William Weipers

Who is William Weipers?

Sir William Lee Weipers, FRCVS FRSE, was a pioneering Scottish veterinary surgeon and educator.

Weipers was borne in Kilbirnie, Ayrshire in 1904. A son of the manse, he was educated at Whitehill Higher Grade School in Glasgow, and went on to graduate MRCVS from the Glasgow Veterinary College in 1925. He went into general practice from 1925 until 1949, apart from a period of two years when he became a member of staff of the Royal Veterinary College. A highly skilled and pioneering small animal surgeon, he introduced closed circuit anaesthesia to veterinary practice and was widely respected throughout UK for his skill at small animal orthopaedics.

When the private veterinary colleges were brought into the ambit of the university system, he was made the first Director of Veterinary Education at the University of Glasgow; Professor of Veterinary Surgery from 1951 to 1974, and the Dean of the Glasgow Veterinary Faculty from 1969 until 1974. During this time he masterminded the creation of a veterinary school which became renowned for the quality of its teaching and in particular its research, for which it became the highest rated Veterinary Faculty in any British university, a position it retains to the present. He was knighted in 1966 for his services to Veterinary Education.