Duncan Hutcheon, veterinary surgeon, began his career as an agricultural assistant. In 1868 he entered the Royal (Dick) Veterinary College in Scotland and after obtaining his MRCVS in 1871 practiced veterinary medicine in the United Kingdom until 1880. In 1875 he was appointed to the Liverpool (Horse) Omnibus and Tramway Company, where he gained considerable experience in the diseases of horses. In 1880 he was appointed as Colonial Veterinary Surgeon for the Cape Colony, succeeding W.C. Branford*. He served in this capacity until he became Acting Director of Agriculture in 1905 and Director of Agriculture in 1906.

Hutcheon can be regarded as the true pioneer in veterinary science in South Africa and was responsible for the elucidation of many previously unidentified diseases of livestock such as bluetongue in sheep, krimpsiekte (nenta) in sheep and goats, geilsiekte (prussic acid poisoning) in sheep and contagious caprine pleuropneumonia (CCPP) in Angora goats. He played a major role in the control of the rinderpest pandemic in Southern Africa (1896-1899) and recognised that lamsiekte (botulism) was associated with pica, recommending the feeding of phosphate-rich supplements for its prevention.

He published more than 200 articles, mainly in the Agricultural Journal of the Cape of Good Hope. A few representative examples of his publications are "Contagious pleuro-pneumonia in Angora goats" (Veterinary Journal, 1881, Vol. 13, pp. 171-180), "Nenta" (Agricultural Journal of the Cape of Good Hope, 1899, Vol. 14, pp. 862-873), "Rinderpest in South Africa" (Journal of Comparative Pathology, 1902, pp. 300-324), "Malarial catarrhal fever of sheep" (The Veterinary Record, 1902, pp. 629-633), and "Diseases of stock in South Africa" (in W. Flint and J.D.F. Gilchrist (eds), Science in South Africa, 1905, pp. 332-361.

When the Cape of Good Hope Veterinary Medical Society was established in 1905, Hutcheon was elected its first president, a position he retained until his death. In 1891 he became a member of the South African Philosophical Society and by 1905 was a member also of both the South African Association for the Advancement of Science and the British Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1902 he was elected an honorary associate of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. He has been described as an intelligent investigator and a hardworking, lovable person (Diesel, 1953). His meticulous observations and descriptions of animal diseases, his tireless work in the field, his urbane and persuasive manner, endeared him to farmers of all races (Gutsche, 1976). He was married in 1883 to Emma Amelia Hinds.

List of sources:

British Association for the Advancement of Science. Report of the seventy-fifth meeting..., South Africa, 1905, list of members.

Cape of Good Hope. Report of the Colonial Veterinary Surgeon, 1879-1905.

Curson, H.H. The veterinary profession in South Africa... Cape of Good Hope Veterinary Medical Society. Journal of the South African Veterinary Medical Association, 1931, Vol. 2, pp. 95-101; and Appendix, 1932, Vol. 3, pp. 133-137

Diesel, A.M. The early veterinarians of the Cape. Journal of the South African Veterinary Medical Association, 1953, Vol. 24, pp. 191-196.

FamilySearch: Duncan Hutcheon. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/GZP3-GYL

Gutsche, T. There was a man. The life and times of Sir Arnold Theiler, K.C.M.G., of Onderstepoort. Cape Town: Timmins, 1979.

Men of the times: Old colonists of the Cape Colony and Orange River Colony. Johannesburg: Transvaal Publishing Company, 1906.

National Automated Archival Information Retrieval System (NAAIRS). http://www.national.archives.gov.za/naairs.htm Documents relating to Duncan Hutcheon / D. Hutcheon.

Obituary. Agricultural Journal of the Cape of Good Hope, 1907, Vol. 30, pp. 736-739.

South African Association for the Advancement of Science. Report, 1905/6, list of members.

South African bibliography to the year 1925. London: Mansell, 1979.

South African Philosophical Society. Transactions, 1891-1907, Vol. 7-11 and 16-17: Lists of members.

Compiled by: Heloise Heyne

Last updated: 2024-11-29 09:36:26