Dorothy Brooke

Dorothy Brooke is the founder of the Brooke Hospital for Animals and a pioneer in the welfare of working equines.

Dorothy Gibson-Craig was born in Melrose, Scotland on June 1, 1884, into a family that had been part of the Scottish aristocracy for centuries. Brooke spent her childhood in Scotland and latterly in Wiltshire and Hampshire.

She had been actively interested in animal welfare all her life, with a particular interest in horses. From childhood she became an accomplished horsewoman in her own right.

Brooke married British cavalry officer Brigadier Geoffrey Brooke and moved to Cairo with him in October 1930. Here Brooke became dedicated to the welfare of Egypt's working horses and donkeys. Many of the most neglected and abused animals, Brooke learned, were sold to Egypt by the British, Australian, and U.S. armies after World War I. In 1931 she wrote to The Morning Post about their plight,^[1] raised the funds to buy or retire 5,000 former cavalry horses, an extraordinary feat in the depths of the Great Depression, and in 1934 founded the Old War Horse Memorial Hospital in Cairo.^[2] Today the Brooke Hospital for Animals still works at the same site over 70 years later.

Brooke continued to work in the charity until her death on June 10 1955. She was buried in her adopted home of Cairo. Descendants of Brooke have continued her involvement in the charity, and today a granddaughter and great-granddaughter serve on the Board of the Brooke Hospital for Animals.

References

1. ^ Brooke's letter to the Morning Post http://www.thebrooke.org/content.asp?id=1556&cachefixer=cf85120344903376
2. ^ Mark Twain, Dorothy Brooke, & the struggle to improve equine care at the Giza pyramids http://www.animalpeoplenews.org/08/1/marktwain01_08.htm

External links

• [The Brooke Hospital for Animals http://www.thebrooke.org/content.asp?id=1942&cachefixer=cf8396344903376]