Bullockleach

burt

Where there's a will there's a way!
This was the occupation of Garratt Henshaw of Amberley
in his Will of 1613!
Not come across this before!
A Leach/Leech being a Doctor, I presume this to be a Vet?
What do you think?
 
Quite probably something of the sort.

The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London on the Internet Archive refers to a "Mr Tooth, a farrier and bullock-leach". It is in a letter dated November 15th 1774 describing the effect of lightning on a bullock, so could well be that the vet was called.... :eek:
 
Or maybe...

In a nutshell, leeches were used in medicine on humans - as we all know. It was extremely popular and there weren't enough leeches to meet demand.

So on 'leech farms' livestock were driven into the marshes to 'nourish' many thousands of leeches to meet demand. I expect it was quite profitable. Leeches were later imported.

Just been reading with my toes curling. I can't bear the things - we get them in our garden pond.

Source - doctaly.com
 
The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London on the Internet Archive refers to a "Mr Tooth, a farrier and bullock-leach". It is in a letter dated November 15th 1774 describing the effect of lightning on a bullock, so could well be that the vet was called.... :eek:

The OED uses that quotation in its entry for bullock-leech (sic), which it defines as a cattle-doctor.
 
I thought there might be mentions in the papers but they are very few and far between. There is an advert in the Sussex Advertiser of the 30th January 1786 for. Thomas Daws, who describes himself as a “Horse Farrier and Bullock Leach”, but that’s about it.
 
Back
Top