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

Edward Finch Peck was born in Kent on 20 June 1901. He spent his early years with his family and was educated at various schools in England until 1919. He emigrated to Alberta, Canada where his parents had bought a farm, in 1920. Peck attended an Agricultural College for one year in the early 1920s. He then graduated with a veterinary degree (BVSc) from Guelph University in 1928. He married later in that year before doing short courses at Liverpool and Edinburgh Universities where he obtained a Diploma in Tropical Veterinary Medicine and was admitted as a Member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. Taking up an appointment as a Veterinary Officer in the British Colonial Office he served in Nigeria (1931-1934), in British Somaliland (Director of Veterinary Services, 1935- 1944 and 1951-1953) and Tanganyika Territory (1944-1949): he was in Kenya for a short period in 1940-1941 when evacuated from Somaliland due to war conditions and served as Veterinary Officer to the King’s African Rifles. On retirement from the Colonial Office he worked in Devon for the UK’s Agricultural Research Council for four years (1953-1957) as a Veterinary Surgeon documenting diseases of dairy cattle. Edward worked for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations from 1957 to 1963 as an Agricultural Officer (Veterinary) concentrating mainly on rinderpest control with postings in Ethiopia and Cambodia. From 1963 to 1970 in his final working stint he was employed by the UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in Devon and Cornwall although he also spent time in the English Midlands during the 1967 Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak. There was unfortunately to be no quiet retirement as Edward Peck died on January 1971 leaving his body to the Bristol Medical School in the cause of anatomical studies. In addition to his veterinary work Edward was known for his plant and other natural history collections which he mainly donated to the Natural History Museum and the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.

Animal diseases; Veterinary education; One-humped camel; Anti-rinderpest vaccine; Animal trypanosomosis

In the days of empire the British had three types of “possessions”. Colonies were governed in every aspect of external affairs by Britain. Protectorates were territories that had asked for that status (although several protectorates had that condition imposed on them) whereby they were largely responsible for their own internal affairs but were subservient to Britain in defence, foreign policy and some other matters. United Nations Trust Territories, the successors after 1946 of the former League of Nations “mandates” were administered through the United Nations Trusteeship Council usually by western nations but for the good of the people of the territory: during the 1950s most places in this category saw themselves colonies and fought for early independence. In practice all three entities were staffed in both administrative and technical areas by civil servants of the external power. In the case of Britain their people, including veterinary surgeons, were employed by the British Colonial Office.

Edward Finch Peck was an eminent veterinary surgeon who worked for the British Colonial Service in three overseas “possessions” over a period of 22 years from 1931 to 1953. On retirement from those duties he worked in southwest England for two short periods and for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Kenya and Cambodia.

England: childhood and schooling

Edward Finch Peck was born at The Croft, Belvedere, Kent in southeast England on 20 June 1901, the second son and second child of Gerard Septimus Peck and Annie Holden (née Ackroyd) [1]. He was baptized one month later in All Saints church in Belvedere (Figure 1) [2]. Shortly after Edward’s birth the family moved to Westfield, 68 Chorley New Road, Bolton, Lancashire. Edward’s father was an Electrical Engineer and Managing Director of William Ryder Ltd., Engineers and Iron Foundry Operators who manufactured spindles and flyers for the weaving trade and of which he was a principal shareholder [3]¹ . During his early years Edward was at a local school (Figure 2). At the census of 1911, however, Edward aged 9 and older brother Hubert, 11, were residing at the Terra Nova Boarding School, Birkdale, a suburb of Southport in the county of Lancashire (Figure 3) [4]. Edward had been there since September 1910 and remained until July 1916 although he was absent the whole of the first term of 1916 suffering from Scarlet Fever which apparently led to a weakened heart. The two brothers were joined at Terra Nova by their two younger brothers: all four were members of the Boy Scouts. Later all four were in Lupton House (Figure 4) at Sedbergh School in North Yorkshire (Edward from September 1916 to July 1919) then, as now, a well-respected private boarding school. During much of this period the family home had moved to Highfield, Victoria Road, Markland Hill, Heaton, Bolton, Lancashire.

Important changes were, however, afoot. Father Gerard was absent from the 1911 census. He was in Canada arranging to buy a half section of prairie land, 9.28.4.4, at Oyen to the east of Calgary in Alberta Provice, from the Lands Patents Branch of the Canadian Department of the Interior. Gerard returned to England to his “day job” leaving his gardener in charge of the Canadian farm. Gerard went out to Canada again for a visit in 1914 as the farm was not doing well. He was unable to go out to Canada again until the summer of 1919 (when he made a short visit with eldest son Hubert) as the War Office insisted he stay at home to manage his business and manufacture the munitions of war. 

Towards the end of 1919 when both Gerard and Hubert had returned from Canada the whole family gathered at its home at Highfield. Gerard, Annie, eldest son Hubert, second son Edward just out of school and two younger sons home from boarding school for Christmas. Discussion centered on the family’s future. Should they emigrate to Canada to their farm at Oyen or remain at home in England? It seems they made an astonishing decision. They opted for the farming life in Canada – there was no background in farming in the benign climate of England let alone in the harsh conditions of the Canadian prairie, the infrastructure on the farm was rudimentary with a simple jerry-built house with no amenities and a walk across the frozen land to a barn 200yards away and it was now known that the farm was never likely to yield decent crops – rather than stay where they were [3].

Canada: farming and tertiary education

Eldest son Hubert and second son Edward were to go out to Canada as soon as possible. They left Liverpool on 24 February 1920 sailing on the SS Scandinavian and arrived at St John, New Brunswick was 6 March. This was the first of the very many sea voyages Edward as to make over the next 40-odd years (Table 1, Line 1). Edward Finch Peck was 18 years old, was going to Oyen, was actually a student but was intending to be a farmer [5]. There are more details on Edward’s Passenger Declaration Form: his passage had been paid for by Gerard S Peck, Esq., J.P. and he was going to stay with AE Collenge, Esq., Box 73, Oyen, who was to be his employer (Figure 5) [6]² . On arrival at Oyen Hubert worked on the farm with Edward being put to work as the cook – an inauspicious beginning to a notable career.

