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

Following the reconquest of Sudan by combined Egyptian and British forces it became necessary to provide health services for the huge numbers of transport animals required to manage the country. A veterinary service established in 1902 was staffed mainly by personnel of the British Army Veterinary Service. The second of these officers in charge (Principal Veterinary Officer) was George Richard Griffith. Born in 1857 in Hamilton in Scotland he was the son of a Sergeant Major in the Fifth Dragoon Guards. Following a childhood in his parents’ home and at boarding school he graduated as a veterinary surgeon (MRCVS) and joined the Army Veterinary Department in 1880. Posted to Egypt in 1882 Griffith served in campaigns, first against the Egyptians and then the Sudanese, being involved in several military actions until 1889. Awarded several campaign medals and clasps he was seconded to the Egyptian Army in 1889. Captain Griffith continued to serve in Sudan throughout the 1890s, being present at several major engagements, culminating at the Battle of Omdurman in 1898. He was Principal Veterinary Officer of the Sudan Veterinary Service from 1903 to 1906 where his main concerns were ensuring the health of cavalry and transport animals. He retired from the army in 1908, then married at this late stage of life and died aged 63 in 1920.

Army veterinary services; Egyptian army; Military campaigns; Livestock diseases; Transport animals

The Sudanese, led by a charismatic religious leader claiming to be the Mahdi (the “Guided One”), rebelled against the Egyptians who were governing the country. General Gordon was sent to assist the Egyptians but became besieged in Khartoum. A British relief force fought its way up the River Nile in 1884/1885 but Gordon was killed before it arrived. Public pressure in Britain resulted in a second expedition being sent to recapture Sudan in 1898. A decisive victory by the British over the Sudanese under the Khalifa (“Successor”–the Mahdi had died shortly after the death of Gordon) at the Battle of Omdurman in September 1898 resulted in the reconquest of the country. The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, nominally a joint administration by the two countries but essentially a British enterprise, was established as a Condominium shortly afterwards [1,2]. Continuing unrest and civil disturbance by the Sudanese necessitated a large military presence, largely Egyptian but supported by British troops and administrators. Maintaining law and order required enormous numbers of cavalry and transport animals (horses, mules, donkeys and camels) to govern and control the turbulent population. The health of these animals was a major consideration in the setting up of a fledgling veterinary service. In all,12 people served as Principal Veterinary Officers (to 1910) or as Directors of Veterinary Services (from 1910 to 1956) in the 55-year period from the setting up of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan in 1901 to the achievement of independence by the Republic of Sudan on 1 January 1956. During the early years the veterinarians were military officers who were seconded, usually for short periods, from the British to the Egyptian Army which in turn employed them directly or seconded them to the Sudan. George Richard Griffith was the second of the twelve expatriate personnel who served as head of the Sudan Veterinary Service, being in the post from 1903 to 1906.

George Richard Griffiths (note the “s” in the surname) was born on 5 July 1857 in the military barracks in Hamilton, Scotland. He was the son of George Griffiths, a Sergeant Major in the Fifth Dragoon Guards, and his wife Ann (née Ness). His birth was registered in Hamilton District Registry Office on 13 July and it is noted that his father was absent [3].

At the census of 1861 he was the second child of his parents, aged 3, living in the East Cavalry Barracks in Aldershot, Hampshire, England. His father, born in Ireland, aged 39 had been promoted to Quartermaster in the Fifth Royal Irish Lancers, his mother (29) had been born in Wales, his older brother (8) had been born in Ireland and a younger sister (3 months) had been born in Aldershot [4]. The 1871 census has George Richard Griffith, a scholar aged 13 at The Old Hall School in Watling Street Road in Wellington in the county of Shropshire in the English West Midlands [5].

George Richard Griffith entered the Royal Veterinary College in London about 1876 where he graduated Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and became a Member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (MRCVS) on 31 March 1880 [6]. Griffith was admitted as a Veterinary Surgeon on probation into the Army Veterinary Department on 26 May 1880, the appointment becoming substantive after six months on 26 November [7].

On 4 April 1881 George Richard Griffith, unmarried, aged 24 and a veterinary surgeon was living in the Cavalry Barracks of the 7th Dragoon Guards in the South Camp at Aldershot in Hampshire [8].

Sudan: Military Campaigns 1882 to 1899

Griffith was posted to Egypt where he was present throughout the British campaigns there and in Sudan from 1882 to 1889. During the Egyptian Expedition of 1882 he served at the actions of El Magfar, Masameh, Kassassin on 26 August, the Battle of Tel-el-Kebir and the forced march to and capture of Cairo [9]. For service during this campaign he was awarded the Egypt Medal with Clasp and the Khedive’s Star. He served in the Sudan Expedition of 1884-1885 and was awarded another Clasp to his Egypt Medal. His actions at the Battle of Gemaizah on 20 December 1888 resulted in yet another Clasp to the Egypt Medal and his being Mentioned in Despatches [9]. Up to this time Griffith had served in Egypt and Sudan with the British Army but during 1889 he was seconded for service with the Egyptian Army [10]: 

Griffith was soon in action again at the Battle of Toski. Throughout 1889, 1890 and 1891 he continued his secondment with the Egyptian Army with which he was Principal Veterinary Surgeon based in Suakin on Sudan’s Red Sea Coast. He was present at the capture of Tokar on 19 February 1891, gained a Clasp to his Khedive’s star and, at least in part, for his presence there he was awarded the Turkish Order of Osmanieh 4^th Class [11]:

In 1891 Griffith moved a little out of his military environment and was initiated as a Freemason in the United Grand Lodge of England in Lodge Number 1105 Grecia located in Cairo. The information provided in the register on page 122 states he is a Captain in the Army Veterinary Department (he had been promoted to Captain on 26 May 1890, 10 years after entering the service), male, aged 34, born about 1857, was initiated on 9 December 1891 and paid his first year’s subscription of two shillings and six pence (the economic power value of that amount in 2017 is £168.30). Several other people initiated as Freemasons at or about the same time were military personnel [12].

In 1895, along with several other officers he was the subject of a cartoon (Figure 1) [13]. The identity of the artist Marcel PC is not known but at the date of the drawing in 1895 as a Veterinary Captain Griffith would have been entitled to the Egyptian rank of Bimbashi and not that of Kaimakan as noted on the sketch¹ .

Griffith served in the Expedition to Dongola in 1896 as Principal Veterinary Officer and was in action at the operations of 7 June at Firkez and of 19 September at Hafir, was Mentioned in Despatches and again gained a Clasp for his Egypt Medal and two Clasps for his Khedive’s Star [1]. A Despatch from Major-General Sir H.H. Kitchener, K.C.M.G., C.B., dated Dongola, 30^th September, 1896 sent through the Officer Commanding in Egypt to the War Office described the Dongola campaign. Griffith, in addition to a “Special Mention” (i.e. he was Mentioned in Despatches), was twice singled out for his contributions [14]: