Alexander Goodall, veterinarian, was the son of Thomas B. Goodall and his wife Mary E. Douglas. He was educated at Charterhouse School, London, and from 1897 to 1899 served as a private in the Volunteer Medical Staff Corps in London. In 1902 he graduated (MRCVS) at the Royal Veterinary College at Camden Town and in October that year joined the Cape of Good Hope Veterinary Department. As Government Veterinary Surgeon he served in various parts of the Cape Colony, inter alia at Worcester in 1908. After the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910 he was transferred to the Union Veterinary Field Services.

Shortly after the outbreak of World War I (1914-1918) Goodall joined the Active Citizen Force as a temporary captain and was soon appointed Officer Commanding No. E Veterinary Section of the South African Veterinary Corps, stationed in Cape Town. Later he was transferred to the veterinary hospital in Pietermaritzburg and was promoted to major in January 1916. After the war, in 1918, he became the senior veterinary officer in charge of the Orange Free State (now the Free State). In 1920 he moved to South West Africa (now Namibia) and in 1924 to the Eastern Cape in the same capacity. In 1921 he obtained his FRCVS with a thesis on the anthrax problem in South Africa. He was promoted to Pretoria as Assistant Principal Veterinary Officer of the Union and in 1927 was appointed lecturer in municipal veterinary hygiene and sub-director of the Division of Veterinary Services at Onderstepoort until his death in 1930. He became a member of the South African Veterinary Medical Association in 1920.

Goodall was married to Johanna Nicola Vlok, but they had no children.

List of sources:

Goodall, A. The Anthrax Problem in South Africa (1921). FRCVS Collection, London, Series 2, No. 26.

Journal of the South African Veterinary Medical Association, 1927, Vol. 1(1), pp. 84-85, List of members; 1929, Vol. 1(3), pp. 77-82, Register of veterinarians of the Union of South Africa.

National Archives Repository (TAB), Source MHG, Vol. 0, Ref. 71680: death notice, Alexander Goodall.

Obituary: Lieut-Col Alexander Goodall. Retrieved from http://journals.co.za/docserver/fulltext/savet/1/4/86.pdf?expires=1486018479&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=5987E81A87231409FE55CC804A6BC09C on 2017-2-2.

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

Compiled by: D.W. Verwoerd

Last updated: 2024-08-06 10:05:48