Centenary conference to celebrate forgotten Tipperary pioneer to be held in Galway

A conference to celebrate Aleen Cust, the first woman to work as a veterinary surgeon in Ireland and the UK, will be held at the Atlantic Technological University (ATU) in Mountbellew next month. 

The two-day event from August 11 will honour the Tipperary-born pioneer with 16 talks by academics, veterinarians and historians. 

Among them will be Dr Temple Grandin, an American animal behaviourist specialising in the humane treatment of livestock for slaughter and author of over 60 papers. 

She is a consultant to the livestock industry and a faculty member of the College of Agricultural Sciences at Colorado State University

Dr Grandin is also famous for her work as an activist for the rights of people with autism. 

The conference promises to explore and celebrate the life and work of one of Ireland’s forgotten pioneers. 

Who was Aleen Cust? 

Aleen Cust was an aristocrat born at Cordangan Manor near Tipperary Town in 1868. 

One of six children of Sir Leopold and Lady Isabel Cust, Allen Cust moved to the UK following her fathers death when she was 10 years old. 

Trained as a nurse, Cust wanted to be a veterinary surgeon.  Against her family’s wishes, Cust studied at the New Veterinary College in Edinburgh. 

She finished her studies in 1900 but was prevented from taking her final exam and joining the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons because she was a woman. 

Undeterred and with excellent references, Cust gained a position as a veterinary assistant at a practice owned by William Byrne in Roscommon. 

Later Cust would establish her own practice, and in 1905 she was appointed veterinary inspector by Galway County Council. 

However, The RCVS objected, saying she was improperly qualified. 

She was selected again on a second try, but the position was changed to just inspector, which she served between 1905 and 1915. 

Changing Times

In 1915, during WW1, Cust travelled to the western front in France to volunteer to treat horses. 

In 1919, the Sex Disqualification Removal Act came into law. This allowed Cust to take her final exam, become a member of the RCVS and, in 1922, gain her diploma. 

Cust became the first woman to join the RCVS and could then take the title of veterinary surgeon. 

During the upheaval and violence of 1920s Ireland, Cust decided to leave and go to southern England to an area of the New Forest near Southampton. On leaving, She was quoted as saying: 

“I have known the world at its best, in what was the best country in the world, Ireland. I have also known the world at its worst, alas.”

After her retirement and on a trip to Jamaica, Cust died of a heart attack while treating a sick dog. 

She is buried in Kingston in an unmarked grave. 

Cust left £5,000 in her will to establish scholarships for women. 

Her grave was found in December 2021 by Mountbellew veterinarian Brendan Gardiner, a founding member of the Aleen Cust Memorial Society, with the assistance of Brian Denning, the Irish Consul in Kingston.

Another founding member, Donal Connolly and Mr Gardiner said of her memory:

“Aleen Cust has been forgotten. Her legacy needed to be remembered, and her name kept in perpetuity. Her resting place was unrecorded and only discovered in December 2021.”

Following in her footsteps

The August conference boasts a number of speakers from veterinary, education and animal welfare, firsts in their fields. They include: 

• Professor Sioban Mullan- the first Chair of Animal Welfare and Ethics at UCD School of Veterinary Medicine. 
• Meta Osbourne- the first female president of the Veterinary Council of Ireland and the first female Senior Steward of the Turf Cub in the world.
• Dr Orla Flynn- the first president of the Atlantic Technological University. 

MEP Maria Walsh will open the conference. Tipperary historian Des Murnane will speak about Aleen Cust’s Tipperary heritage, and Brendan Gardiner will discuss the project to find her grave. 

Professor Grandin will deliver the keynote address on Thursday, August 11, 11, titled, “Let’s look at it from their point of view!” followed by an open panel discussion. 

The conference will host 16 speakers in total over two days.

The Centenary Conference

Speaking on behalf of Tipperary and Roscommon Heritage Officers, Galway County Council Heritage Officer Marie Mannion said projects like this allow us an insight into the history of Ireland.

“Aleen’s perseverance triumphed over adversity. It will also shed light on the life of one of Ireland’s unsung heroes and ensure that her work, sacrifices and her determination are known by those of us who live in the Ireland of 2022,” said Ms Mannion. 

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Head of ATU Mountbellew, Dr Edna Curley, and Senior lecturer and Programme Chair in Heritage Studies, ATU Galway-Mayo, Dr Mark McCarthy, said 

“This public event coincides with our Golden Jubilee celebrations of fifty years of technological higher education in the west of Ireland, 1972-2022. The university is delighted to be supporting the conference, which will cast new light on the accomplishments of a pioneering figure in the history of Irish science.”

More information on the conference is available at the Galway County Heritage Office website.