The boys’ mother travelled out to Canada in August 1920 to see how they were getting on. Not very well it seemed, as she summoned their father to Oyen with all haste. He arrived in late October, probably agreed with his wife and bought out the share of the farm owned by Collenge before both returned to England, leaving the boys to get on with the job of farming. In March 1921 father Peck returned to Canada with his third son and joined his two older boys at Oyen whilst mother Peck stayed in England until the fourth and youngest son completed his schooling.

As the family settled in to their new life in Canada they began to develop the farm. A house was built that came to be considered the finest in the district (Figure 6)³ . It had piped water from a well, electric power from generator for lights and accessories and a septic tank to dispose of the human waste (no more trips down the frozen garden to the long drop out there!). A windmill provided some of the needed farm power which, like much machinery, needed to be treated with caution. Edward carried the evidence of some lack of care for the rest of his life in a partially crushed left thumb and a damaged nail that caused endless aggravation (Figure 6) [3].

At the Canada census of 1921, father Gerard aged 55, brother Hubert aged 21, Edward aged 19 and Oswald aged 18 were living in the Municipality of Cereal near Medicine Hat and were already Canadian citizens. Father was a farmer and the three boys were labo(u)rers with a total income of 300 dollars. They owned a concrete house with five rooms [7].

Mrs Peck’s brother, Edward Ackroyd, a distinguished lawyer (and King’s Council) and the uncle of the four boys visited the farm sometime after the Pecks had settled in. He apparently told the parents that he considered the well-educated boys were wasting their time at the farm and there was no future for them there. As a result of this all four lads eventually attended the Olds Agricultural College which had evolved from three government demonstration farms and at that time a very small establishment (Figure 7) that offered mid-level post-secondary education. Edward was apparently an outstanding student and completed what was normally a 2-year course in a single year. Following his time at Olds College Edward started studying, on 2 October 1923, for a Bachelor of Veterinary Science (BVSc) degree at Guelph University, Toronto (he graduated as a Veterinary Surgeon in 1928) (Figure 8) although in his younger years he expressed a wish to be ordained in the church or to become a human doctor).

Sylvia Elizabeth Le Marchant, who was to become Edward’s wife, was born at 13 Westwood Road, Bolton on 6 February 1907 [8]. Her father was a Methodist Minister and during her childhood and youth she attended Milton Mount College, Worth Park, Crawley, Surrey, which was a school for the daughters of Congregationalist Church ministers that had been founded in 1871. Sylvia Elizabeth Le Marchant, of 114 Chorley New Road, Bolton, aged 19 (but having been that age for less than three weeks) and describing herself as Nurse departed from Liverpool on 26 February 1926, travelling Third Class with a passport issued on 13 August 1924 on board the SS Montcalm owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway. She had paid the fare herself, was going to the port of St John in New Brunswick on the Atlantic Coast of Canada, where she arrived on 8 March 1926. She was going to stay with a friend, a Mrs Walter Pilkington of St John’s Street, Hamilton, Ontario, whom she later refers to for no known reason as “nanny”. Sylvia was initially detained under Section 33 (of which Act?) but then released two days later on 10 March [9,10]. As the USA has long been suspicious of arrivals in North America she also has a record in their voluminous archives [11]. Apparently Sylvia had not seen Edward since his departure for Canada in February 1920, seven years previously and when she herself was only 12 years old. It is extraordinary that she held a sense of devotion to Edward throughout her adolescent years and then cross the Atlantic alone in a style not undertaken by many of her age at that time4 . In the period prior to Edward’s completion of his course at Guelph Sylvia worked at various jobs and lodged in a variety of establishment in Hamilton and Toronto [3].

In the summer of 1927 Edward made a visit to England leaving Canada in early May and returning in early October (Table 1, lines 2 and 3) [12-14]. This period would coincide with the university summer vacation. It is probable that during this visit he arranged with Liverpool University to take part in courses there after graduating from Guelph. In England he was going to stay at Pool Street, Bolton with his Uncle Edward Ackroyd. On returning to Canada he declared on the ship’s manifest on leaving England that he had come from 2 Bradshawgate, Bolton. On arrival in Canada, however, he said he had been staying with his Uncle Edward Ackroyd at 8 Morley Road in Southport, was a returning Canadian citizen, had lived in Canada since 1920, was a student at Ontario Veterinary College in Guelph and had paid his own passage.

Sylvia and Edward travelled the 1820 miles (2914 km) to Oyen after he had finished his degree course at Guelph. Edward Finch Peck and Sylvia Elizabeth Le Marchant were married at 2 p.m. in All Saints church in Oyen on 2 June 1928 (Figure 9) [15]. The service was conducted by the Rev Charles Wright, incumbent of Alsask and Oyen. The bride, whose dress was trimmed with lace and orange blossoms, was given away by her soon-to-be father-in-law Gerard Peck. The groom was supported by his brother, David Peck. The couple spent their honeymoon, during which they visited the beautiful Lake Louise, in Banff [3]. Following graduation at Guelph, Edward worked for a year in the Animal Health Branch of the Canadian Department of Agriculture doing field work, carrying out meat inspections and examining livestock and livestock products at port of entry. During this period the happy couple led a nomadic existence living in hotels (Figure 10) [3].

On 4 October 1929 Edward and Sylvia travelled from Montreal to Liverpool on the S.S. Duchess of York (with a capacity of 1570 passengers and a crew of 510 whose maiden voyage had been under seven months earlier on 22 March) (Table 1, line 4) [16]. Sylvia had lived in Canada for only three and a half years, had been married to Edward for 16 months, and never returned to the country [3].

