Colonel James Herbert Brockencote Hallen or J.H.B. Hallen CIE FRCSE FRCVS (1829 – 20 August 1901) was a British veterinarian who served as Principal of the Dick's Veterinary School in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

from for the academic year 1866/67 and later worked in British India. His is best remembered for his role as General Superintendent of Horse Breeding in India and Chief Veterinary Officer to

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, for his work on the Indian cattle plagues and for writing manuals on the treatment of horses and livestock, some of which were translated into Hindi and Urdu languages.

Life

James was the son of veterinary surgeon, Herbert Hallen, who worked with the

Inniskilling Dragoons The 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons was a Cavalry regiments of the British Army, cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1689 as Sir Albert Cunningham's Regiment of Dragoons. One of the regiment's most notable battles was the Battle ...

, and his wife Matilda. Herbert was known for his work with horses, wrote parts of the books by Sir Frederick Fitzwygram, and was involved in the design of the so-called Fitzwygram shoe. James studied Veterinary Science at William Dick's Veterinary College on Clyde Street in

. In 1866 following the death of William Dick he served as principal of the college on an interim basis until the autumn of 1867 when he was replaced on a permanent basis by Prof William Williams. He joined the Bombay Veterinary Service in 1850 and then served with the 1st Bombay Lancers until 1855, followed by Remount purchasing until 1858 after which he was in the Bombay Horse Artillery. In 1862 he was made Inspecting Veterinary Surgeon and was involved in establishing the veterinary service, and the Army Veterinary School, Poona. He started a school for (horse attendants) and castrators at Babugarh in the United Provinces in 1877. This was moved to Lahore in 1882 under Colonel G. Kettlewell and became the Punjab Veterinary College in 1900. He served in the Abyssinian War (1867–68) and was in charge of 50000 animals including cavalry and transport. He was recommended a medal by Lord Napier for his services but a C.B. could not be conferred as veterinary surgeons were ineligible. In 1868 he was dispatched to

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

to deal with a sudden outbreak of cattle plague in

. He was placed in charge of a Special Stud Commission from 16 December 1872 to 31 March 1876 under the Viceroy. This was in response to Lord Northbrook's policy to breed horses and mules in India rather than import them from Australia and

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

as was the previous practice. Similar suggestions may have also been made during the time of Lord Mayo. Hallen also promoted the use of mares instead of oxen for ploughing. He was involved in the establishment of a civil veterinary department for which he was created a C.I.E. He retired as Inspector General of the Civil Veterinary Department. His examination of the outbreak of

rinderpest Rinderpest (also cattle plague or steppe murrain) was an infectious viral disease of cattle, domestic water buffalo, and many other species of even-toed ungulates, including gaurs, African Buffalo, buffaloes, large antelope, deer, giraffes, wilde ...

led to the establishment of the Imperial bacteriological laboratory at Mukteshwar under

Alfred Lingard Alfred Lingard (1849 – 18 February 1938) was a British medical pathologist who worked on veterinary diseases in India, serving as an Imperial Bacteriologist from 1890 to 1907. He was the founding director of the Imperial Bacteriological Laborator ...

. He retired from service in India in 1894 and died in 1901 at Stratford-on-Avon from heart failure.

Publications

A partial list of writings include: *
Report of the Indian Cattle Plagues
' (1871) *''Cattle Plague: A History'' (1871) *''Manual of the More Deadly Forms of Cattle Disease in India'' (1872) *''Some Diseases of Cattle in India'' * Translated - ''ʿIlāj al-mawāshī'' (1874), ''Pasuchikitsa'' (Translated by Pandit Magan Lala 1875). Magan Lala's translation was of the Urdu/Hindustani version. Later Hanumanprasada and Deviprasada revised the Hindi work.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hallen, James 1829 births 1901 deaths British veterinarians Fellows of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons