{{Short description|British veterinarian}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} Prof '''Thomas Walley''' FECVS (1842–1894) was a 19th-century British veterinarian who served as Principal of the Dick Vet school in Edinburgh from 1874 to 1894.
He was a pioneer in identifying the link (through milk consumption) between bovine and human tuberculosis.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.vet.k-state.edu/OneHealth/Vol11-Iss1/edinburgh.html|title = Physicians welcome a veterinarian to problem-solve on tuberculosis: One Health meetings in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1888}}</ref>
==Life== [[File:Family grave of Thomas Walley in Highgate Cemetery.jpg|thumb|Family grave of Thomas Walley in Highgate Cemetery]] He entered the Dick Vet School as Professor of Animal Pathology and Cattle Pathology around 1872 and at first lived at 9 Thistle street close to the college (then on Clyde Street).<ref>Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1873</ref> In March 1872 he came to an odd claim to fame as the person responsible for the autopsy on Greyfriars Bobby, which concluded that Bobby died from cancer of the jaw.<ref>Greyfriars Bobby: The Most Faithful Dog in the World, J Bondeson</ref>
He became Principal of the College in 1874. He then lived at 1 Wellington Place in Leith, facing onto Leith Links.<ref>Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1875</ref>
In 1894 he was running the Veterinary College (Dick Vet) on Clyde Street in the First New Town in Edinburgh and also ran a veterinary infirmary and farriers yard on Jane Street in Leith, living at that point at 10 Broughton Place in the eastern New Town.<ref>Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1895</ref>
He died in office in Edinburgh on 10 December 1894 and was replaced by his friend Prof John Dewar.<ref>The Development of Veterinary Education in Eastern Scotland: Boddie & Philips</ref> He was buried in a family grave on the east side of Highgate Cemetery.
==Family==
Thomas married Elizabeth Spratt Clay and they had five children: Mara Eleanor (b.23.6.1865), Thomas St.George (b.5.8.1867), Ralph St.John (b.13.5.1869), Constance Elizabeth (b.23.7.1872) and Gertrude Amy (b.18.8.1874).
Their eldest daughter, Mara Eleanor Walley, married John McFadyean (1853-1941), the first British veterinary bacteriologist, who was later knighted, and was Principal of (and a Professor at) the Royal Veterinary College from 1894 to 1927.
==Artistic recognition==
Walley was one of twenty "shadow portraits" created in the Summerhall building of the college, depicting former Principals. The portraits are now in the Easter Bush buildings.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://canmore.org.uk/site/74045/edinburgh-summerhall-royal-dick-veterinary-college|title=Edinburgh, Summerhall, Royal (Dick) Veterinary College | Canmore}}</ref>
==Publications== *''Public Abattoir in Relation to Human Food'' (1887) *''Animal Tuberculosis in Relation to Consumption in Man'' (1887)
==References==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Walley, Thomas}} Category:1842 births Category:1894 deaths Category:Burials at Highgate Cemetery Category:British veterinarians