Albert Edward Mettam

Albert Edward Mettam MRCVS, MRIA (1867- 27 November 1917), was inaugural Principal of the Royal Veterinary College of Ireland in Dublin. He went there from The Royal (Dick) Veterinary College where he had been Professor of Anatomy and Histology from 1892.
Early life and education.
Albert E. Mettam was born in Ordsall, Nottinghamshire, to Ann and Richard Mettam, a builder. He qualified at the R(D)VC on 28 May 1889 where he was awarded the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) Fitzwygram prize for that year.
Career.
He was in general veterinary practice in Retford, Nottinghamshire.
He succeeded his friend and colleague, John McFadyean, as Professor of Anatomy and Histology at the R(D)VC in 1892.
In 1900 he was appointed as the first Principal of the Royal Veterinary College of Ireland at its new premises in Pembroke Road, Dublin. He was editor of the Veterinarian from 1895 until its last edition 1902 and held the George Heriot Research Fellowship in Science in the University of Edinburgh.
Elected President of the RVCS in 1911.
He was acknowledged for contributions to embryology and the anatomy of the limbs of the horse and domestic ruminants. With McFadyean and Stockman he was involved in the first experiments to develop the ‘TB’ test in Great Britain.
Life in Ireland.
In 1911 he was made Lieutenant in the Officer Training Corps (RVCI) and then was promoted to the rank of Provisional Major. The OTC cadets were veterinary students who visited the sick lines of the army veterinary hospitals.
Mettam had a dramatic experience in Dublin in April 1916 during the Easter Rising. The rebels attacked Trinity College Botanic Gardens which was next to Mettam’s house and the army, thinking that shots had come from the Principal’s house, fired into it, and then entered the house taking Mettam prisoner, he was handcuffed and jailed along with the rebels. He was released, the next day but, in the view of some colleagues, he never fully recovered from the experience.
Death.
Mettam died from pernicious anaemia on 27 November 1917, aged 50 .
At his funeral all the students of the RVC, Ireland marched from the College to the church and on to the graveside.
His death left his wife and family in financial difficulties, but the RCVS and colleagues petitioned the government and obtained a pension for them.