From early December 1929 to July 1930 Edward studied at Liverpool University. That he was there for only a short period probably means that he was taking a series of courses to upgrade his Guelph degree and render him eligible to become a Member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (MRCVS): he achieved that status in 1930. In Liverpool he lived in digs at Flat B, 65 Huskisson Street although his permanent residential address was then 114 Chorley New Road, Bolton where Sylvia was staying. Whilst waiting to get a permanent appointment Edward worked as a locum in a veterinary practice in Appleby in Westmorland [3].

That permanent appointment arrived on 8 October 1930 when Edward received a letter over the signature Lord Passfield, Secretary of State for the Colonies, selecting him for a probationary appointment to the Colonial Service as a Veterinary Officer in Nigeria at a starting salary of £600 a year which would eventually be increased to £9205 . There was, however, a caveat. He needed to obtain the Diploma in Tropical Veterinary Medicine (DTVM) which involved attending a six month course at Edinburgh University which started in October: he managed to get registered for the one starting in the next few days. He obtained the DVTM in March 1931 at about the same time that his and Sylvia’s first child, Michael Quentin Peck, was born on 14 March 1931 at 18 Walker Street, Edinburgh [3].

Edward’s international career as a veterinary surgeon began with his first appointment to the Colonial Service on 5 May 1931 when he set off for Nigeria, less than two months after the birth of his first son (Table 2).

Nigeria: 1931-1935

EF Peck a 29-year old Surgeon of Chorley New Road, Bolton left Liverpool for Lagos on 5 May 1931 travelling alone in First Class on the S.S. Accra (Table 1, line 5) [17]. Although his wife was not with him on this voyage she joined him in Nigeria sometime before 17 September as she wrote to her mother from Nigeria on that date [3]. The very young son was initially left with Sylvia’s sister but he was then put in a Children’s Home, known as The Rambles which specialized in caring for young children whose parents were overseas. It was fairly common practice to leave children in such places as it was thought at the time inappropriate to take young children to the tropics (and perhaps especially to West Africa) who thus saw their parents for only brief periods during their home leaves.

Edward was first posted to Zaria in northern Nigeria but later he was transferred to Katsina, Kano and Maiduguri also in the north. In addition to civilian veterinary work an important part of his duties were with the Royal West African Frontier Force looking after their horses and camels. It is probably from this beginning that Edward’s later acknowledged expertise in everything about the one-humped camel developed⁶ . In part because of the difficult living conditions in Nigeria tours of duty for expatriates were shorter than elsewhere in the British Empire. Thus it was that after about 18 months in Nigeria Edward and Sylvia returned to England on home leave travelling, as almost always, in the luxury of First Class ocean voyaging (Table 1, line 6) [18].

This period of leave through to May 1933 was spent partly at the home of Sylvia’s parents at the Manse in Belmont near Bolton in Lancashire where her father was Minister at the Congregational Church. Their address at their return to Nigeria was, however, 116 Parkhurst Rise, West Wickham, Kent⁷ . Departing alone to return to Nigeria, Edward sailed from Liverpool, described as a Civil Servant aged 31, for the port of Apapa near Lagos, after five months of leave [19]. It not known to which locations in Nigeria in this his second, and what was to be his last, tour of duty in the country. At some time he had again been joined by Sylvia because they both said goodbye to Lagos towards the end of October 1934 and arrived at Liverpool on 4 November (Table 1, line 8). They were going to stay at The Manse, Belmont Bolton [19].

British Somaliland: 1935-1944 (Kenya 1940-1941)

Towards the end of 1934 Edward received a letter dated 16 November from Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister, Secretary of State for the Colonies informing him that he had been allocated the position of Chief Veterinary Officer in British Somaliland, a post for which he must have been negotiating whilst still in Nigeria⁸ . His role was to be in charge of all veterinary and agricultural work in the Protectorate including care of all the animals of the Somaliland Camel Corps as a Civilian Veterinary Officer and supervision of pasture improvement. In retrospect this seems a somewhat peculiar appointment. Edward was relatively junior in the Colonial Service with only three and a half years’ overseas experience, he had virtually no knowledge of camels and had no qualifications in range and pasture management. Two possible conclusions can be drawn: (i) the Colonial Office considered British Somaliland of little consequence in terms of livestock production (although animal husbandry was the backbone of the economy and the principal – indeed virtually the only – source of a livelihood for the Somali people; and (ii) nobody else wanted the job. Peck himself wrote “With very limited funds and a very tight control of them from London, it was a period of ‘spend no money and have no ideas’; the policy of the British Government was limited to keeping the Protectorate quiet and at minimum cost” [21]. His initial salary was £800 per year and his first posting was to be Burao, Somaliland’s second city situated in the centre of the country at about 3400 feet (1040 metres) altitude and with rainfall of about 220 mm per year falling in two short seasons. If the climate at Burao was an improvement on Nigeria social life would definitely not have been (although Peck himself says “Life was physically hard and work was plentiful, but of social life there was an abundance, albeit uniracial, with games for all to play; it was essentially a friendly place” [21].

 Edward sailed from Tilbury on 21 February 1935 bound for Aden (Table 1, line 9) [3,21]. He was met at Aden in his cabin on the RMS Corfu by a Somali who said that he had been sent by the Camel Corps to be his servant (and he remained so for many years). As with most overseas vets, publishing results of research or of new observations on animal health in the field was part of the job. There were Annual Reports to be written and one of Edward’s first external publications was a summary of the 1937 Annual Report [22]. If Peck knew little about camels on his arrival he very quickly got stuck in to their disease problems and in particular the relationship of the amount of salt they ate with skin necrosis [23,24] and curative treatment for trypanosomosis [25]. He also wrote on management and nutrition in general [26]. The Somaliland Camel Corps, reconstituted from the Somali Camel Constabulary in 1912, was created by the British administration to help in the maintenance of law and order in the then Protectorate but it also distinguished itself against the troops of Italian Somaliland in the World Wars of 1914-1918 and 1939-1945 before it was disbanded in 1946 [27].

