Aleen Cust

Aleen Isobel Cust (7 February 1868 – 29 January 1937) was an Anglo-Irish veterinary surgeon. She was born and began her career in Ireland. In 1922 she became the first female veterinary surgeon to be recognised by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.

Early life and education Aleen Cust was born in 1868 in Cordangan Manor, County Tipperary. Her father Sir Leopold Cust, 2nd Baronet was the grandson of Brownlow Cust, 1st Baron Brownlow, and worked as a land agent to the Smith-Barry family. Her mother Charlotte Sobieske Isabel (née Bridgeman) was the daughter of Vice-Admiral Charles Orlando Bridgeman, and granddaughter of Orlando Bridgeman, 1st Earl of Bradford and Sir Henry Chamberlain, 1st Baronet. she enjoyed the outdoors as a child, and when asked about her future she claimed "a vet was my reply ever and always."

She began training as a nurse at London Hospital, but gave it up to become a veterinary surgeon. Cust enrolled under the name A.I. Custance to avoid any embarrassment for her family.

Cust was later appointed as a veterinary inspector by Galway County Council under the Diseases of Animals Acts , an appointment that was denied by the RCVS due to her lack of professional recognition. (Both Castlestrange and Fort Lyster were later demolished. )

Upon the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Cust left Ireland to volunteer at the front and appears to have aided in the treatment and care of horses, following the enactment of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919.

Upon her death she left the RCVS a sum of money to found the Aleen Cust Research Scholarship. In 2007 a plaque was erected in honour of Cust at Castlestrange House, Athleague by Women in Technology and Science and the National Committee for Commemorative Plaques in Science and Technology, with support from Veterinary Ireland.