Animal Health Trust
UK charity for pet disease research and postgraduate veterinary education.
The Animal Health Trust was a large national independent charity in the United Kingdom, founded in 1942 by WR Wooldridge. It employed 200 scientists, veterinarians and support workers, and was awarded a Royal Charter on 29 July 1963. Based in Newmarket, Suffolk, it received no government funding and entered liquidation on 31 July 2020.
Quick Facts
- Founded
- 1942
- Founder
- WR Wooldridge CBE, FRCVS
- Location
- Lanwades Park, Kentford, Newmarket
- Origins
- Veterinary Education Trust by Walter Reginald Wooldridge
- Key people
- Peter Webbon (CEO), Andrew Higgins (veterinarian)Scientific Director and Chief Executive
- Region served
- Veterinary medicine
- Focus
- Epizootiology
- Horses
- Canine
- Feline
- Dissolved
- 31 July 2020
Facts from the source article.
Work
Research at the Animal Health Trust focused on inherited disease and infectious disease. Inherited disease work included genetics, oncology and stem cell research; infectious disease covered bacteriology, virology, immunology, equine epidemiology and disease surveillance. The Trust operated two clinical centres: the Centre for Small Animal Studies and Centre for Equine Studies, both offering diagnostic laboratories and DNA testing. It published findings in journals such as Nature and maintained an open-access library.
History
The Animal Health Trust was a UK charity founded in 1942 by Walter Reginald Wooldridge, originally called the Veterinary Education Trust before being renamed in 1948. Early support came from Annie Henrietta Yule, who provided Balaton Lodge in Newmarket as the Trust’s base until 1998. In 1989, it was granted a coat of arms with the motto Salus Fidesque Animalium. Lord Kirkham served as a trustee for three decades from 1990 and was a key donor; he was knighted in 1996 for his charity work. Due to fundraising problems made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trust was liquidated on 31 July 2020. Its medical equipment was auctioned that August, and its site sold for £7.85 million. Lord Kirkham also paid for the Harris Library to move to the Harper Keele Veterinary School and for the Trust’s archives to go to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.
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