The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Proper farming farewell for true Arbroath hero
In another life Arbroath vet John Kneen could well have been a crime scene investigator.
For it was with forensic precision that he served the animals of Angus – and their families – for almost half a century.
When cows became sick he put his scientific mind to the task of proving the source of lead poisoning.
And when the circus came to town he was the man charged with nursing a dehydrated tiger and a bear with a sore head.
But it was the darker side of veterinary practice that caused John, originally from the Isle of Man, to become a hero.
In 1997 Megan Macfarlane was mauled by a dog and he was asked to euthanise the animal. He emptied its stomach, recovered the lip of the child, and rushed it to her surgeon in saline.
John Edwin Kneen was born on January 25 1929.
A 60-acre farm on the Isle of Man was his home.
John qualified as a veterinary surgeon from Liverpool University in 1954. And thanks to one of his lecturers who knew of a vet in Arbroath called Archie Robertson, John found his way to Scotland.
It was a boom time for certain lines of Aberdeen Angus which were then worth more at birth than some large family homes. It was an exciting time for the town’s new vet.
In 1956 John left for a job with partnership prospects at Alsager. It was there he met his future wife Maureen Roberts.
On a short break back to visit his Arbroath flatmates, however, the course of their future would be set. Archie Robertson offered him a veterinary partnership.
He maintained his relationship with Maureen by writing almost every day and by the following November they were married. Within the next year they had bought Hill House, a dog and had started their family.
They worked together as they built and expanded the practice. Even sons Marcus and Quintin were drafted in as veterinary nurses on occasion.
John’s job involved more than just basic vet care.
When two of Geddes Furlaws’ 70 cattle died of lead poisoning John went to work finding the cause.
After recovering fragments of battery plates from the cow’s stomach he then checked the silage stack. Sure enough, a shattered battery had found its way inside.
Just as the rest of the herd were showing signs of poisoning he was able to treat them all with an antidote, saving every one.
In April, accompanied by his family, John flew to the Isle of Man. He visited the farm of his birth and met an 89-year-old ploughman getting down from a tractor who had been at the same primary school.
A celebration of John’s life took place at St Mary’s Church, Springfield, Arbroath, on Tuesday.
Farmer John Caldwell drove the hearse, a 50-yearold tractor and bogie. Mr Kneen’s son Quintin and grandson Patrick were on board playing the Manx National Anthem.