There was plenty of work to do. Ringworm in camels, caused by the fungus Trichophyton danakilense, was a problems as were tickborne diseases. Trypanosomosis was a major problem in camels (in this case the causal agent Trypanosoma brucei was transmitted mechanically by biting flies of the family Tabanidae and not by tsetse flies of the genus Glossina) whose control occupied much of the time of the Stock Inspectors. A mercuric chloride test developed in Sudan in the late 1920s [28] was introduced and helped to reduce the overall effects of the disease [21].

It was not, however, just camels that were treated. A spore vaccine against anthrax was introduced. Regular dosing of Camel Corps ponies with an infusion of Chenopodium flowers greatly reduced the incidence of colic [29]. Better care of the unshod feet of these ponies and the use of elastocrepe bandages decreased the amount of lameness. Habronaemiasis (a hypersensitive reaction to the larvae of the nematode species Habronema and Draschia, characterized by ulcerative, granulomatous skin lesions that do not heal) in ponies was observed for the first time. Rinderpest and CBPP were dealt with by quarantine but trials were made with a glycerinised anti-rinderpest vaccine from Sudan. Stock owners (generally reluctant to use modern medicines) had been persuaded to use a coal tar disinfectant and it had proved popular for treating wounds, ulceration of lips and legs, mange and ringworm and for controlling ticks and lice in both cattle and camels [21].

In spite of the work that needed to be done there was always the question of home leave. Very little more than a year after he had first arrived in Somaliland Edward returned home in March 1936 (Table 1, line 10). This was a very special leave, however, because on 30 August 1935 Sylvia had given birth to a second son named Christopher Edward (for ever after known as Rab) at Lower House Nursing Home, 63 Fitz John’s Avenue, Hampstead, London. NW3. Edward thus first saw his son when he was just over six months old. During that leave the family – Edward, Sylvia, Quentin and Rab -- resided at The Tythe Barn, Bourne End, Hertfordshire [3]⁹ .

At the conclusion of his leave on 28 June 1936, Edward, Sylvia, Quentin and Rab -- then ten months old - and an English nanny left Tilbury on the S.S. Strathaird and disembarked at Aden to catch a boat to Somaliland on their way to Burao (Table 1, line 11) [3]¹⁰. There was leave again early in 1938 when Edward Peck a 36-year old Veterinary Surgeon arrived in London on 4 February with wife Sylvia age 29, and sons Michael aged 6 and Christopher aged 2 and a Nurse. On this occasion, unusually, they travelled in Tourist Class (Table 1, Line 12) [30]. During this year’s leave Edward sailed to Canada in March and returned to England in May [31,32], presumably to visit his parents and brothers in Oyen. Shortly after his return from Canada to England Edward sailed back to his job in Somaliland, leaving his family behind.

During April 1939 Edward was on a tour of Borama District [3], a northwest highland area close to the border with Ethiopia. By this time he was also positive about the progress of the livestock sector in the country. Deaths in Camel Corps camels, numbering more than 200 animals, had been reduced to 18 annually and only 925 working days were lost. Similarly with Corps ponies there were only eight deaths out of a total of 105 head with 696 working days lost: the latter were mostly from sprains resulting from the small Somali pony having to move fast and carry heavy men. Trypanosomosis control was a major task of the Stock Inspectors and in 1939 nearly 4000 camels were treated with mercuric chloride (for which owners paid). A small but successful trial against rinderpest in cattle was carried out with attenuated anti-rinderpest vaccine obtained from Kenya.

Routine inoculation was not undertaken, however, partly because there was no market for large numbers of cattle (those there were could not be sold) but it was also impractical, with only one veterinary officer (!!) to vaccinate all the cattle of Somaliland. There was additional reluctance in this respect as it was considered that cattle, being very dependent on water were very destructive of grazing near wells and contributed to deaths from starvation in other classes of domestic animal [21]. Dipping to control external parasites using an arsenic compound had steadily increased in popularity until 1939. It was then replaced by a safer (for humans) benzene hexachlorate (“gammatox”) dip and 47 000 sheep and goats were voluntarily dipped. The major problem in cattle was now Contagious Bovine Pleuro-Pneumonia (CBPP) which without a practical way of controlling it had increased by 300 per cent [21].

Efforts were made to improve the quality of hides and skins but the local dealers were completely apathetic to any improvement scheme as they had an established and profitable market for lowgrade products and saw no reason for change. Farmers were encouraged to produce grain for the Camel Corps in order to reduce the need for imports [21].

Sylvia had stayed in England with the two children throughout the second half of 1938 and the first half of 1939. In June of that year Edward again went home on leave (Table 1, line 16) [3]. In July Edward and Sylvia were staying in The Cottage which was an annexe of The Greenacres Hotel in Horsham. On 29 September, however, Edward F Peck, a Veterinary Surgeon and a Colonial Civil Servant and Sylvia E Peck, of the Auxiliary Territorial Service, No 5 Motor Driver Company, were resident in the household of William Hanscomb, a Chartered Accountant, and his wife Christine M Hanscomb at 8 Walker Fold, Horwich 5.8 miles (9.3 km) northwest of Bolton in Lancashire [33]. On 11 December 1939, having completed his leave, Edward sailed from Southampton to Aden on his way back to Burao (Table 1, line 17) [3].

At this time the Veterinary Department was doing more agricultural than veterinary work as part of a balanced policy with grazing control as its most important feature. A Grazing Law had been enacted and by 1939 over 6000 square miles or one tenth of the country was under a system of rotational grazing control. An equitable division had to be maintained, however, between the interests of pastoralists and cultivators. Although mainly a political/administrative problem it occupied much of the time of the agricultural staff. The law had to be enforced to prevent the wanton destruction of land and valuable pasture by “here today and gone tomorrow” cultivators. Seeds and plants were introduced to the often unreceptive farmers and bunds were constructed to control erosion. Collections were also made of plants, insects and parasites with various methods of control tried for the last of these. Research was undertaken to try and improve a range of what were seen to be potentially economic products such as frankincense, myrrh, edible gum, fishmeal, fibres and essential oils. Hyaena and jackal were controlled by the use of strychnine baits and trapping. It was not unusual for a single poisoned bait to kill as many as 100 hyaena and jackal. The seriousness of their threat could be seen by the very many Camel Corps ponies that bore scars inflicted by bites from these vermin. All of these tasks had to be accomplished by one professional officer while there was an almost total lack of money [34].

