Celebrating 160 years of The Veterinary Defence Society

This year, in September, the Veterinary Defence Society (VDS) celebrates a momentous milestone, 160 years of dedication to the veterinary profession. Since 1865, our ethos and values underpinned by our mutual model remain the same. Today, we offer a range of risk management services including insurance, defence, advice, guidance, training, development and quality improvement built on those foundations and the foresight of our founders, and it remains a privilege to play our part in protecting and supporting VDS members.

An extract from the first list of members of the then Veterinary Mutual Defence Society, September 1865.

1865 to 2015: The First 150 Years

In 1865, a pioneering vet rejoicing in the name of Ephraim Alfred Friend organised a meeting of delegates from Liverpool, Lancashire and Yorkshire Veterinary Medical Associations, at which the formation of the ‘Veterinary Mutual Defence Society’ was born. The motto ‘Defence, not Defiance’ was deliberately chosen to sum up the Society’s intent to defend or settle cases, wherever possible, without recourse to litigation. 

Over the next year, membership numbers grew rapidly, and by the second meeting in 1866, a change of name to ‘The National Veterinary Benevolent and Mutual Defence Society’ (NVB&MDS) occurred. In 1978, the two functions of insurance and benevolence were separated into two organisations - the Veterinary Defence Society (VDS) and the Veterinary Benevolent Fund, now known as Vetlife ↗, and the association between VDS and Vetlife, as well as the Irish Veterinary Benevolent Fund (IVBF) ↗, established in 1982, remains to this day.

Click to view the story of the VDS from 1865 to today.

The Last 10 Years

Over the past 10 years, the VDS has been busier than at any other time in its history. The profession has faced profound changes over recent years, including the now many different models of practice and the development of specialised out of hours services. The creation of VetSafe and provision of VDS Training demonstrates how we are continuing to evolve to meet the needs of our members and serve the profession as a whole.

The ethos that underpins the Society now is that which has always underpinned it, since those early meetings in Manchester in 1865, ‘Defence, not Defiance’, and our members’ interests remain at the heart of everything we do.