Augustus John Williams qualified as a veterinarian (MRCVS) at the Royal (Dick) Veterinary College in Edinburgh in 1898 and that same year started his career in the military as a Veterinary Lieutenant. During the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) he served as a regular with the Army Veterinary Department (as senior veterinary officer in the sixth Division) from November 1899 to October 1902 and was awarded the Queen's South Africa Medal with four clasps and the King's Medal with two clasps. He published an article in the Veterinary Record of 11 January 1902 on poisonous plants in South Africa, mentioning plants such as the tulp (most species of Homeria and Moraea), pepper bush (several species of Coronopus and Lepidium), inkbush (several species of Suaeda), and Euphorbia.

After the war he returned to England where he was promoted to captain. In 1903 he was sent to India and took part in the Younghusband expedition to Tibet (1903-1904). Returning to Britain in November 1905 he qualified as a Fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (FRCVS) by examination. From 1907 to 1909 he served in Egypt and the Sudan and published a paper on a virulent outbreak of foot and mouth disease. He was sent to India again in 1912, where he did research on the treatment of the tick-born disease piroplasmosis. This was the most important work of his career. During World War I (1914-1918 he served in Mesopotamia (1917-1919). From 1921 to 1923 he was assistant director-general of the Army Veterinary Service in the War Office, and from 1923 to 1924 commander of the Royal Army Veterinary School at Aldershot. In 1928, with promotion to brigadier, he became director of Veterinary Services in India until 1932, when he retired in London. Throughout his career he published a variety of articles in veterinary journals.

List of sources:

A.J. Williams - a tropical veterinary pioneer. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 2003, Vol. 96(9), pp. 465-466. Retrieved on 25 May 2021 from https://europepmc.org/article/pmc/pmc539607

Posthumus, P.J. Past veterinarians in South Africa (10th edition), Vol. 2, [1992].

Who was who, Vol. 4, 3rd ed. London: Adam & Black, 1964.

Williams, A.J. Poisonous plants in South Africa. Veterinary Record, 11 January 1902, pp. 421-422.

Compiled by: D.W. Verwoerd

Last updated: 2021-05-25 11:44:54