The advent of the Second World War brought all non-military veterinary activities to a halt. The Italians invaded British Somaliland from Abyssinia on 10 June 1940 and all civilians were evacuated from the country. Edward had been given the rank of Veterinary Captain by the Governor of Somaliland. He had been offered the post of Military Veterinary Officer in Aden but did not accept it. He thus left Burao on 18 August 1940 as a refugee with no possessions other than those he could carry, leaving behind his car, pony and the house with everything in it. He sailed from Berbera to Aden and then on to Mombasa in Kenya and arrived in Nairobi on 17 September [3]. On 5 October 1940 Edward was enlisted into The King’s African Rifles (KAR) and given an Emergency Commission rank of Lieutenant [35]¹¹:

With the rank of Acting Captain Edward Peck was the Senior Veterinary Officer in Kabete near Nairobi from 19th October 1940 until 18 April 1941. Edward here oversaw the care of the transport, pack and riding animals of the KAR whilst at the same time purchasing camels for the Pack Transport Division of the British Somaliland Camel Corps [3]^12. Leaving Nairobi by train on 19 April he sailed from Mombasa on 24 April bound for British Somaliland (Table 1, line 19) which British-led troops had recaptured on 8 April¹³. His service in Kenya officially ended on 30 April and he was restored to his post in British Somaliland under the Military Administration on 1 May 1941. In the meantime, however, he was under medical treatment in the Aden Hospital from 11 May until 6 June and reached Burao on 7 June [3].

Sylvia with Quentin and Rab evacuated themselves from London on 27 June 1941 and arrived at Cape Town in South Africa on 27 July. The Pecks had some friends in Johannesburg where they stayed for a while after their arrival. The friends in question were the Leon Levson family: Leon had arrived in South Africa from Latvia in 1902 and had become one of the country’s most distinguished photographers. The two boys were in various boarding schools over the next four years. For much of the time until December 1944 the boys were on their own as Sylvia had gone to join Edward in Somaliland although both parents at one time or another visited them. They left South Africa in December 1944 travelling north by train on a 10-day journey to Mwanza in Tanganyika Territory where Edward was then working [3].

On his return to Somaliland in April 1941 Edward served in the Military Administration as Director of Agriculture and Veterinary Services. On 28 November 1941 Veterinary Captain Edward Peck was made Deputy Controller, British Somaliland Force, firstly called The Somali Guard Battalion after the country was liberated and then in 1943 became the Somaliland Scouts. British Somaliland was then referred to as a “non-operational area” but it still qualified him for four campaign medals (Figure 11). There was little that could be done other than routine work under the war situation that prevailed. Edward, nonetheless, was not idle and produced more scientific papers on the one-humped camel for the edification of the world’s veterinary professionals [36-38].

Mrs Peck arrived in Somaliland on 08 April 1942 having travelled by ship from Cape Town via Durban and Mombasa to Berbera. Only a few days later, on 11 April Edward and Sylvia sailed from Berbera to Mombasa (Table 1, line 20) on compassionate leave as Sylvia required medical treatment which was recorded by No 2 General Hospital in Nairobi as “Invalided to Kenya”. The reverse journey to Burao from Nairobi took place between 4 July and 23 July (Table 1, line 21) [3]. Sylvia was not idle during her time in Somaliland as in April 1943 it was reported that The Sylvia Elizabeth Clinic for Women and Children in Burao, British Somaliland was flourishing. There is no evidence that Sylvia ever had nursing or medical training herself (although she did put her profession as Nurse when she first went out to Canada) but clearly her Clinic provided an invaluable service to a section of Somali society that was often treated badly. A totally unexpected result was that the clinic encouraged Somali women to seek a better form of education for themselves and forced the Government to provide school and hospital training for them [3].

Edward left Burao on 14 July to participate in a conference on locust control in Nairobi where he arrived on 29 July (Table 1, line 22). He must, however, have had other business as he did not leave Nairobi until more than seven weeks later on 17 September to arrive in Burao on 30 September (Table 1, line 23)¹⁴. On 1 August. Whilst away in Kenya, Edward was posted to the rank of Acting Major in the East African Command and accorded the pay and privileges of that status [3].

In his own account of the Somaliland veterinary services Peck has little to say about events following his return from Nairobi in 1942 up until 1944 [34]. At the personal level, however, a great deal was happening during 1943. During July and into September 1943 Sylvia was in South Africa, having flown there from Somaliland. She returned to Burao but then flew with Edward to Nairobi where she gave birth to their third son Philip Gavin Le Marchant Peck on 8 October. Having returned to Somaliland Sylvia, with her 2-month old son Gavin, flew to Johannesburg on 6 December to spend Christmas with her two first born. Back to Somaliland again in April 1944, Edward, Sylvia and the now 6-month old Gavin travelled by train from Burao via Nairobi (Kenya), Mwanza (Tanganyika Territory), the eastern extremity of the Belgian Congo, Ndola and Livingstone (northern Rhodesia), Victoria Falls and Bulawayo (Southern Rhodesia, Mafeking (British Bechuanaland) to Johannesburg (South Africa) where they arrived on 4th May [3]¹⁵. It was probably on this South African visit, after Edward had been promoted Major, that Leon Levson took advantage of the joint presence of Edward and Sylvia to add to his portfolio of beautiful images (Figures 12 and 13).

