{{short description|Scottish sanitarian}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}} {{Use British English|date=December 2017}} Dr '''Hector Gavin''' MD (29 August 1815 – 21 April 1855) was a Scottish physician and sanitarian.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/94/101094168/|title=Gavin, Hector (1815–1855)|author=Hunt, Tristram|website=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|pmc=1139447|author=Spriggs, Edmund Anthony|title=Hector Gavin, MD, FRCSE (1815–1855) – his life, his work for the Sanitary Movement, and his accidental death in the Crimea|journal=Medical History|volume=28|issue=3|date=July 1984|pages=283–292|doi=10.1017/s0025727300035948|pmid=6390025}}</ref>

==Life== thumb|330px|The Gavin tomb, Old Calton Cemetery He was born in August 1815 the eldest son of Marion Walker (b.1795)<ref>Gavin tomb, New Calton Cemetery</ref> and Hector Gavin, an engraver at 150 High Street on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh's Old Town.<ref>Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1815</ref> The family home was destroyed in the Great Fire of Edinburgh in 1824 and they moved to 8 North Bridge before going to the characterful Croft-an-Righ next to Holyrood Palace,<ref>Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1830</ref> the home of his late grandfather.<ref>Gavin tomb, Old Calton Cemetery</ref>

He was educated in Edinburgh then studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh specialising in military surgery,<ref name="cambridge.org">{{cite web|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0025727300035948|title=HECTOR GAVIN, MD, FRCSE (1815-1855) - HIS LIFE, HIS WORK FOR THE SANITARY MOVEMENT, AND HIS ACCIDENTAL DEATH IN THE CRIMEA|access-date=2023-08-18}}</ref> winning a prize in a government-sponsored contest for the best essay on feigned diseases. He moved to London in 1836 and gained his doctorate (MD) there in 1838.<ref name="archive.org">{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/b21465812|title=List of fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh [electronic resource] : from the year 1581 to 31st December 1873|last1=Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh|last2=University of Glasgow. Library|date=1874|publisher=Edinburgh : Printed by George Robb|others=University of Glasgow Library}}</ref> In London he worked at the London Orphan Asylum, the British Penitent Female Refuge, and the Bethnal Green Workhouse. During this time he also lectured in forensic medicine and public hygiene at Charing Cross Hospital.<ref name="cambridge.org"/>

Prior to his position in the Crimea he worked in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the West Indies.<ref name="archive.spectator.co.uk">{{Cite web|url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/12th-may-1855/15/hector-gavin|title=HECTOR GAVIN. » 12 May 1855 » The Spectator Archive|website=The Spectator Archive|access-date=2019-07-06}}</ref>

He was the author of several publications, including ''Sanitary Ramblings''. {{blockquote|He was also the editor of the ''Journal of Public Health'', and Lecturer on Forensic Medicine at Charing-cross Hospital. ... In 1849, during the cholera, he was employed as medical superintending inspector under the General Board of Health. ... During the epidemic of 1854, he was appointed by Lord Canning physician to the Post Office, which position he held until his last fatal mission.<ref name="LancetObit">{{cite journal|title=Obituary. Dr. Hector Gavin|journal=The Lancet|date=12 May 1855|volume=1|pages=502|doi=10.1016/s0140-6736(02)62215-9 |url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015075798366;view=1up;seq=514|url-access=subscription}}</ref>}} At the request of Lord Palmerston and Lord Panmure, Gavin with Dr John Sutherland and Robert Rawlinson headed a Sanitary Commission sent to the Crimean War to improve sanitation in the war hospitals. The Sanitary Commission members arrived in March 1855

However, on 21 April 1855 Gavin died in the accidental discharge of a revolver,<ref name="archive.org"/> caused by his brother William Gavin of the 17th Lancers, a veterinary surgeon, who shared his tent.<ref name=LancetObit/><ref>{{cite news|url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/12th-may-1855/15/hector-gavin|title=Obit. Dr. Hector Gavin|date=12 May 1855|newspaper=The Spectator|page=15}}</ref> The gun (Hector's service revolver) apparently went off as he handed it to his brother, grip-first, and his brother grabbed it touching the trigger, and firing into Hector's body.<ref name="archive.spectator.co.uk"/>

He has a memorial in the Western part of Highgate Cemetery where his wife and son are buried.<ref>W.Justyne. 1865. A guide to Highgate Cemetery. London</ref>

==Family==

In December 1837 he married Margaret Greenfield, daughter of James Greenfield.<ref name="cambridge.org"/>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/010848005 ''On feigned and factitioius diseases'', 1835–1836, by Hector Gavin]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gavin, Hector}} Category:1815 births Category:1855 deaths Category:Medical doctors from Edinburgh Category:Civil servants from Edinburgh Category:19th-century Scottish medical doctors Category:Firearm accident victims Category:Accidental deaths in Ukraine Category:Deaths by firearm in Ukraine Category:Sanitary commissioners