In 1923 the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries endowed a chair in Animal Pathology as an initial step towards the creation of an institute for research in the pathology of animal diseases. J.B. Buxton was the first professor. The resultant Institute of Animal Pathology was linked to the Department of Pathology, accommodation being provided in field laboratories on Milton Road. In the early 1930s a syndicate reviewing the institute recommended broadening teaching and establishing a veterinary diploma. Agreement was reached with government and the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons whereby no more than 10 students per year undertook pre-clinical work in Cambridge. This arrangement ended at the outbreak of World War Two. Proposals to set up a Veterinary School offering a degree in Veterinary Medicine were worked up again during and immediately after World War Two. The School of Veterinary Medicine was established in 1949 comprising two departments: Animal Pathology and Veterinary Medicine (later Veterinary Clinical Studies). Animal Pathology was part of the Faculty of Biology 'B'; Veterinary Medicine part of the Faculty of Medicine. The Queen opened new buildings for the School at Merton Hall Farm, Madingley Road, in October 1955. In 1972, under threat of closure by the University Grants Committee because of its small student numbers, the School's organisation was altered. A Clinical Veterinary Medicine Syndicate was established in 1975 and a new Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine created by the amalgamation of the two departments. A Veterinary Education Committee was also set up to provide a formal link between pre-clinical and clinical teaching. Reprieved in 1975, the department was again threatened with closure in 1989 on the recommendation of the UGC's Riley Report. The subsequent findings of the Page Working Group, on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture and Department of Education, and a massive public campaign were successful in saving the School. In the early 1990s, wide-ranging reform saw the curriculum overhauled, staff numbers increased and the physical infrastructure modernised and expanded. For background information see F.R. Spratling 'Veterinary Medicine in Cambridge' in Cambridge. The magazine of the Cambridge Society, number 25, 1989, pp.49-53 (classmark: Cam.c.21.102.7.4); and brief departmental histories catalogued as UA VET 4/8 and 7/9.