This long journey by rail and the sojourn of about seven weeks in South Africa where the parents and their offspring were all reunited was effectively terminal leave from Edward’s service in British Somaliland. On 25 April 1944 Edward had been in correspondence with the Colonial Office about leave due to him, emphasizing that he had not benefited from any other than sick leave since 1939 and that he had not seen two of his children for upwards of five years [3]. Edward was also rather dissatisfied with his situation in Somaliland, believing that the Colonial Offie was not making the best use of his talents. He had requested that he be granted a transfer for one tour of duty to Tanganyika Territory. This request was granted and he effectively swapped places with Captain RR Temple from Tanganyika who then assumed the veterinary direction of the Somaliland Department [34].

Tanganyika Territory: 1944-1949

Edward, Sylvia and baby Gavin left Johannesburg on 26 June 1944, travelled overland to Durban and boarded a ship on 2 June bound for Dar es Salaam where they arrived on 9 July (Table 1, line 24). They went by train to Mpwapwa where the Veterinary Department had its Headquarters.

After a month or so, they again went by train to Mwanza on the southeastern shore of Lake Victoria, where Edward was to be stationed as a Veterinary Officer and arrived there on 17 August [3]. Meanwhile, on 25 May 1944, Edward had been released from military service by the Head Quarters, East Africa Command. Although this also meant he relinquished his rank of Veterinary Major he continued to be paid by the military as he had been placed on the Reserve List and was thus subject to recall at any time [3].

The country to the south of Mwanza was mainly occupied by the Sukuma tribe who were mixed crop-livestock farmers. The animal diseases that Peck would have to deal with were rampant at this time. Rinderpest was rife and partly because of the nature of the disease and partly due to war conditions it was accepted that “all hope for immediate eradication of rinderpest must now be deferred” [39]. The “greatest of all cattle scourges” was the subject of a “continuous weary war” [40]. CBPP was also a troublesome disease because of its often insidious nature and because its control, even then, was more difficult than that of rinderpest as there was not really an effective vaccine, reactions to existing vaccines were often severe and thus caused mistrust among owners. Tick-borne diseases were widespread, especially East Coast Fever for which there was no treatment and thus continuous dipping at 3-day intervals had to be practised to control the ticks. Tuberculosis was widespread but not an important problem because local cattle were resistant to it and the cattle strain was not a problem to human health [40]. Other diseases were anthrax (transmissible to humans who ate the meat of dead animals), black quarter and trypanosomosis. By the time of Peck’s incumbency foot and mouth disease was effectively enzootic throughout the country [41].

In early December 1944 the two boys at school n South Africa travelled unaccompanied by train to join their parents in Mwanza. Then, early in 1945, Sylvia with the three sons as baggage travelled by train, bus and river steamer overland to Port Said through Tanganyika, Uganda, Sudan and Egypt to catch a boat to return to the UK. Edward remained at Mwanza but then at the end of his tour on 21 January 1946 he travelled by sea from Mombasa to the United Kingdom (Table 1, line 25). Edward flew to Canada in May 1946 to visit his parents and returned to England in June: it was on this visit that he saw his mother for the last time. Embarking for a second tour of duty in Tanganyika Edward left Southampton on 24 July 1946 (Table 1, line 26) [42].

Peck started his second tour in Tanganyika back at Mwanza but in October 1946 he was transferred to Mpwapwa. As well as being the headquarters of the veterinary services Mpwapwa was a livestock breeding station. Thus in addition to his purely veterinary duties he would have been involved in the development of the socalled Mpwapwa breed of cattle (Figure 14) [43]¹⁶. The area around Mpwapwa is the home of the Gogo people who owned large numbers of the local Tanganyika Short-horned Zebu cattle that were always diseased and mostly hungry so there was probably plenty for Edward to do outside the station. Edward was without his family for the next 15 months but Mrs Sylvia Peck and 4-year old son Gavin sailed out, First Class, to join him, leaving Tilbury on 1 December 1947 arriving in Dar es Salaam on 2 January 1948 [44].

Edward was transferred from Mpwapwa to Tabora, back in Sukumaland, on 1 April 1948. It was in Tabora that Sylvia Elizabeth Peck (née Le Marchant) aged 41 and after 20 years of marriage gave birth to Julian Hannavelle Ackroyd Peck, the fourth and last son of Edward and Sylvia, on 1 November 1948 [3,45]. With his second tour of duty in Tanganyika completed Edward, accompanied by Sylvia, Gavin and Julian sailed from Dar es Salaam on 21 March 1949 and arrived at London on 21 April (Table 1, line 27) [46].

British Somaliland: 1949-1953 

On completing his work in Tanganyika Territory, the Colonial Office offered Edward the role of Deputy Director of Veterinary Services in either the Gold Coast (now Ghana) or Nyasaland (now Malawi). These alternatives to a return to Somaliland were rejected. On 14 November 1949, therefore, Edward and Sylvia, flew to Hargeisa where he took up his grandiosely named post of Director of Agricultural, Forestry, Fisheries and Veterinary Services, in a revived Veterinary and Agricultural Department [3,34]. Funds from the Colonial Development and Welfare Department led to a great expansion of the Department and plans were drawn up for the headquarter buildings that were eventually constructed [34]. Consequent on a very damning report about the state of the environment and the country’s grazing resources [47] far more resources were to be devoted to the pasture lands. Of a total of £280 000 some 85 000 (30 per cent) was allocated to grazing control and 18 500 (7 per cent) for watering points (which could be used for grazing control). The control of grazing was eventually not successful but it is clear from the allocations it was desired to “institute a system of grazing control to restore the degenerating pastures to prevent the erosion of land” [34]¹⁷. 

Robert G Mares was appointed as a Veterinary Officer under Peck in 1950. He stayed for only two years but immersed himself in the routine work of vaccinating stock (Figure 15). He was one of the early proponents of what is now referred to as indigenous veterinary knowledge and took a particular interest in the way the Somali people tackled that bane of professional veterinarians which was CBPP [48]. Mares also took a wider interest in the livestock situation in general in the country [49,50]. When Mares left in 1952 he was replaced by Rex Wilson from Canada who stayed for only one year [34].

