INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF VETERINARY AND ANIMAL MEDICINE (ISSN:2517-7362)

James John Bonifant Tapley was born 14 November 1877 in Torrington, Devon. He became Member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (MRCVS) on 13 July 1899. He served as a Civilian Veterinary Surgeon (C.V.S.) in South Africa in 1901-1902 during the Anglo-Boer War (Queen’s South Africa Medal, four Clasps). Commissioned Lieutenant in the Army Veterinary Corps on 16 May 1903 he returned to South Africa and commanded Number 9 Section, Army Veterinary Service, Pretoria until 1908. Promoted as Captain on 1 May 1908 he was posted to the Cavalry School at Netheravon, Wiltshire. Seconded to the Egyptian Army in November 1911, he served in Sudan until he was retransferred to the British Army when World War I began, serving in France and Belgium, 14 August 1914-7 August 1915 (Distinguished Service Order, Mentioned in Despatches) and being promoted Major. Seconded again to the Egyptian Army as Principal Veterinary Officer he supervised transport operations in Darfur during April-November 1916 (Khedive’s Sudan Medal, Mentioned in Despatches). He was Director of Veterinary Services in Sudan, 1918- 1922 (Order of the Nile, 3^rd Class). He was Acting and Brevet Lieutenant Colonel prior to becoming substantive Lieutenant Colonel, then Colonel with seniority at 1^st January 1921. He subsequently served in various administrative posts in India, Egypt and the UK. Appointed Director General of Veterinary Services in 1933-a post held until 1937-he was promoted Major General (Companion of the Bath (Military Division)). Placed on the British Army Regular Army Reserve of Officers General List in 1942, Tapley died aged 80 on 17 July 1958.

Second Anglo-Boer War; First World War; Royal Army Veterinary Corps; Military campaigns; Army transport.

onflict of Interests The authors declare no conflict of interest.

In the final 20 years of the 19^th Century a religiously-inspired uprising in the Sudan (the Mahdist War) was quelled by the Khedivate of Egypt, with assistance from the British Army, in 1898. Following eighteen years of conflict a joint-rule state of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, a Condominium of the British Empire and the Kingdom of Egypt, was established. Cavalry and transport animals (horses, mules, donkeys and camels) were required in large numbers to govern and control the Condominium. Animal health care was provided by a fledgling veterinary service staffed initially by British Army officers. Twelve veterinarians served, in turn, as Principal Veterinary Officers (to 1910) or as Directors of Veterinary Services (1910- 1956) in the 55-year period from the formation of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan in 1901 to independence for the Republic of Sudan on 1^st January 1956. The early veterinarians were seconded, usually for short periods, from the British Army Veterinary Corps to the Egyptian Army which employed them directly or seconded them to Sudan. James John Bonifant Tapley was the fifth Director of the Sudan Veterinary Service, serving for five years from 1917 to 1922 after being Veterinary Inspector in various provinces. This paper provides material additional to and expands on an earlier biography of James Tapley [1].

Background and early life

James John Bonifant Tapley was born on 14^th November 1877 at the Globe Inn in Great Torrington in North Devon (Figure 1) [2]. He was baptized just over six weeks later on 31st December 1877 at the church of St Michael and All Angels in Torrington, the son of Samuel George Tapley and Mary (née Bonifant) Tapley (Figure 2).

During the British census of 1881 James J B Tapley, aged 3, was living with his parents in High Street, Torrington. The census records him residing with his mother, father, elder sister, elder brother, aunt (mother’s sister), a male visitor and six servants (Porter, Billiard Marker, Cook, Chamber Maid, Waitress, Child Maid). In 1891, John B. Tapley, aged 13 and a Scholar, was living at the Globe Inn, Torrington. The full household comprised his father, mother, older sister, older brother, mother’s sister (aunt), six domestic servants (Cook, Waitress, Chamber Maid, Boots, Billiard Marker, Barmaid) and a boarder.

Following the required period of study, Tapley graduated from the Royal Veterinary College, London, (RVC) with a Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine (B Vet Med). He was registered as a Member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (MRCVS) on 13 July 1899. 

Soon after graduating from the RVC James Tapley travelled to South Africa to provide veterinary care to animals during the second Anglo-Boer war. Serving as a Civilian Veterinary Surgeon (CVS) with the British Army Veterinary Department he was awarded the Queen’s South Africa Medal with four Clasps (Cape Colony, for service there between 11th October 1899 and 31st May 1902; Orange Free State for service there between 28 th February 1900 and 31 st May 1902; South Africa 1901 for presence in the country between 1st January and 31st December 1901; and, South Africa 1902, for presence from 1st January 1902 to the end of the war on 31st May). This was the first of a plethora of campaign medals and honours he was to receive during his military career (Figure 3). At some point during his Anglo-Boer service Tapley returned to England as in April 1901, at the time of the census of that year. J J B Tapley was recorded as a Veterinary Surgeon aged 28 living as a boarder in the household of Mary C Abbott, a single woman living on her own account as a Grocer at 25 Holland Street, Barnstaple: others in the household were two additional boarders both aged 19 and a 15-year-old niece of the household head.

Returning to England from South Africa at the end of the war, Tapley was commissioned as a Veterinary-Lieutenant in the Army Veterinary Department on 16 May 1903 [3,4]: