William Henry Chase qualified (MRCVS, London) in 1901 and joined the Cape of Good Hope Veterinary Administration in 1902. He was the first to investigate Senecio poisoning in South Africa, known locally as Molteno cattle disease, and found the cause to be poisoning by Senecio burchelli. In 1905 he was transferred to the Bechuanaland Protectorate (now Botswana) to prevent the spread of East Coast Fever into that country, a goal that he achieved successfully. He also managed to clear the country of lungsickness by 1922 and used his knowledge of that disease for a FRCVS thesis entitled "Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia". In later years he was also involved in the eradication of foot and mouth disease. He attended many international conferences and was sought after as a consultant in matters of disease control. For his services he was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 1925. After retirement in 1935 he spent some years in private practice in England but returned to Botswana in 1952 and finally retired to Pretoria in 1961.

Chase was married to Catherine Mathilda Price, with whom he had a son and a daughter. She died in 1958. His second wife, Rose Louise Joan Chase, survived him.

List of sources:

Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood. Supplement to the London Gazette, 3 June 1925, p. 3779, at https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/33053/supplement/3779/data.pdf

Chase, W.H. Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia. London: FRCVS Collection, Series 1, Number 126, 1907.

Henning, M.W. Animal diseases in South Africa (2 vols). Johannesburg: CNA, 1932.

National Archives, Pretoria (TAB), Source MHG, Vol. 0, Ref. 1254/65, death notice, last will and testament, William Henry Chase.

Posthumus, P.J. Past Veterinarians in South Africa, Vol. 1, 10th edition, [1992].

Compiled by: D.W. Verwoerd

Last updated: 2023-11-29 11:34:16