Donald Sinclair (veterinary surgeon)

Original name plates for Donald Sinclair (Siegfried Farnon) and Alf Wight (James Herriot) on display at the James Herriot museum in Thirsk, UK

Donald Vaughan Sinclair (22 April 1911 – 28 June 1995) was a British veterinary surgeon who graduated from the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies in 1933. He was made famous as the inspiration for the eccentric character Siegfried Farnon in the semi-autobiographical books of James Herriot (Alf Wight), adapted for film and television as All Creatures Great and Small.

Royal Air Force service

The building which was the veterinary surgery of James "Alf" Wight and Brian and Donald Sinclair, 23 Kirkgate, Thirsk. It is now The World of James Herriot museum. (2009 photo)

In 1939, Sinclair bought a veterinary practice at 23 Kirkgate, Thirsk, Yorkshire, and he hired Wight to run it in July 1940 while Sinclair was undertaking his war service in the Royal Air Force.

However, Sinclair had deliberately misrepresented himself as being younger than he was in order to join up, and it was quickly discovered that his reflexes were not fast enough for him to continue with pilot training. He could have been redeployed within the service, but the fact that he was a veterinary surgeon meant that he was considered more useful to the war effort by resuming his peacetime profession. The severe national food shortage meant that proper veterinary treatment of farm animals received a high priority, and so within four months of joining the RAF he received a compulsory discharge and he returned to Thirsk.

Veterinary practice

Articles about Alf Wight shed more light on the start of the relationship between the two vets. When Sinclair was to leave for RAF training, he gave Wight all the practice's income in return for looking after it during his absence. His brother, Brian Sinclair (Tristan in the books), was not then qualified.

After Sinclair was discharged from the RAF four months later, he asked Wight to stay permanently with the practice, offering a salaried partnership, which Wight accepted.

Literary caricature

The fictional character Siegfried Farnon is portrayed as outspoken, opinionated, bossy, quick to lose his temper, and also quick to blow over. He is nonetheless basically good-hearted and an animal lover, fond of riding, and infuriated by any suspicion of deliberate cruelty to animals. One recurrent theme in Herriot's stories was Siegfried's criticism of James's flaws, such as forgetting appointments or leaving tools behind after calls, only for the reader to find that Siegfried is found guilty of the same things.

When Wight's first book was published, Sinclair was offended by his portrayal and said, "Alfred, this book is a real test of our friendship." (He never called Wight "Alf", mirrored in the books by Siegfried always referring to Herriot as "James" rather than "Jim".) Things calmed down, however, and the pair continued to work together until they retired. Wight's son stated in The Real James Herriot that Sinclair's character in the novels was considerably toned down, and that Sinclair was even more eccentric than the Herriot books portrayed.

Robert Hardy, who played the role of Siegfried Farnon in the television series, went to visit Sinclair prior to playing him, and subsequently became friends with him. However, Hardy reminisced that Sinclair hated the way that Hardy played him, because, as Hardy claimed, Sinclair was wholly unaware of his own eccentricities.

Sinclair was also unhappy about the manner that he (as Siegfried) was depicted in the books. According to the New York Times, the "historical revisions tested his friendship with Sinclair – like renaming him Siegfried, a German name with Wagnerian echoes that inevitably stirred thoughts of Nazis at the time. Sinclair was so peeved by Wight’s portrayal that at one point he threatened to sue him".

In an interview in 2017, Alf Wight's son Jim Wight said that "One of the misconceptions [about Alf Wight, the 'real' Herriot] was that Sinclair ... was a tyrant and my father was a wimp. Because my father worked harder than Sinclair did, that is absolutely true ... But ... he supported Donald in many ways but he also earned more than Donald. He said to Donald, 'Look, I’m doing all the work. Everything that I do goes into my pocket and everything you do goes into yours.' That’s fair enough, isn’t it?"

Death

Sinclair took his own life by an overdose of barbiturate on 28 June 1995 at his home Southwoods Hall, near Thirsk, two weeks after the death of his wife Audrey (née Adamson), to whom he had been married for 53 years. His brother Brian (Tristan in the books) had died several years earlier, and his friend and partner Alf Wight only four months previously.

Sinclair was survived by a daughter, Jan, and a son, Alan.

Further reading

• Wight, Jim (2001). The Real James Herriot: A Memoir of My Father. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-43490-0.
• Pace, Eric (8 July 1995). "Donald Sinclair, 84, Inspiration For Herriot's Veterinary Tales". The New York Times.
• Bell, Gavin (10 January 2004). "Make way sheep, we're Herriot fans". The Daily Telegraph.

External links

• Official James Herriot website (worldofjamesherriot.com)