Page 75 - Eclipse - Autumn/Winter 2022

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At the age of 10, Peter went to Totnes deliberation, and taking his interest in
Grammar School as a boarder, even both biology and research into account,
though his parents lived close by. At he opted for a veterinary course at the
PETER MARTIN BIGGS weekends and holidays, he fondly Royal Veterinary College (RVC), London.
(1953) recalled sailing with his parents on In the summer before starting at the
By Joe Brownlie their eight-ton shrimping boat from RVC, he and a school friend hatched
Obituary, published in Vet Record, Brixham harbour. a plan to sail the Norfolk broads. They
Vol 190, Issue 4, 19/26 February Peter’s father returned to Bedales School invited two girls to accompany them.
2022, p169-170 in 1937 and so, at 11, Peter also went Peter’s choice was Jan Molteno, the
to this progressive, independent school, daughter of a family friend who was
again as a boarder. During the holidays, studying at the Guildford School of Art.
he worked on a local farm guiding the This was the start of a lifelong love.
heavy horses, helping to harvest the corn Peter and Jan were married during his
(into stooks) and hand milking the dairy second year at the RVC, at the chapel
cows. However, this idyllic rural life was of Mansfield College in Oxford.
not to last. In the 1940s, the veterinary course was
The advent of the Second World War designed to gain a membership of the
brought danger and disruption. A long, RCVS; it was not recognised as being
covered trench was built at the school of degree status. Peter realised that to
by students for protection from bombing undertake research, he would need a
and, by 1940, there were nightly air degree that would allow him to undertake
raids along the south coast. With the a PhD. He therefore simultaneously
increasing risk of invasion, it was decided studied for a science degree alongside
that Peter, then 14, should be evacuated veterinary science. Few took that choice
to the USA. and only a quarter of those who did
completed it. Peter was one of them.
In September 1940, Peter, along with
other children, boarded the ocean liner It was during his library study that he
RMS Scythia at Liverpool, bound for came across the book ‘The leucosis
Peter Martin Biggs FMedSci, BVetSts, New York. While waiting to depart, they of fowls and leucaemia problems’ by
PhD, DSc, DVM(hc), Dr(hc), FRCPath, were bombed, with Peter hearing the Ellerman and Bang. This stimulated his
CBiol, FSB, FRCVS, FRS, CBE, (b) splash of water on the side of the ship. It interest in virus-induced leukosis.
1926, (q) London 1953. Died 27 was to be the last convoy of evacuees to Although most college holidays were
December 2021. leave Britain. spent seeing practice, for the summer
An outstanding veterinary scientist. Peter stayed with musical family friends of 1949, Peter and three friends bought
in Harvard, Massachusetts, boarding at a 1930s Talbot 65 car and drove to
Peter was born in 1926 in Hampshire, the Cambridge school for the next four and around Norway. Crossing Germany
near Bedales School where his father, years. He adapted to American life and without stopping (so soon after the
Ronald, was director of music and his enjoyed baseball, cinema and musical war) was demanding, but they travelled
mother, Cécile, was a teacher. concerts, at which he met Koussevitzky, 3000 miles, visiting both the Danish and
In 1932, the family moved to Rachmaninov, Bernstein and Stravinsky, Norwegian veterinary schools, all at a
Dartington Hall in Devon, where Ronald among others. He trained in the school’s cost of £18 each.
was to take up the position of director Army Air Forces Service with notable Peter’s final year at the RVC was spent
of music and, in time, Cécile opened a competence in Morse code. These were at Streatley-on-Thames in Berkshire (the
small boarding school in Totnes. Being happy years. RVC was evacuated there during the
an only child, Peter would explore the Four years later – in June 1944 at Second World War). He considered the
Devon countryside, particularly along the age of 18 – he boarded the MV teaching to be particularly poor in his last
the River Dart where he learnt to swim, Rangitiki which, with 37 other ships and year. However, Peter’s direction was not
to watch the leaping salmon over Totnes 13 US escorts, set sail for Liverpool practice, it was research.
weir, to ride a Shetland pony and to and home. Back in the UK, Peter
enjoy the company of his beloved volunteered for aircrew in the RAF. To start his research career, Peter
dachshund, Markie. Although he had hoped for action, sought the advice of his inspirational
RVC teacher Tony King, who had
It was a musical household and so, his subsequent four years spent in by now moved to the department of
at a young age, Peter was allocated the service were mainly clerical. He veterinary anatomy at Bristol veterinary
the cello to learn, although he really eventually rose to the rank of corporal. school. With Tony’s encouragement,
wanted to play a noisier instrument – The boredom he experienced changed Peter successfully obtained a two-year
the French horn. his ambition, which had been to become research assistantship to study for a
an aeronautical engineer. After much PhD on lymphoid tissue in the endocrine

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