Early in 1950 Edward had returned to England for medical treatment but was soon back in Hargeisa [3]. Having been in Somaliland some 20 months Edward was due some home leave which he took by sailing from Aden to London (Table 1, line 28) where he arrived on 15 July in the company of Sylvia and young Julian now 2-years old [51]. After a peripatetic summer visiting their children in and out of school and staying with various friends or in lent or rented property Edward returned alone to Hargeisa after a stop in Aden (where he spent some time in hospital with mumps) where he arrived on 4 January 1952, once again by sea and, as usual, travelling First Class (Table 1, line 29) [52]. Sylvia and Julian sailed out to join Edward leaving London on 14 February 1952 [53] and arriving in Hargeisa via Berbera on 6 March having spent four days in Aden waiting for a connecting ship [3].

By 1952 seven sheep dips had been built and more than 83 000 head of sheep and goats were treated annually thereafter. A start (825 doses issued) was made to selling KAG (Kabete Attenuated Goat) rinderpest vaccine, the Flury anti-rabies vaccine had been introduced and Gammexane was sold in packets to make a 4-gallon mixture [54]¹⁸. Attempts were made to encourage Somali farmers to improve and increase crop production. A system of ridges and furrows blocked at regular intervals to retain water worked well and heavy yields were obtained in demonstration plots. This system did not, however, appeal to Somali farmers because of the extra work involved. Edward’s time in Somaliland was, however, approaching its end. He, Sylvia and Julian sailed from Berbera on 6 January 1953 arriving at Aden the next day, leaving there, and Somaliland, for the last time (Table 1, line 30) and retiring from the Colonial Office, aged 52. Arriving in London on 24 January they first stayed at The Suncourt Hotel, 59 Lexham Gardens, London [3,55]. Although Edward did not work again with camels, his departure from Somaliland was not his swansong with this animal as he later wrote a chapter in the International Encyclopaedia of Veterinary Medicine published in 1966 [56].

Edward Finch Peck, a Civilian living in Somaliland as a Veterinary and Agricultural Officer, was one of 90 279 people throughout the United Kingdom and its Empire to be a recipient on 12 May 1937 of the King George VI 1937 Coronation Medal (Figure 16) [57]. This Commemorative award ranks low in the Order of Precedence of awards and medals of the United Kingdom. A much more prestigious award was granted him some 16 years later. In 1953 Edward Finch Peck was one of only five personnel of the Colonial Service appointed as Companions of the Imperial Service Order in Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation Honour Lists (Figure 17). This latter entitled him to use the post-nominal ISO ever afterwards [58,59]19. He received the medal personally from HM Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace on 14 July 1953 [3].

During his years in Somaliland, Edward recorded the culinary, medicinal and veterinary uses to which the Somali people put various plants. This comprised an early, original and valuable account of “indigenous knowledge”, the collection and use of which is now very much à la mode. As well as his medicinal plants he was an ardent collector of Somaliland’s fauna and flora. In his quest to record and have catalogued the wildlife of the country, he sent to the British Museum, to Kew Gardens and other establishments, uncounted examples of everything he saw around him. At one stage the British Museum asked him to refrain from sending any more samples as they were unable to cope with those already in their possession. Many a plant and animal now carries the specific Latin name of pecki.

Starting work on 15 August 1953 Edward was employed by the Agricultural Research Council as a Veterinary Surgeon. His job was primarily concerned with the recording of diseases in dairy cattle throughout Devon. This employment terminated on 27 October 1957 [3].

During the first few months after their return from Somaliland the Pecks continued their itinerant existence. On 6 May 1954, however, Edward and Sylvia bought Middle Howton in Moretonhampstead, a venerable but decrepit thatched cottage which has since been listed as a building of historical and cultural importance by Historic England (Figure 18) [60]²⁰. The house -- deep in the countryside on the edge of Dartmoor -- was in such bad condition that they were forced to spend several months in a caravan parked in the garden whilst extensive alterations and improvements were undertaken. The house became the family’s long term home where Edward indulged his passion for gardening in a situation that was not the victim of the harsh tropical conditions of British Somaliland, growing flowers, vegetables, fruit and Christmas Trees [3].

Ethiopia, 1957-1961

Edward started work as an Agricultural Officer (Veterinary) with the Animal Production and Health Division of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on 1 November 1957. Passing through Rome for briefing at FAO HQ, he went on to work out of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia with Terms of Reference to assist and advise the Ethiopian Government in veterinary matters with particular reference to rinderpest control and to train national staff in State Veterinary Control Measures²¹. Edward’s first tour of duty was a short one and he returned to Middle Horton, passing through Rome as always on starting and finishing a tour, on 16 December 1958.

A second tour of duty in Addis Ababa started on 16 February 1959 and lasted until 30 March 1960. During this period he suffered severely from sciatica and had to spend the whole of April 1959 in the Princess Tsehai Memorial Hospital in Addis Ababa. A third tour was undertaken in Ethiopia from 24 May 1960 to 1 March 1961 [3].

It was during his time in Ethiopia that Edward started research into the interactions of snails (mainly species of Bulinus and Biomphalaria) which are the intermediate hosts of the parasitic flatworms (“blood flukes”) of the genus Schistosoma, the cause of schistosomiasis (also known as bilharzia) in humans [61]. He continued this research when he was stationed later in Cambodia and sent many a snail specimen to the Natural History Museum for identification and cataloguing [3].

England and Italy 1961

Edward Peck made many visits to St Thomas’ Hospital in London during 1961 for treatment for medical problem he had suffered from in the tropics. He then spent three months at FAO HQ in Rome. 

