7. SVT Aleen Cust

Location: 53.585474, -8.271482

Aleen Cust made history as the first female vet in either Ireland or Britain and faced great opposition despite females surely being infinitely more knowledgeable about giving birth than men!

Cust nevertheless went on to practise in County Roscommon with William Augustine Byrne MRCVS,[3] having received a personal recommendation from William Williams,[6] and lived at Castlestrange House (location of the Castlestrange stone, in the Suck Valley) near Athleague.[4] The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography states that there is reason to believe that Byrne and Cust "lived as man and wife and that she had two daughters, born in Scotland, who were later adopted".[1] In 1904 she was briefly engaged to Bertram Widdington, the son of her former guardian, but following objections from his family regarding her career, the wedding did not go ahead.[8]

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.[6] The post was advertised again, and when Cust was again selected for the post an agreement was reached under which she carried out the duties of the position with an amended title.[6] Upon the death of Byrne in 1910, Cust took over the veterinary practice.[4] She practised from Fort Lyster House near Athleague.[9] (Both Castlestrange and Fort Lyster were later demolished.[10])

Source: Wikipedia