Layton Blenkinsop

Major-General Sir Layton John Blenkinsop (27 June 1862 – 28 April 1942) was a British Army officer and veterinary surgeon.

Early life Blenkinsop was the third son of Lieutenant-Colonel William Blenkinsop of the 3rd Dragoon Guards and his wife Elizabeth (née Sandford). His younger brother was Major-General Sir Alfred Blenkinsop of the Royal Army Medical Corps. He was educated at the King's School, Canterbury, and the Royal Veterinary College, where he won the Coleman Medal in 1883.

Military career From 1891 to 1893, Blenkinsop served in India as advising veterinary surgeon to the government of the Punjab He was then stationed in Egypt from 1896 to 1899 and was senior veterinary officer of the Sudan expedition of 1898, for which he was mentioned in despatches and on 16 November 1898 awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO). He then held a succession of principal veterinary officer appointments: of Irish Command from 1904 to 1906, South Africa from 1906 to 1909, Northern Command in 1910, Southern Command from 1910 to 1912, and Aldershot Command from 1913 to 1916. and on 1 December 1917 he became director-general of veterinary services of the British Army, the most senior veterinary officer in the service, with the honorary rank of major-general. On 24 April 1918, he was promoted to the substantive rank of major-general. He was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 1919 Birthday Honours and Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 1921 New Year Honours. He retired later that year, but served as the first colonel-commandant of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps until 1932. He co-edited the veterinary services section of the British official history of the First World War. He was also president of the Central Veterinary Medical Society.

Personal life In 1905, Blenkinsop married Ethel Alice Wells. On her death, Lady Blenkinsop left an endowment to establish the Sir Layton Blenkinsop Mathematical Scholarship at the King's School, Canterbury, of £100 per annum.

Footnotes