900. He returned to England in 1882 and pursued a military career until his retirement with the rank of Colonel in 1897.
