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.