William Williams (veterinary surgeon)

William Williams (1832 to 1900) was a Welsh veterinary surgeon and teacher of veterinary science. Born at Bontnewydd near St Asaph in north Wales into a family of renowned farriers, he followed the family trade, lost his health in 1852, spent three years in Australia, and then enrolled at William Dick's new veterinary college in Edinburgh in 1855. He qualified as a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in 1857 and practised in Bradford before returning to Edinburgh in 1867 as the third principal of the Dick Veterinary College. In 1873, after disputes at that college, he founded a rival New Veterinary College, first at Gayfield House and later in a purpose-built building at Elm Row, and ran it until his death. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1868, served as president of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in 1879 and wrote several standard works on veterinary science. His son William Owen Williams also became a veterinarian.