Cambodia, 1961-1963

Employed now as an Animal Health Officer (Rinderpest Control) on 4 November 1961 Edward was posted to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia where he arrived on 10 November. He here instituted a rinderpest control programme based on East African experiences. This programme was to remain in place for many years and resulted in a notable decline in the number of rinderpest outbreaks in both cattle and (domestic) buffalo. Edward was also asked to act as temporary Veterinary Officer in the Kep Zoological Gardens in Phnom Penh. He loved the diversion from the normal, treating all the exotic kinds of birds, reptiles and mammals that are usually found in zoos. Throughout this tour he continued his research into diseases caused by parasites hosted by snails as well as research into the spread of salmonella in frogs throughout Cambodia [3].

Once again Edward was sick while on a tour of duty, this time on 10 May 1962 with Dengue Fever which meant a stay in hospital for a week [62]²². Edward did only one short tour of Cambodia before resigning and leaving the country on 5 August 1963 after only nine months presence. His work there was much appreciated, however, as the Director of Operations wrote expressing his disappointment that Edward would not be returning and stating that the work started by Edward was going very well and to everybody’s satisfaction and due to “your devotedness and unfailing activity, your unforgettable example of courage and endurance for which we want to express our deepest gratitude” [3].

Italy, 1962-1963

Edward was back in Rome for the final time with FAO on 31 October 1962 working with the“Freedom from Hunger Campaign” (FFHC) [3]. The FFHC had been launched by FAO in 1960 and was to run to 1965. At that stage the campaign was still of an informational and promotional character.

He was joined in Rome in March and April 1963 by Sylvia. This work was also to be of short duration as Edward resigned from FAO on 30 June 1963 which he said that he needed to do “in order to be home for [his] wife’s operation” [3]. 

Edward had already secured employment with the United Kingdom Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) before he resigned from FAO. He started work in the Exeter Office on 1 July 1963 as a Veterinary Officer Grade II at a salary of £1510 per annum. At this time, although aged only 62 and 55, Edward and Sylvia were thinking about their long term future. Sometime in July 1965 they bought “Quinta”, a small bungalow immediately opposite Middle Howton with the intention that it would be used by a couple who would care for Edward and Sylvia during their advancing age [3]. A photograph of Edward at this period shows a good looking modest but self-assured person (Figure 19).

In February 1968 Edward was drafted to the Midlands to help with the outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease which had started in Shropshire during the autumn of 1967 [3]. This was a severe outbreak during which 430 000 animals on 2300 farms were slaughtered. It was at about this time also that Edward became increasingly unwell. The problem was Chronic Brucellosis (also known in humans from its usual course of appearing and disappearing over time as Undulant Fever). He had to take a significant amount of sick leave and was an in-patient in the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital in Exeter and in the Cottage Hospital, Moretonhampstead. A year later on 21 May 1969 he was in the Moretonhampstead Cottage Hospital for several days after an operation for the removal of a thrombus from his groin [3].

Edward Peck’s service with MAFF came to an end on 30 November 1970.

Later life, 1970-1971

Edward lived for less than three months after leaving MAFF. Edward Finch Peck died at the Cottage Hospital, Moretonhampstead on 24 February 1971 aged 69 years [63]. His Death Certificate records the cause of death as Carcinoma of the Prostate although it is certain that there were other “underlying causes” as indicated earlier in this paper. Edward donated his body to the Bristol Medical School. This was later placed in an unmarked grave in Arnos Vale Cemetery but his son Rab eventually located the site as Plot C905 which is now graced by a Memorial Plaque. If he were not adequately remembered there, then he was at his home of 17 years in Moretonhampstead where a Bible on the Lectern in St Andrew’s Parish Church has a bookplate commemorating the lives of Edward Finch Peck and Sylvia Elizabeth Peck (Figure 20) [64]. An engraved tablet in the Graveyard of St Mawnon and St Stephen in Mawnan Smith in Cornwall under which an urn containing Sylvia’s ashes is buried, also commemorates their lives (Figure 21)²³. Probate of his effects to the amount of £22 735 was given at Bristol on 28 May 1971 [65]. This was not quite the end for Edward, however, as a chapter written by him on Veterinary Services in the Somaliland Protectorate appeared in a collective work in 1973 [66].

Sylvia Elizabeth Peck outlived her husband by 17 years, dying on 6 January 1988 a few weeks short of the 80 anniversary of her birth [67]. She had continued, as she had wished, to live at Middle Howton for the remainder of her life but eventually had to be moved to Greenacres Nursing Home in Chagford, Her Death Certificate records her death as due to Bronchopneumonia and Cerebella Ataxia. Probate of her effects valued at £162 923 was granted at Bristol on 23 March 1988 [68].

I worked for short periods in Nigeria during the 1980s, in Somaliland for short periods in 1999 and 2003 and in Tanzania from 1961 to 1970 and have made numerous working visits since. Between 1986 and 2014 I did several consultancies for FAO around the world. In 1974-1975 and 1983-1990 I was in Ethiopia amd in Cambodia in 2018. On one Somaliland job one of my colleagues was Gilles Stockton of Stockton Ranch, Grass Range, Montana. Having recently published a paper on camels in Somaliland [27] I sent him a copy and he responded by sending me a copy of the Journal of the Anglo-Somali Society in which there was an article about Peck provided by Peck’s son based on notes written by Peck many years earlier [34]. I had long been considering an article on Peck and I thank Gilles for tipping the balance. I then looked up Edward Finch Peck on a family history website and was fortunate to find the name of Miriam Ruth Ridge whom I contacted. She describes herself as a distant relative of Finch through his wife and suggested I should contact his two living sons, Christopher Edward “Rab” Peck and his youngest brother Julian who were in England. No need! They both very quickly contacted me and were overwhelming in their generosity in sharing their family history with me and making materials available and especially the long history written by Rab [3]. Needless to say that this account, which they have read and approved, would have been much poorer without their unstinting help. I am also grateful to David Brooks, Editor of the Anglo-Somali Journal for making available and allowing me to quote from the three Peck articles published therein [21,34,54]. As usual, Mary Wilson quibbled about the grammar and syntax but any remaining errors are entirely mine.

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