Niamh Ní Chróinín, TG4’s newly appointed ambassador for children and presenter of the dedicated children’s channel Cula4 and Cllr Michael Maher, Cathaoirleach of the County of Galway will launch a bilingual workbook on Aleen Cust; the first female veterinary surgeon to work in Ireland, or indeed the world, in 1900. The book launch will take place at Mountbellew Agricultural College ATU Campus (H53WE00 ), on April 21 at 11am.
Eithne O’Halloran of Kylemore Abbey wrote the text and designed the layout aided by superb illustrations of Sara Nylund. The book is in a bilingual format and will appeal to a wide audience of younger readers, has added educational value, each section having an exercise to provoke searching minds, quizzes, word games and artistic challenges. Feedback to date suggests that the book will entertain both young and indeed older readers.
Veterinarians Brendan Gardiner, Donal Connolly and Ascinta Kilroy of the Aleen Cust Memorial Society, Marie Mannion, Heritage Officer of the Galway County Council, Nollaig Feeney, Heritage Officer, Roscommon County Council and Róisín O’Grady, Heritage Officer, Tipperary County Council managed and directed the project.
Aleen Cust was Irish born at Cordangan Manor, close to Tipperary town in 1868 to Leopold and Lady Cust, a land agent for the Smith-Barry estate. After Leopold’s untimely death in 1878 at forty-six years of age, the family moved back to England and Aleen became a ward of the Widdrington family of Newton Hall, Northumberland, close to the Scottish border. Aleen always wanted to be a vet and despite being disowned by her family she went to the New Veterinary College in Edinburgh and graduated with merit in 1900.
The Royal College in London refused her permission to sit their final examinations because she was a woman. Undeterred Aleen returned to Ireland and took a position assisting a well-known veterinary surgeon in Athleague, Co. Roscommon, William Augustine Byrne. Aleen was an excellent practitioner and a very fine horse woman; accepted by the community and kind and compassionate to her clientele.
In 1905 Aleen obtained a controversial position as a Local Authority Veterinary Inspector for the Mountbellew district (described by the Western People as ‘disgusting, if not absolutely indecent’ ), which she held until 1915 when she drove her own car to France to assist the treatment of injured horses during World War 1.
‘Miss Cust’ or ‘Vet Cust’ as she was known, rode a white Arabian stallion in her earlier years at work and is remembered in Galway and Roscommon for her integrity, intelligence, wit, charm, determination. The women who followed in her footsteps found employment difficult as societal prejudices and economic depression were formidable barriers in the earlier years. In the present time the intake of females far surpasses that of male applicants to veterinary schools around the world. The feminisation of the veterinary profession is well and truly complete.
This workbook was funded by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (Decade of Centenaries Local Authority Funding ); Galway County Council, Roscommon County Council and Tipperary County Council. It is an action of Galway County Council’s Decade of Commemoration Strategy 2013-2023. A digital copy of the workbook is available on the following link: https://heritage.galwaycommunity heritage.org/content/people/aleen-cust/ever-and-always All are welcome to attend this launch. For further information please contact Ita Gordon, Galway County Council by email @ [email protected]
