1925 Biography - William H. Dalrymple

William Haddock Dalrymple, M. R. C. V. S., one of the honored and valued members of the faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, at Baton Rouge, is a citizen whose loyalty to Louisiana is on a parity with his tine professional stewardship, and this statement means much when it is known that as a scientist along the line of his profession the Doctor is one of the foremost figures in the United States, with a reputation that far transcends mere local limitations. As educator, author and man of achievement he has signally honored the state of his adoption, and it might well be wished that in this publication the limitations were not such as to make impossible a more detailed and comprehensive review of his career than is here presented.

Dr. Dalrymple was born at Stranraer, Wigtownshire, Scotland, April 23, 1856, and is a son of Thomas Dalrymple, who was born at Glenluce, Scotland, July 1, 1801, and whose death occurred at Stranraer May 14, 1868. Thomas Dalrymple studied medicine, but impaired health necessitated his abandonment of this work, the ultimate result being that he developed eventually a large and important industrial' business in the tanning and handling of leather at Stranraer. He was a liberal in politics, served as bailee (alderman) a number of years, and was treasurer of one of the local Presbyterian churches, of which both he and his wife were zealous members. Mrs. Dairymple, whose maiden name was Mary Eleanor Haddock, was born at Sunderland, County of Durham, England, May 25, 1815, and was nearly ninety-two years of age at the time of her death, January 9, 1907, in the city of Durham, England. Of the children the elder was Thomas Rodie Hudson Dalrymple, who was born April 23, 1836, who succeeded his father in the tanning and leather business, and whose death occurred at Sunderland, England, in 1903; and Dr. William H., of this review, the only surviving member of the family.

After his graduation at Stranraer Academy Dr. Dalrymple held for two years a position in the Union Bank of London, in the city of London, and he next passed two and one-half years in South Africa, where he held a position with the Standard Bank at Kimberley, his experiences in the great diamond field district of Africa having been of interesting order and having involved his personal friendship with many men of later fame, including Cecil Rhodes, Dr. L. S. Jameson, the Barnato brothers and others. Finally returning to Scotland, Dr. Dalrymple, in the autumn of 1883, entered the Glasgow Veterinary College, and in this institution be was graduated as a member of the class of 1886, with the degree of member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, London. After his graduation he served a short time as a member of the veterinary staff of the Irish Privy Council in Dublin, and thereafter he was engaged in the private practice of his profession in the north of England until May, 1889, when he came to the United States. After remaining a very brief period in New York City he received appointment to the professorship of veterinary science at the Louisiana State University and also veterinarian of the Louisiana State Agricultural Experiment Stations. His appreciation of and loyalty to Louisiana have never wavered, and he has done a splendid service that has been of benefit not only to State but also of enduring and broad scientific field. He was for a time dean of the College of Agriculture of the Louisiana State University and director of was the Experiment Station, but after two compelled to resign from the dual position on account of a breakdown in his health. His major service has been in the important official positions of which he is the present incumbent. In 1893 he resigned his positions at the University, returned to England and intended to remain in Great Britain, but the attractions of his former home and work in Louisiana proved so dominant that he returned in 1896 to the Louisiana State University, where he has since continued his splendid service.

Dr. Dalrymple has allied himself with the democratic party, and he and his wife are active members o the First Presbyterian Church of Baton Rouge. He is an honorary vice president of the Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce, has served as secretary of the Louisiana State Agricultural Society and as editor of the jive stock department of the New Orleans Picayune; was formerly secretary of the Louisiana Stock Breeder's Association; was for some time a member of the staff of collaborators of the American Veterinary Review; was president of the United States Experiment Station Veterinary Medical Association in 1901-02; was president of the American Veterinary Medical Association in 1907-08; was president of the United States Live Stock Sanitary Association in 1908-09; has been since 1902 a member of the executive committee of the National Live Stock Association; is vice president of the Louisiana State Sanitary Association; is a Fellow of the Glasgow (Scotland) Veterinary Medical Society; and is a member of the American Medical Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Royal Institute of Public Health (London), the American Genetic Association, the Louisiana Veterinary Medical Association, the Society for the Promotion of Agricultural Science, the Louisiana State Live Stock Sanitary Board, the East Baton Rouge Parish Medical Society, and the Authors Club of London, England. The Doctor is an honorary member of the state veterinary associations of Illinois, Kentucky and Louisiana; in 1908 he was a delegate to the International Congress on Tuberculosis, in the city of Washington, D. C.; in 1912 he was there a delegate to the International Congress on Hygiene and Demography, and he was the United States official reporter on anthrax at the tenth International Veterinary Congress in London in 1914.

Dr. Dalrymple has made many and valuable contributions to the standard and periodical literature of his profession, including numerous experiment station bulletins, and monographs on veterinary, sanitary and animal husbandry topics. He is the author of two authoritative works, entitled respectively "Veterinary Obstetrics" and "Live Stock Sanitation." He has served as editor of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, and in the World war period he was a member of Louisiana agricultural advisory committee of the United States Food Administration.

Dr. Dalrymple has been active in scientific research and experimentation along the line of his profession, and has incidentally achieved results that would have brought him large financial rewards had he consented to commercialize his name and service, rather than to make his professional stewardship one of the highest ethical order. To his earnest and vigorous efforts may largely be ascribed the establishing and splendid service of the Louisiana State Live Stock Sanitary Board, the State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners, and the Louisiana Veterinary Medical Association, with which he gave a most progressive administration while serving as its president. His work in the advancing of animal industry has been excelled by few, if any, other representatives of his profession, and has been of pronounced value in furthering the success of the live stock industry.

In August, 1891, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Dalrymple and Miss Mary Isabel Umpleby, of Snaith, Yorkshire, England, daughter of William and Amelia (Rhodes) Umpleby, her father having been a prosperous landholder and farmer in that section of Yorkshire, and her widowed mother being still a resident of Snaith. William Cohn Stuart Dalrymple, elder of the two children of Dr. and Mrs. Dalrymple, was born December 22, 1892, and now resides in the city of Dayton, Ohio. In the World war period he was in the industrial airplane service, and his educational advantages have included those of the Louisiana State University. He married Miss Verna Lenker, of Rossburg, Ohio. Mary Eleanor, younger of the two children, is the wife of William Nelson Fauver, of Baton Rouge, and they have a fine little son, William Dalrymple Fauver. Mr. Fauver is serving as a notary public and is giving his attention to the study of law (1924). He is also superintendent of the fine new parish Court house at Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Note: The referenced source includes an autographed portrait of the subject.

Contributed 2021 Nov 04 by Mike Miller, from A History of Louisiana, by Henry E. Chambers, published in 1925, volume 2, pages 105-106.