Alumni news
Professor Henry Ford and the Valerie Ford Travel Awards
1943 Veterinary Students, Henry Ford 3rd row back 5th from left
Professor Edwin John Hill Ford MRCVS (BVSc 1943) was a Yorkshireman and graduated from the University of Liverpool in 1943. He was known to many of his friends as Henry. This nickname was given to him early in his school life because when he answered to his surname with wit they immediately said “Ah, Henry I assume”.
Henry had a lifelong interest in sheep and used to keep a small flock in a field in the village of Willaston, and in 1955 he received an MVSc from Liverpool for his work on Johne’s disease in sheep. He became well known for the measurement of enzyme activity as an indicator of liver damage in sheep and cattle.
He returned to Liverpool in 1964 as a lecturer in the Department of Clinical Studies and from 1976 to 1980 he was Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Science. Outside of work he had a keen interest in canals and railways and enjoyed travelling the country to explore disused railways and canals.
Henry and his wife Valerie took a special interest in overseas postgraduate students, particularly those whose wives and families found themselves in a strange land with different customs, climate and culture. Henry supervised a number of PhD students from Chile and Sudan in the hope they would return home and occupy positions of influence
Jane and Anne, Henry and Valerie’s children, told us: “Mum and Dad were keen to help in the welfare of overseas post graduates students and their families. We both remember Mum and Dad hosting many post graduates students at our house”.
The Valerie Ford Travel Award was set up by the friends and family of Mrs Ford after her death in 1984 to enable undergraduates to visit different countries, so that they could study the veterinary problems and experience the way of life.
This travel award still exists and has enabled students to undertake a number of interesting projects. In recent years students have been funded to travel to Fiji to undertake a prevalence study into canine transmissible venereal tumours, to complete an externship at an equine hospital in Kentucky, to enrol in a summer dairy institute course at Cornell, to work with SPANA and working equids, and finally to investigate the welfare problems of working camels.
As an Alumni Association, it is important that we help to preserve the history of veterinary education at Liverpool. Professor Ford and the University of Liverpool Veterinary Alumni Association are well entwined - it was Henry’s drive that led to the formation of the Association and he himself edited the first edition of the Alumni Newsletter!
We’d love to hear your favourite memories of your veterinary days at Liverpool; maybe you have a memorable lecturer, a photo with your class friends or work from your student days that you’d like to share. You can add them to our veterinary alumni association Facebook page or email: alumni@liverpool.ac.uk. You can also read our archive of veterinary newsletters.